Mohawk student challenges quality points system changes

SYCAMORE — The Mohawk Board of Education recently changed its quality points system and at its meeting on Monday evening, several community members, led by Warriors’ junior Tyler Krupp, showed their displeasure with the decision.
“He came along with a number of parents and other students and they had concerns about a change that was implemented to the program of studies, particularly with class rank and quality points assigned to particular classes,” Mohawk Superintendent Ken Ratliff said. “He presented a petition signed by 80-something students and several parents, and he spoke on their behalf and he did a really nice job.
“Their primary concern was that the quality point value assigned to post-secondary option classes and the points assigned to the classes, which was a 1.0, and they felt that was too low,” he added. “They felt the quality points should reflect the rigor or that course.”
Board members communicated back to the visitors that their main reasons for lowering the quality points of PSO classes were that Mohawk had no control over the rigor over outside courses and wanting to keep kids on the Warriors’ campus.
“The (board) left it with him that they were considering it and we are in discussions,” Ratliff said. “I am in support of the change and it was my initial recommendation for it to be a 1.2 (points class).
“I don’t want to speak for the board,” he added. “I just want to do my job of getting all of the facts in front of them to make a case. I do have a responsibility to make sure I get all of the data in front of the board. Me and my administrative staff spend hours looking at this, so it’s put on the agenda for the board members and they have discussion and public participation. We talked about it some the previous meetings, but where we spend several hours on it, they spend an hour and a half and have to make a decision.”
With the current school year coming to a close, the superintendent said a decision needs to be made soon as students will soon be scheduling courses for next year.
“If (students) want to ensure they maintain their position in class rank, they schedule accordingly and find the balance of rigorous classes,” Ratliff said.
Another concern that was brought up and also was communicated by board member Dr. Todd Price was the funding issue of tax dollars being put toward college tuition.
In other actions, the board accepted the resignation of Chris Garverick as district technology coordinator.
“He decided to take a job from TRECA, which is a support agency for multiple school districts,” Ratliff said. “He’s going to work with them, so we’ll probably partner with them for the remainder of the year to continue to use his services. We’ll look at next year of extending that extended services contract to continue keep the students’ and staff’s technology needs taken care of and maybe save a little money as well.”
The school also accepted a $73,090 bid from Truck Sales and Service, of Mansfield, for a new 65-passenger bus, which includes a $2,300  trade-in option.
“We have 13 buses on regular routes in our fleet,” Ratliff said. “Ron Hetzel, our fleet mechanic, does an outstanding job of keeping our buses safe and in good repair. We are really grateful to have him.
“What we have is a new rotation and by purchasing a new bus every year, it keeps the age of our fleet at 12 years or less, I believe,” he added. “We replace the oldest bus with the new bus.”
The school board also:
— Approved Purmort Brothers Insurance Agency, of Van Wert, to provide student accident insurance during the 2012-13 school year at a rate of $23 for grades K-6 and $38 for grades 7-12.
— Approved a contract with the Ohio School Boards Association to conduct a customized workshop at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
— Approved an FFA overnight trip to the state convention in Columbus on May 2-4.
— Issued a substitute bus driver contract to Clint Lease for the remainder of the 2011-12 school year.
— Contracted with the Wyandot County General Health District for school hearing screening services for the 2012-13 school year.
— Increased Rose Hartschuh’s percentage of work time from 78 percent to 100 percent.
— Approved the following supplemental contracts for the 2012-13 school year, contingent upon completion of all requirements: Erik Baker, athletic director; Chris Clinger, high school assistant football coach; Tyler Long, high school assistant football coach; Ray Tittle, high school assistant football coach; Brian McClain, high school football volunteer; and Doug Pummell, high school football volunteer.
— Reduced Victor Parlier’s teaching contract to 50 percent at the conclusion of the 2011-12 school year, due to decreased enrollment, not performance.

By PATRICK MASSARA
Staff writer

Posted by Daily Chief on April 18, 2012. Filed under Local News,Recent Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry