School board approves multiple junior-high support and special-education hires

The Oak Hill United School Corp approved a slate of junior-high personnel actions at the meeting, including recommendations to hire a junior-high health aide and several instructional and teaching-assistant roles.

A staff member presented the additions and recommended hires: a 35-hour junior-high health aide (Stephanie Wolfe); a 35-hour junior-high life skills instructional assistant (Britney Bryant); the transfer of a life-skills instructional assistant to a long-term substitute position (Courtney Sisson); a 29.5-hour Converse special-education instructional assistant (Summer Steel); and a 35-hour junior-high special-education teaching assistant (Jana Walker).

On procedure, a board member moved the first motion on the health-aide hire and a voice/hand vote was taken (“All in favor, right hand”), but the transcript does not record a numerical tally for any of the personnel approvals. The motions were recorded and closed on the record.

The staff member explained that the transfer to a long-term substitute was prompted by a recent resignation and the district’s need to cover a large special-education caseload while it continues recruiting for a certified teacher. The staff member noted that the long-term substitute will perform expanded duties — including data collection and some teaching tasks — while the teacher of record will retain planning responsibilities.

The meeting record includes brief mentions of recruitment outreach and the backgrounds of the recommended hires: Jana Walker was described as coming from Marion with about 15 years in an instructional-assistant/teaching-assistant role.

No statutes, ordinances, or funding sources were cited during the personnel approvals, and specific vote tallies were not provided in the transcript.