Mt. View board recognizes students, staff; talks dress code

The Mountain View School Board meeting opened with a Pride in Mountain View section of presentations and recognitions.

The National Science Federation Polar Trek presented a certificate and a Braille plaque to paraeducator Veronica Thomas and her student, Keyonna Snedeker, who is visually impaired and learning Braille. Last year, Thomas received a grant for her work with visually impaired students. Thomas used the funding to purchase eyeglasses which simulated the visual perception of a student like Keyonna, so that her classmates could understand what it was like to have impaired vison.

Part of the funding was used for Braille lessons for Keyonna and for enlargements of school materials for her use. Since then, Keyonna demonstrated her skills in braille, and Mike Penn, one of the 11 teachers who went to the South Pole with the NSF Polar Trek, corresponded with her.

“We are presenting Keyonna with a certificate from the school board for becoming a worldwide force,” said Voigt.

The students involved in the Energy Savings Group/Mountain View School

District’s Renewable Energy Student Project gave a presentation of their project, “The Quest to Achieve Net Zero.” The Mountain View engineering team designed a solar/wind energy system which was recently installed at the high school and attempted to power their classroom from this. While they did not achieve “net zero”, the group did learn a lot about how to cut energy costs. They noted that it is very difficult to save on electricity in particular, as it is so inexpensive here, but they were able to realize a $70 recoup of energy costs.

Students participating in the project included engineering team Ryan Henke, Douglas Smith and Deanna Holbert; construction team Nathan Ofalt, Victoria Pellew, and Meredih Zrowka, and Measurement/Verification team Madison Williams and Kayla Ward.

Change orders were approved for the ESG project for cafeteria HVAC in the high school, kitchen unit refurbishment, nurses room air conditioning, replace UVs in Rooms 216, 217 and 1672, exterior door replacements, doors and entrance floor repair, canopy, kitchen tile floor installation, test well, baseball and softball field renovations.

A second reading was held of the Social Media policy; and there was a discussion of Policy 221 Dress and Grooming.

High school principal Robert Presley said that the new policy was partly because, five years ago, he asked the school board if it was possible for him to allow students to have a nose stud. “I brought it to the board, and we had to write a whole new policy,” he said. Currently, the major issues are the collared shirt rule, which a parent attending said was “a burden,” and that it is very hard to find teen girl shirts with collars of any kind. Presley said, “The real problem is hoodies. They really want to wear

them, and the hoods and the pockets can present problems.”

Dan Very, school board member, said that the rules about sayings printed on shirts and holes in jeans seemed to be restrictive. Sondra Stine said that holes and jeans cannot be tolerated, and that the student body is accepting that rule. Presley said that any rule will

be challenged, especially by 11th and 12th graders.

Elementary Principal Chris Lake said that his problem with enforcing the dress code is that there are different rules depending on whether the student has gym that day.