BUCYRUS — The Bucyrus City School District’s graduation rate was a topic of concern and conversation during the Bucyrus City Schools Board of Education meeting Thursday evening.
Board members expressed concern that 22 of 94 seniors from the 2020 graduating class are not on track with credits to be able to graduate.
District administrators said they have started in on helping those students with credit recovery to try and get them back on track to graduate, as well as starting to check in on the underclassmen to make sure they stay on track with credits needed.
Bucyrus City Schools Superintendent Matt Chrispin said on August 22, he was able to graduate a student from the class of 2019. He has been making it his goal to go back and help as many of the students who weren’t eligible to graduate and get them to where they need to be to get their diplomas.
It was also brought to the board’s attention that in previous years, students who took College Credit Plus classes were only getting half a high school credit for every three credit hours of college classes they took, compared to the one high school credit they should have been receiving.
This issue was reportedly corrected, so no students will have this problem moving forward.
In other board business, the district has decided to use two law firms this coming school year, Bricker & Eckler Law Firm, and Scott Scriven LLP.
Chrispin said he wants the district to have a “tool kit” because different firms have different areas of expertise. Chrispin used Scott Scriven while superintendent at Fredericktown Local Schools and considers him to be a part of “his team,” so he felt it was right to bring someone he has known and trusted for years to his new district.
An emergency resolution was approved to move and use money to do repairs to the school’s Educational Options building. The building needs new baseboards, flooring, and paint because the old materials had some mold and smelled bad. The amount, which stands between $10,000-$11,000, for the repairs was not high enough to put out to bid, so the school moved money around in order to carry out the necessary repairs.
Also during the meeting, the board hired a new basketball coach, Barry Egan, and board members said they are excited to see what he do for the team when basketball season rolls around. Egan previously coached at River Valley High School.
The next board meeting is Sept. 26 at 6:30 p.m. in the Lincoln Administrative Building on Plymouth Street.