Calamity Days to Keep Mansfield City Schools Open through June 4
Mansfield City Schools students will remain in school through June 4 to make up time lost to weather-related closings.
Superintendent Brian Garverick made the announcement at Tuesday’s board of education meeting during which the board also approved district calendars for the next two years, heard a Career Technical Education update and honored four Tyger athletes.
All schools were closed for 13 days from November through February but the elementary buildings, which do not have air-conditioning, were closed three additional days due to extreme heat soon after the school year started.
“We had a record number of calamity days this year,” Garverick said. “Closing schools is not always an easy decision to make but it’s done with the safety of students and staff as top priority.”
Mansfield City Schools operates on a state-required number of instructional hours for the school year – 920 hours at the primary level, 1,001 hours at the secondary level. Because the district has more than the minimum number of hours built into its school days, the end of school for students will be extended by only two days, from Friday, May 31, to Tuesday, June 4. The district made up one day on March 8 when a professional day for staff was cancelled in favor of having schools open.
“June 4 will be the last day for students. A professional development day for staff is set for June 5 and the last day for teachers will be June 6,” Garverick said.
District calendars for the next two years were unanimously approved by the board.
The 2019-2020 calendar sets the first day for students on Thursday, Aug. 22, and the last day on Monday, June 1. Thanksgiving break will be Nov. 27-29. December 20 will be a staff-only professional development day, followed by winter break from Dec. 23 through Jan. 3. Spring break will be April 10-17.
For the 2020-2021 school year, students’ first day will be Wednesday, Aug. 26, and their last day on Thursday, June 3. Thanksgiving break will be Nov. 25-27. December 18 will be a staff-only professional development day, followed by winter break from Dec. 21 through Jan. 1. Spring break will be April 2-9.
In other action, Scott Musser, director of the Career Technical Education program at Mansfield Senior High, told the board the emphasis is moving beyond classroom and laboratory instruction in the 11 programs for juniors and seniors.
“We are saying to students, ‘What is your next step?’ If it is college, we will help them complete applications and financial aid forms,” Musser said. “If it is employment after high school we will help them show industry credentials. We want students to develop longtime careers.”
Musser said the CTE program also helps students recover academic credits for graduation and take advantage of college credit opportunities. Some courses offer state certification or licensing before graduation. Health technology students can be certified as state-tested nursing assistants (STNAs), while cosmetology students can test for their state license.
“The CTE program is important for the community too because it increases the number of trained and employable people,” Musser said. “It is a pipeline for workers in areas of demand. The future of Mansfield is in our classrooms today.”
The board also heard an update about the Mansfield Rising campaign from Ali Watson of the Richland County Foundation.
Watson said the 68-page plan incorporates 39 proposals for improvement and development in the city. It was formulated by 15 community leaders who gained ideas by attended the recent South By Southwest conference in Austin, Texas. Twenty-eight advisers are working to implement the plan, she said.
Mansfield Rising has four core principles, Watson said. They are:
-- Downtown is everyone’s neighborhood.
-- Big-city amenities with a small-town feel.
-- Sustainable change will be incremental.
-- Place-making is economic development.
The entire plan can be viewed on the Richland County Foundation website, RCF.org
Four Tyger athletes received framed certificates and congratulations from the board for outstanding achievement. Introduced individually by Garverick, they included:
-- Josh Lyons -- This past season Lyons became the first junior in Mansfield Senior High wrestling history to record 100 wins. He is one of only eight Tygers in the century club. He qualified for the Division II state wrestling tournament earlier this month with a record of 33-7.
-- Talayzha Catchings -- In January Catchings, a senior guard, became only the fifth player in Lady Tyger basketball history to score 1,000 points in her Senior High career. A four-year letter winner, she was named to the 2019 District 6 Division II first team. She finished her career with 1,067 points.
-- DaQuan Hilory -- In his final basketball game for Senior High, Hilory scored 18 points in the District II district tournament semifinal to finish his Tyger career with exactly 1,000 points. He is only the eighth Tyger to reach that plateau. He was named to the 2019 District 6 Division II first team.
-- Mekhi Bradley – Bradley represented Mansfield Middle School in the OAC Junior High School state wrestling tournament in Youngstown last weekend. An OCC champion this year, he entered the state tournament with a record of 33-0 with 31 pins.