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HOWLAND -- The district could be without a swim team this year if a coach is not hired soon.
The Howland Board of Education discussed at its meeting Tuesday using a deadline to fill the head coaching position for its schools' club swim team.
A deadline for teams in the state already had been set by the Ohio High School Athletic Association, but the district is struggling to fill the position because of the credential process through the state and Penguin Swimming, an athletic organization based in Youngstown.
"Last month, the board approved CJ Flatley and Mark Lanterman as volunteers from Penguin Swimming to serve as coaches for Howland swim," Howland athletic director Andrea Ferenac said.
The official start date for the season is Oct. 27, and a head coach must be approved by Oct. 16.
However, Lanterman, a candidate for the position periodically through Penguin Swimming, informed the district he will not be the head coach, but rather the on-deck coach until December when he graduates from college.
The next candidate Ferenac became aware of was Kesley Brocker, but she is not fully credentialed or board approved.
"We're in this really small window at this point," Ferenac continued. "In the prompting of these conversations, I was provided with some additional credentialing, but she is not fully credentialed. So, I got some of the pieces that were missing but not everything."
The district is looking to make complete its vetting opportunities for protection from the state. Families generally have their swim meetings to address preseason things such as practice times and uniforms by this point in the year, Ferenac explained.
OHSAA has a mandatory swim meeting that head coaches must complete. The window for completing the meeting runs for a period time, usually a couple of weeks, from next week, the board members said. If teams' head coaches don't complete the meeting, their district will be fined.
Some of the missing credentials are related to drug testing, pupil activity and, effective today, an additional requirement from the state for mental health training and for new pupil activity permit holders to register.
The district said there have been early discussions to merge potentially with the Warren Harding Aquatics Team and Kraken in Hubbard.
"It's not anything to do with the people they (Penguin Swimming) are presenting," Ferenac said. "Their capabilities are not being questioned. It's the infrastructure of the club to support what they are trying to support, and it may be more than what they are capable of doing as a head coach for us."
The district has been in talks to find a head coach through Penguin Swimming since May.
"We're nine days away from where we're delinquent and going to get fined as a district because of this," Ken Jones, board president, said.
Board member Denise Delida said she spoke with Brocker prior to Tuesday's special meeting, and believes that she is credentialed through the state.
"It's been shared that her BCI and FBI (background checks) were received," Ferenac said.
"The problem is, we don't have it," Jones said.
The approval of coaches must be done as a board action.
NORTH ROAD SCHOOL
Regarding the vacant North Road Intermediate School, Superintendent Kevin Spicher said. "There is the possibility of looking at other options for our North Road building."
Last May, the school board rejected a $475,000 bid to purchase the empty school building that sits on approximately 12 acres.
Spicher said the district is figuring out how the building will be used, whether for educational, administrative or a local government entity.
"Anything that the board does with it, it would probably be important to have it, in some capacity, benefit the community," he added. "Once the board has a few more proposals or other opportunities for us to be able to present, we will be able to make a sound decision on the direction.
"I wish I had a little bit more to offer. But because of a few things that have changed in the dynamic, I don't want to include anything that I think I might have at this point."
If the buyer is outside of local government, the bidding must go back to auction. If it is not feasible to maintain, Spicher said there are also demolition options.