By Blythe Alspaugh
TIPP CITY — Potential changes and additions to the curriculum at Tipp City Schools were presented to the Board of Education at Monday’s regular meeting.
The presentation was lead by Dawn Scott, director of curriculum and instruction, with Tippecanoe High School Principal Daniel Barnes, Tippecanoe Middle School Principle Diane Voress, and Business Technology Chair Pam Staub in attendance.
Proposed changes for the 2022-2023 curriculum at the middle and high school level include removing courses that had low enrollment numbers, combining courses with overlapping content to make it more efficient for student and staff members, adding electives based on student interest, and adding AP Music Theory and AP Calculus BC. A STEAM course (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics) was also added for sixth graders as a rotation-based, inter-disciplinary course with a project-based focus.
Another proposed change focused on college and career readiness in the form of a graduation requirement. The new proposed course is titled “Career Exploration” and would be available to Tippecanoe freshmen and sophomores. In the course, students would earn the OhioMeansJobs State Seal, which would help toward fulfilling graduation requirements beginning in Ohio in 2023, where students will have to earn two diploma seals to demonstrate important foundational and well-rounded academic and technical knowledge, professional skills, social and emotional competencies, and leadership and reasoning skills.
“In this course, all of our Tipp City students would earn this seal, and this course focuses on skills that students need for their future,” Scott said.
Skills taught through the course include responsibility, developing a work ethic, professionalism, and learning to write resumes. Additionally, counselors will meet with students to discuss the newly required graduation success plans, which will help students structure a four-year plan designed to suit their specific path and interests following graduation.
“That’s one of the things Ohio is moving toward is our personal pathways for our students. No matter what their future entails, students would be getting guidance in this class and with counselors in order to develop their best four-year plan for their future opportunity that matches their interests and their dreams,” Scott said.
Within the course, counselors would also help freshmen with utilizing the NAVIANCE system within THS early on. The NAVIANCE system is used for career interest surveys and college applications, which would get freshmen familiar with navigating the system early in their high school career and will help them down the road as they start to pursue their post-graduation options.
At the middle school level, proposed additions include a life-skills class as an elective for sixth grade students and a family and consumer science course for eighth grade students on a quarterly rotation. The life-skills class will help students think about their personality and career interests, whereas the family and consumer science course will be a requirement and have an emphasis in career exploration and financial literacy.
“That’s all part of our college and career readiness plan that our district is looking at. It really helps students build confidence and gain a more specific vision, and the courses that they do need in order to meet their future goals, and all of these courses work together to do that,” Scott said.
The board also approved the following items at Monday’s meeting:
• The 2022-2023 Tipp City Schools Gifted Education Plan was unanimously approved;
• The 2022-2023 Tippecanoe Middle School and High School Program of Studies was unanimously approved;
• A total of $12,049 in grant dollars from the Tippecanoe Educational Endowment was unanimously accepted;
• Nathan Elkins was hired as a second shift custodial worker for LT Ball;
• Heather Bledsoe, Ashley Gifford, Aaron Jackson, Mallory Normile, Tracy Oldiges and April R. Taylor were unanimously approved as 3rd Grade Reading Guarantee Tutors;
• Misty Gibson, Andy Gogora, Laura Kraus, Julieanne Philips, Randy Scott, Jaden Stine and Ashley Wright were approved to be substitute teachers and/or aides in a 2-3-0 vote, with board members Amber Drum and Richard Mains voting for the motion and board members Theresa Dunaway, Anne Zakkour and president Simon Patry abstaining;
• The resignation of High School Varsity Girls Head Soccer Coach Brandon Baker was unanimously approved;
• Certified long-term substitutes Jessica Milano and Bruce Cahill were approved in a 2-3-0 vote, with Drum and Mains voting for the motion and Dunaway, Zakkour and Patry abstaining;
• FMLA requests for Deb Baker, Ashley Black, Jenny K. Brown, Kayla Heisey, Renee D. Johnson, Shelby Walters and Tony Wells were unanimously approved;
• A total of $8,320.73 in grant dollars from the Tipp Foundation was unanimously accepted;
• A total of $498.54 of Monroe Township’s repurposed Cares Act Funds to the touchless water fountains to cover 100% of the 14 new units for the district was unanimously accepted;
• Beth Weaver was unanimously approved as a Tipp City Library Board of Trustee nominee; and
• Patry was unanimously approved to represent the board of education at the Library Trustee Swearing-In Ceremony at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 10.
The Tipp City Board of Education’s February work session was rescheduled for Monday, Feb. 7 at 5 p.m. The next regular meeting of the Board of Education will be held Monday, Feb. 28 at 6 p.m.
