At a meeting Monday night the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School committee voted unanimously in favor of certifying a total fiscal year 2015 operating budget of $18,650,302. Of that, $15,373,459 will be assessed to the Island towns.
As a result of new changes in the state’s regulation for body mass index (BMI) screenings, superintendent of schools James Weiss proposed a revised policy for the Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools. Previously, schools were required to send a letter home to parents of students in grades 1, 4, 7 and 10, indicating what BMI had been calculated for their children. That requirement has been dropped.
The school committee approved a first reading of a revised policy stating the Department of Health will continue to require annual BMI data reporting, and that parents may request the information from the school nurse. Parents may also request, in writing, that their children not participate in the BMI program.
Principal Stephen Nixon reported that this year’s parent-teacher conferences, held November 18-22, had the highest participation in six years, with 430 parents that attended, representing 497 students.
The meeting’s “Student Spotlight” featured senior Galen Mayhew. In addition to playing sports and achieving high grades, he is one of the high school newspaper’s editors, belongs to several school clubs and volunteers for numerous community activities. Galen said he has applied to and hopes to attend the U.S. Naval Academy.
The meeting was also attended by building trades teacher Bill Seaborne and some of his students, who showed the committee a video the YMCA filmed of them as they built an outdoor pavillion at the facility that will be used for an outdoor summer camp.
The high school committee’s next meeting is at 7 pm on January 6 in the library conference room. Personnel subcommittee chairman Dan Cabot said the full committee should be prepared to discuss and complete Mr. Weiss’s evaluation at that time.
