Greenfield schools votes to waive instructional fees

For the second year in a row, the Greenfield Exempted Village Schools Board of Education voted to waive student instructional fees.

Superintendent Terry Fouch said that the district typically has a $25 fee for each student in grades kindergarten through eighth grade.

"We did this for our 2009-2010 school year, and it was very well-recieved by the community," Fouch said. "We were more readily able to waive the fees by reducing consumable workbooks."

The board voted to waive the fees for the 2010-2011 school year during the May 17 meeting.

Fouch said that a lot of families in Highland County and the Greenfield school district are experiencing economic difficulties, and the waving of the fees is to help offer a little bit of ease through such difficult times.

"We do have some fees that are lab-associated in the high school depending on what courses students enroll in," Fouch said. "Those are still in place for items that would be used by the students, and then would be (for the student) to keep. Or, the fee would be used for materials in the form of a science lab course."

In other business, Fouch said that this summer, for the first time, the district will be providing speech therapy to some students. 

"We are providing summer speech therapy for students," Fouch said. "It will be provided as a result of receiving funds from the Highland County Society for Children and Adults. This is the first summer we will be able to provide that. It will be available to students who have an individual education plan (IEP) within our district with and IEP designated for speech services. Our hope is that we will be able to accommodate all of those who are interested. We are reallly excited about being able to offer this."

Fouch said the program will help students who receive speech therapy during the school year continue learning over the summer, so there will be no gaps in therapy while school is out. 

In other the business, the board: 

• Discussed and later approved summer school programming. Fouch said the program would offer reading courses and Ohio Graduation Test content areas. 

"The board agreed to continue with the programming, contingent upon student interest," he said.

• Heard that 23 additional Promethean interactive SMART boards have been installed, brining the total up to approximately 50 in classrooms across the district. Fouch said the that the boards "have been very well-recieved by both students and staff in improving student access to technology, and we are really excited about that."

• Discussed and approved the purchase of middle school health text books to be utilized during the coming school year, at a cost of approximately $14,000.

• Heard presentations on the McClain baseball team - SCOL champions; and the McClain High School concert band, which was named superior at the state competition.

• Heard from Brandon Streitenberger on the Greenfield Exempted Village Schools Education Association.

• Voted to approve the consent agenda, including: the April 2010 treasurer's report; the five-year forecast; amended certificates; 2010 appropriations; acceptance of the resignation of Eleanor Snodgrass and Becky Bergstrom for retirement purposes; authorized 2010-2011 membership in the Ohio High School Athletic Association for McClain High School and Greenfield Middle School; approved membership into the Southwestern Ohio Instructional Technology Association; approved membership with the Virtual Learning Academy contract with the Jefferson County Educational Service Center; approved Martha Holden Jenning's $1,000 Literacy Environment Grand for the Greenfield Elementary Library; approved Farnham Equipment Company for renovation of auditorium seating.

• Accepted donation from Veterans of Ohio Charities, $2,000; Gerald R. Thomas, $600; Greenfield Peace Officers Association, $500; family of Glenn B. Doan, $600, for scholarships.

"We are extremely grateful for those individuals who provide scholarship dollars for graduating seniors from McClain High School," Fouch said. "With the rising cost of tuition, these dollars and other individual dollars given to students to help continue their education is greatly appreciated. We feel very fortunate for those seniors."