The Mansfield City Schools Board of Education has approved a partnership with Ohio State University-Mansfield at the Springmill Learning Center.
During its regular monthly meeting Tuesday night the board also filled three administrative vacancies and heard a report about district-wide technology upgrades.
OSU-Mansfield will locate its Math Literacy Center at Springmill under terms of a one-year agreement-for-services contract, effective Sept. 1, which can be renewed annually.
Professors Lee McEwan and Terri Bucci, co-directors of the math center, will have their offices at Springmill. OSU-Mansfield also will pay the cost of a fulltime “content and administrative expert” who will support the math center while also working to develop and market Springmill.
The district will be responsible for utilities, custodial services and technology support.
“This partnership with OSU-Mansfield is a great opportunity for Mansfield City Schools,” Superintendent Brian Garverick said. “Springmill is our facility and our priority will be maximum use of Springmill by our students. Working directly with OSU-Mansfield’s Math Literacy Center also will create additional professional development opportunities for our teachers.
“The fulltime person hired to support the math center also will assist in the implementation of a curriculum guide for use of Springmill’s science and math galleries and develop a marketing plan for revenue-producing visits by other schools.”
Bucci, who serves on the Springmill Steering Committee, said work on curriculum development continues. The committee includes MCS board members Renda Cline and Monica Hubbard, OSU-Mansfield faculty and community members.
McEwan and Bucci have worked with teachers over the last several years as part of the district’s participation in The Algebra Project, a national nonprofit math initiative.
In other action, the board approved the hiring of Robert McQuate as assistant principal of Mansfield Middle School. He most recently served as education director at Abraxas near Shelby.
Board members also OK’d the hiring of Kim Johnson, a former kindergarten teacher, as interim assistant principal at Sherman Elementary School, and Jason Douglas as interim principal of the Hedges Campus. Douglas formerly taught at Prospect Elementary and served in an administrative role at the Elective Academy.
David Rose, president of City Mills Technology, provided an update on technology improvements throughout the district. He said scores of desktop computers have been upgraded and new ones added, while obsolete models have been discarded.
Rose told the board that security cameras at Mansfield Senior High School are back in service and said software upgrades have improved computer use at many buildings. City Mills also is working with teachers at Senior High to explore the use of student hand-held devices to facilitate classroom instruction.
Teacher Leslie Nielsen reported on engineering classes for eighth-graders and Senior High students as the program enters its third year. Nielsen, who uses the national Project Lead The Way curriculum, stressed the continued importance of attracting more young people – particularly girls and minority students – to the potential of engineering careers.
She said the program is supported by an advisory committee of local business and industry leaders who say the development of skilled engineers is essential to their future in Mansfield.
Present for Tuesday’s meeting were board president Renda Cline and members Dina Davis and Cliff Crose. Chris Elswick and Monica Hubbard were absent.
The board’s next scheduled meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Sept. 16 at the Raemelton administration building.