MOUNT VERNON — Mount Vernon’s school board approved several board policies during its meeting Monday evening, including new policies regarding weapons and blended learning.
The board, specifically from a motion on behalf of board member Steve Thompson, pulled the policy on student mental health and suicide prevention for further examination — a policy that would incorporate new requirements mandated by the Safety and Violence Education Students Act.
Other policy changes adopted by the board Monday involve public participation, the College Credit Plus Program, attendance, and cost principals (spending federal funds), among others.
The policies are adopted from Neola, a service for developing and updating board bylaws and policies, administrative guidelines and procedures, handbooks, etc. to ensure consistency and compliance with new legal mandates.
Also Monday, Mount Vernon superintendent Bill Seder gave a district update focused on the district’s recent mask policy change. On Oct. 20, the district will be reversing back to the mask-optional policy it had in place when the school year began after roughly six weeks of having a mask mandate. The district will also be adopting Knox Public Health’s modified quarantine guidelines.
Students of Twin Oak Elementary will have the opportunity to check out a new book, Kindness is my Superpower, in memory of the head custodian John Shaw’s late daughter, Erin Hess, keeping in tradition with an initiative the board created during the 1996-97 school year.
The initiative, the memorial book fund, supports the purchasing of books for the district’s school libraries in memory of an employee, immediate family member of an employee, or a student who has passed away.
Regarding other donations, the board accepted miscellaneous supplies (dry-erase markers, pencils, glue) from Staples and $1,500 for a chromebook cart from the parent teacher organization for Dan Emmett Elementary School.
Also related to finances, the board adopted Section 125 Flexible Benefits Plan, also known as the cafeteria plan, which allows employees to pay for certain qualified medical expenses on a pre-tax basis. It is known as the cafeteria plan because employees can choose the types of healthcare options they want (medical, dental, etc.) and decline the ones they do not want, much like a person can select certain foods and not choose others in a cafeteria setting.
The policy, part of Internal Revenue Service code, is effective retroactively to July 1, 2021.
The board also approved the selection of Fanney Howey for architectural professional services as well as a facility use request to allow the senior center, The Station Break, to use the district’s facilities to prepare food in emergency situations.
Retroactively to Sept. 20, the board accepted an agreement to have special duty police officers for district events, such as school board meetings, during which officers will be responsible for security as well as traffic and crowd control.
In terms of student services, the board approved three items related to special education, the first of which being a contract with North Central Ohio ESC to provide services for the district’s hearing impaired students for the 2021-2022 school year.
The other two items related to transportation services for students attending The Learning Spectrum in Johnstown.
The board deemed it impractical to transport four students to the learning center due to the small number of students in need of the service, the distance to the center, staffing issues and, most notably, that there was another reimbursement type of transportation available where the parents of the students can be offered payment in lieu of transportation.
The board approved the latter, transportation contracts of privately-owned vehicles (pending insurance coverage on file).
The board also approved salary changes, hires, resignations and retirements for certificated/licensed staff as well as classified staff. Retirements will include long-time staff members high school Spanish teacher Dena Hooley, effective end of the school year, and seventh grade English Language Arts teacher Walter Lewis, effective May 27, 2022.
The board heard public participation in which residents mainly voiced opposition to any potential mandating of COVID-19 vaccines in schools, a shift in focus away from mask policy as the district has since rescinded its mandate.
