LIBERTY-BENTON LOCAL SCHOOLS

MONDAY, MAY 21, 2007

REGULAR BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING

BOARD OF EDUCATION OFFICE 9190 CO. RD. 9, FINDLAY OHIO

REGULAR BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING 6:00 P.M.

STRATEGIC PLANNING WORK SESSION IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING

I. Call to Order

Pledge of Allegiance ……………………………………………Jeff Shadle, Board President

II. Recognition of Visitors

III. Approval of minutes from the Monday, April 16, 2007 regular board of education meeting

IV. Communications and Discussion

V. Principals’ Reports

Brian Burkett, Bruce Otley, Brenda Frankart

VI. Treasurer’s Report ………………………………………………………………Lisa Dobbins

VII. Superintendent’s Report ……………………………………………………….Dennis Recker

VIII. New Business

A. Approve Consent Agenda, to include:

1. Listing of bills, expenditures, and investments through 4/30/07, and monthly financial report of the Treasurer.

2. Approve appropriation modifications for May 2007

3. Approve the five year forecast and assumptions

4. Approve Change Order (G-1) of additional $1694.00 for extra stone, an upsized water line for an additional $4960.00, and the installation of a 2” grinder prep and sewer line for an additional $4840.00 totaling $11,494.00

5. Approve Change Order (G-2) in the amount of $11,420 to provide all material and labor to conduct power from existing AEP transformer to the concession/ticket booth/restroom storage building

6. Accept $100 donation from Friends of Findlay

7. Approve resolution authorizing the 2007-08 membership in Ohio High School Athletic Association

8. Approve 43 days unpaid leave for Jordan Hamilton, through November 30, 2007.

9. Approve the following resignations:

Sandy Elbin, elementary school teacher, effective June 12, 2007

Joanne Davis, elementary school teacher, effective end of 2006-07 school year

10. Approve Denise Lytle, Kindergarten Teacher, effective 2007-08 school year

11. Approve Carrie McMillen, as Title IID Reduction teacher for 2007-08 school year

12. Approve Alida Hause, Literacy Improvement Grant Summer AR Program

13. Approve Nancy Cramer, Literacy Improvement Grant Summer AR Program

14. Approve Carol Waldman, Title I Summer Family and Community Program

15. Approve Heidi Irwin and Laurie Collier, Building Literacy Improvement Grant

16. Approve the following staff for the Ohio Integrated Systems Model Grant Stipend for the 2006-07 school year: Carol Waldman, Rhonda Fawcett, Tonya Gierke, Sharon Schmutz, Nancy Cramer, Deb Ebert, Barb Gazette

17. Approve Jack Quisno, mowing

18. Approve Cheryl Conkle, long term substitute teacher for Pat Heavrin

19. Approve Claudia Benjamin, long term substitute teacher for Jill Harmon

20. Approve the annual cross country trip to Friedenswald, Michigan, August 2007

B. Approve the senior students of the Class of 2007, for graduation, June 10, 2007, contingent upon completion of all state and local graduation requirements.

IX. Other Business

X. Executive Session

XI. Adjournment

LIBERTY-BENTON LOCAL SCHOOLS

DENNIS L. RECKER, SUPERINTENDENT

MAY DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION REPORT

23 students enrolled for Post Secondary Options next year.
I wanted to give you a “taste” of my weekly correspondence from Ohio Department of Education, but in this specific message, I highlighted some areas of “need”. Interestingly, these “needs” seem to recur at every level of education, from the highest federal level, to the delivery point of the classroom. (Item A)
I received two change orders, one reflecting last month’s report for additional stone, waterline upsizing, and as sewage grinder prep and sewer line. The total price for these upgrades is $11,494.00. Another change order forthcoming will be for electrical conduit, wiring, and additional panels at a cost not to exceed $11,420.00
The enclosed testimony from OSBA, OASBO, OEA, and BASA provides more insight into the upcoming school budget. Basically, it reinforces my own “financial impact study” I shared with you last month, zero growth this year and the next two years of the biennium. (Item B)
Our teachers have been doing a great job in soliciting great support from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, usually in conjunction with their post graduate training. These individual grants for student use can be up to $3000 per award. This year, statewide, this foundation spent a total of $5,077,058. 79.7% was dedicated to grants and programs, 25% was dedicated to grant related expenses, and 17.8% was dedicated to administrative expenses.
Mr. Burkett is looking to continue some of our reading initiatives this summer through grant funding. I’ll be recommending Alida Hause and Nancy Cramer for summer employment paid by a Literary Improvement Grant and Carol Waldman for her summer work through a Title I grant. Also, we have an Ohio Integrated Systems Model Grant (OISM), and some of these grant funds can be paid to teachers for the extra time spent in making this model work. These teachers include Carol Waldman, Rhonda Fawcett, Tonya Gierke, Sharon Schmutz, Nancy Cramer, Deb Ebert, and Barb Gazette.
Mr. Otley also had two staff involved in a building literacy improvement grant, who are eligible for a stipend through the grant. This program links with the elementary program and involved teachers Heidi Irwin and Laurie Collier.
I attended a regional meeting on April 24 hosted by the Ohio Department of Education regarding the recommendation of the Achieve Report, sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The state board of education is reviewing the recommendations, and needed the perspective of some superintendents as to the accuracy of the seven recommendations. The seven topics discussed were:

Standards and Assessments

Principals as Instructional Leaders

Teacher Expectations, Support, and Accountability

Student Support

Fair Funding

School and District Intervention

Access to High Quality Option

I was able to present our “case” as a district, our method of monitoring student growth and achievement, and provided a synopsis of our tenth grade performance over the past seven years, including a “break-out” of our AYP sub groups. We covered 3^rd grade ITBS performances up through the 10^th grade PLAN results. I also was able to show our “state rating” compared to ITBS achievement relative to expected performance, and exposed local data points which were “contra-indicators” of state student performance measures. Needless to say, a few eyebrows were raised on that item.

I am finding out that, due to our efforts and local research, L-B is looked upon by other districts as an example of accurate reporting and making the subtle, yet needed instructional changes, that result in students exceeding their expected levels of performance.

I am sending a copy of The Achieve Report executive summary for you to review. My only “dissenting” opinion of the seven recommendations centered on using vouchers as competition. Again, in our area, vouchers tend not to be kids fleeing failing systems, but failing kids fleeing excellent systems. I asked if there was the possibility of conducting “follow-up” studies on students who used the vouchers. I’d really like to see the long term effect on those students and if they completed high school and college.

My biggest “high” after this meeting was the primary best practice of Standards and Assessment, which indicated the ACT as being “The” best indication of success, and we test 80% of seniors with ACT and 100% of sophomores with PLAN, the “pre” ACT, so to speak.

While I felt we, as a school, were addressing the other six best practices, we are limited in our “depth of participation” due to fiscal and manpower constraints. (Item C)

Looking ahead to use the ticket booth/concession/restroom/storage building, we need to construct paved area to accommodate foot traffic and the crowd that will assemble around the area. I’ve had our staff look at what they see as a needed area, and we have an approximate cost. We can either go through the entire bidding process again, or use a change order, if we find it advantageous to us financially. (Item D)
We need to renew our affiliation with the Ohio High School Athletic Association for 2007-2008.
L-B has been selected to present at the Ohio Quality in Education Conference on June 11, conducted and sponsored by Honda of America. We will be sharing a sample of our performance data over time to provide a “value-added” perspective of the learning process at L-B, along with some historical data points. I’d spoken with Honda officials nearly three months ago about this topic when they had called, and were notified this past Friday, of our selection. As you can see by the enclosed brochure, we are in some select company. (Item E)
L-B has been selected by State Superintendent Zelman to conduct an End-of-Course examination field test for Algebra II. Results will be used to compare our achievement to other states, and provide a new indicator for college success in mathematics. This is part of the American Diploma Project, and part of our “answer” to meeting high quality standards. What I’m most interested in is our own district performance, relative to other states and other Ohio school districts.
Friends of Findlay, an organization of Japanese families, donated $100 to the school. Mr. Burkett and Mr. Otley can use this to enhance their programs. This group also hosted a thank you presentation for our staff who work with the Japanese children attending here. The gratitude expressed by the parents was, in an understatement, phenomenal. (Item F)
We were part of a “paper only” pandemic drill. We were notified on the “4^th” day, that all hospitals have been saturated and health officials needed to find short term care sites. Our high school gym was set up to accommodate 50 beds and the needed doctors and nurses to provide the needed care. Again, this was a “paper” drill.
Enclosed is an article on pay to play, but also an idea of participation levels of students in sport. This can provide some insight into validity of programs for us in the future. (Item G)
Some info on our natural gas consortium from a “birds-eye” view. Since we joined this group in 1995, we’ve saved between 10-20% per year on our natural gas bill. Our council purchases a little over $4,000,000 of product per year as part of a larger consortium which buys $450,000,000 of natural gas per year. As a FYI, I serve on the Bay Area’s board of directors. Looking ahead, our base cost of product may increase between 15-20%, but negotiations are underway on transmission costs, which the gas company needs, to generate their needed profits. This last year, we saved a bit under $14,000 by being in the consortium. (Item H)
I found an education article in Fortune Magazine that shows recognition to the importance for education, but that this is a growing lack of respect for education in the United States. (Item I)
Enclosed is a New York Times article on the effectiveness of school lap top computers, listing pros and cons. (Item J)
ODE will now withhold funding on any unreported student who does not have a test record. This puts additional pressure on school districts to ensure compliance, and also now will require schools to employ EMIS coordinators on a year round basis (we already do), since July 27 is the last day we can verify all student data for purposes of funding.
Although we were able to move to the final application review for the Scrap Tire Grant Program, we were informed that we were not selected for funding. They will keep our application on file for future programs. When we stepped back from the possibility of using an artificial football/soccer/band performance surface, I became much less aggressive in seeking this funding. If this ever becomes a possibility again, we have the needed “legwork” completed to re-start the grant seeking process. I was actually worried that we might get this grant because we wouldn’t have been able to complete the project I had envisioned.
Enclosed is a synopsis of Project Achieve, courtesy of Knowledge Works Foundation. (Item K)
We will have some guests at the board meeting to provide comment regarding facilities. Enclosed is a packet of information they provided for review prior to their public comments. (Item L)
The enclosed article explains how schools are considered the “best”, in addition to test scores. You’ll see parallels of some of California’s prestigious schools to L-B, including school counseling service (we have four counselors, up from one in 1995), rich elective classes (advanced math, sciences, foreign language, dance, concurrent enrollment with Oberlin), extra-curricular activities in athletics and student interest areas. (Item M)
Enclosed is a well written article entitled, “The Amendment is Our Last Chance”. This accurately reflects what has happened in Ohio. Governor Strickland’s budget, unanimously approved by the House of Representatives, addresses the issue of “equity”. This is because we’ll not receive any increase in state funding over the next biennium. Since equity is the first issue being dealt with, L-B is “in a lurch”. This amendment is now a moral argument. No matter what the outcome in the short term, I don’t see a financial advantage to us. (Item N)
Enclosed is a hand-out from the advocates of the Constitutional Amendment regarding school funding, showing how vocational education would be treated. If we were a JVS, we’d have $390,000 per year (2.5 mils) provided as taxes to the JVS. We now fund our cooperative locally through our general fund. This is quite an accomplishment for us, since other schools pay for vocational education through a separate levy. (Item O)
We were hit with electrical grid problems Friday, resulting in burned out compressors for A/C and non-working computers.
Mr. Burkett has interviewed potential candidates for kindergarten and grade 1 class size reduction grant. I’ll be recommending Denise Lytle for the kindergarten position and Carrie McMillen for the grade 1 position, which is dependent upon grant funding.
We really need to look at our “out years” now. In FY08 projections, we are spending the equivalent of 5.8 mils more than our income. This jumps to 10 mils in FY09. If we act this year, and pass a 2 mil PI (approximately $300,000) and a quarter of 1 percent income tax (approximately $385,477), we have a total of $685,477, bringing our deficit spending down to $244,550, instead of $930,027. This pulls our FY09 deficit of ($1,567,560) down to $685,477 X 2 = $1,370,954 to a deficit of ($196,606), and FY10’s $2,763,324 down to ($706,893) $2,763,324-$2,056,431. This small action literally reduces two million dollars of deficit.

Our unencumbered balance does this:

FY2008 $4,503,468 to $5,188,945

FY2009 $2,935,908 to $4,366,862

FY2010 $172,584 to $2,229,015

FY2011 ??? Since there is a “doubling effect” of deficits, assume deficit of $1,413,786 which leaves a balance of $815,229.

This assumes we renew our emergency issue in 2009 and renew the income tax in

2010. The question becomes to continue the income tax “as-is” for 1%, generating $1,581,653 or to utilize earned income only (what appears on the W-2), where 1% equals $1,357,080. We cannot “mix and match” income taxes. We must do one or the other. 2011 is also the “trigger” for collection, based on the constitutional amendment, should it pass.

If nothing happens, you would be facing this identical scenario in FY 2010. The impact of a levy this fall is huge. We pass 4 mills equivalency and are “good to go” until FY 2011 or do nothing and try to pass 10 mills in 2008.

All of this is my best estimate based on the current information I have. I believe Lisa will verify my “Recker math” once she completes her forecasting. Also please realize that big hikes in insurance premiums and/or unfavorable salary settlements will make this scenario much worse, much sooner.

I bring this to your attention now because August 13 is the last day to file income tax resolution with the Tax Commission. (We should seek this to end in 2010, the same time as our current ¾%).

Also, August 17 is the last date to certify our need for a permanent improvement levy. (We should seek a 2 mil issue for a period of 5 years. These are the minimum amounts for us to maintain solvency, and to continue our present level of services.

I hope the community would see how relatively inexpensive this course of action is, compared to waiting a year. (0.25% + 2 mils and “good” until 2011) or wait a year and try to pass 10 mils. (Item P)

Jordan Hamilton is requesting leave, and Sandy Elbin and Joanne Davis are resigning.
Mr. Quisno helps mow lawns, so we need to approve him.
We need to approve long term subs for Mrs. Heavrin and Mrs. Harmon.
Since cross country takes a summer trip for their work-outs prior to season, we need to approve this.
Attached is the Class of 2007 graduation list. (Item Q)

ELEMENTARY PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Liberty-Benton Board of Education

May 21, 2007

1. As of today, we have the following number of students in our elementary program:

April 2007

Pre-school - 22 (1 section – ½ a.m. & ½ p.m.) ( 22)

Kindergarten - 96 (5 sections – avg. class 19.2) ( 96)

First Grade - 75 (4 sections – avg. class 18.8) ( 75)

Second Grade - 86 (4 sections – avg. class 21.5) ( 86)

Third Grade - 105 (5 sections – avg. class 21.0) (105)

Fourth Grade - 85 (4 sections – avg. class 21.3) ( 85)

Fifth Grade - 107 (5 sections – avg. class 21.2) (106)

TOTAL (K-5): 554 School Average: 20.5 (553) Average (20.5)

(576 with pre-school)

May 31^st will be a busy day for the elementary as we will be having our Picnic Color Day (where each grade wears a certain color and we grill out for lunch for them), Field Day, and our first School Walk for Diabetes. For the School Walk, we have set a goal of $10,000 and have plans for all grades to walk one hour for this cause. We are also working with the Middle School on this event. This looks to be a very busy, yet rewarding day!

Our first 3-hour delay went pretty well overall. We had to make some last minute changes to the schedule -which mainly involved our lunch periods running from 12:00-2:00 p.m. instead of 11:10-1:00 p.m. Otherwise, the elementary ran its normal schedule from that point on. I would see this being very beneficial next year in helping us preserve lost days of instruction up front while at the same time not having days added to the calendar later in the year.

We will be offering summer intervention again this year in August for students going into grades 2-5 in the fall. This will occur August 13 through August 24 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon each day. Bussing is provided for students who need it. Intervention will be done in the areas of reading, writing, and math. Additionally, students on IEPs will be invited to attend intervention as well. Invitations will be going out in different waves based on our achievement results no coming to us until mid to late June. We hope to finalize staff for approval at the July Board meeting based on student count.

The elementary is currently working on handbook revisions for next year. We have a handbook committee meeting weekly to work on these revisions. Mr. Horstman and I attended an in-service on staff and student handbooks provided by the Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators at the end of March. We are working to make sure we have everything revised and updated to reflect best practice and Ohio Revised Code. We plan to have the handbook ready for Board approval at the June Board meeting.

We plan to have our annual Outstanding Attendance Breakfast for our 4^th and 5^th grade students on Friday, June 8^th. Students are invited to attend providing they have 3 or less absences and/or tardies for the year. Parents are also invited to attend with their child for this event. The breakfast will include a breakfast casserole, sausage links, muffins, juice, milk, and coffee. We are anticipating around 80-90 students this year between the fourth and fifth grades. Mrs. Gazette, Mr. Horstman, and myself will be serving the students and their parents that morning.

The 5^th Grade Band and Eagle Singers did a wonderful job again this year for their spring performance. Thank you to Mrs. Norris, Mr. Thomas, and Miss Santilli for all they do for our music program! It is very inspiring to see what our students are able to do in the beginning years of their music program. Thank you to the Mr. Recker and the Board for your continued support of our music and arts programs.

UPCOMING ELEMENTARY EVENTS:

May 25 2^nd Grade Fieldtrip to Neil Armstrong Space Museum

May 28 No School – Memorial Day

May 31 Elementary Field Day, Picnic Color Day (Cook-out), and School Walk for Diabetes

June 6-7 School-wide Expectations Year Reward: Bowling at Sportman’s Lanes

June 8 Outstanding Attendance Breakfast – 4^th and 5^th Grades 8:00 a.m.

June 11 Last day of school

MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Liberty-Benton Board of Education

May 21, 2007

6:00 p.m.

1. Current Enrollment

Grade Total

06 107

07 92

08 93

Total Students: 292 (an increase of three students since April)

2. Camp Storer Update: The peeler card fundraiser went well. 52 students took advantage of the fundraiser. Sales were better than expected. Because of this, our students will benefit an additional .50 cents in profit for each card sold. Thanks to Mychelle Dukes, Jeb Darnall and Tammy Karhoff for all of their efforts with the sale.

3. Three Hour Delay: Overall, the day went very smoothly at the middle school. Our schedule was similar to that of a two hour delay and lunches were served at the regular times. Our instructional periods were 45 minutes long (slightly longer than a regular school day), with students traveling to all core academic subjects.

4. Testing Week: Testing week (April 30-May 4) went very well at the middle school. Students enjoyed Panera Bagels and orange juice each morning before taking the tests. The breakfasts were purchased by our PTO. House bill 3 mandated the following achievement tests to be administered to the following grade levels:

Grade 6: Reading, Math

Grade 7: Reading, Math, Writing

Grade 8: Reading, Math, Science, Citizenship.

The Ohio Department of Education has indicated that the results of the tests will be available for preview on line for administrators on June 15, 2007. I am anxiously awaiting our results.

5. Pint Sized Heroes Assembly/Blood Drive: The Liberty-Benton Middle School Student Council is sponsored a blood drive to be held at the Middle School on May 14, 2007 in the Gym. Student Council members, under the leadership of Mrs. McFarlane and Mrs. Schroeder, organized and managed the event. Donors were scheduled appointment by our student council members in advance. Our target was to have 50 donors and 49 people came to give blood. The Red Cross told me that 123 lives will be effected by our blood drive.

6. Pay it Forward: The middle school Happy Club, under the leadership of Stacy Pickett, is sponsoring a week long “Pay It Forward” activity. The concept was taken from a popular novel written by Catherine Ryan Hyde in 2000. Students perform random acts of kindness and record their good deeds on happy faces that are posted in the hallway by grade level. The grade with the most happy faces at the end of the week receives a treat from the Happy Club.

7. Seventh Grade Students “Get Medieval”: Seventh grade students enjoyed an afternoon assembly with Sir Roger McKinney. Sir Roger was dressed as a knight in full armor and provided a great hands-on experience for our seventh graders as they concluded their studies on the Middle Ages. The presentation included discussions on culture, food, customs, and of course the role of the knight during those times. Students were able to touch/handle reproductions of artifacts from this time period.

8. Spring Concert a Success: The middle school band and choir students performed an array of musical selections on May 15, 207 at 7:30 p.m. Mr. Thomas and Ms. Santili did a nice job of preparing our students for an enjoyable evening.

9. Power Outage: The middle school experienced a power outage on Friday, May 18, 2007 just before lunch. The power was out for about two hours. This presented some unique challenges in preparing lunches for both the middle school and the elementary and also made the set up for our medieval knight assembly a challenge. Mr. Horstman and the kitchen crew did a great job of scrambling to get lunches served. In the end, all went well and the educational process continued. After our power outage in the fall, I purchase flashlights for every classroom, and some were put to good use. As a result of the outage, our Air Conditioning is still not functioning properly but Mr. Frommer is aware and working on it. Thanks to Kevin Schoonover and Keith Kennedy for trouble shooting things that day.

10. Teacher Appreciation Week: Teachers were shown appreciation in several ways during the week of May 7-11, 2007. The academic boosters provided chocolate treats with “sweet” messages each day in teacher’s mailboxes. The PTO provided an excellent teacher luncheon in the band room, complete with a vanilla and chocolate fountain! During the lunch time, the sixth grade students gave their teachers a cheer, and the seventh and eighth grade teachers surrounded the staff in the band room for a lunch time serenade to express their thanks. My contribution was to give the teachers lounge an “Extreme Makeover”. The walls were painted, new ceiling tile installed, an additional new cabinets and a new counter top were installed. The student council donated the funds for a wood laminate floor and Roger Frommer and I installed it one evening after school. Thanks to Kevin Schoonover, Anne Thieman, and Dale Lauck for your contributions to the makeover.

11. Summer Intervention: The middle school will be holding a summer intervention program again this year August 13-24 from 8:30-12:00. Intervention will be done for Reading, Math and Writing. Once we receive our Achievement Test results this summer, information will be sent home to all parents whose child qualifies for this program.

12. May 31, 2007: Diabetes Walk for the Cure Day: We will be joining the elementary in participating in the American Diabetes Association’s “Walk for the Cure”. Diabetes awareness continues to be a significant issue at the middle school as the number of students with diabetes continues to rise. Students that have raised a minimum of $5.00 in pledges in grades 6-8 will fill 45 minute time slots on this day walking around the middle school track. I will also be manning the grill with Mr. Horstman and Mr. Burkett in cooking burgers, dogs, and brats for all of the students and staff on this day. Our goal is to raise $10,000.00 for the American Diabetes Association.

13. Awards Assembly June 11, 2007: We will be ending the year by coming together one last time. The assembly will be in the morning, around 9:00 a.m. Students will be recognized by their teachers for their accomplishments this year.

12. Handbook: I ma currently working on handbook revisions for next year and will have them ready for the next board meeting.

13. May 25, 2007 Leadership Day: The High School Student Council will be meeting with our Student Council next Thursday to work out the final details for our Leadership Day. This is an extension of the High School Activity that occurs in the fall. Students will be mixed across grade levels and participate in day long activities that build esteem and promote a sense of teamwork and leadership. We will be having a pizza luncheon as well. I am hoping that the day will prove to be fun and educational for our students.

Upcoming Dates:

May 28—No School Memorial Day

May 25—Middle School Leadership Day

Last Dance

May 31—Diabetes Walk for the Cure/Staff Cookout

June 7—8^th Grade Cedar Point Trip

June 8—Sixth Grade Columbus Zoo field trip

June 11—Last day of school

HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Board of Education Meeting

May 21, 2007

6:00 P.M.

1.) Fourth Quarter Interim Reports - Our final midterm reports were mailed home to parents on May 4^th.

2.) Monitoring Seniors Who Plan To Graduate - We continue to monitor the progress of our seniors who are planning to or hoping to graduate on time. We have several who are working hard to graduate on time, and we will continue to work with them as much as we can. We are also awaiting the test results of the March OGT for one senior.

3.) Summer Intervention For The OGT - We will again plan to offer the summer intervention for the OGT tests to any students who need to repeat any sections of the test. It will be late-May before we have the March results back for the current sophomores and juniors. As soon as we have those results, we will mail the intervention information home to parents and students. On a happy note, we received the seniors’ scores for OGT early, and our seniors who tested scored well. Two students who needed to pass to graduate did pass, and a few students passed some sections and are exempted for their remaining ones. We are very happy with this recent update!

4.) Summer Physical Education and Health Classes - We will not be running these summer courses, due to a lack of interest. We only had three interested in the classes, and we were required to have a minimum of fifteen each to make it financially-efficient.

5.) Relay For Life - Our track will be hopping full of activities from 6:00 p.m. on Friday, May 18^th, to 12:00 noon on Saturday, May 19^th. We hope you will be able to stop out for a few laps in support of the American Cancer Society. The theme this year is “Hands Across Hancock County” so we encourage everyone to join in on the fun. I will give you an update of how it goes on Monday night at the board meeting. The high school STRIDES groups will kick off our Relay team with our own schooltime celebration in the afternoon. We have the World Impact Tour performing the GX Team as an assembly in the gym at 1:00, and following the assembly, all of our STRIDES groups will go outside for some laps, music, and the team banner displays.

6.) Franklin B. Walters Nominees Luncheon - Senior Sammy Curto is our LB representative being honored during the luncheon on May 20 at the Findlay Country Club. Mr. LaFontaine is also being honored as Sammy’s most influential teacher. Congratulations to both Sammy Curto and Mr. LaFontaine!

7.) Speech Team - The speech team is already planning for next year. They plan to make the trip back to Illinois in January, and they have some summer camps scheduled as fundraisers for their group.

8.) Cross Country - We were asked to approve the annual cross country summer camp trip to Michigan. This has been very beneficial to the team every season.

9.) ECLIPSe Grant – We have received an additional $3,000 in Learn and Serve grant money to benefit our STRIDES program and projects. We were really excited about this grant.

10.) Musical For 2008 - A musical is being planned for the Spring of 2008. We have a very large group of interested students right now, and it is exciting to know that this will be the third straight year for a high school musical. We are looking forward to it!

11.) National Merit Honorees - For the first time that I know of, we have three students from the same class being honored by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. We will not be officially notified for some time yet as to whether they have a chance for some scholarship money, or not, but it is always exciting to be recognized as national honorees. Our students being honored at this time are Nick Koenig, Jeffrey Miller, and Austin Walker. Congratulate them when you see them!

12.) Handbook Review - Thank you for approving the handbook revisions for next school year. It has been sent to the printers in time for the discounts in printing.

13.) Prom - Congratulations to the junior class and their advisors, Julie Todd and Lauree Miller, for organizing a wonderful prom, “Frosted Elegance.” We had plenty of parent chaperones, and the event went very smoothly.

14.) Teacher Appreciation Week - We had a great Teacher Appreciation Week at the high school. I thank Ken Horstman for coming over to help me run the grill on our high school cook-out day May 4^th. We sure sold a lot of hamburgers, brats, and hot dogs. We also thank the PTO for organizing an amazing luncheon on May 10^th. That was fantastic, and the teachers greatly appreciate it. In addition, the PTO arranged small candy treats with messages of praise for everyone’s mailbox every day of the week, and that was really a huge hit with our chocolate loving staff!

15.) Building Mess - You have probably heard of the huge mess we have been dealing with the past couple of weeks with the constant restroom problems. Well, to add to these on-going problems, Friday, May 11^th, was declared a nightmare, and we are still trying to wake up from all of these problems!!! First, two sets of restrooms were closed from problems. Then, the computers crashed. Then, toward the end of the second lunch period, we lost 50% of our power, and the available power was in very weird areas, rather hit-and-miss. Then, somewhere along this timeline, the air conditioning croaked, and if you recall, Friday was very hot. Combine all of these ingredients, and you can see we have been having some crazy environmental challenges within the building. Of course, just to make things interesting, several students were spreading rumors of an early dismissal that wasn’t really happening.

16.) Academic Awards Night – Just a reminder that our annual Academic Awards night is scheduled for May 29^th. We are expecting some impressive amounts of scholarship dollars to be awarded.

17.) YIELD Assembly - Our pre-prom YIELD assembly for juniors and seniors was incredible this year. It was very organized and powerful, and I appreciate Dep. Dave Spridgeon from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Dept. and the YIELD students working so hard to coordinate this program.

18.) WKXA Messages To Air - Liberty-Benton High School will be featured in promotional messages on 100.5 FM, WKXA Classic Hits, on June 8, 9, & 10, to encourage everyone around the area to drive safely and make good decisions for the graduation time and the start of summer break. I hope you will have the chance to catch one of these very encouraging messages.

19.) Pam Stenzel Abstinence Assembly - We hosted over 1100 Hancock County students for the Pam Stenzel Abstinence Assembly held on May 8^th. Everything ran like clockwork, which was actually a major production, and the message was well presented.

20.) Three Hour Delay - I was surprised with how smoothly our first-ever three-hour delay ran on our recent fog day. Actually, as a result, so many of my staff liked the three-hour delay schedule I had created that I have since revised our two-hour delay schedule for next year to more closely resemble it. We all appreciated not having to make-up another school day this year!

21.) Upcoming Activities:

May 22 Spring Concert, 7:30

May 23 FFA Banquet, 6:30

May 28 No School – Memorial Day

May 29 Academic Awards Night, 7:00 p.m.

June 1 & 4 Senior Exams

June 1 & 2 State Track in Columbus

June 4 Dance Demonstration, 8:00

June 5 Seniors Last Day of School

June 5 Parents Social Dance Class, 7:30 – 9:00

June 6 Seniors Trip to Cedar Point

June 8 Graduation Breakfast & Practice

June 8 & 11 Semester Exams for Underclassmen

June 9 ACT @ LBHS

June 10 Graduation, 2:00

June 12 Teacher Workday

Aug. 27 Teacher Workday, 07-08

Sorry this is so long, but things have been really busy!!!