GALION, Ohio – At this month’s meeting, the Galion Board of Education chose Brian Carson to fill the vacant board seat. They also announced that cameras will be installed on 10 of the district’s school busses and learned that students will be taking the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) in place of the Ohio Graduation Test in February.
Brian Carson was sworn in as the newest member of the Galion Board of Education. The board chose Carson after almost three hours of executive session discussing and interviewing seven interested residents. Carson replaces Heath Watkins who resigned his post for personal reasons.
Carson’s term will end December of 2015. In November of 2015 the open seat will be filled by election for the remaining two years of the term (2016-2017).
In other action the board approved a five-year lease agreement with ProVision for bus cameras to be installed on 10 district busses. Each bus would have four cameras which would monitor things like inside activity, bus speed and traffic conditions. Supt. Mark Stefanik added that if there were a traffic incident, the camera would capture license plate information which could then be passed along to the police department.
All cameras are in locked boxes and discipline issues could easily be reviewed with the parents.
Dr. Sandra Powell, director of curriculum, told the board that the new nationwide PARCC test will be administered in February. This test is replacing the Ohio Graduation Test normally given to sophomores each year.
Students will not use pencil and paper. Instead they will take the test on laptops or iPads with plug-in keyboards. Stefanik noted that this test is being reviewed at the state level and it is uncertain if this same test will be given next year.
