NEW PARIS — National Trail School Board’s July 16 meeting opened with the transition of the superintendent’s duties from outgoing Bob Fischer to new superintendent Jen Couch, who has been serving as National Trail Middle School principal.

Board President Cindy Lee presented Fischer with a farewell plaque that started out with, “Thank you for your continued years of dedication and service to the staff, students and the community of National Trail Local Schools. Your presence has enriched the lives of our students and served as an example for all.”

The message was signed by Lee and board members David Harris, Gary Moore, Mindy Ward and Greg McWhinney.

“I’ve been here, I believe, for 13 years. It will always be a special place to me,” Fischer said in his farewell comments.

“I’ll never forget you,” he said to his colleagues at National Trail.

Among the items approved was a discussion on Ohio School Board Association (OSBA) policy updates. Of special interest was a policy on Artificial Intelligence.

“This is a new policy, with AI now being a new issue for schools. We must be sure to address that need,” said new Superintendent Jen Couch. “OSBA put in a sample for schools to adopt.”

“We did adopt AI language in all of our handbooks last month,” Couch said.

The next policy was on cybersecurity. Couch explained that in recent years, public schools and other agencies have been a top target for ransomware and other cyber-attacks.

The other two policies were for use of cell phones and electric communications as well as graduation requirements. Both are reviews of previous policies, so they were changed to the day’s date (July 16, 2024), Couch said.

Also approved was implementation of ‘Remote Learning Days’ as ‘Calamity Makeup Days’ for six days and beyond.

The resolution states that the school board desires for students to have learning opportunities even when schools are closed for any of the reasons specified in the Ohio Revised Code.

Any school board is authorized to file an annual plan with the Ohio Department of Education each year to provide online opportunities for students instead of attendance on days of closure.

The next regular National Trail Board of Education meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 27, in the Media Center at the National Trail School K-12 facility, located at 6940 Oxford-Gettysburg Road, New Paris.