Minerva school board makes appointments for upcoming school year

Summer school staff, extracurricular positions, volunteer coaches and summer athletic camps for the upcoming school year were approved by the Minerva Local Board of Education at its May meeting.

Approved for Minerva Elementary School summer school were Kayla Pitts as MES summer school coordinator, along with Josie Vanicek, Sean Kocher, Alyssa Montgomery, Peyton Detling, Susan Zifer, Alora Boldon, Sydney Fetter, Cathy Viola and Jordan Burchett. Approved for Minerva High School summer school were Brian Steffey and Nadia Gray. Mackenzie Scott also was approved for summer school staff as needed.

Additional summer school staff approved included food service workers Adrian Keith, Mary McConnaughy and Wendy Kocher at a pay rate of $16 per hour; school workers Samantha Gonzales, Sarah Morland and Dawn Lukowski; and school aide Tiffany Brown.

The board approved numerous extracurricular, supplemental and voluntary positions for the 2026-27 school year.

In football, Zachary Slates was approved as head football coach. Assistant football coaches approved were Tim Wolf, Lance Willison, Jacob Eberling, Kevin Kirkpatrick, Eric Nickell, James Jenkins, Jacob Cruz-Perez, Joseph Frankford, Brian Keyser, Brayden Costea, Brian Costea and Ben Crawford. Jason Lutz was approved as equipment manager.

Approved for boys basketball were Richard Hart as head coach and Logan Coe, Dale Dickson, Scott Russell and Brian Steffey as assistant coaches. Josh Morckel was approved as head girls basketball coach with Nick Apisa, Rebecca Kovach, Brayden Costea and Fred Bigham approved as assistant girls basketball coaches.

For boys wrestling, Kenny Beaumariage was approved as head coach with Leo Saniuk, Bodey Kiko, Brenton Stith and Jacob Cruz-Perez approved as assistant coaches. Sammy Southers was approved as head girls wrestling coach with Jada Shafer and Jacqueline Zwick as assistant girls wrestling coaches.

Approved for boys golf were Troy Richeson as head coach and Logan Coe and Andrew Blackburn as assistant coaches. Kenneth Beaumariage was approved as head girls golf coach with Jennah Karmazin as assistant girls golf coach.

Jake Nightingale was approved as head girls soccer coach with Vyctoria Gotschall as assistant girls soccer coach. Tyler Stewart was approved as head boys soccer coach with Alex Gotschall as assistant boys soccer coach.

For volleyball, Tiffany Oaks was approved as head coach with Shawnett Shellenbarger, Maggie Zifer, Kelsi Hulit, Madelyn Morckel and Jennifer Reed approved as assistant coaches.

Nicklaus Embrogno was approved for boys bowling.

In cross country, Olivia Scott was approved as head coach with Arin Rettig, Laura Bauman and Megan Keyser approved as assistant coaches.

Approved for cheerleading were Athena Butcher as head cheerleading coach and Sydney Lautzenheiser, Rylee Buccini, Kiaunna Pachan and Alyssa Kiko as assistant coaches.

Jacob Eberling was approved for strength and conditioning for winter and spring sports. Heidi Soles was approved as ticket manager.

Volunteer coaches approved included Robert Yeagley for boys basketball; Mackenzie Scott, Richard Rutledge and Erin Roach for cross country; Josh Morckel for volleyball; and Jordan VanMeter for girls golf.

The board also approved Mackenzie Scott and Athena Butcher as Positive Behavioral Intervention Support coaches.

Summer athletic camps approved included the girls golf youth camp at Great Trail June 1-2; boys basketball youth camp at MHS June 1-4, middle school camp at Sherrodsville June 11-13 and high school team camp at Findlay June 12-14; girls basketball middle school and high school team camp at Cedarville University June 10-12 and youth camp at MHS June 15-17; volleyball youth camp at MHS June 22-24; and cheerleading high school summer camp at Dover High School July 25-26.

Football summer activities approved included high school camp at MHS June 8-11 and July 22-23 and July 27-30, plus 7-on-7 events June 24 at Beaver Local, July 9 at Green, July 21 at Garaway and July 22 at Canton Central Catholic.

In other business, the board approved substitute and classified rates of $140 per day for substitute teachers, $18.49 per hour for bus drivers, $13.50 per hour for aides, secretaries and kitchen staff, and $17.71 per hour for custodians.

The board also approved the 2026-27 Ohio Student Accident Program administered by the Student Protective Agency; approved Nathan Patterson for 2026 summer graduation; approved April expenditures of $2,195,318.14; accepted a $1,000 donation from Barrick Machine & Equipment to the Minerva High School Trap Club; approved Samantha Cunningham as a high school science teacher for the 2026-27 school year; accepted the resignation of Shannyn Bachman as an educational aide; and approved Roseanna Roach, Brenda Galliher and Rebecca Mehler as classified substitutes.

The next board meeting was set for June 22 at 6 p.m. at the administrative building.