The state’s new graduation requirements beginning with the class of 2018 were discussed at the Greenfield Exempted Village School District’s Board of Education meeting on Monday.
As it stands, this school year’s juniors will be held to different standards than this year’s seniors as more rigorous requirements are set to be implemented, but according to Supt. Joe Wills, the state school board and legislators are in talks regarding a gradual shift to the new requirements rather than implementing them all at once.
Wills said that numbers across the state indicate that under the new standards, 29 percent of juniors are not on track to graduate.
According to McClain Principal Jason Potts, the class of 2017 is the last class to graduate under the Ohio Graduation Tests (OGT). The new requirements dictate that juniors and all classes below them will have to score 18 points on seven end-of-course tests. This year’s juniors have been testing in preparation for this transition for three years, Potts said.
Another update from Wills was in regard to the school’s mandatory evacuation drill a couple of weeks ago. It is part of the state’s new safety requirements, Wills said, and would be used in the case of the Greenfield campus needing to be evacuated.
Students walked to various off-campus destinations – the high schoolers to New Directions on North Fifth Street, the middle schoolers to the United Methodist Church on South Street, and the elementary students to the First Baptist Church on Washington Street.
Wills said the evacuation went “very well” and students were at their destinations within 15-20 minutes of the evacuation beginning. Following the drill, students returned to school and resumed a normal school day.
On another matter, Wills thanked Melvin Gray Jr. for his 32 years of service to the school district in the maintenance department. Gray will be retiring at the end of the year, Wills said, and will be recognized along with all others retiring during the school year at the end of the current school year.
The last day for students before Christmas break, Wills said, will be Tuesday, Dec. 20. Classes will resume on Wednesday, Jan. 4.
Items approved on Monday’s consent agenda included the itinerary for the middle school’s trip to Washington, D.C. in April, the itinerary for the elementary Talented and Gifted (TAG) students’ trip to Cincinnati June 2-3, and the itinerary for the middle school TAG students’ trip to Cleveland June 7-10.
Also approved were the following employment recommendations: Richard Bunner, maintenance; Mark Howland, maintenance, Samantha Rooks, certified substitute; Chalee Bradford, aide/monitor; Thomas Doyle, bus driver; Tyler Carman, softball assistant; Randy Closson, girls track assistant; Amanda Larkin, basketball cheerleader assistant; Nicholas McNeal, varsity and middle school swimming; and Wes Smith, softball assistant.
The next regular meeting of the Greenfield Exempted Village School District Board of Education is yet to be determined, but that will be done, as will all of next year’s meetings, at the board’s organizational meeting scheduled for Jan. 12.
Reach Angela Shepherd at 937-393-3456, ext. 1681, or on Twitter @wordyshepherd.
