MANSFIELD — The Mansfield City School Board passed a contingency plan Tuesday night allowing students to earn credit while learning from a distance during the remainder of the school year.
The board, which met online in a meeting shown on the district Facebook page, met after the scheduled April 21 meeting was postponed by technical difficulties.
The unanimously approved contingency plan permits students to make up and complete hours of instruction during COVID-19 as stated in Ohio House Bill 197.
Stephen Rizzo, director of curriculum, said fourth-quarter grades will be pass or fail, but students need to continue collecting credits towards graduation.
“Students must pass five classes this semester to be eligible for athletics and extra curricular activities,” Rizzo said.
The contingency plan, in agreement with the Ohio Department of Education and Governor Mike Dewine’s recommendations, includes course work being issued to students and teacher-student interactions with high school and middle school students.
There will also be class work for those students to be done online.
“Academically, this has an impact on our students,” superintendent Stan Jefferson said of fourth-quarter grades. “We have to look at the fourth quarter as being school work that we are doing in order for us to obtain credits in order to move on to the next level, not just busy work.”
In other news, board member Chris Elswick asked parents and students to pay attention to the school district website for scholarships, which will still be given out this year.
The board voted unanimously to repair the roof of Malabar Intermediate during the summer and build three safety vestibules.
The portion of the roof will replace the original 1962 10,000-foot covering over the cafeteria. The board will work with Alumni Roofing in July. This project will cost $90,000, according to Bob Booth, the district’s facility manager.
The district will also work to secure visiting vestibules in three district buildings, a safety measure deemed necessary for student and staff protection. The price of these projects and in which buildings they will take place was not discussed in the meeting.
