Tipp BOE OKs bridge contract, curriculum updates

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By Amantha Garpiel

[email protected]

TIPP CITY — During the Tipp City Board of Education’s work session, the board approved a motion to provide a bridge contract to the new superintendent Aaron Moran. The board also heard numerous department updates from teachers and staff.

Following an executive session, the board approved a motion to extend a bridge contract to Moran that would allow him to act as a consultant to the board and district from March 20 to July 31, 2023 when his superintendent contract takes effect.

The curriculum updates for multiple departments included information on how each department works to maintain vertical alignment between Tippecanoe Middle School and Tippecanoe High School. The updates from school counselors focused on standards, vertical alignment, social and emotional support, academic and career support.

For the family and consumer sciences (FCS) department, Jessica Ralston shared updates with the board. FCS maintains vertical alignment in the topics of personal finance, Career Connections and Ohio Means Jobs, American/Global Cuisine, American and global cuisine, nutrition and wellness, fashion and interior design and FCCLA. One example of vertical alignment Ralston provided is the shared curriculum of food safety and sanitation between seventh grade and high school.

Ralston also shared some improvements including the inclusion of Business University, personal finance lab with new budgeting and stock market simulations, new personal finance software and more.

Then Dana Hardyman shared updates from the business department. In a few weeks, the business department curriculum will be under revision by the state. The department recently brought in SchooLinks to help track the Ohio Means Jobs Readiness programs and the 14 skills that the students must earn. The department also utilizes Pathful which has been beneficial in the required Career Connections class due to the numerous career experience videos and how to videos covering life skills not often taught in traditional school curriculum, such as changing a tire or unclogging a sink.

On April 19, the department will host their spring mock interview series where students meet with area professionals for what Hardyman referred to as “speed interviewing.”

In the technology department, Pam Staub shared the four categories the department focuses on within their goals of vertical alignment. The categories are: computer programming, design process, internet of things (IOT) and computer application. Each category includes courses with varying levels of difficulty as the students grow in their abilities.

Some improvements in the technology department include a technology club being offered to fourth and fifth graders, new technology additions and innovations, College Credit Plus and AP courses and updated digital safety and cyber security.

Rachel Everhart presented on behalf of all school counselors in the district. The counseling departments standards are: curriculum development, individual student planning, academic and behavioral intervention, partnerships and referrals and continuous improvement. The department achieves these standards by focusing on academic success through individual student meetings and collaboration with parents, teachers and administrators; career preparation with career exploration through field trips and career days; and behavioral wellness by collaborating with New Creation Counseling and providing individual social and emotional counseling.

More in-depth information on each of these department updates is available on the Tipp City Board of Education’s BoardDocs website, https://go.boarddocs.com/oh/tipp/Board.nsf/Public, on the agenda for the Tuesday, April 4, work session meeting under item 2B.

Due to the passing of House Bill 123: Safety and Violence Education Students (SAVE Students) Act, each school district, beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, must provide additional health education on the topics of suicide awareness and prevention, safety training and violence prevention and social inclusion. On this topic, the board received a presentation from Dawn Scott on which educational programs, provided by the state, that would best fit Tipp City Schools.

Scott presented two programs, “Erika’s Lighthouse,” which will cover safety and suicide prevention, and “Start With Hello” to cover social inclusion.

“Start With Hello” is a program to empower students to recognize loneliness and social isolation in their peers and offers effective strategies to reach out and help with the final goal of helping to create an empathetic and inclusive community. This program will be taught to students in grade-level assemblies for students at Tippecanoe High School and a school-wide assembly at Tippecanoe Middle School.

“Erika’s Lighthouse,” will be taught in grad-level assemblies at the high school and in classroom section at the middle school, to allow for smaller groups and more questions at the middle school, and will help teach students to recognize the signs of depression and how to say something to a trusted adult.

In other business:

• The board heard from Scott on the change from advanced physics to AP physics 1 at the high school. This change would allow juniors and seniors who take AP physics 1 to potentially earn college credit.

• The board approved the adoption of the curriculum maps and standards presented by the school counseling, business, technology and family and consumer sciences departments.

• Board members approved two overnight or out of state trips; one for the FCCLA State Leadership Conference in Columbus from April 27 to 28 and one for the Business Professionals of America Nationals in Anaheim, California. from April 25 to May 1.

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