North Union honors efforts of interim principal

Members of the North Union school board are honoring a special employee.

At the beginning of the 2025 school year, Vicky Clark accepted the role of Interim North Union Elementary School Principal until the district found someone for the position.

With the position now filled for the upcoming school year, as part of the regular meeting of the board on Monday, Clark was recognized with the North Union Pride Award for her accomplishments as she resigns from what was a short but honored time as the elementary school principal.

Superintendent Justin Ufferman said that the award is a long-standing tradition that honors individuals who “exemplify dedication, leadership and commitment to making our district a better place.” Ufferman said that students, staff, parents or community members can nominate an individual and a selection committee reviews the nominees and chooses a recipient.

“Vicky has given up a lot of time, hard work and compassion to make North Union School District a better place and if you know Vicky, you know she embodies all of those qualities and much, much more,” Ufferman said.

In an emotional moment upon receiving the award, Clark thanked everyone for believing in her and trusting her over the last year. “I’ve enjoyed every moment. I tell my staff all the time that you came into my world for a reason and you made me a better person, a better leader and I will always cherish the memories,” she said.

As part of meeting action, the board employed John Riley as the next elementary principal effective Aug. 1, 2025 for the upcoming school year.

Clark said she will finish out the year as principal and help support the transition for Riley as he gets acclimated to the position.

“I will always be here for the district,” Clark said. “If they need anything I will definitely go where needed.”

Also at the meeting, members took some time to discuss district facility updates.

Board president Brian Davis said he was asked by the North Union Athletic Committee (NUAC) to create a list of facility improvements that they may be able to help with financially.

“The purpose of NUAC is basically to help the school with facilities,” Davis said. “I don’t know what their funding situation is but…they obviously have some money they want to throw our way.”

Treasurer Scott Maruniak said that one of the ideas brought up during a meeting of the facilities committee was a gazebo or shelter house in the southwest corner of the middle school and elementary school lot.

“Some kind of an area there for people to get out of the weather during track season, get out of the sun,” Maruniak said.

He said the only complication would be that water drainage and electric lines run through the area.

“We’d have to have engineers come on out and look at it. Our current architect has a pretty good idea of where those border lines or where those electric lines are,” Maruniak said. “So that’s something…if you want to take a mention to the NUAC committee.”

Ufferman said that they received bids for new stage lighting at the elementary and high school. “There were two proposals…from two different companies,” Ufferman said.

One of the bids came from Vincent Lighting Systems (VLS) at $47,000. Ufferman said VLS worked at the Palace Theater in Columbus.

He said the other bidder is CTI Staging and Lighting, who they have previously employed, that bid came in at $66,000. “So there’s a big difference in that,” Ufferman said.

He said that they were leaning toward the VLS bid as they would be getting the same thing for a cheaper price, though the board did not settle on an option.