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BOE member honored for longtime service

From left, Reno Contipelli, regional manager with the Ohio School Boards Association, presents Wellsville Board of Education member Tom Brophey a plaque commemorating Brophey’s 25 years of service with the school board. Brophey received the plaque during Monday’s meeting. (Photo by Steve Rappach)

WELLSVILLE — A longtime member of the Wellsville Board of Education celebrated a milestone this week while receiving honors from the Ohio School Boards Association for his service.

During Monday’s school board meeting, the OSBA presented Tom Brophey with a plaque commemorating 25 years of continued service as a member of a board of education throughout the state.

Brophey, who first took office in 1993, was initially recognized during the OSBA’s Capital Conference last week in Columbus, but on Monday, OSBA regional manager Reno Contipelli visited the junior-senior high school auditeria–the site of Monday’s meeting–to personally present Brophey the award, commenting that not many have put in the time that Brophey had.

“Not only did Tom get honored for 25 years of board service, but not many people hit that milestone of the 3,500 board members in Ohio,” Contipelli said.

Throughout Brophey’s 25 years of service, he has been a past president and vice president of Wellsville’s school board, has provided updates on state legislation regarding schools, has represented the district in trips to Columbus and Washington, D.C. for education, and has held multiple roles within the OSBA.

He is a past president of the OSBA’s Northeast Region (having served for the 2016 calendar year) which covers 22 counties throughout the state, and currently serves as a member of the OSBA’s Student Achievement Leadership Team (also known as SALT), the OSBA Board of Trustees and the Northeast Region executive committee.

Brophey was also named to the OSBA’s All-Ohio School Board in 2016.

In other business:

— At the start of Monday’s meeting, members of the Garfield Elementary choir–under the direction of Aaron Bunfill– performed two Christmas songs for those in attenance, including “Light Up the Tree” and “Up on the Housetop”. The choir will also be performing these and other songs during its Christmas program on Dec. 20 at the elementary school.

— The board approved the purpose and budget statements for a total of 35 clubs and funds, which are spread out amongst all three schools (Garfield Elementary, Daw Elementary and the junior/senior high school) in the district.

Also related to clubs, the board also approved to close the following clubs’ accounts due to inactivity: Freshman Cheerleaders (with a balance of $24.04); MH Class ($76.15); DH Class ($1.80); Home Economics ($0.83); Senior IBE ($261.52); OWA ($476.80); Intramurals ($224.25) and OWE ($41.07). The freshman cheerlearders fund will be transferred to the Varsity and Reserve Cheerleaders fund, while the MD and DH classes fund will be transered into the HS MH Class fund, and the other five funds will go into the high school principal’s fund.

— The board approved a contract with Strategic Solutions for software to handle document archival and requisition, in the amount of $6,766.25, as well as a desktop scanner worth $700.

— The board approved a contract with the Jefferson County Board of Developmental Disabilities to provide services to the district for the 2018-2019 school year.

— The board approved the purchase of a 2019 Ford Transit-150 XL, 10-passenger van from Tri-State Ford of East Liverpool, to which the new van will cost $31,943. The new van will replace its previous van, which had been purchased in 1996.

— The board also approved a field trip request for first graders at Garfield Elementary to visit Carmike Cinemas in Monaca, Pa. on Dec. 4.

The next regular meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 17 at Daw Elementary on Center Street.

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