By: James Pruitt
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
The new school bus routes for Edon School have been established and officials are pleased with the results.
The first bus arrives at the school each day at 7:41 a.m. and the last by 7:45. There was an adjustment made after it was determined that 70 children ride the new town route and the bus was not big enough.
Still, no student has to ride the bus for longer than an hour, Granger said.
“The drivers are driving more than an hour,” he said.
Granger said he likes the town route. The kids able to get to the house they belong to with adult eyes on them, he said.
Another change is that no staff cars are parked out front of the school.
“We can have eyes on the loop,” Granger said. “We know who the visitors are.”
The district is taking Bus 31 out of the fleet as repairs are no longer financially feasible, Granger said. There is also a hole in the frame. The bus will be used to provide spare parts for a similar bus in the fleet.
“It’s officially retired,” Granger said.
In a related note, the district will develop a plan to replace the school van.
High School Principal Anthony Stevens said his area had a successful start to the school year.
On Aug. 26, nearly every girl in grades 9-12 participated in a self-defense course, Stevens said. The course was two hours long with grades 9-10 in one group and 11-12 in another, he said.
“They stressed the idea of being aware of your surroundings,”Stevens said. “That becomes more important, especially to our girls in grades 11 and 12, looking at what they are doing post-high school.
The course was positively received around the community, Stevens said. People have gone out of their way to tell him what a good idea it was to have the class, he said.
The girls received two hours of instruction in self-defense. The program was the idea Mrs. Everett and Mrs. McBride. It was a joint effort of FFA and the Butterfly Project, he said.
“It was to the benefit of our young ladies; it was hands-on practical knowledge,” Stevens said. “The reality is there are times whey they are traveling by themselves and vulnerable to this kind of scenario.”
The high school is developing a dual sport participation policy and has completed a proposed addendum to the handbooks. While it has been done successfully other places the school wants to make sure if it occurs in Edon, it’s right for the student, Stevens said. The idea would be to limit participation, he said.
“Not to put a student in a bad situation,” Stevens said. “It’s not for everyone, two can be an immense weight.
“The idea is to develop a process for having those conversations, and allowing students who are capable to be involved.”
Participation will take a backseat to academics.
High school juniors will be taking the ACT this year. The staff is working on ways to prepare and motivate the students leading up to the college-entrance exam.
“We are planning on taking all our juniors to Defiance College for a test run,” Stevens said.
The test will be offered free to all students to eliminate a barrier to accessing the test. The practice run will let the school know what areas it needs to work on.
The test will be done on paper to keep the format consistent for students, Stevens said.
“We will be bringing kids from 4 County back for this test,” Stevens said
Other news:
Enrollment is at 556, up from 521 at the end of the 2015-15 school year, Granger said.
“We saw a difference in the high school classes,” he said.
Granger will start work on the 2017-18 calendar. It will be same as this year.
The Edon school district will be receiving an upgrade in technology and will give the old equipment to Goodwill, Granger said.
James Pruitt may be reached at
publisher@thevillagereporter.com