NEW PARIS — National Trail Middle School Principal Mark Wiseman will be retiring this summer. At the NT Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 28, the board accepted his resignation.
National Trail Food Service will again be sending out a newsletter, according to Dorothy Frist. This will be attached to the menu and will cost no postage. She also discussed the food wastes which seem inevitable. The district has to offer certain foods to the students, but ultimately students can choose what to put on their tray. Only seventh and eighth graders have significant food waste, due to regulating the foods which go on their plates.
There will be an administration review of food services, according to Frist. This used to be done every five years, but now is performed every three. Currently the review is in its off-site section, which will last four weeks. The on-site portion will start on March 15.
John Toschlog, from the Transportation Department, discussed the statistics attached to bus accidents. He said National Trail’s bus drivers are top notch and have no speeding points on their licenses.
Elementary Principal Ed Eales reported there will be a third and fourth music program honoring the Wright Brothers. Grandparents week is also upcoming, which spurred some discussion from board member Cindy Lee regarding how to stop children without grandparents from feeling left out. Principal Eales noted, normally grandparents step in and help out other children, but Lee suggested utilizing high school students to help. Eales does not want to interrupt the high school students’ school day.
The middle school student council dance was a success, and the proceeds of that will go toward leukemia research, according to Principal Wiseman. He also shared that state testing is upcoming.
On Valentines’ Day, the high school was visited by local K-9 units, according to Principal Brian McKnight. He also reported, OGT testing will take place this month. End of course testing will take place in April and May.
Superintendent Jeff Parker reported there will be a change to the course guide — the school is adding in a transitional business math. He explained that some of the offered maths are too extensive for some students, and this class will teach needed skills like bonds and balancing a check book.
The other change to the course guide will be to Computer Science. In the past, the course was offered as a full-year credit, but now it is only half a year credit. It is also now mandatory to freshmen, as it has become a valuable skill in this day and age.
In other news:
•The board accepted the school calendar for 2017-18.
•The high school course guide was approved.
•A third grade overnight trip to the Cincinnati Zoo on May 18 was approved.
•The FFA trip to the State FFA convention on Thursday, May 4-Friday, May 5, was approved.
The next National Trail Board of Education meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 28, at 6:30 p.m. in the NT District Office.
