By: Andrew Walsh
Awalsh@wbcowqel.com
The Bucyrus School Board made some decisions Thursday night that will radically alter the way that future school years work.
The biggest of them all came in the form of changing graduation requirements from 24 credits to 21.This was an idea that was met with a great deal of discussion. Adam Stone spearheaded the talks by asking a series of questions inquiring if this is indeed the best course of action for Bucyrus City Schools.
“Are we catering by lowering our standards?” Stone asked the board.
Several of the administrators, including Principals Todd Roll and Mark Burke, as well as Special Education Director Robert Chevalier, described what they termed as the “bottleneck” that is the freshman year. Students that fail to pass some of the freshman requirements, such as English 9, can get caught playing catch up for the rest of their high school careers.
Also, with the move away from block scheduling, the District has also lost half of its recovery opportunities. In that old system, each semester was effectively an entire school year, in terms of any one particular course. Therefore a freshman flunking English 9 in the fall would have the spring as an attempted re-do.
Members of the administration also insisted that while the number of credits required to graduate may be decreasing, the rigor of the classes will actually be increasing. The district is greatly increasing its course offerings for next year by partnering with some educational services, and they are making a concerted effort to ensure that students can have no more than one study hall per day. They have also increased the core requirements to graduate. For example, four mathematics credits are now required as opposed to the previous number of three.
“We’re propping kids that stumbled once at 14,” Stone said, “Who in here hasn’t?”
Superintendent Kevin Kimmel asked for permission from the Board to begin work with the Ohio School Board Association Survey Services. The purpose of this work is to engage with the community and gain feedback about the open enrollment situation. This will not only be directed at students who open enroll out, but students who open enroll in as well. They are hoping for feedback that can shed some light on what brought kids into the district, not just why people are leaving.
This is part of a multi-pronged effort by the district to engage with the community how they can improve Bucyrus’ offerings, and keep community members informed.
Media Director Christ Stone outlined a plan for a quarterly, or even monthly, newsletter that would be sent home with the students. This is set to be a one page, full color newsletter with three to four stories per issue to keep the community aware of the good things that happen in the district.
These positive results also received full attention at the start of the Board meeting, as a great many students received recognition for achievements both academic and athletic. This too, was part of the larger narrative of greater communication between the district and the community, and Assistant Principal Joel Dennison was happy to share what he called, “positive contributions to the school.”
The honorees were as follows:
Student Art work: Katie Alspach, Meolody Brown, Makenzie Chatman, Megan Gallant, Jordan Gibson, Jesse Heinle, Kyla Hines, Christine Johnson, Celina Kelley, Karson Kimmel, Riley Moody, Samantha Murtiff, Bailey Plumley, Nessee Rittenberry, Danica Rowalt, Jasmine Sweeney, and Audrey Tuttle.
Science Fair: Julia VanVoorhis, Bailey Plumley, Kade Slagle, Teachers Bob Guinther, Reece Zeigler, and Melissa Haldeman.
The production of “The Wiz”: Rose Buckelew, Alex Bloomfield, Levi Vermilion, Aaron Stilwell, Domenick Schifer, Sophie McAdams, Kayla Hopkins, Ashley Keener, Kayleigh Seiber, Logan Kissling, Mary Hart, Ashley Purcell, and Baylee Wilson.
Athletics: Boys Basketball, Brian Snouffer. Girls Basketball, Macey Sheerer and Hannah Wyeth. Wrestling, Justin Campbell. Swimming Taryn Gathright and cheerleading Haley Chester.
Fire Safety Week Poster: Elyse Dye.