Gregg Ruppert is a no-nonsense type of guy. He's not afraid to say what he thinks, and he's not afraid to stand up and do what he believes is right.
But there's another side to Ruppert. He's a listener. He's inquisitive. He's dedicated to compromise.
For 31 years — 28 in the Wapakoneta City School District — Ruppert brought that duality to his math and science classrooms.
And now he's bringing it to the Wapakoneta Board of Education.
Ruppert was officially sworn in to his new positon during the Board organizational meeting on Thursday evening, embarking on a four-year term following a convincing victory in the November elections.
A main tenant of his platform, Ruppert campaigned on getting into classrooms, talking with teachers, and better informing himself and the board about the needs of students and staff. His aim is to provide each student and faculty member the means to be even more successful than they already are.
“The only thing I look to do that is different is I plan to get in the classroom,” Ruppert said. “I'm not saying all of their needs aren't being met, but I think with the amount of money we have, if they need things, we need to get it to them.”
One area he focused in on, that he believes backs up his point, is the district’s spending per pupil.
“Wapakoneta is one of the rural, high poverty districts that spends a low amount per pupil compared to other districts. And then, on top of that, some other research I've done suggests that the amount you spend per pupil is in some correlation to their performance,” he said. “Maybe we need to spend a little more per pupil. I'm not saying we're going to
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