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Liberty school board bans drones on school premises
By SARAH LEHR
LIBERTY
The Liberty school board has banned the operation of drones on school property.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association has put pressure on local schools to restrict drones, which have been increasingly used to film events, including high-school football games, board members said at Monday night’s meeting.
The board also approved the transfer of $30,000 from the general fund to the athletic fund. Superintendent Stan Watson said such a transfer is routine.
“We’re not Ohio State,” Watson said. “Our sports don’t create enough revenue to fund themselves. If we want to support these extracurricular activities, we’re going to have to kick in from the general fund.”
The board also approved a series of student fees for the 2015-16 school year. All fees remain the same, except for the fees for math and language arts workbooks for fifth- through eighth-graders. The fee for each book is now $15, which is a $5 increase from last school year.
Additionally, the board opted not to provide career-technical education to seventh- and eighth-graders this school year.
Ohio law requires public schools to offer career-technical education to students in seventh through 12th grade. The law, however, allows districts to opt out of that requirement for seventh- and eighth-graders. If a board of education wishes to be granted an exception, it must submit a request by Sept. 30 of the school year in question.
“This is just another example of our lovely [state] legislators creating a requirement but not providing funding,” board President David Malone said of the requirement to provide career-technical education.