MEDINA, Ohio -- Medina City school board members learned why there is a “crime scene” in the high school and briefly heard Superintendent Aaron Sable discuss recently released state report card results during a Monday night meeting (Sept. 16).
The “crime scene” located in the high school’s HUB is part of the Introduction to Biomedical Science course being offered for the first time this year.
The class is part of Project Lead the Way, a national effort to promote STEM learning. It is co-sponsored by the Medina County Career Center. Teachers Victoria Medlock and Justin Brantner said the class is a science elective for freshmen and sophomores; 88 students are enrolled this year.
Bratner said students are learning biological and healthcare skills by completing projects in class, often working in teams. Guest speakers have also come to visit, with Medina Police Detective Mike Wesner discussing how officers process crime scenes.
Unlike typical classes, Medlock said she and Bratner work more as facilitators, with students working together to answer a question they pose to the class. That day in class, Bratner said his students learned about blood splatter analysis used to determine how someone may have died.
At the end of the course, the students will find out the cause of death for Ana Garcia, the “victim.”
A few students also spoke about the class, which they said was a lot different from anything else they have taken.
“You want to learn, you want to know what is going on; it’s an interesting course,” said sophomore Rachel Smith, adding that it was her favorite class and that she looks forward to it.
Report card
Although the Medina City Schools got pretty good “grades” on the state report cards released last week, Sable said they only offer a limited picture of the district’s achievements and are not the only measure of achievement.
“The record of state testing in Ohio is a messy history, especially over the last five to 10 years,” said Sable, which have included changes in what was being tested, as well as different test vendors.
“It’s my opinion that the state has become misguided in how they’re using that data, and trying to convert a student’s academic experience into numbers or grades to share with the public is something that really not possible to do.”
He said he is also critical of third parties ranking districts because it is unfair to compare small, wealthy districts with something like the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, which serves a much different demographic.
Medina overall received a “B," which was calculated using results from six “components” -- achievement, progress, gap closing, improving at-risk K-3 readers, graduation rate and prepared for success.
New hire
The board formally approved the appointment of Jessica Boytim, who will become the new associate principal at Claggett Middle School. Sable said a vacancy opened after Shannon Conley left to become the principal of Buckeye Middle School in western Medina County.
Due to the time of year, the district had some difficulty finding interview candidates and even reached out to other districts to see if they had someone in mind.
Boytim has spent her entire career with the Brunswick City Schools and was the assistant principal at Visintainer Middle School. Sable said the consolidation of Brunswick’s three middle schools into one next year means there will be an administrative shuffle there, opening an opportunity for Medina.
Northrop Elementary Trail
The board approved a $273,000 bid from Vizmeg Landscape Inc. to construct a trail connecting the rear of the Northrop Elementary School property to a parking lot in adjacent Reagan Park, alleviating parking shortages during school events.
Members also approved an easement agreement with the City of Medina for the construction of the trail, as some of the land is on city property. Access to the trail will be blocked off during school hours for safety reasons.
Sable said the first round of bids was thrown out after only one bid was received and was determined to be too high. A second round of bids opened Sept. 13 and had three contractors with lower prices.
Construction is expected to begin soon.
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