MOUNT VERNON — Monday’s meeting of the Mount Vernon City Schools Board of Education included a substantial amount of public participation.
Community members, school board members, administrators and staff were literally and actively involved at one point as they joined fifth-grade music students, under the direction of music teacher Sarah Reyes, in demonstrating music literacy activities which regularly occur in the classroom. The audience portion focused on rhythm and tempo, and the students also showcased their ability to read music and identify major and minor scales.
Sandra Finnell was the recipient of the Behind the Scenes award from East Elementary School. Principal Eric Brown said Finnell has been very active with the PTO for many years, and has helped with a major PTO initiative to provide technology, both software and hardware, for the entire building.
Ohio’s Distinguished Young Woman Kinsey Crow was also at the meeting. She was presented with a board resolution honoring her accomplishment, and Crow thanked the school board, her teachers and the Mount Vernon community for giving her the prerequisites and opportunities necessary to achieve that honor.
Rev. Robert Alexander of the South Vernon United Methodist Church told the board it would be making a “terrible mistake” if it closed Columbia Elementary.
Closing certain buildings is one of the cost containment measures the board is considering, but has made no decision to date.
