MARIETTA – The Marietta school board intends to require all students who enter high school as freshmen next year to have completed at least one online class by the time they graduate.

“In general, technology continues to evolve, and we just have to be willing to evolve with it,” school board Chairwoman Jill Mutimer said.

The board took the first step in revising its graduation policy to reflect the new requirement in a unanimous vote during its meeting on Tuesday. The policy will “lay on the table” for public input for the next month before the board votes to approve or reject it.

Superintendent Dr. Emily Lembeck said she’s been considering the idea for several years now.

“I felt that at this point in time since we just enabled Marietta High School for wireless capacity, and students will soon be bringing their own technology to school that it was really an appropriate time for our students to have the kind of experience in learning that they were going to have when they went to college or the military or to work,” Lembeck said. “Learning and working on an online platform is something that all of our students should feel comfortable doing.”

Lembeck said the proposed online class can be any class that’s currently authorized by the system.

“So it might be something like health online,” Lembeck said. “It could be an advanced placement course online. It could be credit recovery for students who are behind and need to make up a class.”

The class may be taken within the walls of the high school or at home through the Georgia Virtual School, she said.

Lembeck is also preparing to roll out a plan that allows students to bring their own technology to the high school.

“If students are able to bring some of their own technology, No. 1, they’ll have a resource and a tool that they’re comfortable using, but also it will enable us to maximize the technology that we already have because you can only stretch so many computers among so many students,” she said.

In other business Tuesday, the board took the following action:

n Spent $29,650 with Genesis Elevator Company to replace the wheelchair lift at Park Street Elementary.

n Authorized spending up to $25,696.80 with Angel Trax to furnish and install a digital video monitoring system in up to 20 school buses. Each unit includes a DVR, 3 cameras, virtual synchronized mapping and installation. Each individual unit costs $1,606.05.

n Spent $16,390.94 with Ely Alarms Burglar Security Plus for the replacement of the existing security camera system at the Performance Learning Center.

n Received an update on the Marietta Schools Foundation from its president, Thomas Rocca, and executive director, Neil Barfield. The foundation currently has about $3.2 million.