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Marietta BOE hears update on Washington Elementary floors

By Douglass Huxley 5 min read

The Marietta City Schools Board of Education held its regular meeting Tuesday night at the board offices at 112 Academy Drive.

The board heard presentations from Fire and EMS Academy teacher Gwynette Mayer about the program and the benefits it has for students and from Chinese Language teacher Andrew Shu about an upcoming trip to Japan.

Darrell Prim, facilities and transportation manager, gave an update to the board about the floors at Washington School, and Athletic Director Cody Venderlic talked about the pictures of athletes in the high school gym.

Mayer spoke to the board about what Fire and EMS Academy is and the benefits it has for the students.

"It is officially part of the Law and Public Safety Career Pathway offered by the Ohio Department of Education," Mayer said. "And specifically, this allows our students to have a chance to explore careers in the first responder world."

Mayer said this year was the inaugural class of the Foundations of Firefighting and Emergency Medical Service. She said the class was a project based class and students were working on fire prevention presentations.

"We do a lot of projects throughout the year and students have opportunities to solve real world problems," Mayer said.

Fire and EMS Academy student Cameron Bean said he's always been fond of firefighting and this class has given him a chance to experience that.

"This class really allowed me to explore inside of the world, just a tad bit, to then learn and see that this is kind of what I want to do as a career," Bean said. "This class really has provided a lot of opportunity."

Mayer talked about another class offered through the program called EMR, Emergency Medical Responder. She said this was a non-certified class so that students grades 9-12 could take the course.

Mayer went on to share two examples of how this class has manifested in the real world. She said last year she found out a former student talked another person through CPR on the phone saving that person's mother. She also said this past weekend a current EMR student used what she was taught to help an infant.

"(She) used what I had taught her on how to save an infant from choking, used it on a 7-month-old infant and saved the baby's life," Mayer said. "To me, two lives saved, what else can you ask for from these classes? This is why I'm very passionate about it because of the opportunities these kids have."

Shu talked to the board about an upcoming trip to Japan he would like to take his students on. He said this was a good way for students to learn about a new culture and use the things they were taught in class.

"We learn math and science, but also we need to learn Chinese," Shu said. "Here we got the chance to encourage more students to join us, come to learn Chinese. We have a chance to send out students to Asian countries, to China, to Japan, to Korea, to Vietnam, we'll have a global perspective."

Board member Bill Hutchinson asked that the trip be added to the agenda and voted on.

"The more time they have to work on that, the better it is," Hutchinson said. "If people know there's a chance of going on a trip, because I think the European trips have gone over very well, it may even pick up some people that want to sign up for the Chinese (class) and take that class."

The board voted unanimously to approve the trip.

Prim gave the board an update on the floors at Washington School. He said two water pipes froze and broke over the Christmas break showering the first floor with water. He said it is now starting to bubble up in some areas. He said they have met with the adjuster and they should know something soon.

"We need to get that floor a little safer for the little guys down there," Prim said.

Prim said it was discussed to have a company come in and take the old floor out and putting some plywood panels in to level the floor.

"Just to give them a nice flat floor to walk on," Prim said.

No action was taken Tuesday night.

Venderlic talked about being approached about the pictures in the gym lobby not being an excellent representation of the success of the student athletes.

"I pulled a committee together to discuss it and it was agreed that finding a way to recognize more of our athletes is only going to bring more pride and excitement back to Marietta," Venderlic said. "There's something special about walking into your old high school and seeing your picture, your father's picture, your mother's picture, your aunt's and uncle's picture, it brings a sense of pride."

Venderlic said he is working on keeping the 1st team All-Ohio athletes on the wall while adding in the 2nd and 3rd teams.

The next board of education meeting will be March 27 at 6 p.m. at the board offices at 112 Academy Drive. The meeting is open to the public and will be streamed online.

Starting at /week.