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EAST PALESTINE -- A culture of encouragement and kindness is being built at East Palestine Elementary. That was the key takeaway from Principal Rob Clumen's presentation at Monday's East Palestine Board of Education meeting as the elementary school and a few of its students stepped into the spotlight.
Clumen was joined by members of the Principal Advisory Council, a committee of students who collaborate with staff to come up with ways to better the school, as he discussed other ways the school promotes positive behavior. One of those ways is the issuing of positive action slips to the students by teachers when a positive act is observed. The student is further recognized during the morning announcements.
"The school year isn't half over yet and we have given out over 1,000 positive action slips so far this year," Clumen said.
Clumen also explained positive office referrals. Just like a negative referral, students are called to the office, but instead of talking about changing behavior, a student's positive behavior is commended and a token for the book vending machine given. A call home follows the office visit to acknowledge the good actions of the student. Other ways the elementary encourages positive actions is through the Student of the Month selection and the attendance HERO (Here Everyday On Time) program. Students are also taught the value of kindness and gratitude. Recently, the fourth-grade students learned how to write thank-you letters. Some of those students were on hand to share those letters with the board.
"We are responsible for putting the academic pieces together, but as Mr. Clumen explained tonight, We also focus on the whole child," East Palestine Superintendent Chris Neifer said. "We certainly have a lot of great students and the elementary school is doing a great job of building that foundation for doing great things later in life."
In other news, Neifer reported the district held a resource symposium to better educate staff to the resources available in the wake of COVID pandemic and more recently the Feb. 3 train derailment.
"We want to make sure that we are efficiently utilizing everything that is available to us," he said. "In light of COVID and the derailment, there are a lot of resources out there that were not available before."
Neifer also discussed possible upgrades to the school-based health center in partnership with Akron Children's Hospital through a $250,000 grant. If the district receives the grant, the finds will be used to remodel the classroom that houses the clinic and purchase new equipment.
The board also tackled several personnel items. Among those items was accepting the retirement resignation of Greg Reeves (Technology) with his last day set for Dec. 19. The board expressed regret in losing Reeves as a staff member, commended him on his career to East Palestine and wished him the best in future endeavors. In standard practice, the board non-renewed 19 fall sports supplemental contracts while approving several winter/spring sport contracts -- Clarence Andre (high school softball), Logan Cope (high school softball), Bonnie Sansenbaugher (high school track), Brian Geiss (high school track), Levi Kunselman (middle school track), Calum Watt (middle school track), Jordan Baker (middle school football), Jim Young (high school football), Ben Ratner (high school soccer), Tristen Reynolds (high school baseball), Jim Young (high school track), Jimmy Young (high school track) and Will Ginder (middle school basketball). The board also approved the following volunteers: Billy Marvin (high school baseball), Shane Hamner (track), Mary Jane Gingher (high school softball), Kenzee Johnston (high school softball) and Jen Andre (high school softball). In related matters, the board approved maternity leave for an employee.
The board also passed the revised and updated board policies and approved four open-enrollment students.
The board will next meet Jan. 8 at 6 p.m. for an organizational meeting, followed immediately by the regular January meeting.
selverd@mojonews.com