(1-15-25) A Tri Star Career Compact feasibility study will determine if it can be changed from a career compact to a collaborative compact, a move that would relieve Celina City Schools of financial administration of Tri Star.

City of Celina School board members at Monday night’s regular meeting approved a motion to hire former district treasurer Tom Sommer for $50 an hour “to assist Tri Star Career Compact in becoming a Cooperative Compact.” .

Sommer’s expenses will be covered by Tri Star funds…along with Tri Star Director Tim Buschur they will move forward with the study.

The study in part is due to school superintendents, who have students in Tri Star, who wanted a governing structure that would ensure equal representation of all compact members and decision making at Tri Star.

School officials felt that in certain instances they didn’t have input because the Celina School Board, the fiscal agent, has the final say on many of the decisions

A look back….(Mercer County Chronicle)

Ohio school districts were required to provide vocational education fot their Junior and Senior students. Mercer and Auglaize County schools were given the opportunity to join already established districts. This included both Vantage and Apollo…but after several election failed to get the support to be assisned to those districts. That is when the talk of vocational education started to have a plan that would be in the local area.

Ralph Stelzer

The process of forming Tri Star was led by Celina School Superintendent Ralph Stelzer to finally give vocational education to the Juniors and Seniors of Mercer and Auglaize Counties. Coldwater Superintendent Wayne Miller and St. Marys Richard Burke played key rolls in the start-up process.

Finally in 1983 the formation of Tri Star was finalized and approved….with Celina, Coldwater and St. Marys the three main districts and they are were the ‘Tri’ came from

Below is a look in chronological order of some of the background that went to the formation of Tri Star…courtesy of the Mercer County Chronicle.