MOUNT VERNON – Twin Oak Elementary students are bringing learning standards to life.
Twin Oak principal Adam Mowery spoke on behalf of the school Monday to share with the district’s board how his staff engages students in experiential, hands-on learning, specifically by using outdoor gardens that staff are hoping to expand through grants.
For all the turmoil the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to student learning and health, it also pushed staff outside, and to make use of Twin Oak’s outdoor spaces in ways not done before, teachers Tiffeny Miller and Mandy Peterson said.
Twin Oak staff have big dreams, they said.
Some of those dreams include farming food students can eat, creating a sensory garden and adding four raised garden beds, specifically so they are accessible to students who are unable to kneel to reach the current ground-level beds. Miller and Peterson specifically mentioned nearby Fredericktown Local Schools’ outdoor learning lab as an example of how it can grow its outdoor learning opportunities.
Twin Oak currently has two grants waiting for approval that would help the school progress toward these dreams, Mowery said, such as the United States Department of Agriculture farm to school grant.
Regarding how staff is making use of the school’s available resources, students have made science and math purposeful by working hands-on with soil to understand its components, or learning how to measure area by measuring the garden beds. The school also regularly invites in OSU extension staff to discuss topics such as nutrition, Mowery said.
Mowery has voiced his intention to expand Twin Oak’s outdoor and experiential learning opportunities since he first began as principal at the start of the 2021-22 school year.
“These are life skills,” he said, and referred to Knox Pages’ reporting on the future of agriculture locally and how Twin Oak is preparing students to fill in arising industry gaps.
In other business Monday, Supt. Bill Seder shared that Mount Vernon City Schools had a 2022 High Schools That Work District Leadership Award Winner — eighth grade English language arts teacher Kathryn Thayer.
“She’s on our district leadership team, and she really pushes us from an academic standard to reach high goals,” Seder said.
Mount Vernon parents and guardians can expect a forthcoming district newsletter.
The district is bringing back its newsletter with a 12-page spring newsletter set to be mailed out by the end of the week. The newsletter will also be available electronically on the district website, Seder said. Updates from each building within the district will be featured, he said.
Additionally, some parents and guardians will be learning more about district happenings, particularly curriculum, during an Educational Advisory Committee meeting April 27. This committee includes parents representing every building in the district, Seder said.
The board approved the itinerary and travel for the district’s robotics students to travel to Dallas, Texas, for the VEX Robotics World Championship, departing May 2 and returning May 9. The board’s approval of participation in Worlds follows the qualification of a third team for the championship since last month’s board meeting.
Regarding finances, the board accepted one donation. The Christian Men’s Group donated clothing for students — specifically those at the middle school, Twin Oak Elementary and Wiggin Street Elementary — at a $350 value.
District treasurer Gary Hankins’ other focus of the evening involved appropriation amendments.
The board approved four requests for additional appropriated amounts, which Hankins said he requested more so to be prepared than because he thinks the district will actually need to spend the dollars. The district already has these funds, but board approval is needed to spend it.
These appropriated amounts range from money for athletics to account for umpire pay raises to Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds for staffing needs that may arise.
Other board votes Monday dealt with staff, both outgoing and incoming.
The board approved the resignation of middle school social studies teacher Christopher Kane as well as the girls assistant basketball coach Alyssa Fuller. The board also approved the termination of the freshman baseball coach Dylan Hess, effective April 8.
The district is starting to put together summer work crews, and the board approved to pay these workers at $14 per hour, with hours to be worked on an as-needed basis outside of school time.
