WATERFORD - Members of the Wolf Creek Local Board of Education and assembled parents and guests were treated to a lesson in parliamentary procedure Monday night, as students from Waterford High School's FFA chapter conducted a mock meeting before the board's regular meeting.
Given 15 minutes to conduct their business meeting, the eight FFA members banged the gavel to signal the meeting's start, studied the agenda items for their mock meeting and weighed the pros and cons of taking an imaginary tour of the Columbus Zoo when attending an Ohio FFA convention.
Megan Whalin, the group's vice president, announced to the crowd "I now declare this meeting adjourned," to a round of audience applause.
As the actual Wolf Creek board meeting began, Waterford Elementary School Principal Doug Baldwin reported that students and student council members had packed 23 shoe boxes for the Operation Christmas Child program.
In addition, elementary school children will hold an annual food drive for the Beverly-Waterford Food Pantry from Dec. 10 to 19. The food drive's goal is to donate approximately 3,000 items to the food pantry, Baldwin said.
Well over 50 percent of students in grades three to six at the elementary school-210 in all-made the honor roll for the first nine weeks of school, Baldwin reported.
Waterford High School's new fieldhouse will include 75 to 80 wooden lockers being mostly funded by alumni donations, said Superintendent Bob Caldwell.
The lockers will be built free of charge by inmates at a nearby correctional facility. No further information was given about the facility.
When a few of the lockers have been built, athletic coaches will make a more detailed presentation to board members.
The lockers are expected to take two to three months to complete, in time "for this spring's sports season," said Caldwell.
Caldwell and board members Hugh Arnold, Roger Doak and Neil Huck attended the Ohio School Board Association's conference from Nov. 11 to 13, Caldwell noted in his superintendent's report.
The annual conference is held to promote the professional development of school board members, Caldwell said.
"I want to encourage all board members to consider going if they have time," Doak said.
Caldwell also discussed a possible application for a "third grade reading" grant that would help intervene with readers in kindergarten to third grades, in an effort to keep them from being retained because they may not meet the "third grade reading guarantee."
The state-mandated reading guarantee requires children to meet a certain level of proficiency in reading or face repeating the third grade.
