School board business— More interdisciplinary options coming soon
- Published: May 31, 2012
At the Yellow Springs school board May 17 meeting, School District Superintendent Mario Basora announced that shifts in staffing at the YSHS/McKinney Middle School next year will allow for more advanced placement and interdisciplinary opportunities.
At McKinney, Jack Hatert will teach all math and science classes for seventh graders, and Jeff Collins will do all eighth grade math and science classes. Last year Hatert taught McKinney math half-time and served as assistant principal part-time, while Collins taught half-time at the middle school and half-time in high school physics. The school is now looking to hire a full-time faculty member to teach chemistry and conceptual physics.
The new configuration will allow for more project-oriented, interdisciplinary teaching and learning, as well as the use of online open-source texts, videos and interactive demonstrations to supplement text book learning. The schedule shift also allows teachers for different content areas to have a common planning period every day to stimulate interdisciplinary planning and share information about students’ needs.
At the high school, Deanne Holly will teach a new AP calculus class, and dual enrollment will now be offered in government with Shawn Jackson. The high school went from offering four AP courses and no dual credit courses two years ago to now offering seven AP courses and five dual credit courses (for both high school and potential college credit.)
“This is a big deal and something we should be proud of as a district,” Superintendent Mario Basora said at the meeting.
In other school board business:
• Maureen Lynch and former school board member Richard Lapedes have donated a Mills Lawn Arts Integration Sculpture to be installed in the school’s south yard this summer. The sculpture is designed to use shadow to illustrate concepts in astronomy, math, science and art.
•The board accepted a $61,200 bid from All American Track Corporation to resurface the high school track. The district used $10,000 from the permanent improvement fund, while $10,000 came from community donations, and the remainder from grant funding.
• For the 2012–13 school year the board agreed to contract with the Greene County Education Services Center for $255,000 and the Clark County ESC for $39,000.
•The board approved a host of revised policies, including a new wellness policy that reflects the district’s movement towards a wellness policy that mirrors the community’s values regarding nutrition, physical activity, emotional well-being and the health curriculum.
•The board accepted the retirement of day custodian David McManamay for reasons of disability, effective this month. The board also awarded two-year contracts to YSHS/McKinney staff Paul Comstock as an instructional aide and Julie Lorenzo as secretary; and one-year contracts to David Anderson as an aide and Donald Wood as a bus driver.
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