Mantua – As this unusual school year draws to a close, Crestwood Schools commemorated their graduates in an unusual manner. Driving by Crestwood High School, you’ll notice school buses parked in the front parking lot. From ground level, you may not notice, but seen from above, thanks to aerial photographer John Rayle, the buses are arranged to display 2020 to commemorate this year’s graduates.
As the school year comes to a close, it was noted that the Crestwood Nutrition team distributed 7,000 meals to students in the community, as of the end of May. In other news, the school board acknowledged the retirement of several long-time staff members. Debbie Birch retired after 30 years of service, while Joanne Bockmuller spent 24 years at Crestwood Schools. Margaret Franks retired after 21 years, Elizabeth Marlow after 34 years, and Dianna Mattmuller retired after 24 years of service. The board expressed their gratitude for their many years of devoted service to the district.
Looking ahead to the 2020-21 school year, Superintendent David Toth noted that although the Governor hasn’t yet made any decisions, the Center for Disease Control recently released some guidelines for K – 12 schools. These guidelines are ranked according to potential risk; not surprisingly, the lowest risk is for schools to provide online instruction. Another option of returning with smaller classes, where students remain with the same teacher and group of students all day in socially distant groups, provides a mid-range risk. The highest risk was accessed to returning with full-size classes, where students are in contact with other students. According to Toth, next year will most likely involve “some kind of hybrid solution”. Meanwhile, the district has formed a task force, which includes teachers, bus drivers, counselors, cafeteria workers and others to plan for potential scenarios to educate and protect students and staff during the coming school year.
In other news, the board voted unanimously to a reduction of an administrator, Kimberly Ule, due to budget constraints. Ms. Ule ran the Surround Care before and after school care program and the Summer Camp program on behalf of the district. Lastly, the board approved a Memorandum of Understanding with the Crestwood Education Association, the terms of which can be found at the district website.
The next regular School Board meeting will be held on June 9th at 7 pm. Please visit crestwoodschools.org to learn whether the meeting will take place virtually or in person.
