LEES CREEK — For the first time, East Clinton schools plan to provide a free meals program on weekdays this summer for all youth 18 and younger.
For several years, Wilmington City Schools has offered the same free summer meal program for children in which the school district gets reimbursed for the cost of providing the food and the children get fed while school is out for the summer. One difference is that East Clinton presently hopes to offer breakfast in addition to lunch.
Children do not have to be on free or reduced meals to receive a meal free of charge in the summer program.
The East Clinton program will begin June 3 and run Mondays through Fridays, ending Aug. 9.
More details will be made available as the program nears. Currently, the meals are expected to be available at the Sabina and New Vienna elementaries, and the main campus in Lees Creek.
An organizer said there’s a lot of volunteers interested from churches in both New Vienna and Sabina, as well as interest from EC teachers.
Also at Tuesday’s school board meeting, East Clinton Superintendent Eric Magee said the number of students interested in Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) courses are fairly low at this point, and district officials consequently are having a conversation about the FCS program.
No decision has been made, he said, but options include reducing the teacher to part-time hours or even eliminating FCS.
Magee said he believes the FCS classes offered at East Clinton High School provide skills that a lot of students need. It would be a shame to not offer those, he added.
FCS teacher Kathy Klimach said parents statewide support FCS’ personal finances management course as a key life skill. That course also has been shown to help with overall math scores, said Klimach.
During the superintendent’s report, Magee said he anticipates recommending to the board of education, probably at next month’s meeting, that East Clinton agricultural education become a satellite program of Great Oaks Career Campuses. The main reason for the change, he said, is to be able to best provide for East Clinton agricultural education students.
There will be no changes in the events or operations of the East Clinton FFA chapter, said Magee. The basic change pertains to funding, and that the agricultural education program will be managed through Great Oaks.
The bottom line, said the East Clinton superintendent, is that Great Oaks will be able to provide for the program everything the students need.
Miami Trace High School in Fayette County made the move two or three years ago, and their administration and teachers are extremely pleased, Magee said.
East Clinton Middle School Principal Robbin Luck announced the school was named the winning school in its market in a United Way of Greater Cincinnati and Cincinnati Bengals character education competition called Character Challenge. The notification to the school specifically mentions the middle school’s bully-proof plan as a model outline for creating a safer and more positive learning environment.
As a reward, students will visit Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati in late May.
High school science teacher Jackie Walker will retire at the end of the school year. She will be “dearly missed,” said McGee.
Several students in the East Clinton Middle School Science Club presented projects at the board session. They are Carman Brown, Mitchell Ellis, Teddy Murphy, Trenten Boggs, Liam McPherson and Timmi Mahanes.
After the board approved Steven Olds to be the new varsity head football coach, McGee said he was at the job interviews and the passion for East Clinton, the kids and the football program presented by Olds was unmatched.
During public participation, East Clinton Class of ’79 alumnus Jim Curtis spoke in favor of improving the district’s outside athletic facilities, an objective he hopes can be funded primarily through community and private donations.
Some of the major Phase 1 improvements identified in conversations with adults and students involved in EC athletics include: Excavate land donated by the Bean Family intended to be used as a football practice field to meet OHSAA field guidelines; buy and install permanent home run fencing on both diamonds; install new scoreboards; erect a centerfield flag pole; replace flooring in boys dugouts with concrete; and add mural paintings on the back of the boys and girls home dugouts.
Reach Gary Huffenberger at 937-556-5768.
