By Laura Mazur
Community Post
With Minster Local Schools' goal to become more technologically up-to-date, the district may even soon take this to a new level by making all board of education meetings go paperless.

“We could be more efficient if I could send the packet to you electronically,” said District Superintendent Dr. Gayl Ray.
Currently, board members have paper copies of meetings' agendas, as well as all of the proceedings. To save time and money on printing copies, each board member in the future would meet with either a desktop or laptop computer at hand to keep notes. Pieces such as the agenda and reports would be printed out at first after the move to electronic copies, but soon all pieces would be seen on computer screens.
In the high school intervention room, there is a current set-up of nine computers, but not in a configuration that is conducive to meeting arrangement and the rearrangement of wiring each month for a meeting is not feasible. But Ray is positive about the changes that computerizing board meetings will take on.
“Where there's a will, there's a way, and I'm excited,” she said.
Also under the technology category, Ray will be attending a conference in Columbus on Feb. 5. The conference highlights school districts from around the state who are accessing, integrating and offering technology instruction in successful ways. New products for schools will also be showcased. One of these items is a release early system. For instance, in the case of a sudden snowstorm where students would be unexpectedly let out early, instead of calling each parent individually, a system could call all parents at once.
Another purchase Minster will be making in future is a replacement school bus. With new emissions controls being required of new buses, by 2010, prices of school buses are predicted to escalate to $20,000 or more than their current prices, which are at about $75,000. Minster will be replacing the oldest bus in its fleet, 1996 model, with more than 150,000 on its odometer. The school system usually keeps buses to a minimum of 150,000 miles.
This bus will get between $5,000 and $7,000 on trade-in. Three agencies are interested on buying the vehicle outright, however, which may generate even more money. Minster plans on putting the bus into next year's budget and purchasing a 2010 model.
The Professional Learning Community of the middle school special education teachers also reported their progress during Monday's meeting. After analyzing data from the Ohio Achievement Tests, teachers found that scores did not correlate to their in-class progress. Teachers found that if they individualized tests to meet students' needs, they scored better. As well, they found that during the course of a school day, they are in a routine with certain teachers and know what is expected of them from these teachers. They are put with different teachers during testing, however, which has had an impact on their scores. Teachers are hoping that by putting students with teachers whom they are comfortable, they will be able to perform better on tests.
Minster Elementary Principal Brenda Boeke additionally attended a conference this week to represent Minster Elementary as being selected as an honoree of the 2006-2007 State Superintendent's Schools of Distinction recognition program. The award highlights schools in which a high percentage of students with disabilities are achieving academic success. At each school of distinction, at least 75 percent of all students, including students with disabilities, scored proficient or above on the 2006-2007 Ohio Achievement Tests or the Ohio Graduation Tests in reading and mathematics.
Board members additionally accepted a $40 donation from KTH Parts Industries Inc. in honor of Chris Borgerding. The amount is to go to Minster Elementary for library materials.
Prior the board reconvening for their regular session, members held their annual organizational meeting, where new members Kurt Forsthoefel and Julie Ellis were sworn in, as well as Jeff Monnin Mike Hoelscher were sworn into positions of president and vice president, respectively, for the year.
The regular meeting ended after an adjournment to executive session to discuss the compensation of a public employee.
The next meeting of the Minster Board of Education will be Monday, Feb. 18, at 8 p.m., in the high school conference room.