Grad changes will wait

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FORT RECOVERY — Graduation requirements won’t be changing; at least not yet.

Fort Recovery School Board on Tuesday decided to hold off on allowing students to use computer science as a substitute for math until more curriculum information is available.

Fort Recovery High School principal Marcus Overman brought Ohio House Bill 170, which was passed by the House last summer and Senate in December, to the attention of the board. The legislation gives school districts the option to let students substitute a computer science course for Algebra II as a graduation requirement.

Overman noted his concern about making such a change without first seeing the computer science curriculum, which is still being developed. He also noted that Algebra II is typically a required course for college admittance.

“I would hate for a student to be able to graduate and not take algebra II by taking basic typing,” said Overman, who also noted that at this time the district does not have a teacher licensed to teach computer science. “I want to make sure that rigor is still there.”He recommended holding off on any changes until the computer science curriculum is complete, and board members Mitch Ervin, Jose Faller, Mike Grube, Nick Wehrkamp and Greg LeFevre concurred with the idea.

In other business, the board:

•Elected Ervin president and Faller vice president, and swore in Wehrkamp and LeFevre as new members.

•Approved a request for a 100-percent, 10-year tax abatement for Cheeseman Trucking, which is in the process of a $1.7 million expansion. The abatement had already been approved by the county and Recovery Township.

•Heard updates from superintendent Justin Firks on several upcoming events. Former Fort Recovery boys basketball coach Al Souder will be honored at Saturday’s boys basketball game, school board members will be recognized at the June 27 boys basketball game and a staff development day is slated for Feb. 16.

•Hired Kylee Moody as high school track coach, Christy Diller as junior high track coach and Vickie Jutte as a substitute teacher.

•Appointed Daniel Carr to a five-year term on Fort Recovery Park Board.

•Approved the following: setting the board’s regular meetings for 6:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month; Grube as the board’s legislative liaison for the Ohio School Board Association’s Capital Conference in November with Ervin as the alternate; LeFevre as the 2018 student achievement liaison; an advanced draw on 2018 Mercer and Darke county tax collections for the general fund, bond retirement and classroom facilities maintenance fund; permanent appropriations for fiscal 2018, including an additional $10,000 for preschool salaries;