TIPP CITY — The Tipp City Board of Education received a facilities update and discussed a contract with Lincoln Center to hold spots in the Miami County Alternate Education Program for Tipp City students in grades five through eight on Monday, Nov. 7, during their regular session meeting.

The board received updates on the Nevin Coppick roof and the proposals for fixing the roof. Completion of the roof repairs would take the majority of summer break to complete, however it could be completed with staff and students in the building but the facilities committee suggests, for safety concerns, to wait until the summer to begin construction. The roof repairs are estimated to cost $1.2 million.

Recently, other issues have risen in other Tipp City school buildings. LT Ball Elementary’s kitchen has managed to create a temporary fix for their oven that broke down last week. The district is hoping that the new oven will arrive in December. Broadway Elementary has two steam pipes that go to two separate parts of the building and the pipe leading to the newer section of the building has a large leak or hole in it. There are two different options to remedy this. One option is to replace the pipe underground which would take approximately six to eight weeks and cost around $100,000. The other option is to run the pipe above ground in the parking lot. While running the pipe above ground is less expensive and time consuming, it presents parking and safety issues.

The Tippecanoe High School recently lost one of the two boilers that are used to heat the building. The school is hoping that the one boiler will be sufficient to heat the school for the time being while the facilities committee gathers information on prices and timelines for getting a new boiler for the high school. It is likely that the board will hold a special meeting to discuss the prices and approve the purchase of a new boiler for the school.

Any action taken for a contract that would reserve Tipp City Schools seats in the Miami County Alternative Education Program was tabled to the next work session. However, multiple concerns and questions were raised during Monday’s meeting. Board President Simon Patry raised the concern of sending students out of the district. Superintendent Mark Stefanik stated that the program would be used as an alternative to suspension. For students who have been suspended multiple times with no noticeable change to their behavior, Stefanik feels it would be best to send them to this alternative education program as a way to keep them learning while also hopefully changing their behavior rather than just suspending them.

Another concern about the program was raised by Board member Richard Mains. Mains’ concern is that students might feel embarrassed or alienated after returning to their regular school. Dunaway offered her opinion that some of these students with behavioral issues are possibly victims of bullying and that the district should look at the adults in the school and that the board should look for culture/climate changes within the schools to help eliminate bullying.

In other business:

• The board heard from Stefanik regarding his research into Tipp Pride Association and the ties with the school district. Tipp Pride has chosen to attend the December meeting of the Board of Education to present information on the association and the agreements made with the school and donors.

• Treasurer Melanie Fox shared the districts five year forecast which can be found online at https://go.boarddocs.com/oh/tipp/Board.nsf/Public under the Monday, Nov. 7, meeting agenda.

• The board passed a motion to not pay the Reutschle balance as it was determined by legal counsel that the balance is for work done outside the scope of their contract with Reutschle.

• Approved Bill Wendel for the open trustee position on the Tipp City Library Board of Trustees.

• The board set a date for the annual Records and Organizational meeting for Jan. 3, 2023.

The next regular session meeting date is Dec. 12 at 6 p.m. at 90 S. Tippecanoe Drive, Tipp City. The meeting will also be live-streamed on YouTube.