TCS BOE addresses deficit spending

TIFFIN – Earlier this month, Tiffin City School district began cutbacks due to an impending deficit. One of the cutbacks determined by Superintendent Ben Richards and the district's Board of Education was the assistant superintendent position held by Robert Boes. Last week after a special BOE meeting, Director of Communications and Student Registration and Executive Assistant to the Superintendent Kelly Spahr sent out a statement on behalf of BOE President Dustin Williams. "Beginning in the 2023 fiscal year, the district has entered a period of deficit spending," the statement read. "We've seen inflationary pressure in our expenses, but flat or downward pressure in our revenue. Today, the Board took action to address a portion of that growing gap between our revenue and expenses through the elimination of a position in our administrative staff." It continued by saying that the BOE will continue to evaluate areas to address the deficit spending. "Mr. (Robert) Boes has been a valuable and respected member of the district for a number of years," it continued. "The Superintendent has been and will continue to work with Mr. Boes in the coming days to find ways to retain him in the district in positions that will be available in the 2024-2025 school year. Mr. Boes will remain in his current position through July 31, 2024." Boes began his career in education in 1994 as a student teacher for Gahanna Jefferson Elementary School while obtaining a bachelor's degree in elementary education at Ohio Dominican College, according to his personnel file provided by the district. From 1995 – 1996 he served as a substitute teacher for Seneca County and parochial schools. When he applied for a job as a building principal in the district in 2001, Boes worked as a head teacher at Seneca East Junior High School, where he taught various subjects and had administrative duties. He was then hired as principal of Lincoln Elementary School. Boes was Lincoln's principal until the middle of the 2006–2007 school year when he transferred to Tiffin Middle School. He was then re-assigned to the assistant superintendent position at a BOE meeting in June 2017. Shawn Murphy was then re-assigned from dean of students at Tiffin Middle School to the principal.