Wynford Board of Education recognize recent accomplishments at monthly meeting

BUCYRUS—On Monday evening, the Wynford board of education members held their monthly meeting.

To begin the meeting, many individuals within the Wynford community were recognized for their recent accomplishments.

Among those recognized were the Wynford middle school girl’s cross country team for winning the N10, the 8th-grade volleyball team for winning the N10, sophomore Briana Westrick for qualifying for regionals in cross country, Levi Hartschuh for earning his American FFA degree, and Thomas Rindfuss for being the FFA National winner in the area of fiber/oil production.

Throughout the course of his high school career, 2021 graduate Thomas Rindfuss tracked and logged every hour of the work he did farming and where he did the work at. Those hours accumulated over time, allowing him to compete in different areas at the state level and, this year, the national level.

“In previous years I’ve competed in diversified crop production, and I actually got the same place last year, and so with that being said, you can compete for all of these different areas, and I had enough hours to compete strong enough in fiber and oil, as well as grain, diversified crop, and mechanical at state,” Rindfuss said.

At the state convention back in May, Rindfuss learned that he won fiber and oil production and would be moving on to compete at the national level.

At the national level, every winner from every state gets refined down to a final four by a series of judges who go through all of the pictures, the documentation, and the applications. Rindfuss found himself in the top four.

“I was surprised I made it to the top four, then showed up in the Lucas Oil Stadium in front of 69,000 students, and unbelievably heard my name over the loudspeakers. I don’t know how I did it other than working the long hours I do. I’ve told Mr. Hoffman, Mrs. Martin, my parents, and all of my friends that I wouldn’t change anything if I knew today that I was going to be a winner, or if I knew back in 9th grade. I would still have the same exact methodology of the hours I work, what I do, and my motive behind what I do. I am blown away still,” Rindfuss said.

Also, at this year’s national convention, another graduate from the class of 2021, Levi Hartschuh, received his American Degree.

“The American Degree is a very long process to get that award. You just hope that you keep making it past each barrier of the judges,” Hartschuh said. “I started keeping records just as a general overview of my FFA experience alongside my beef entrepreneurship record books. I started that my freshman year and it was a lot of, ‘it’s due in two days and I’ll start it then,’ I made Mrs. Martin really happy with that. I started with my Greenhand Degree, then I went to my Chapter Degree my sophomore year, then my State Degree the next year, and my American Degree, which you get one or two years out of high school.”

High school and junior high teacher JoLyn Williams gave the board a tour of the school’s Makerspace—a classroom in the school where kids get to learn how to use sewing machines, cricuts and heat presses, 3D printers, laser engravers, and VR headsets with educational games.

On to the business portion of the meeting, the board once again discussed the Interscholastic Extracurricular Activity board policy.

This topic, initially discussed in September, was tabled when board member Levi Hartschuh wanted to raise the minimum GPA to a 1.5, but board president Scott Langenderer disagreed, stating that for some students, sports can be the one place where students feel like they can belong and strive for better.

Middle school principal, Brent Konkle, suggested as a compromise the possibility of having mandatory study tables for athletes with a GPA lower than 1.5 but not revoking eligibility unless they are at the 1.0GPA cutoff, per OHSAA rules which currently list a 1.0GPA as the minimum and you must be passing at least five credits.

The topic was further discussed at this month’s meeting when board member Levi Harschuh suggested changing the eligibility requirement from a cumulative GPA to a quarterly GPA.

“I think it’s more beneficial for our students. Your overall GPA can drop quickly and it can take a year, if not two years to come back up. Whereas, if you go from the quarter, you could be out for one week if you were to fall below, but you could come back that next week if you get that grade up. I also think using what Mr. Konkle brought up, I think that we do need a study table as a buffer before they hit that zone,” Hartschuh said.
The proposed change is being sent to the athletic council and coaches to give their input and will be acted on by the board later as the policy was tabled for the second time.

If the policy were to change, it would not be implemented until the next school year.
In compliance with the new Dyslexia Law, the Wynford school district approved teacher in-service days for the elementary staff in order for them to receive the mandatory training.

The days are as follows: no school for PK-5 on Tuesday, December 20; Friday, January 13; Thursday, February 16; a two-hour delay on Wednesday, March 15; and Thursday, May 4.

The next board meeting is December 19 at 5:30 p.m.