The Miami East seniors and chaperones who visited New York City pictured in front of the back of the George M. Cohan statue, a composer, which is located at Duffy Square. The front Row includes Matthew Osting, left to right, Luke Brunke, Makya Updyke, Connor Dalton, Owen VanHorn, Evan Malott, Tyler Motter, and Oscar Cashaw III. In the second Rowis Cynde Sroufe, left to right, Keyara Davis, Ava Rudy, Alicya Kearns, Ava Jacomet, Delaney Osborne, Sumsaar Thapa, Sarah Weaver, Annabelle Penny, and Rachel Haak. In the third Row is Jayne Clapper, left to right, Sheri Kearns, Claire Posey, Shelby Preston, Emma Ward, Jessica Linn, Rachel Latimer, Katy Jacomet, Noelle Mumpower-Davis, and Michael Morrow. The Fourth Row has Sharon Preston, left to right, Wendy Brunke, Annika Paton, Kristy Hurst, Lauren Barnes, Madeleine Latimer, Avery Roberts, Laurie Haak, and Sara Paton.
Submitted photo
By Haylee Pence
CASSTOWN – Twenty-five of Miami East’s senior class recently traveled to New York City to experience “big city life.”
The students were able to visit the Rockefeller Plaza, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island Museum, the New World Trade Center, the 9/11 Memorial Plaza, the Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, Central Park, and much more. The students and chaperones were led around the area by New Yorker, Michael Morrows, who acted as the group’s tour guide.
All students and chaperones traveled via airplane, which allowed for several students to experience their first flight.
Two students, Ava Jacomet and Luke Brunke, both seniors, spoke to the Miami East Board of Education at its May 22 meeting and thanked them for their support.
Jacomet said, “We were able to learn and have fun doing it.”
Along with their comments, the board was able to watch a presentation of pictures from the trip.
Then, High School Principal Todd Gentis discussed the senior award night in which over $298,000 in scholarships were given to seniors.
The graduation of 107 seniors will be held at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 26. Prior to graduation, the board approved the early release of seniors for three days starting May 23.
The board approved four teaching positions including Jenna Coomes as the seventh and eighth grade English teacher, Kelly Naylor as the physical education/health instructor for the high school, Ashley Thompson as a special education instructor for the elementary school, and Alex Nees as the high school social studies teacher.
They also approved two letters of resignation. One from Daniel Peterson as the high school social studies teacher, and the other from Sara Hufford as the elementary school’s educational aide.
Other teaching contracts, tutoring contracts, and supplemental contracts were all approved by the board. The supplemental contracts are for sports, extracurricular activities, and clubs.
The random drug testing policy was approved for the 2023-2024 school year. The program is to drug test from a pool of students regularly to “establish a truly drug and alcohol free school program,” stated in the resolution. The pool of students includes athletes, students in extracurricular activities, and volunteers. According to the policy, the types of testing include random testing, parental opt-in testing, and self-referrals. Parental opt-in testing would allow parents to voluntarily include their children in the next testing. The self-referral is when a student comes forward to admit a substance abuse problem prior to knowing about the testing.
The board also approved the usage of E-Calamity days, the 2023-2024 school calendar, the second phase of the flooring project, phase five of the LED lighting project, and the purchase of K-5 math curriculum from McGraw Hill.
