August 15, 2022
On May 29, 2022, the Mapleton Local School District celebrated the Class of 2022 during Mapleton High School’s 60th commencement ceremony. It is hard to believe that it has been sixty years since the Nankin, Polk, and Nova buildings were consolidated to form the Mapleton Local School District. Mapleton Elementary School, Mapleton Middle School and Mapleton High School have all been on one 122-acre Mapleton campus in the heart of our community for eighteen years now. Although a lot has changed throughout the sixty years of Mapleton history, the Mapleton community continues to be rooted in the traditional values of faith, family and fortitude. The Mapleton Local School District continues to be a reflection of these traditional values as we strive to provide a valuable service to the Mapleton community.
The Mapleton Local School District is committed to providing a family atmosphere with expanding opportunities for both students and staff that includes an emphasis on the individual person as well as honest communication with all stakeholders. This is all done in an effort to prepare all of our students for employment, enrollment in post-secondary training and programs, or enlistment in one of the military branches after graduation. As we simultaneously manage and lead the Mapleton Local School District through numerous challenges associated with a global COVID-19 pandemic, twenty-first century societal shifts, declining student enrollment and school funding constraints, the four commitments to our students, families, staff and Mapleton community remain steadfast: 1) Family Atmosphere, 2) Expanding Opportunities, 3) Individual Emphasis and 4) Honest Communication.
The Mapleton Local School District has honored these four commitments over the past four years to address specific needs related to student services, literacy and numeracy achievement, special education, gifted education, school safety, and buildings and grounds maintenance. Although this is not a comprehensive list, below are some of our recent actions that have been driven by our four commitments:
Increased the services of our Special Education Director from part-time to full-time
Increased the services of our School Psychologist from part-time to full-time
Increased the services of our Speech-Language Pathologist from part-time to full-time
Increased the number of our School-Community Liaisons from one to two
Initiated services of one full-time School Resource Officer for the Mapleton campus
Initiated services of a School-Based Therapist
Initiated services of an Audiologist
Initiated services of Certified Behavior Analysts to support students, families, staff and administration
Initiated services of Registered Behavior Technicians to support students, families, staff and administration
Initiated services of a full-time Registered Nurse
Initiated the services of a Literacy Team consisting of a coordinator and two literacy coaches to work closely with our teachers and administrators to identify and address literacy needs in the district
Initiated the services of two math coaches to work closely with our teachers and administrators to identify and address numeracy needs in the district
Increased the number of intervention tutors and paraprofessionals to provide additional interventions and supports to meet the individual learning needs of our students
Initiated gifted education services for our students who have been identified as gifted per the Ohio Department of Education guidelines (0% of identified gifted students were provided gifted services in 2018, but this has been increased to 90% during the 2021-2022 school year)
Wrote, submitted and was awarded an Ohio Department of Education three-year, $450,000 Expanding Opportunities for Each Student grant to expand pK-12 STEAM (science-technology-engineering-arts/agriculture-mathematics) and career-exploration programs and courses
Initiated a Career-Based Intervention program to assist high school students who may be economically disadvantaged and/or credit deficient
Completed a 1:1 technology initiative so that all K-12 students have access to their own device
Replaced six of twelve buses in the school transportation fleet over the past four years; average age of the bus fleet is now only 3.6 years; ten bus routes plus extra-curricular trips travel approximately 250,000 miles annually
Constructed a parking lot exclusively for the school transportation fleet of buses and vans
Created a bus and van washing station to responsibly maintain the transportation fleet
Repaved almost two-thirds of the asphalt parking lots and driveways on the Mapleton campus
Installed lighted school zone safety signs on both County Road 801 and County Road 620 that are activated during the arrival and departure of students and staff
Renovated a campus building to include a maintenance garage
Replaced and increased custodial and cleaning equipment for the purposes of safety, effectiveness and efficiency
Initiated a school pond revitalization project using grants, donations and community contributions to remove mud, muck and debris from the pond in an effort to improve the ecosystem and to provide additional learning opportunities for our students
We, together, have accomplished a lot to address the critical needs of our students and community, but we still have a lot more to do. I am thankful for our classified staff, certified staff, administration, Board of Education and Mapleton community for all of their tireless devotion and effort to provide opportunities for our students. If you see a need for improvement or if we can be a service to you—our community—please reach out to us. Go Mounties!