In an effort to continue improving the support of both students and staff, the school board approved the split of the social science department into separate English and social sciences departments at their monthly meeting, at the Robert O. Swartzloff Center for Educational Services. 

Currently, there is just one division chair responsible for supporting all of the English and Social Science teachers. With the split of these two departments, there will be a division chair for each department rather than just a single chair for both. This split was billed by Superintendent Dr. Ryan McTague as critical for the success of the future of education at MCHS. 

Last year, the math and science departments were similarly split. The split of the math and science departments has been very successful in the district, allowing both departments to grow and flourish while giving teachers ample support. 

Especially the science department which has been rapidly expanding. Four years ago, the science department was declining and through rebuilding the program. Science is now one of the fastest-growing departments at MCHS. 

Members of the science department Alexandra Thompson, Leah Pelletier and Tim Beagle, gave a presentation to the school board about the future of the science department and that advances to the PLTW biomedical science program. 

Beagle and Thompson presented plans for the chemistry labs that will be in the new extension at West. Each chemistry lab will have two adjacent classrooms attached to either side of it, allowing  for flexible teaching and equal opportunities for all students. The efficiency of this design will save the science department time and resources.

Pelletier spoke about the success of the biomedical science program and announced the completion of the PLTW course with the edition of Medical Intervention in the 2020-2021 school year. 

In addition to the teachers from the science department, AP environmental science student Anna Karcz also presented alongside them. Karcz and her classmates did a lab to analyze the waste created in the East cafeteria. They collected all the trash, sorted it into categories, and weighed it to gather the necessary data. 

Karcz explained the results of this experiment and suggested multiple solutions to reducing waste such as liquid waste disposal and compost programs. The results were astounding and caused the school board to consider ways they could potentially reduce waste in the future. 

The meeting concluded with the school board’s approval on the renewal of a five-year lease of land owned by the district to a local farmer and the schedule for the 2020-2021 school year. 

The next meeting was moved to the week of March 30.