Mentor BOE Recognizes Project Mosaic Winners

The Mentor Schools Board of Education recognized the students who won awards from the Project Mosaic Institute, which celebrates diversity and acceptance.

Three schools in the district competed in the institute's art or essay contest. and competed in the art contest. The students of wrote essays about who they feel makes the schools a better place.

The winners from the respective schools are:

From Orchard Hollow:

1. Angelina Caldarone (who offered the crowd at the Board of Education meeting a curtsy)
2. Andrew Gallagher
3. Madalynn Klein
4. Sean Farmer
5. Autumn Westbrook

From Brentmoor:

1. Stephanie Skala
2. Shaban Sheikh
3. Alivia O'Donnell
4. Elizabeth Mauser
5. RJ Gerber & Evan Usher

From Shore:

1. Robert Iuliani
2. Selena Thomas
3. Logan Harting
4. Isabella Futchi
5. Leo Riselli & Dustin Merritt

Also at the Board meeting:

• the provided valentines for each member of the Board of Education, as well as Superintendent Jacqueline Hoynes and CFO Daniel Wilson.

The Sparkles are a cheerleading squad comprised of students with developmental disabilities. They cheered at home football and boys basketball games this year.

"This has been a wonderful, positive experience for our students," Hoynes said of the Sparkles squad, which formed this year.

• Teacher Marion Lipinski was recognized by the city of Mentor, Board of Education and Mentor Fire Department for creating the curriculum that firefighters use to teach third graders at their .

Ernie Johnson, a trustee for the safety village, said that Lipinski's lesson plan had reached about 10,000 students during the last decade.

Lipinski said she nicknamed the lesson "the silent zero program," because ideally she wanted all of the students to avoid dangerous situations so there would be zero 911 calls.

Lipinski thanked everyone for the honor before adding, "Our true heroes are our police and firefighters and I'm humbled they thought of me."

• The transportation department was recognized for having the highest possible rating from the state for a district its size.

Ratings are based upon an equation involving the total number of buses and riders a district has, the density of riders and the square miles it covers.

• Jacci Ruhe, a parent, asked the Board to reconsider the phasing out of the district's Chinese language program.

"I believe it will greatly help our students now and in the near future," Ruhe said.

Council President Alan Mihok asked Hoynes if Mentor could team with other school districts to make the program cost effective.

Hoynes replied that they had looked into that.

"Right now, it doesn't make financial sense for us to continue," she said.