SALEM - Fiscal watch may just be a distant memory by December, but the process for removing city schools from that category has taken longer than expected.

School district Treasurer Jill Rowe told the Board of Education Monday that she hopes to be able to announce the district's removal from fiscal watch by the December board meeting.

State auditors contacted Rowe in July about the district's removal from fiscal watch and they performed testing in August. There are four levels of review the district must pass to achieve removal, and while she was hoping the review process would be over by September or October, it is still ongoing.

"All indicators look like we will be out shortly," she explained.

Rowe speculated the delay in the review process was due to cutbacks to the state agency and said she hopes outgoing board members Dr. Joe Rottenborn and Cathy Hergenrother will be able to cap off their work with celebration of removal from fiscal watch before they vacate their seats in January.

Rowe also commented on the status of stocks the district owns, which were given to the schools as gifts, noting board members will need to decide whether to keep them or sell them. Some of the stocks have merged, such as Hewlett Packard and Ohio Bell, while others, such as General Motors, no longer are valid because companies have declared bankruptcy.

Under the Ohio Revised Code, school districts cannot own stocks unless they are gifted to the districts.

In another matter, Superintendent Tom Bratten explained the processes for the H1N1 clinics that will be held at the high school from 4-8 p.m. today for kindergarten through sixth grade and from 8-11:30 a.m. Friday for junior high and high school students.

Bratten explained the clinic will be open to all students who reside in the school district, including students of St. Paul Catholic School, home-schooled students and online students.

"A Salem resident is a Salem resident in our eyes," he said, although the district still will offer vaccinations to open-enrollment Salem students who live outside the school district.

Although the school clinics were announced initially to include pre-kindergarten-age children, Bratten said the city Health Department will be handling those children in a separate clinic.

Parents are welcome to accompany their children to the clinic, although he noted the schools are not requiring any children to become vaccinated. Parents will need to print out, fill out and sign registration forms in order for their children to receive the vaccinations, and parents without Internet access may use the computers and printers set up in the school administrative offices for that purpose.

Also at the meeting:

- The board heard a request on behalf of the Athletic Boosters to place a two-story concession stand behind home plate at the high school baseball field. The stand, which also would host an announcer booth on the second floor, would be paid for through memorial gifts in the name of Dr. Bob Wright and would be no cost to the board. Board President Steve Bailey said officials will review the request, after which Bratten will contact the organization.

- Third and fourth-grade students in the enrichment program at Reilly Elementary School gave a presentation on the aspects of the program, including building descriptive writing and problem-solving skills.

- Bailey congratulated High School Principal Dr. Joe Shivers for the "phenomenal" amount of school spirit he sees in the students.

mschomer@mojonews.com