GALION — The Galion Board of Education voted to acknowledge that Galion High School students are participating in a trip to Costa Rica that is not sponsored by the school.
The item passed by a 3-2 vote.
Those who voted no, Grant Garverick and Brian Owens, said they thought it was going to be a great trip, they were just extremely nervous about security for the students due to threats from cartels down in that area.
The trip is being led by Ms. Jenna Bollinger, a Spanish teacher, and Mrs. Laura Gibson, a science teacher. The trip will feature a packed itinerary for the seven days the students will be in country. The trip allows students to potentially receive high school and college credits if they wish, they just must meet certain requirements, like a reflection paper on their time there.
One of the days they will be there will feature a community service project that the students will be able to put on any applications or resumes they will fill out in the future.
Though the trip was never intended to be sponsored by the school, Ms. Bollinger and Mrs. Gibson brought it before the board out of respect for them and so they knew that the kids would be taking this trip. If the vote had not passed, the teachers would have canceled the trip.
Parents of the students also are welcome to sign up to go on the trip.
The board also heard from some of its primary school staff, students and a parent on what an excellent job the staff is doing at teaching their kids and getting them ready for the next grade levels.
Students, Adylina and Lucciano Troiano and their mom, Teresa, gave their personal praises to the staff.
Teresa said Adylina, a kindergarten student, can sit in her room and read to herself quite well and understand what she is reading, she can write whole paragraphs, and is able to tell you what a pronoun is. Her second-grade son, Lucciano, can read above his grade level and can read 114 words per minute and knows more than 800 words all thanks to hard work and dedication of the Galion Primary School staff.