Marietta High School students display their dedication and months of rehearsal practice before opening night of “The Addams Family Musical” on April 4 during Monday's Marietta City Board of Education meeting. (Photo by Amber Phipps)

The Marietta City Schools Board of Education met in the high school auditorium for its regular public meeting Monday evening.

The meeting began with a preview performance of the upcoming production of “The Addams Family Musical.” A handful of students displayed their work with one of the musical numbers that will be in the full production on April 4-6.

Tickets are available for purchase on the school’s website.

Following the musical number, the board went right into the evening’s business. Referring to the previous board meeting on Feb. 24, Vice President Sam Tuten said there are currently no updates on the proposed partnership with Nationwide Children’s Hospital to provide school-oriented health clinics.

“We’re wanting to get some more information and speed that up so that we can make an informed decision either at the next meeting or sooner,” said Tuten. “We want to see what the options are and compare side by side.”

The Marietta City Schools Board of Education discussed current and future updates for the district, which included safety and structural additions, during its meeting Monday. (Photo by Amber Phipps)

In the public forum, former educator Virginia B. Graves made a statement about her approval for the potential collaboration with Nationwide Children’s.

“I worked in schools with children who go into homes that are affected by parents with drug addiction and homelessness and the need for Nationwide to come in and provide for the physical and mental health of our children in the school so that they can stay in school and be in a safe environment is huge,” said Graves.

Also discussed at the board meeting were updates for the district in terms of education, safety and student engagement.

Students are preparing for a semester packed with fun events such as the Washington, D.C., trip and the Cedar Point trip happening in the spring.

Mike Kupfner was announced as the new head football coach. He is also going to be a teacher for the district.

Marietta High School students performed a preview of “The Addams Family Musical,” which will be presented April 4-6 for the public, at Monday's Marietta City Board of Education meeting. (Photo by Amber Phipps)

In regards to the budget, roughly $900,000 will be invested toward improving the district’s safety features and building upgrades over time.

A few updates will include new ceilings, lockers and aesthetic adjustments to any paint or plaster within the schools. The budget will include updates to prevent any pipe freezing during the winter as well as work on the gas valves on the bottom floor of the high school.

There are plans to repaint the track as well as build an additional parking lot to help traffic flow and allow for more space for larger school events. Roughly 50 parking spaces will be added by the end of the summer.

For safety updates, the school is working to replace keys with card swipe entries to eliminate the possibility that an individual who no longer works at the school would have access to the building. They will also be replacing all of the locks on the buildings for doors that do have keys.

The board wanted to remind community members that there is an emergency renewal levy coming up in May which will generate over $2.75 million per year for the district.

If passed, the money will go toward salaries, benefits and services and has been in effect for over 10 years. This is a renewal levy for things in the district already has in place and will not include any new taxes.

Amber Phipps can be reached at aphipps@newsandsentinel.com