- Belpre City Schools Treasurer Lance Erlwein speaks during a Board of Education meeting on Thursday. (Photo by Tyler Bennett)
- Belpre City Schools Superintendent Jeff Greenley speaks during a Board of Education meeting on Thursday. (Photo by Tyler Bennett)
Belpre City Schools Superintendent Jeff Greenley speaks during a Board of Education meeting on Thursday. (Photo by Tyler Bennett)
BELPRE — In the first board meeting of the summer, the Belpre City Schools Board of Education unanimously approved its Fiscal Year 2021 estimated revenues and appropriations and a new grade point average requirement of 1.0 for student-athletes for the first nine weeks this upcoming fall.
The school board met Thursday evening and district Treasurer Lance Erlwein said the estimated revenues and appropriations will be a set of guardrails that the district will operate under to keep spending in check,
Erlwein said there were no surprises from the five-year forecast that was approved in May, but there will be a large amount of federal money in the ESSER CARES Act Fund coming to help offset some of the additional costs during COVID.
“We ended up really close to the five-year forecast that we approved back in May. So there are really no surprises. Obviously, there are large amounts of federal monies that are coming in next year because of COVID,” Erlwein said. ” So the Fund 507, that is the biggest and most significant change. We’ve appropriated just over $2 million of federal money, which will help us offset some of the additional costs we incurred during COVID.”
With the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) not enforcing normal academic eligibility for the first quarter of the school year, that leaves the decision to the school’s district whether to enforce a grade-point average for student-athletes.
Belpre City Schools Treasurer Lance Erlwein speaks during a Board of Education meeting on Thursday. (Photo by Tyler Bennett)
Superintendent Jeff Greenley said that he talked to other superintendents in the area on whether they will keep the same requirement as 2.0 GPA or lower for the start of the school year before the meeting.
In the past, a 2.0 GPA to participate in athletics has been a requirement in the district, but the board lowered it to a 1.0 GPA in a board meeting last January due to students struggling with lessons due to COVID protocols.
Greenley asked the board to either keep the current GPA requirement or get rid of the requirement for the first nine weeks of school for the 2021-2022 year. He said the amount of ineligible Belpre High School students has been increasing in the last three years, going from 56 students in 2019 to 89 this past year.
“A lot has happened, quarantines happened unexpectedly, family members were quarantined. It was a topsy turvy year and I think our intent is to think about, in the spirit of reunifying all of our students,” Greenley said. “That students can come back and engage in athletic competition. I understand the need for academic excellence, but I think this will be beneficial to the students.”
The board was in favor of lowering the GPA requirement for the first nine weeks, but members Brenda Church and Cathy O’Donnell did not want to get rid of the requirement entirely to participate in athletics.
The board also unanimously approved a motion to amend the employment/contract agreement for Jason Haught (Director of Special Education), Sam Pepper (High School Principal), Lauren Keeling (Elementary Principal), and Stephanie Evans (High School Assistant Principal).
Tyler Bennett can be reached at tbennett@newsandsentinel.com
