VWCS Board of Education Meeting: January 14, 2025
Van Wert’s bus fleet was among the topics discussed during Tuesday’s meeting of the Van Wert City Schools Board of Education.
During a brief presentation, bus maintenance supervisor Ben Showalter, who is a mechanic and bus driver, told the board the district has a total of 14 buses and he called it an up-to-date and reliable bus fleet.
“I can tell from experience of the last five years that having a mechanic readily available – we cut down on down time with buses exponentially,” he said.

He added the district has four spare buses and two Cougar vans that are both 2012 models.
“They are beginning to show their age and they are beginning to show their mileage,” Showalter stated. “They’ve had to sit outside their entire lives and the weather takes its toll so we are starting to see a lot of corrosion on those. Moving forward, replacing the Cougar vans would probably be more of a priority than replacing a bus – we could probably get two Cougar vans for the price of one bus.”
During his report to the board, Assistant Superintendent Bob Priest said OhioHealth Van Wert Hospital is no longer doing physicals or random drug testeing for bus drivers. He added he’s had continued conversations with OhioHealth and he’s hopeful they’ll begin offering those services again in March.
While sharing his monthly report, Superintendent Mark Bagley offered condolences to the family of Wally Grimm, who passed away last Friday at the age of 82. Grimm served as principal at Van Wert High School for 26 years.
“Mr. Grimm was my principal,” Bagley said. “Obviously his loss is huge. If you knew Wally at all, he had a lot of character. He was one of those guys who had a story to tell and you knew he always cared about the kids.”
Bagley said the district is currently fully staffed but will have at least seven openings for the 2025-2026 school year and he said the district has already posted five of those seven positions.
“Just so you know, we’re getting started early on those,” Bagley said. “We’re working with colleges, there are a lot of job fairs coming up, so we’re really excited about who subs in our district and who student teaches in our district.”
There was just one personnel item on the agenda. The board accepted the resignation of head cross country coach Kimberly Laudick.
The board also approved a resolution authorizing Treasurer Troy Bowersock to advertise and receive bids for Phase III of the Eggerss Stadium renovation project, and the board approved a resolution allowing Bowersock to advertise and receive bids for the middle school/high school chiller replacement project. Assistant Superintendent Bob Priest said the project is expected to cost $1.2 million and he noted the money has already been allocated.
Board members gave the green light to an overnight trip for 23 AP Government students and four adults to travel to the Ohio Statehouse on January 30-31.
A long list of various monetary donations was graciously accepted by the board.
The board closed the meeting with an executive session to discuss the employment of public personnel but no action was taken afterward.
Anthony Adams was elected board president during the organizational meeting, which was held before the regular meeting. Julie Burenga was elected vice-president. The board set meeting days and times for the year, 5 p.m. the fourth Wednesday of each month, except for November and December, when meetings will be held on the third Thursday of the month. All meetings will be held in the First Federal Lecture Hall at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center.
- Athletic Council: Julie Burenga
- Safety team: Greg Blackmore
- VWASIG (Van Wert Area School Insurance Group): Anthony Adams
- Vantage Career Center board member: Debby Compton
- OSBA legislative liaison/Capital Conference delegate: Anthony Adams
- OSBA Capital Conference alternate delegate: Julie Burenga
The next meeting of the Van Wert City Schools Board of Education will be held at 5 p.m. Wednesday, February 26, in the First Federal Lecture Hall at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center.