LIBERTY-BENTON LOCAL SCHOOL

DENNIS L. RECKER, SUPERINTENDENT

JANUARY DISTRICT BOARD REPORT

 

  1. Attached is the soccer facility proposal as presented by Jim Hayes.  (Item A)
  2. Jeff Schimmoeller’s research results on the concession/restroom area are attached.  (Item B)
  3. Enclosed is an article I found in the Philadelphia Inquirer.  We’ve had the “college credit” opportunity for our Agriculture students for the past six years.  We’ll now have Oberlin transcript credit for students this upcoming 2006-07 school year.  We need to now “broaden” the scope, hopefully over the next two years, to involve other colleges and universities.  (Item C)
  4. The Ohio School Facilities Commission approved applications for review this year for Exceptional Needs Funding.  This is available to only those Ohio schools in the bottom half of per pupil valuation (wealth), which is where L-B now rests.  We submitted requests for construction funding consideration for the elementary and the middle school.  We ranked 8th (elementary application) and 9th (middle school application) in terms of need of upgraded or new facilities.  The “good news” was having an overview by a neutral review panel to ascertain various facility needs.  So even though we didn’t qualify for funding, we did get useful information.  (Item D)
  5. Looking ahead with the elimination of tangible personal property in the future, we’ll become even “poorer”.  I don’t know though, how we’ll compare to all other Ohio school districts until the full implementation of the law.  The already “poor” districts will not lose much in valuation, and the mega-wealthy will maintain their relative “wealth status” ahead of us.  Some unknowns we face are whether valuation decreases will cause extra collections for ag/resi taxpayers for bond retirement costs and a transfer of collections to ag/resi for our emergency issue.  Frankly, not even our county officials can give us an answer yet.  For L-B school purposes, the effective millage rate for our revenue source actually decreased .34 mills.  However, our district taxpayers will see an overall increased millage cost of 1.558 mills, due to the MRDD tax issue.  This group is “deserving” of their funding, but my point is that our children also need support, and we have an annual reduction in our millage.  As educational leaders, we just need to keep this in mind because once tax bills go out shortly, you may be questioned as to why this increase has happened.  Our actual “growth” to L-B will be 5.3 mills (our inside millage) of the valuation increase.  If a property valuation increased $10,000 from $115,000 to $125,000 in appraised value, this will result in a net increase to us of $53 minus rollback ($5.30), or $47.70 true additional tax to L-B.  That same impact to benefit the MRDD will be $187.50 in tax increase.  In addition, because of the 10 mill inside limitation, $47 will be “tacked on” for county and township increases, though Liberty Township does “forgive” 1 mill of collection, which would reduce this cost $10 per year.  While this is somewhat complex, we need to provide our folks the reason there may be changes in their property tax liability.  The downside to all of this is that once these valuation figures are “plugged in” to our state formula, we’ll see a phased in reduction of state aide over a three year period for what our “gains” have been.  If you get these concerns, please have the people call my office and talk to Lisa or myself.  If there is an error, then we should refer them to the county auditor.  Once in a while, some mistakes can be made, but they also can be corrected.
  6. I’ve enclosed a study conducted by The Bridgespan Group, who conducted this research at the request of the Gates Foundation.  I’ve noted some of my personal/professional perceptions and accompanying data points that might prove enlightening, along with some relevant data.  (Item E)
  7. Enclosed are copies of “The Board”.  (Item F)
  1. Governor Taft expressed concern about Ohio schools being non-competitive regarding the performance of our graduates in college, due to high remediation rates and levels of student persistence.  The following data should be an “eye-opener” for our community regarding the class of 2003:

                                    Class of 2003                                       Remediation Rate         Persistence Rate

 

College Bound          Ohio (All Students)                               41%                             81%

429                           Hancock County/Findlay City               37%                             84%

327                           Putnam County                                     30%                             88%

511                           Allen County/Lima City                         32%                             79%

324                           Seneca County/Fostoria/Tiffin City        35%                             82%

707                           Wood                                                  36%                             81%

145                           Wyandot                                              34%                             80%

147                           Hardin                                                  52%                             84%

230                           Henry                                                   35%                             83%

229                           Toledo Diocese (Parochial)                   35%                             87%

36                             Toledo Area Christian Schools Reporting       47%                             78%

3085 TOTAL            Regional Average                                 35.5%                          82.6%

46                              Liberty-Benton                                     19%                             93%

Our region accounts for 3085 college bound students of Ohio’s 62,945 or 4.9%.  Our eight county region has a lower remediation rate, with higher levels of student persistence, than the state average.

  1. Our seventh grade class just had their IOWA Test of Basic Skills results returned.  Their group SAS was 106.6, up from a 5th grade performance of 104.4, and a third grade performance of 99.9.  70 of 91 students, or 78% of the class scored at or better than their predicted level of performance.  These students, tested at 7th grade, 3rd month, were predicted to perform at 8th grade, 3rd month.  However, they performed at 9th grade, 1st month, a full 8 months greater than their predicted levels, and 1 year and 8 months beyond their actual grade level.  In a word, this is a phenomenal performance by this group of seventh graders.  This now matches the trend of all our current classes, up through our seniors, where our group SAS (IQ) has increased throughout the IOWA/COGAT testing cycle.
  2. The state superintendent sent Ohio’s annual report.  One item which caught my eye was the state measure of performance compared to the nations, on the ACT test.  I though I’d put L-B on the same performance grid so we can see how we’ve done the past five years.  What excites me even more is that the Ohio Board of Regents study which measures remediation and college persistence is based on our 2002-03 performance.  We ranked second among all public schools based on this data.  But looking ahead, the news could be even better as you see the following two years of student performance at L-B.  (Item G)
  3. The business items on the agenda include our routine monthly actions of appropriation modifications, and approving Lisa’s treasurer report.  We need to accept $2700 from SchoolNet for professional development (teacher training), disposing of a computer monitor, and approving a then and now purchase order for Camp Storer.  We also have our musical practice underway, so we should approve Sarah Santilli as Production Director, Martha Boyd as Technical Director, and Brenda Hoyt-Brackman as Choreographer.
  4. I spent an entire morning with the state superintendent, assistant state superintendent, the state board president and our own state board representative, along with area business men from Findlay and Kenton, discussing at length, potential school funding methods.  These folks, and selected supes from Putnam, Hancock, Hardin, and Allen County were asked to provide insight to the state administration so they can craft some meaningful funding alternatives for legislative consideration.

 

ELEMENTARY PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Liberty-Benton Board of Education

Jan. 10, 2006

 

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

                                                                                    Dec. 2005

Pre-school        -    24  (1 section – ˝ a.m. & ˝ p.m.)              (  24)

Kindergarten    -    71 (4 sections – avg. class 17.8)                  (  68)                 

First Grade       -    78 (4 sections – avg. class 19.5)                  (  77)                 

Second Grade  -   102 (5 sections – avg. class 20.4)                 (101)                 

Third Grade      -    80 (4 sections – avg. class 20.0)                  (  79)                 

Fourth Grade    -    97 (5 sections – avg. class 19.4)                  (  97)                 

Fifth Grade       -  103 (5 sections – avg. class 20.6)                  (103)                 

TOTAL (K-5):   531 School Average:  19.7                         (525)    Average (19.4)

                           (555 with pre-school) 

 

  1. As a follow up to last month, our students and teachers chose in lieu of gift exchanges to adopt different community service organizations.  The organizations adopted for this year included Open Arms (Took seven boxes and 5-6 large bags of new toys & $606.43 in monetary donations), Hurricane Katrina-Elementary school in Pearlsburg, MS (6-7 boxes of school supplies and books), City Mission (Took a car load of items including clothing and household supplies), and Hope House (Took 10 boxes of supplies and donations collected).  What a wonderful way to put this money to use and for our students to participate in the gift of giving back to our community.
  1. As a follow up to last month, we are proceeding through our action plan for implementing our school-wide expectations and literacy programming.  Attached you will find a copy of the “master” that was used to create posters to display our expectations throughout every classroom and hallway in our building.  Regarding literacy, every teacher received a copy of the book, Good-bye Round Robin 25 Effective Oral Reading Strategies by Timothy Ransinski and Michael Opitz.  We are modeling two strategies during each month’s staff meetings.  We are also in the process of scheduling more DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) training for all teachers.  Things are going very well in this process.
  1. We will be having our annual Family Math and Family Reading Nights this Thursday, January 12th.  We look forward to having approximately 30 families for each event that evening from 6:15 to 8:00 p.m.  Thank you to the parents who will be bringing their children to participate in some fun math and reading activities together and the teachers who are giving their time to lead the sessions.  As always, the evening will end with ice cream treats from Dietsch’s.
  1. Our Mobile Dentist day went very well this year.  The traveling dental team was on hand at the Elementary on Dec. 21st to provide cleaning, examinations, checkups, fluoride, radiographs and sealants to students.  The program boasts no cost to the school, free toothbrushes, a great educational experience and financial assistance to those who have no regular dental plan. Those with insurance and without insurance have a chance to participate. The program was able to serve 38 students this year, which is up 14 students from the previous year. 
  1. The elementary building is in the beginning stages of reviewing our science curriculum and looking to purchase a new curriculum at the end of this year for implementation in the 2006-07 school year.  Teachers will be working with Mr. Burkett and Mr. Horstman over the next couple months to analyze the series available and select the program that meets both the state standards and our needs the best.  We will be trying to find a series that allows for as much hands-on learning as possible, while at the same time providing a textbook to aid both students and parents who help their children at home.

     

UPCOMING ELEMENTARY EVENTS:

(May be viewed on website under elementary section – event calendar)

 

Jan. 9               DIBELS Reading Assessment begins

Jan. 11             Stevi B’s Night for PTO

Jan. 12             Family Reading (K-2) and Family Math (Gr.3-5) Night

Jan. 16             Martin Luther King Jr. Day – No School

Jan. 19             Elementary Skating Party 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Jan. 20             End of 2nd grading period/1st semester

Jan. 30             Elementary Progress Reports go home (Grades 1-5)

 

Middle School Board Report

January, 2006
 

 

  1. Enrollment Numbers

 

              8th Grade................................................................... 101      (20.2 Per class)

              7th Grade................................................................... 92        (18.4 Per class)

              6th Grade................................................................... 95        (23.7 Per class)

              Total......................................................................... 288      (20.5 Per class)

  1. Spelling Bee

The middle school conducted its Spelling Bee on Thursday, December 22nd. Students put their skills on display in front of their peers. Seventh grader Warner Moses outlasted 8th grader Jerrica Baumlein. Copies of the book Paedia have been distributed to both students for study purposes. Both will go on to the county spelling be on February 16th at 7:00 p.m.

3.  Christmas Concert

On December 20th, the Middle School Band and Chorus held their annual Christmas Concert. The event was organized by teachers Zachary Thomas and Sarah Santilli. The evening featured performances by the 6th Grade Band, the Middle School Choir, and the Middle School Band. The evening was a great success. Thanks to all who attended.

  1. Achievement Test Intervention

Beginning this week, the Middle School will begin preparations for the upcoming battery of Achievement Tests. Students have been grouped by level of need as determined by previous tests and practice achievement tests. This preparation will take place during our academic Boot Camp time. This will continue for the next two months. I expect that this will improve our test scores dramatically and take us from “Effective” to “Excellent”.

  1. Online Calendar

This is just a reminder that we now are operating a joint online calendar with the Elementary school. The calendar has all events for both buildings and is accessible by all. Feel free to visit it at any time. The address is:

 

http://lb.noacsc.org/Calendar/Default.aspx?calendar=2.

 

  1. Sparse Info

Sorry for the lack of info in this report. We’ve only had seven school days since the last board meeting. Things have not changed that dramatically.

 

HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL’S REPORT
Board of Education Meeting
January 10, 2006
7:00 P.M.

 1.)                Ohio Graduation Test Results From The October Test -  Good news.  All of our seniors who are required to pass the state proficiency tests or Ohio Graduation Tests in order to graduate have done so.  We have one special education senior, who is exempted, who could still pass two remaining sections, and the student has two more testing opportunities to do so.  Overall, however, the Class of 2006 is in good standing with the state testing requirements for graduation.  As for our juniors, they, too, have gotten tremendously positive scores, and at this point, only nine juniors have a total of twenty-six sections remaining, and of these nine juniors, four of them are special education students accounting for fourteen of the sections remaining.  With the October results, we had ten juniors pass eighteen sections altogether including some regular and some special education students.  Our struggling students have made very good progress toward passing their required tests.
2.)                Winter Fun Day -  Our annual Winter Fun Day was held on December 22nd, and it was a huge success.  Our high school student body “earned” their Winter Fun Day by first meeting the goal for our Salvation Army Canned Food Drive of 8,000 pounds of food.  In fact, as a school, we collected over 11,000 pounds of food, had a lot of fun with the service project, won the county title out of good competitive fun, and earned a Winter Fun Day afternoon of activities.  The student council coordinated the activities for the first time, and they did a fabulous job.  It was very well organized, had good staff supervision, and had a variety of new, creative events.  Thanks to student council and their advisor, Mrs. Kelly Hunter!
3.)                Student Section For Basketball Games -  I have been working with the staff and students during our first week back from the holiday break to make sure that our students participating in the student section at basketball games does so respectfully and with good sportsmanship.  Our student section this year has been awesome!!!  They have been full of spirit, very creative, and nicely organized.  We will continue to represent our school and community well with the way we participate at basketball games.  Go, Eagles!!!
4.)                There isn’t a lot to report since with the holiday break we have only had eight days of school since our last school board meeting.  Happy New Year!
5.)                Upcoming Events:

Jan. 11                   Financial Aid Night, 7:00

Jan. 12                   Power Team Assembly, 1:00

Jan. 12                   Academic Boosters, 7:00

Jan. 16                   No School

Jan. 19 & 20          First Semester Exams

Feb. 1                    Quiz Bowl Tournament, 4:00

Feb. 16, 17 & 18   Musical, “Annie”

March 12 & 13      Talent Shows

March 20               3.5 Banquet, 6:30 p.m.