TVS BOE discusses school safety, more

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WEST ALEXANDRIA — Twin Valley Community Local Schools continues to make security and safety improvements to its facilities.

During a TVS Board of Education meeting held Monday, March 26, Derrick Myers, Director of Technology, shared they had recently installed televisions in the main office to help make safety and security “more transparent” in the school.

“We put TVs with security monitoring devices in each of the main offices. Those TVs show a grid of four camera views, just to make security and safety a little more up front and transparent,” he said.

Myers added, there are now three 75-inch TVs in the high school commons. These will be used for staff meetings, public and student announcements, etc. These televisions were purchased with grant funds.

Also with those funds, the district received 30 Chromebooks. The high school now has six Chromebook Carts with 30 devices each. According to Myers, they continue to work on getting a one to one ratio of Chromebooks to students. He has also been working with MVCTC to get new Chromebooks for the Ag room, since their equipment is provided through MVCTC.

According to Director of Food Service Megan Fields, the district was able to obtain its Food Operation License from the Preble County General Health District.

She added, “I was able to meet with seven of the high school students and received very good information. Any feedback that they had, issues or changes to the menu, we will use in the future months. We were able to offer some fish entrees for Lent Fridays.

“Financially we’re doing okay. We’re seeing a little decline, because some of the late starts and snow days. We were able to get a microwave for the students, because some kids who pack wanted to be able to microwave some things. We also got some ketchup and mustard pumps.”

They also introduced pulled pork on a wholegrain bun, which is proving to be a popular item, according to Fields.

Daniel Lewis, Director of Pupil Services, updated the board on upcoming state testing and ongoing training.

The Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment (OELPA) testing window ends on March 30. The Alternate Assessment for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities (AASCD) testing window ends on April 13. End of Course exams began the week after spring break and will continue throughout the month of April. Retakes will be held during the same window of time for sophomores and juniors.

As for training, Lewis said, “They’re rolling out new IEP forms the beginning of next year. I was able to go to training on that and brought some information back to our people. We just got bullets of information, but Preble County ESC is trying to organize planning meetings to help our staff out.

“I was able to attend the Leadership Network training sponsored by State Support Team 10. We talked about using the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a means to reach all students. The framework is about identifying barriers to success and working to eliminate those barriers. It was a good chance to sit down with all the people in the county to talk about, what are your barriers, versus what our barriers are.”

Both K-6 Principal Patti Holly and 7-12 Principal Scott Cottingim spoke about the motto they have been reviewing with their students, “See Something, Hear Something, Say Something.”

Superintendent Bob Fischer reviewed the discussion he had with West Alexandria Council, regarding school safety and a possible Safety Resource Office (SRO).

“We talked about everything from the safety pieces we’ve implemented in the schools, but a lot of it was spent on school safety. We did not get any kind of solid answer, they wanted to see solid numbers. I did send that to them, both what a half-time person would cost — up to $14,000 — and what a full-time person would cost — looking anywhere from $65,000 to $70,000,” Fischer said.

“I did talk with Mayor Carol Lunsford via text after the meeting. It is a matter of seeing if they have money to help us out and what their options would be. I think the general concern was, what [is the school] doing [for school safety]? I think I answered most of those questions.”

The next board of education meeting will be held on Monday, April 23, at 6 p.m. in the Twin Valley Community Local School District Media Center.

By Kelsey Kimbler

[email protected]

Reach Kelsey Kimbler at 937-683-4061 or on Twitter @KKimbler_RH

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