Bath holds November School Board meeting

At the Bath School Board meeting on Tuesday, the seventh, those present heard many of students’ successes, and the schools’ ongoing efforts to improve and excel at meeting students’ needs. In one presentation on the profile of a graduate, and the Accreditation Process, Millboro Elementary School principal, Allison Hicklin described some changes in measuring and reporting standards over the next couple of years.

Teachers, counselors and coaches will cover career exploration, content knowledge, workplace skills and community engagement and civic responsibility as part of developing well-rounded students. As assessment is moving more away form the very content-based Standards of Learning, schools are emphasizing what are now referred to as the 5Cs. Those 5Cs are: critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, creativity and citizenship.

Mrs. Hicklin:

“Now, the part we don’t know yet, is exactly how they’re going to measure that. How are we going to measure that when a student graduates high school they know how to collaborate, and how to critically think. That’s something we’re still kind of waiting on. That’s what’s going to continue to evolve as this process moves forward.”

So what might students experience differently in the classroom?

“Stronger connections to career workforce, and emphasis on real world problems. Instead of just a straight math class where we’re doing math problems: ‘why are we doing it? What is it for? Where are we going?’

Jane Hall, Director of Pupil personnel services and special education, introduced the board to another area in which the schools are pursuing student support and academic enrichment. Up to ten teachers and staff will take training offered through

the guidance department in the “Why Try?” curriculum.

The WhyTry Program is a resilience education curriculum that provides simple, hands-on solutions for dropout prevention, violence prevention, truancy reduction, and increased academic success. Those trained will use a set of specific visual analogies to help students understand social and emotional principals in ways they can remember. Some of the life skills student learn are: decisions have consequences; dealing with peer pressure obeying laws and rules, and plugging into support systems. Over 20,000 organizations across the United States and Canada are already using the “Why Try” curriculum. It will be implemented in stages throughout the school system. A few grades will be introduced to it first, and more will use it each year.

Some of the items the board took action on during Tuesday night’s meeting were:

Approved MGW Fiber Optic Line Deed of Easement at VES

Approved Title IV, Part A application for 2017-2018 and authorized a request for an appropriation in the amount of $10,000

Authorized a request for an additional appropriation in the amount of $46,083 for a School Security Equipment grant

Approved an overnight field trip request for BCHS Band to travel to Virginia Beach, VA on March 28-30, 2018

Approved the SY2018-2019 division calendar as presented