LIBERTY-BENTON LOCAL SCHOOLS

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 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 of the following board of education meetings:

Monday, October 15, 2007 regular and special board of education meeting

October 26, 2007 special board of education meeting

October 30, 2007 special board of education meeting

November 14, 2007 special board of education meeting

IV.              Communications and Discussion

NEOLA – First reading

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 10/31/07, and monthly financial report of the Treasurer.

2.      Approve appropriations for November 2007

3.      Approve the five year forecast and assumptions

4.      Approve Change Order G5 for $4000 to upgrade the ramps to the restroom doors at the Concession/Storage facility

5.      Approve the following donations:

LB PTO $1000

LB Academic Boosters $540

LB Athletic Boosters $5,915

Findlay Warehousing, soil for complex in the amount of $650

6.      Approve Lisa Dager, long term substitute teacher for Carol Waldman

7.      Approve the following classified staff members for the 2007-08 school year:

Amy Hodge, Substitute Aide

Heather Dole, Substitute Aide

8.      Approve the following change to a classified staff member:

Jane Shank, increase bus route time .25 per day effective 10-15-2007

9.      Approve the following extra-curricular staff for the 2007-08 school year:

Brandon Cupples, 7th Boys Basketball Coach

Dave Rath, Assistant Boys Basketball Coach

Heagan Sparling, 8th grade Girls Basketball Coach

Marshal Headley, Assistant Girls Basketball Coach

Ryan Lieb, Assistant Girls Basketball Coach

Jeff Craig, Softball Coach

B.     Approve Camp Storer trip for the 2008-09 school year.

C.      

IX.              Other Business

X.                 Executive Session

XI.              Adjournment

 

LIBERTY-BENTON LOCAL SCHOOLS

DENNIS L. RECKER, SUPERINTENDENT

NOVEMBER 2007 DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION REPORT

 

  1. With teacher negotiations now concluded with the help of federal mediators, thanks to their neutral position, they were able to help us reach a fair settlement.  This has resulted, for this 2007-08 school year, for our teachers, of 20 area schools (including Findlay City), to have a top-end salary at 22 years experience with a Masters and 30 semester hours, of $61,764.44.  This ranks us 3rd of 20 area schools we researched.
    The one area of “deficiency” was at the Masters degree, step 10 level.  Heading into negotiations, the union brought this to the board’s attention.  Liberty-Benton did rank 18th of 20 schools in this area.  Thanks to their bringing this to our attention, the board was able to fortify step 10, and also improved step 11, so that this 2007-08 school year, Liberty-Benton teachers at step 10M will move from a $42,708 salary to $46, 193.  This 8.2% increase will now place our staff in a rank order of 6th of 20, a significant and deserved improvement.  These contract amounts are for an annual 184 work day contract and do not include additional compensation, such as paid meeting time, cost of medical insurance, severance pay, tuition reimbursement, perfect attendance pay, or the 14% board contribution to each individual retirement account.  Medical insurance premiums increased 16% this year.  Most of our teachers pay 20% of the family premium and 5% of single premium, which is a high contribution rate on their part, when compared to the public school sector.

    The three year settlement provides teachers a 4% base increase this year, 3% next year, and 2% the following year.  Based on our current levels of staffing, this is expected to increase our teaching staff payroll costs approximately $241,000, next year, or approximately a 5.7% increase in teaching payroll costs.  57 teaching staff received increases greater than 7%.  33 staff received the base increase of 4%, and three of the 33 are retired/rehired, so are held at a Bachelor’s Step 5 level.

    One final area addressed was compensation of our extra-curricular sponsors in all areas.  Since we’ve evolved to such a high level of extra-curricular performance in the arts and athletics, it was appropriate to provide longevity stipends for teachers who’ve held a supplemental contract in the same position for greater than eight years.  For each year of service greater than 8, a stipend will be added to that salary.  The dollar amounts vary, but are equivalent to +/-2% of the supplemental contract amount.  This small taken of financial support will keep us competitive with other area schools, and hopefully provide incentives to continue our quest for excellence, “Where Eagles Learn to Soar”.
    While different “posturing” techniques are employed in the negotiations process, this does show that “good” is still the end result.  (Item A)

  2. In your last OSBA Journal, there was an article on understanding liability issues and immunity.  We must be careful to note the exceptions to immunity, including negligent performance, physical defects, or exercising judgment or discretion with malicious purpose, in bad faith, or in a wanton or reckless manner.  These behaviors can have serious consequences for the district.  These types of issues are being brought to the forefront, due to Jarrod’s Law and reporting unprofessional conduct by staff.
  3. The following is the cost per pupil change just provided by ODE, from 2005-06 to 2006-07 school year (FY06 to FY07) and Instructional/Administrative cost (dollar and percent of per pupil costs):

    4.                                   2006 CPP     2007 CPP      Diff/%             Instructional     Administrative

                Arcadia            $7389           $8822           $1433/+19%    $4693/53.2%   $1168/13.2%

                Arlington          $8627           $8373           -$254/-2.9%    $4736/56.6%   $1033/12.3%

                Cory-Rawson   $8879           $9259           $380/+4.3%     $4870/52.6%   $1437/15.5%

                Findlay             $8997           $9044           $47/+0.05%     $5514/60.1%   $900/9.9%

                Liberty-Benton $7616           $8231           $615/+8.1%     $4660/56.6%   $931/11.3%

                McComb          $8606           $9322           $716/+8.3%     $5432/58.3%   $1242/13.3%

                Van Buren        $8053           $8331          $278/+3.5%     $4447/53.4%   $1192/14.3%

                Vanlue             $8749            $9663          $914/+10.4%   $4782/49.5%  
    When we track our data from ODE, we saw a graph depicting our cost centers on a percentage of total budget.  The two cost areas centering around personnel are instruction and administration.

    I went back 3 years to find 2004 to 2007 changes by school.  Realize that in this time interval, Arcadia, Cory-Rawson, McComb, Van Buren, Vanlue, and Findlay were all clamoring for additional operating funds, which voters thankfully approved.

                            Administrative Costs                            Instructional Costs

                            2003-04           2006-07                    2003-04           2006-07

    Arcadia             13.5%              13.2%                       56%                 53.2%

    Arlington           12.5%              12.3%                       56%                 56.6%

    Cory-Rawson    16.25%            15.5%                       53%                 52.6%

    Liberty-Benton  11.3%              11.3%                       55%                 56.6%

    McComb           13.7%              13.3%                       59%                 58.3%

    Van Buren        14.4%              14.3%                       55%                 53.4%

    Vanlue              17.08%            17%                          48%                 49.5%

    Findlay              9.55%              9.9%                         60%                 60.1%

    Since instruction is the main “driver” of cost per pupil, it also creates a “ripple effect” in the long term fiscal health of the district.  We are currently in FY08 and our contract affecting instruction runs through 2010.  Lisa completed her forecast and I wanted to show you how we compare in the county.  This is assuming the forecasts hold up.  The dollar amounts are projected balances or deficits.

    * Arcadia                     ($764,274)      2010

       Arlington                  $126,482         2012

    * Cory Rawson           ($1,218,987)     2011

    * Findlay                     $1,489,396       2012

       Liberty Benton          $879,041         2010

    * McComb                   ($346,167)      2010

    * Van Buren                ($3,325,401)    2011

    * Vanlue                      ($105,609)      2010

    *These schools already passed additional operating issues in the past two years.  Through all of this, we now become “3rd last man standing”.

  4. We have the change order we requested for handicapped access to our outdoor restrooms.  While we were compliant with what we had, we just felt this was an area we wanted to make even better.
  5. SERB just released the enclosed settlement report for different work groups.  Sadly to say, teachers are the lowest compensated in terms of percentage as an average.  This shows generosity on your part.  (Item B)
  6. We received notice from the state department of education that we are compliant for providing “the needed career-technical workforce development programs for students in grades 9-12”.
  7. We need to accept a donation from Findlay Warehousing Co., Inc. for their donation of 65 yards of soil for the high school athletic complex. 
  8. Serving on the superintendent’s advisory council for BASA/OHSAA has been enlightening.  As board members, you need to be aware of how OHSAA has an educational perspective towards Junior High and High School athletes and athletic programs.
    OHSAA has a concern, especially at the Junior High level of students playing 50 basketball games, 50 volleyball games, and having 60 wrestling matches by schools who opt not to join, and then “burn out” their children.
    OHSAA’s looking at having a service week during basketball season, similar to their “volleyball for the cure”, which raised a half million dollars for breast cancer research.
    ">Ohio now has nearly 60% of its coaches from the lay ranks which is a major liability factor for both the OHSAA and the schools who employ these people.  There will be a coaching course developed (mandatory) for all lay coaches, probably within a year.OHSAA has “tightened up” on students being allowed to go from school to school for athletic purposes, using the superintendent agreement.
    All second round football tournament games will hopefully be played on artificial turf, which is much safer than traditional fields in future tournaments.
    Finally, OHSAA generated $600,000 less than the year before in football, girls basketball tournaments had the lowest attendance in three years, and boys basketball had 10,000 fewer total from the prior year.
  9.  Looking into the future, we are seeing additional administrative requirements placed upon the district, and we’ve been able to address these needs efficiently and with administrative costs, on a per pupil basis, increasing less than ½ of 1% per year over the past ten years.  When it comes to creating and assigning these needed positions, the responsibility is assigned, by statute, and reflected and the accompanying district policy, which reiterates Ohio law.  (Item C)
  10. Enclosed are proposed policy changes reflecting the past changes in Ohio law.  I’ve also added the policy to address fee waivers for exceptional financial needs.  Brenda is also chairing a session to address a policy on bullying, which we’ve just received the department of education directive as to how to create said policy.  Also, this is one which will require suspension of our rules, once we get it crafted, due to a December 31, required implementation date.  (Item D)
  11. We’ve entered into conversations with Ohio Northern University to expand our concurrent/dual enrollment program in some of our areas of high performance not available with Oberlin.  The advantage to our children, if they qualify, is ONU transcript coursework for $30 per hour here, versus $800 per hour as an undergraduate.  Also, students must meet university conditions for enrollment.  Brenda is now involved in helping get this next phase underway for the 2008-09 school year.  Once I was able to share our data over time, we were really received with interest.
  12. We just received more information which provides us more data regarding our mission of “growing intelligence”.  Our fifth grade class has a group of SAS of 109.2, up from last year’s 107.1, and the prior year’s 99.9.  This is nearly a ten point jump in two years.  Also this year’s fourth graders averaged a 101.6, up from last year’s 94.2, which is a phenomenal jump.
  13. Mr. Scoles was good enough to conduct a break out of our students in the class of 2007 and 2009 who meet the criteria for the new Ohio CORE curriculum required by 2014.  Looking at our student’s native to L-B since their freshman year, 88% of the class of 2007 meets the new requirement and 77% of the class of 2008 meets the new requirement.  The students who would typically not meet this threshold of performance would be our special education students and vocational students.  (Item E)
  14. I found another legislative graph which depicts our overall operating expenditures over time.  The last graph I’d shown was the per pupil cost by the 5 cost centers, and it was met with some disbelief.  This graph re-tells the story from the perspective of total operating expenditures over time (10 years).  (Item F)
  15. Lisa has had Squires, Sanders, and Dempsey prepare the needed resolution we need to approve for purposes of construction, due to us exceeding our statutory debt limit, and having to “go it alone” on local funded initiatives (LFI’s).  (Item G)
  16. I was invited to attend a program on Educational Administration and Leadership Studies where we were provided an overview of Asian education, with more emphasis on the Chinese system. Interestingly, both Japan and China are trying to copy our public education systems, and our own political system is attempting to break down what China is trying to copy.
    China     seeks to have a universal K-12 education system in place by 2020, and 100 universities of the highest caliber possible.  Currently education occurs only in the cities, and the rural areas are uneducated.
    Facilities wise, China’s best schools look like prisons, and student to teacher ratios are 50-1 and 30-1 in Japan.  In all of China, there are 65 high performing high schools. At the end of 8th grade, students are tracked into high school, work, or vocational training. Parents are not allowed into schools, and never talk to teachers. Currently all education in China is teacher centered and not child centered.
    The Chinese see American students as spoiled and lazy, and all Chinese education focuses on math and science. The fine arts are denigrated and students who seek this type of education are ridiculed.
    The prime character traits are self-discipline, respect, and good manners.  For that reason, Asian students tend to learn by rote, and very little interaction takes place.  There is no special education of any kind, yet the students help each other.  By the end of 8th grade, Chinese students are beginning to do work in Chemistry, Physics, Calculus, and bio-technology.
  17. I received the attached analogy from Arcadia Superintendent Laurie Walles.  It does make one stop and think.  It also shows that L-B is making great progress, especially when we’re able to see how our children improve over time.  We just need to be more assertive in what we believe to be academic growth.  (Item H)
  18. Attached are the slides from our 4 hour training sessions on public records, which was conducted by the attorney general’s office.  Nearly a full hour was spent at the end of the session, referencing ethics and appropriate use of executive sessions and educating board members not to conduct “business” inappropriately. I guess the AG’s office has been getting quite a few referrals regarding this type of behavior and they wanted to reinforce the ethical behaviors expected.This kind of surprised me because I was one of very few supes in the audience, which was mostly treasurers and board members.(Item I)
  19. Mr. Shadle, Mr. Otley, Mrs. Frankart, and Mr. Gerken presented on the topic of how the Ohio CORE impacts student achievement.  We gave out 125 hand-outs and the rest of the conference, was spent, in part, accepting the compliments of those who attended and wanting to learn more about L-B’s “learning culture”.
  20. I attended a great session on “Improving Communication Skills”.  One hand-out comes from Fulgam’s, “Everything I Needed to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten” and how we should implement those rules in our adult lives.  I also received what Mr. Ebright, the presenter, believed to be most important to school board members and administrators in the realm of communication, which I’m also sharing with you.  (Item J)
  21. On the agenda you’ll see some hiring’s for classified substitutes, an increase in bus route time for Mrs. Shank, and completing some of the coaching position assignments.
  22. Mr. Otley asked that we approve the Camp Storer trip again for next year so they can begin planning.
ELEMENTARY PRINCIPAL’S REPORT
Liberty-Benton Board of Education
November 16, 2007  

  1. As of today, we have the following number of students in our elementary program:
                                                                                           Oct. 2007
    Pre-school        -   22  (1 section – ½ a.m. & ½ p.m.)              (22)
    Kindergarten    -    72 (4 sections – avg. class 18.5)                 (72)
    First Grade       -    95 (5 sections – avg. class 18.8)                (95)               
    Second Grade  -    76 (4 sections – avg. class 18.8)                 (75)
    Third Grade     -    93 (4 sections – avg. class 22.8)                 (92)
    Fourth Grade   -   105 (5 sections – avg. class 20.8)                (104)
    Fifth Grade      -    88 (4 sections – avg. class 22.3)                 (88)
    TOTAL (K-5):     529 School Average:  20.3                          (526)
                              (551 with pre-school)                       Average (20.2)
  2. The average percentage of attendance for the first grading period was 98.2% this year.  This is a great start for us for a school year.  Last year’s average for the first grading period was 97.8%.
  3. Our Veteran’s Day activity for this year included special announcements during our a.m. announcements and an additional announcement with the playing of “Taps” and a moment of silence at 11:00 a.m.  Additionally, our teachers conducted an activity or lesson regarding veterans in their social studies class at some point during the week.  We certainly are thankful for our Veterans!
  4. Our 3rd Grade Ohio Achievement Test (OAT) results are in for the first administration (October) and the results are very promising.  We had 91 students take the test and 79% are proficient or higher as of this first administration.   Below is a breakdown of the percentages:
                            L-B            State Avg.             Oct. ‘06
    Advanced. . .    35%                22%                    19%
    Accelerated. . . 29%                23%                    19%
    Proficient. . .    14%                 18%                    22%
    Basic . . .         16%                 16%                   23%
    Limited. . .         5%                 21%                   18%

    Of the students that have not passed this first time, 11 of them are 9 points or less away from reaching the passing score of 400.  If these students (which typically 10-15 points can be improved between tests) pass the May administration, we will be in the 91-92% range for our third grade.  The K-2 teachers have been doing an outstanding job of helping students improve their performance.
  5. Interesting enough, our IOWA/CogAT results came in as well.  These results continue to show great academic achievement from our kids.  I have attached a copy of an analysis sheet that I put together to look at the data in a snapshot.  Overall, it shows our students are performing about 5-6 months ahead of both where they should be chronologically and where they are predicted to be.  I will elaborate more on this at the board meeting Monday night. 
  6. Our first PTO family movie night went very well.  We had around 180-190 people attend one of the two movies shown (Shrek 3 or Ratatouille).  Many of the parents love this opportunity to come spend time with their immediate family as well as the extended L-B family.  We will have two more of these events – the next one occurring in January.
  7. Attached you find a copy of our specials first quarter newsletter.  I hope you take an opportunity to read about the awesome things going on in our specials classrooms so far this year.  I don’t think everyone really understands how exemplary our art, music, physical education, and computer programs are!  I am very proud and thankful that our students have an opportunity to receive the quality programming they get from these programs.
  8. Our Salvation Army food drive is coming to a conclusion Monday, Nov. 19th.  We continued our tradition of Michigan verse Ohio State friendly competition during the food drive.  Students place their food items in the boxes marked for their favorite team.  As one could expect, the Buckeye’s fans outnumber the Michigan fans by a large margin, thus dominating the contest.  We appreciate the level of giving by our students and families each year for our local community.
  9. Our students this year will continue their tradition of participating in a grade-level service project in lieu of doing gift exchanges.  Here are the following charities the grades have chosen to learn more about and/or take up collections to support this year:

    Kindergarten – Anonymously Adopt an L-B family for Christmas
    First Grade – Open Arms
    Second Grade – Teaming up with Mother Hubbard to help furnish things for a children’s area
                            in the basement of Hope House
    Third Grade – City Mission
    Fourth Grade – Open Arms
    Fifth Grade – Hope House

  10. Our parent teacher conferences are going very well so far. Thursday night conferences were very well attended and we look forward to continuing our conferences on Monday evening and Tuesday during the day.

 

Upcoming Elementary Events:

            Nov. 20-23      Thanksgiving Break – No School

            Dec. 3              LB Night at Stevi B’s

            Dec. 4              Scheduled 2-hour Delay for Collaboration

            Dec. 7              Interims (Mid-terms) go home with students

            Dec.10-14        PTO Fall Scholastic Book Fair

            Dec. 13            4th Grade Holiday Music Program 7:00 p.m. (Dress Rehearsal at 2:40 p.m.)

            Dec. 19            Mobile Dentist Day at Elementary

            Dec. 21            Holiday Sing-a-long Assembly for Elementary 10:15 a.m.

                                    Classroom Parties 2:30 p.m.

            Dec.22-

            Jan. 2               Winter Break

            Jan. 3               School Resumes from Winter Break

MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Liberty-Benton Board of Education

November 19, 2007

6:00 p.m.

 

1) Students of the Quarter Selected: The following students who were selected by their teachers as students of the quarter.  These students had their picture taken by Baker photography and were treated to ice cream at Dietsch’s November 15, 2007.

 

Eighth grader:  Andrew Wanamaker  

Seventh grader:  Nick Curto

Sixth grader:  Samantha Johnson

 

2) Student Council Dance a Success: On November 3, 2007 students at Liberty-Benton Middle School enjoyed a fun filled evening at our fall dance.  The dance was from 7:00-9:00.  A good time was had by all. 

 

3) Limo Pizza Luncheon: Students that sold 13 magazines or more were treated to a limousine ride and pizza luncheon on Friday, October 26, 2007.  Students cruised to Stevi B’s in a stretch Hummer and enjoyed a pizza lunch before returning to school.   

 

4) Midterms Dates:

Qtr. 2 – December 7

Qtr. 3 – February 22

Qtr. 4 – May 2

5) Grade Cards/End of the First 9 Weeks:  The end of the grading period was Friday, November 2, 2007.  Grade cards will be mailed home Friday, November 9, 2007.

 

6) Parent-Teacher Conferences:   The following are the scheduled conference times:

Thursday, November 15 @ 5:30-8:30

Monday, November 19  @ 5:30-8:30

Tuesday, November 20 @  8:30-11:30 and 1:00-4:00

 

The Thursday evening conferences were well attended with 35 team conferences scheduled. 

 

7) National Junior Honor Society Inductees:  The following students were inducted into the National Junior Honor Society on October 23, 2007 at Arcadia.  Congratulations on this high honor. 

 

Caitlin Craft                Cory Morgan                          

Kelsey Dager              Grant Moses               

Rachel DeWeese         Jessica Muhlenkamp                          

Leslie Doone               Hannah Quinlan                     

Laura Fish                   Robert Rucki                                                  

Alyssa Gary                Kelsie Spieker            

Lauren Hutchison       Jamie Steinman                      

Alexandra Johnson     Marie Strasbaugh                   

Emily Martien             Nathan Terhark          

Jessica Moore              Joyce Van Horn         

           

8) Current Enrollment:

 

Grade                         Total

    06                                109

    07                                108

    08                                  90

 

Total Students:              307                     

 

9)  OAT Preparation: In December, middle school students will be taking a practice Ohio Achievement Test.  We will do this again in March.  The teachers have been working all year to provide a challenging, rigorous, standards based curriculum to prepare students to excel on the OAT April 28-May 9, 2008.  Liberty-Benton Middle School teachers have been using  some of their collaborative planning time to analyze student performance data, including the results of the practice OAT tests.  This data is then used to make informed adjustments regarding instruction.  The ongoing cycle of instruction, assessment, data analysis, and adjustment have helped Liberty-Benton Middle School achieve 10 out of 10 indicators on our local report card and an overall building rating of “Excellent”.  We endeavor to challenge each student to reach their potential and to be successful on the OAT. 

 

10) CogAT Iowa Testing:  Students in both grades 6 and 7 were given the CogAt/Iowa Test of Basic Skills November 5-12, 2007.  This is the first year that sixth grade students at Liberty-Benton Middle School have taken the test.  The addition of the sixth grade this year will give us another set of data points to compare student ability (SAS on CogAT) in relation to their predicted grade equivalent (PGE) and their actual performance (GE).  This will be useful in giving us data points earlier so that we will be as prepared as possible for the new Value Added metric that will appear on our state report card this school year.  Typically, LB students outperform their chronological and expected levels of performance on the ITBS test.  This verifies instructional strength.  We are anxiously awaiting the results. 

 

11) OSBA Conference:  Mr. Recker, Mrs. Frankart, Mr. Gerken, Mr. Shadle and I gave a presentation on the impact of the Ohio Core on 11/13/07 at the Columbus Convention Center.  The presentation was well received and our audience asked many good questions as our district was well represented in the eyes of other educational professionals and school board members.   

 

12) Coats for Christmas/Canned Food Drive: In order to promote service to others and good citizenship, the middle school we be participating in these two activities. Student Council will again be collecting cans for the Salvation Army food drive.  The drive will be November 26-December 4 with pickup on December 4.  The Coats for Christmas campaign will be from November 23-November 30, 2007.  There is a large red box in the lobby for collecting the coats. 

 

13) Veterans Day Observed:  On Friday, November 9, 2007 a number of special activities took place to honor and observe Veterans Day. An extended morning announcements was observed, as the history of Veterans Day as well as it’s significance was explained to the students.  Two musical selections were then played:  “Letters from Home” by John Michael Montgomery and “American Soldier” by Toby Keith.  At 11:11 a.m. we observed a moment of silence out of respect for all who have served, past and present, and “Taps” was played over the p/a. and the meaning and history of “Taps” was read over the announcements.  Students at the middle school also wrote letters or poems in their English classes to soldiers from the Findlay area on Friday, November 9, 2007.  The letters were shipped out through an organization called “Troop Group”. 

 

Upcoming Dates….

 

11/19/07          Parent-teacher conferences 5:30-8:30

11/20/07          Parent-teacher conferences 8:30-11:30 and 1:00-4:00

11/22/07          Thanksgiving Break

11/26/07          School resumes

12/04/07          2 hour collaboration day

12/06/07          Vision Testing for 7th graders and new students

12/07/07          Mid-term second quarter

12/11/07          Middle School Holiday Concert 7:30 p.m.

12/18/07          Beginning Band Premier Concert 7:30 p.m.

12/24/07          Winter Break begins

01/03/08          Class resumes

01/18/08          End of second grading period

01/25/08          Second quarter grade cards go home

01/21/08          No school—Martin Luther King Day

02/07/08          2 hour collaboration day