MOUNT VERNON — Students in the Mount Vernon City Schools district living at the Village Network Children’s Resource Center will have the opportunity to both live and learn on-site.
CRC is a mental health facility in Mount Vernon that specializes in the treatment of children, adolescents and young adults. Students come to the center from across Ohio to receive an education, often under court orders, which has been the case for several years.
Currently, there are 16 students at the CRC, four of which are from the Mount Vernon school district.
The Village Network has built an additional structure in which the East Central Ohio Educational Service Center Governing Board will operate a school. During Monday’s, the board authorized ECOESC to educate Mount Vernon students placed at the CRC on its site beginning Feb. 1.
Monday was also 12-year board member Steve Thompson’s last meeting before his retirement. Voters first elected Thompson in 2009.
“He’s a community guy,” district superintendent Bill Seder said. “He wears his emotions on his sleeve.”
Thompson was brought to tears when giving his final remarks during the meeting speaking about his love for the district. However, Thompson also implored residents to bring future issues to the district in a fair way to sort fact from fiction.
“As I came into this school board it was a controversial time,” Thompson said, referring to the Freshwater case where the district fired a teacher for imposing his faith on students. “I feel over time we’ve healed and we’ve worked and we have a very good district.
“As I exit, it is sad for me to see the division that’s been created.”
Thompson said he will continue to help the board and district as a resident.
The board approved several routine items Monday, but began with a moment of silence for a kindergarten student at Dan Emmett who died on Dec. 8.
The district did not see any major changes regarding finances this month, treasurer Gary Hankins said. Biannual budget changes will not be reflected in foundation payments until January, so the foundation report is based on last year’s funding.
The board approved an Appropriation Amendment to allow the district to use Emergency Connectivity Grant funds, which director of technology Matt Dill applied for. The grant totals $500,000 and includes the addition of 1,300 new student chrome books and WiFi on school buses.
The board approved several items pertaining to the Ohio School Boards Association, including its January through December 2022 dues at $7,952 and participation in the OSBA Legal Assistance Fund for 2022 at $250.
Also regarding finances, Interchurch donated 39 bookbags to the district and the Wink family donated 16 books to Pleasant Street.
The board also approved Behavioral Healthcare Partners of Central Ohio, Inc. to provide on-site behavioral healthcare services in the event of a mass casualty, or other needed after-action services.
Public participation comprised comments on educational standards and criticism of social-emotional learning.
The board set next month’s organizational and regular meeting date for 6 p.m. on Jan. 10 at the Energy Fieldhouse, with the makeup day in case of inclement weather on Jan. 11. Board president Margie Bennett will serve as president pro tempore for the organizational meeting.
