By Staff Reports
During its May 10 meeting, the school board for the City of Martinsville took the following actions:
*Recognized 7th grader Grader Marjorie Davis as the winner of the “If I Were Mayor” contest.
“I just want to thank my teachers because I couldn’t do it without their help,” Davis said. “This is a good honor.”
*Recognized Aaron Dalton, the senior student school board representative. Dalton will be attending Emory & Henry in the fall to play soccer.
*Heard from Dr. Tamra Vaughan, coordinator of Academic Interventions, Title III, Foreign Language, and Mentoring, regarding mental health awareness.
“As educators, we recognize that positive mental health is essential to a child’s healthy development in school success,” Vaughan said. “This past year, it has been even more important. This past year, our faculty, staff, students and their families have been through so much. This has taken a toll on their mental health at times.”
Theme for May is “Tools to Thrive,” and to help combat negative mental health trends, the school system engaged in activities like putting cards on cars, offering “good food” incentives, virtual staff events and other morale boosting competitions. Self-care assessments were also issued, according to Vaughan.
*Heard from Elizabeth Fulcher, coordinator of career development and STEM.
Elementary school STEM camps will be held June 7-10 and June 14-17 at Patrick Henry and Albert Harris elementary schools. Robotics camps will also be held for elementary school students from June 7-24, for kindergarten through 2nd grade from June 21-24, and for middle school students from June 14-24.
*Heard from T.J. Slaughter, director of school safety and emergency management, about the Senior Victory Parade, which will take place 30 minutes after graduation at the high school on May 22. The route will go from the high school through Uptown Martinsville. Seniors are encouraged to decorate their cars and to carpool. No extra family vehicles will be allowed. Seniors without a valid driver’s license or necessary accommodations can ride along with a parent/guardian. Families should line up along Main Street or Church Street to view the parade.
*Approved the FY22 Perkins V Application Request. The funds will be allocated as such: $11,000 for professional development activities of career and technical education (CTE) teachers, administrator to attend state, regional, and national professional organization conferences and other workshops related to CTE; $33,684.19 to modernize and improve all CTE programs by purchasing state of the art equipment, instructional software, and relevant technology. All equipment purchased will come from the state approved equipment list; $9,000 to support a Career Counselor at Martinsville High School through our partnership with Patrick Henry Community College that helps promote Career and Technical Education primarily in support of special populations and non-traditional students in order to ensure they are aware of their opportunities pertaining to CTE; $16,000 to financially assist qualified students for CTSO registration, travel, lodging, for state and/or national conferences. This includes special populations and non-traditional students; $6,000 to financially assist one CTSO adviser’s registration, travel, lodging for state and/or national conferences per organization, per event; $2,500 to supplement local funding of industry credential exams for CTE students; and $3,480 for Administration/Administrative Equipment or Purchased Services.
*Approved the 2021-2022 Gifted Plan.
*Upcoming dates include Virtual Big “M” Awards, on Thursday, May 13. The Superintendent’s Breakfast will be held Monday, May 17. The last day of school will be Friday, May 21 and the parade and graduation will be Saturday, May 22. The next regular school board meeting will be Monday, June 14.
