LIBERTY-BENTON LOCAL SCHOOLS
MARCH DISTRICT BOARD REPORT
DENNIS L. RECKER, SUPERINTENDENT
1. It was brought to my attention that a student was having a
reaction to mold spores. The parents were concerned that the school might be the
root cause of this reaction, especially since we’d had to remediate this problem
over the summer, due to the hot and humid conditions we experienced. We
immediately had a detailed sampling in all the rooms that might be the source.
Thank goodness the results came back quickly. There is negligible, at best,
spores in any of the rooms in school. The samplings indicated a sparse
population over 100 times less than found in outdoor air in the summer. The
group and the testing lab were kind enough to provide us, not only the results,
but conclusions and recommendations as to where the source of the mold might be.
We’ve shared this information with the parents of the child affected. Hopefully,
our actions will help them find the source of their problem. I felt we needed to
investigate this and the cost of sampling and expert review cost us $500.
2. Enclosed is an article from the Rocky Mountain News that details some of the
results to schools and the education process, due, for the most part, to the
impact of the TABOR amendment, which is very much like the proposed TEL
amendment Ohio will face this fall. (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/o,1299,DRMN_957_4489587,00.html)
(Item A)
3. We’ll be having Lauree Miller provide home instruction tutoring for two of
our students recovering from automobile accident injuries, yet unable to come to
school. (Item B)
4. I received an application from a church worker to work at L-B. Interestingly,
I found that person has a salary history that shows 45% growth over a seven year
period, averaging 6.4% per year. Just food for thought. I looked at the same
time frame for some of our teachers, and an administrator. Teacher 1 advanced
41% (experienced with Masters added). Teacher 2, advanced 27% (experienced extra
hours, no additional degree). Teacher 3 advanced 40% (mid-career, no extra
degree). Teacher 4 advanced 57% (early career, plus advanced degree). Teacher 5
advanced 23% (experienced, no extra hours or degree due to “topping out” at
B+30). The administrators increased 34% over 7 years. I just found it
enlightening how a church treated an employee. I though this was a good analogy,
comparing personnel costs. In all fairness, though, the salaries of our sample
are twice the salary of the person seeking employment here.
5. As an FYI, I’ve been “harping” about school finance and our need to look into
the future. Some pertinent information for us is that this year in northwestern
Ohio we have 0 schools in fiscal caution or emergency. Next year there will be
up to 30, per our area finance officials.
6. Based on some of my meetings with legislators and other state officials, it
is good to see they are taking some of our ideas seriously. Isn’t it interesting
how sometimes those most skeptical of our performance are our own constituents,
especially when others from other parts of the state, see how good we actually
are? We are being credited for item #2 in “Invest in Success”. (Item C)
7. I compared the efficiency (teaching) of four schools to see how we are doing.
I found the results somewhat startling because of our high degree of efficiency.
(Item D)
8. Due to the above research I had to look at our costs on a daily basis which
is also quite interesting (Item E)
9. Again, we are at the “cutting edge” of innovation and providing valid and
meaningful educations for all L-B students. Mr. Scoles, Mrs. Frankart, and I
attended a morning meeting for area superintendents at Owens Community College,
where we were singled out as an example of being at the forefront of positive
educational change by providing higher education opportunities for all our
students. Also, our current relationship with a tier one college, Oberlin,
couldn’t be at a better time. I’m sharing a letter we received at home from The
Ohio State University. I’ve underlined what I’ve said we’ve been providing at
L-B for the past 12 years. To finally see how one major university has been able
to validate what we’ve been claiming all along, (L-B’s rigor being greater than
most post-secondary institutions) in Math and English, should reinforce board
and community confidence in our accomplishments. However, while letters like the
one enclosed, have the “warm and fuzzy” recognition component, the reality is
now the universities are seeking to attract our best students which has the
effect of revenue reductions for us. Again, our move towards “concurrent”
enrollment with a private college may provide the impetus to change the current
rules (crafted in 1990) that affect public colleges and universities. Our track
record of ACT performance, high school GPA’s, remediation levels, and
persistence rates all factor in to what is happening today, to the benefit of
this community. (Item F)
10. The neat thing about 5 year forecasts is that they also give us a
comparative view of other districts eventual financial plight. To give you an
idea of the magnitude of the eventual impact of the change in school funding I’m
listing the fiscal years schools show their BALANCES or deficits. I’m listing
those schools noted for their financial stability and positive community support
to date. Along with this I’m showing the millage they would need, just to get to
a zero balance:
MERCER COUNTY
Deficit
Mils needed to get to 0
Celina
FY08 -$4,266,396
12.6 mils
Coldwater
FY09 -$1,760,348
16.2 mils
Fort Recovery
FY09 -$770,262
10.05 mils
Marion Local
FY09 -$894,789
13.8 mils
Parkway
FY09 -$1,115,017
12.8 mils
St. Henry
FY10 -$1,676,519
20.9 mils
AUGLAIZE COUNTY
Minster
FY10 -$29,882
N/A $138,518/mil
New Bremen
FY08 -$810,966
7.9 mils
New Knoxville
FY10
+$873,840 N/A $41,609/mil
(21 mil reserve)
St. Marys
FY10
-$2,374,382 9.9 mils
Wapakoneta
FY09
-$2,190,972 7.5 mils
Waynsfield-Goshen FY10
+$1,696,565 N/A $37,342/mil
(45 mil reserve)
PUTNAM COUNTY
Columbus Grove FY10
+$2,837,771 N/A $74,351/mil
(38 mil reserve)
Continental
FY09
-$406,150 9.4 mils
Fort Jennings
FY09
-$242,398 7.9 mils
Kalida
FY10
-$502,385 8.4 mils
Leipsic
FY10
+$173,140 N/A
$72,597/mil
(2.38 mil reserve)
Miller City
FY10
+$1,851,074 N/A $32,400/mil
(57 mil reserve)
Ottawa-Glandorf FY09
-$2,324,740 14.0 mils
Ottoville
FY09
-$727,756
14.0 mils
Pandora-Gilboa FY08
-$743,800
13.49 mils
HANCOCK
*Arcadia
FY09
-$1,206,657
17.8 mils
Arlington
FY10
+$1,749,151 N/A
$59,748/mil
(24 mil reserve)
*Cory-Rawson FY09
-$862,676
11.33 mils
*Findlay City FY08
-$4,834,286 5.6 mils
L-B
FY10
-$2,562,538
16.5 mils $155,216/mil
(Today 33 mil reserve)
*McComb
FY09
-$955,945
11.9 mils
*Van Buren
FY10
-$2,073,989 8.9 mils
*Vanlue
FY08
-$310,042 11.4 mils
This just gives you a perspective as to how fragile balances actually are. All
the asterisked schools already passed additional millage or income tax last
year, and will need additional revenues again, except one. Again, these are some
of the most supportive schools in Ohio, with the highest academic achievement,
similar to us. While most of these schools are impacted sooner than us, the
results of inaction may be devastating. For this reason, watch closely at what
happens to Pandora, Findlay and Celina on this list. They will be the harbinger
of what will be the future of all the schools. Again, we still have time to
insulate ourselves from these potentially disastrous consequences.
11. I’d ask that the board consider a level of required testing for all high
school sophomores at board expense. The test I’d like to have administered is
the PLAN or Preliminary ACT. Even though we have the required OGT for
graduation, it has no national norms and is somewhat arbitrary in its benchmark.
Also, the federal NAEP has shown five years of educational decline (the
benchmark is established at the federal level), while our nationally normed ACT
shows us making dramatic improvement. The PLAN is nationally normed as a
precursor to the ACT. It provides national and state norms for the core subject
areas, and ranks our students against a more rigorous college bound population.
The IOWA serves us well through seventh grade, but we find that at 8th and
above, we “blow the lid off” performance and can not get accurate measures. The
PLAN provides a backdrop of performance, a predictor of future ACT performance,
and helps us not just point out weakness, but shows academic core strengths that
can be used in career planning, be it college, vocational, or potential
apprenticeship programs.
12. The state legislature is crafting a corrections bill for this biennium.
Since the House of Representatives has a new Speaker, Mr. Heusted, I asked
Representative Gilb if he would be more responsive to our request to honor our
original TIF agreement. Representative Gilb is pursuing this on our behalf.
13. I found this article that explains “pros and cons” of ranking, and how
students are adversely affected. We don’t have the problem referred to in the
article because we do provide rank on a 4 point scale. We provide universities
an accurate picture of student performance. Also, we’ve got the reputation at
universities of being a top notch school. One admissions counselor at a OAC
university told me they “take nearly every L-B student we could provide” based
on our academic reputation. (Item G)
14. Jeff is going to switch our busses to Bio-diesel beginning April 1.
Bio-diesel is a diesel-soybean oil mixture which is to lower pollution levels
and improve mileage. We already have a non-idling policy in place so we’ll see
if, in April and May, our mileage per gallon increases. The cost differential in
fuel will be one cent per gallon. This looks like a good idea, and Jeff has the
necessary background information to conduct his analysis.
15. I thought this to be interesting. Again, our actions four years ago with
some of our staff to keep good people around while reducing costs are now
becoming commonplace. This will be a short term solution because STRS will
require, beginning 2009-10 school year, that the employer pay insurance costs.
This will shift what is currently a $1000 per month, per retired employee,
savings back to the board of education. (Item H)
16. Enclosed are copies of “The Board”. (Item I)
17. Here is another article about TABOR. I checked out the membership of the
Coalition for Ohio’s Future to see the composition of the group. There are 135
member organizations to date, and understandably, most are governmental
organizations, school groups (teacher, administration, and Board of Education
included), children and senior citizens advisory groups, social justice
organizations, and church groups that focus on caring for the needy. One begins
to see the “political” nature of the argument when we find local government
costs increasing 7 per cent annually, schools with historic 6% increases, and
care for the aged increasing dramatically due to personnel and medical needs.
When comparing to Colorado, which was an economic success story that is now on
an educational level equal to Mississippi, due to its own TABOR, imagine the
possible devastation to Ohio, which is already struggling. Hopefully, people on
both sides of this issue will reach a consensus on valuing the citizens of Ohio
who need financial support and the understanding that financial commitment is
necessary to maintain and improve our society. (Item J).
18. I ran across this study on school counseling. While we don’t meet the
recommended ratio of 250-1, we are at 300-1 in middle and high school, and over
500-1 in elementary. (Item K).
19. When we discuss costs and cost containment, we tend to look at education,
and wrongly so, in the same terms as widget production. It makes common sense to
look at our role and say we can operate like other businesses, but we deal with
individuals, not mass production items. Interestingly, the accompanying article,
published in 1997, provides some insight as well as a comparative analysis of
education relative to manufactured goods and services. More striking, and
something folks might find shocking, is how education might really be frugal, if
looked at over the past 100 years. Looking at the research, we find that the
14.8 cent per hour average wage in 1897 was $307.84 per year, up to $39,811 in
2004. The article shows average wage increase of 6.4% from 1997 to 2004. Because
labor is labor, labor intensive organizations will have costs that seemingly are
skewed when compared to other business operations. The two most labor intensive
work areas are education and medicine. However, the annual wage increase for a
US worker has increased 128.67 times from 1897 to 2004. Using 128.67 as a
multiple, we need to look at our personnel costs utilizing this factor,
comparing our operational costs based on 1897 wages. Look at the following wage
schedule for Hancock County educators in 1897 (from The Courier) with a multiple
of 128.67 to show the relative value of that same position today.
Position
1897 wage Today’s value (2004 numbers)
Actual L-B today 2006
Elementary teacher $300-$400
$38,601-$51,468
$26,233-$58,367
HS teacher
$600
$77,202
$26,233-$58,367
HS Principal
$1350
$173,704
$69,267
1-8 Principal
$585
$75,271
$65,208
Superintendent
$1800
$231,606
$92,125
This is compelling when you see how different groups of employees fare over a
century. It also tells us how we’ve been able to maintain a vibrant education
system at a cost less than the real cost of wages the past 100 years. We have
been cost effective. Once we see that schools are not factories, and we
investigate costs, we must look at different indicators to see if we are
reasonable in our cost increases, compared to other schools. This helps us see
if we are over-spending, or even punishing our children by not providing enough
resources. Looking at different “pieces of evidence”, what can be said about how
L-B operates?
Ohio cost
Ohio highest cost
Ohio lowest cost L-B cost
per pupil
per pupil
per pupil
per pupil
FY00
$7057
$14,684
$5032
$5823
FY04
$8768
$18,685
$6050
$7242
Total%/Avg% 24.2%/6.06%
27.2%/6.8%
20.2%/5.05%
24.3%/6.09%
It is revealing to see how our costs are nearly identical to the state average,
yet we still operate at a rate 20% less than the state average. This again bears
out the fact that we are efficient. Add to this our estimated cost per pupil for
FY2004 through 2006, our per pupil costs increase 4.68% or 2.34% annually the
past two years. Again, this provides some strong evidence of cost containment.
(Item L)
20. Lisa informed me that we’ll need to have the board approve nearly 32 “Then
and Now” purchase orders totaling $637.75, stemming primarily from FFA fruit
sales the past three years. (Item M)
21. Note this potential educational change in Florida. 18 years ago Ohio had
hearings on the elimination of physical education as a cost savings measure. I’d
actually started the process of re-certifying teachers into other subject areas
when everyone “came to their senses” and dropped the issue. What is more onerous
about this article is that now all the arts are also targeted. These are social
forces, (or maybe anti-social forces) because physical education, athletics, and
the arts are also “social” and community based events. You will see this as an
Ohio issue very shortly, as schools go broke. (Item N)
22. The Ohio Department of Education sent me letters of commendation regarding
Mike Scoles and Barb Gazette for coordinating National Assessment of Education
Progress (NAEP) testing at grades 4 and 12 in US history, civics, and economics.
Federal employees administered the test and told us (the students) that in all
the different states and schools, including Ohio, they had tested in, that the
positive behavior and atmosphere at L-B was unlike any school they had ever
worked with. (Item O)
23. This Detroit News article reflects what is happening nationally in schools
and the increased workload for administrators, as well as teachers. We’ve been
able to help our building administrators with providing clerical support as well
as some administrative support by having teachers “pick up” some of the duties
typically considered “administrative”, including attendance reporting,
counseling students in disciplinary situations, extra-curricular scheduling,
teacher mentoring, after hours supervision, program coordination (Title I),
conducting parent meetings, and any other duties that may develop. There is a
growing realization that administrators are the “driving force” to help students
and staff achieve, yet at times these people are those maligned as being “less
important” than other personnel. The truth is all are needed to provide the high
level of education we have at L-B. (Item P)
24. Attached is a summary of changes requested to the NEOLA policies. (Item Q)
25. Enclosed are copies of “The Board”. (Item R)
26. A letter is attached from Pat Wagner requesting your support of the
Philadelphia cross country trip to be held September 15-17, 2006. (Item S)
27. Education is believed to still be the basis for economic success. This
accompanying article from Fortune Magazine points out a very disturbing trend of
“de-valuing” education. What is so onerous about this is that we provide the
best education ever, but the standard of living declines. Eventually, this will
impact all economic levels and there will be a downward economic spiral for
everyone. (Item T)
28. I received a call from Benton Ridge Telephone asking if we’d consider
providing tapes or DVD’s of school activities, i.e. sporting events, music
programs, quiz bowl matches, or anything to showcase our children and L-B.
ELEMENTARY PRINCIPAL’S
REPORT
Liberty-Benton Board of Education
Mar. 21, 2006
As of today, we have the following number of students in
our elementary program:
Feb. 2006
Pre-school - 25 (1 section – ½ a.m. & ½ p.m.) ( 25)
Kindergarten - 73 (4 sections – avg. class 18.3) ( 72)
First Grade - 79 (4 sections – avg. class 19.8) ( 78)
Second Grade - 101 (5 sections – avg. class 20.2) (101)
Third Grade - 84 (4 sections – avg. class 21.0) ( 83)
Fourth Grade - 99 (5 sections – avg. class 19.8) ( 98)
Fifth Grade - 104 (5 sections
– avg. class 20.8) (103)
TOTAL (K-5): 540 School Average: 20.0
(535) Average (19.8)
(565 with
pre-school)
1. We currently have 75
students scheduled for screening in three weeks for our upcoming kindergarten
class for the 2006-07 school year. We had 57 students at this time last year. We
have the largest group of pre-schoolers with disabilities coming across as ever.
We anticipate more students than normal with needs that will require more of our
attention than is typical. We will be watching our numbers closely over the next
couple weeks. I predict we will screen on April 5th about 78-80 students.
2. We have narrowed the textbook series being studied for adoption next year
down to top two companies. These include Macmillan/McGraw Hill and Harcourt. On
Monday, the Elementary Science Committee will meet with me to analyze these two
series during a half-day collaboration time. We plan to send an informational
flyer home to parents this week regarding these series being on display for
review in our library. A final recommendation from the committee and then from
the staff should be made by April 7th. We are very pleased with what we have
seen from these final two series.
3. Our second grade students did an outstanding job with their spring music
program, “Howdy Partner” under the direction of Diane Norris this past Thursday
evening. Thank you Mr. Recker and board members for your presence and
wholehearted support for the music and arts programming at L-B. It means a lot
to the students, teachers, and administration!
4. Our Right to Read Theme for this year is “Lasso a Great Book!” It will
kick-off on Friday, March 24th and run through Friday, March 31st. Additionally,
we will have a guest author/illustrator, Wil Clay, on Monday, March 27th. Our
committees have worked hard on this and it should be another fun year for
everyone! I have attached a copy of the design for out t-shirts for you to see.
5. Our 5th grade students will be participating in the Grade 5 Social Studies
Ohio Achievement field test during the week of April 3-7, with a tentative
administration date of April 4th. We are one of 580 school buildings across the
state participating in this field test. The assessment should last no more than
2.5 hours and is administered as a whole-group test.
6. Mr. Gfell and I were able to “make bail” for the MDA Lock-up Fundraising
event last month. We were able to raise just over $1400 for this event. Thank
you to everyone who supported us and more importantly the Muscular Dystrophy
Association!
7. Mrs. Matson and Mr. Nichols have put together our next G.Y.M. (Get Youth
Moving) event for our Family Fitness Night in April. On April 3rd, families can
come to participate in “Relieving Stress with Yoga,” “Strengthening our Core
with Pilates,” and “Developing Discipline with Shotokan Karate.” I appreciate
all their time and dedication to helping provide students and families with
activities to improve health and fitness. This is the kind of programming that
will fit very well into our Wellness Policy currently being developed.
8. The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) will be on-site at the elementary on
April 6th to conduct a site review of the implementation of our school-wide
improvement plan and grant. They will be studying how effectively we are
implementing our plans as required through our School Improvement Grant (SIG). I
am very pleased and proud of the improvement in the area of school
environment/discipline with our students. The teachers and students have worked
diligently to improve our educational environment.
UPCOMING ELEMENTARY EVENTS:
(May be viewed on website under elementary section
– event calendar)
Mar. 20 PTO Meeting 7:00 p.m.
Mar. 21 Elementary School Spring Pictures
Mar. 24 Right to Read Kick-off (Right to Read Week March 27-31)
Mar. 29 State-wide Tornado Drill 9:50 a.m.
Pre-school & Kindergarten Program: Mrs. Wishy-Washy
7:00 p.m.
Mar. 30 Scheduled 2-hour Delay for Collaboration
Apr. 3 Elementary Progress Reports (Grade Cards)go home (Grades
1-5)
G.Y.M. Family Fitness Event 6:30 p.m.
Apr. 4 Administration of the 5th Grade field test of the
Ohio Social Studies Achievement Test
Apr. 5 Kindergarten Screening at the Liberty Township Building
Apr. 7-17 Spring Break (Vacation)
Middle School Board Report
March, 2006
Next month will be distributing copies of the new LBMS handbook. I would like to have it board approved so that I may submit it to Premier Agendas. This is just a heads-up.
4. Arts Festival
The Elementary and Middle School Arts Festival will take place on April 21st and 22nd. Mary Jo McFarlane and Ann Thieman are beginning to put plans in place to display student artwork for parents and community members. The event will be different as it will be in the high school and be more detailed.
5. Foreign Language/Math Selection
Currently I am in the process of selecting students for our more selective programs—foreign language and math. I have put together a scoring system and check sheet that students need to complete in order to be considered for these classes. I have attempted to eliminate any discrepancies by making the process very black and white.
6. Scheduling
I will begin scheduling students for the upcoming year beginning this month. Class schedules will look different than next year as new programs are being added.
7. Lisa Lammers and the Golden Apple
As you know, 8th grade English teacher Lisa Lammers has been nominated for the Findlay Rotary’s Golden Apple Award. She is now a semifinalist. Lisa does a great job, and her nomination isn’t a surprise to those who know her well. We will be notified soon if she is a finalist. Lisa, is a not a big self promoter, so if you see her around, please let here know that she is doing a great job.
8. MDA Jail
As you many of you already know, Mr. Burkett and I went to jail for the MDA on February 23rd. Thanks to those of you who supported us in our attempts to make bail. Combined we raised over $1,200.
9. Talent Show
As many of you witnessed, a number of Liberty-Benton Middle School students took part in the talent show held at the high school on March 12th and 13th. Congratulations to Jamie Steinman, Cathy Paxton, Lexie Manns, Brian Linehan, Zoe Thompson, Molly Fowler, Jennifer Reed, Brandon Swope, Marie Walker, and Zoe De Marco who all took part in the event.
10. Spelling Bee
Hancock County conducted its Spelling Bee on Thursday, February 16th. Seventh grader Warner Moses outlasted many students before falling in 7th place. Warner’s top ten finish will allow him to continue to compete. He will be participating in the Blade Northwest Ohio Championship Spelling Bee on March 23rd at Owens Community at 7:00.
HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL’S REPORT
Liberty-Benton Board of Education Meeting
March 21, 2006
6:00 P.M.
1.) Scheduling Underway - Our high school scheduling for next year’s classes has begun with Mr. Scoles starting to speak in classes this week. Only a few updates and revisions were made to our course offering for next school year. All of the course descriptions are posted online so all parents and students may refer to them at any time. I have attached some highlights and comments about these revisions to make it easier for you as you look at all of the course descriptions posted.
2.) Drug Dog Searches And Policy Issues - Recently, deputies from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department met with the superintendents of the Hancock County Schools to discuss the easier availability for conducting routine drug searches with the use of the available canine units. We would love to take full advantage of this capability to ensure that students our not bringing drugs onto our school campus, but we have a policy with language that is currently preventing this from happening. In order to use the drug dogs for searches, the sheriff’s office requires that we have a board policy in place to make sure that board is responsible for paying for any possible damages to vehicles if a search is conducted. However, our board policy states that the board will not pay for any damages that occur to vehicles in our parking lot, period. For most situations, this policy is a good idea. We would never want to be accountable for damages to vehicles when our students have fender-benders or general acts of vandalism. However, it would be nice to revise this policy to state that the board will pay for the damages to vehicles in our parking lot as a result of a drug search by the canine unit when an innocent vehicle is scratched. If the vehicle is determined to contain any illegal substances, paraphernalia, or other illegal property, the board will not be responsible for the damages. At the county principals’ meeting this month, I discussed this concern with the principals of the other county schools. We are the only county school not scheduling drug dog searches because of a policy problem. Yes, we could still have the drug dogs conduct a search of our student lockers, but this has always proven to be unsuccessful in the past. We do not allow students to carry their backpacks from class to class, and the students leave their backpacks in unlocked lockers. Since these items are so easily accessible, no one ever stores drugs in the lockers. The most logical and productive place to search has been the vehicles if we are truly interested in making sure our students are not bringing drugs onto the school campus. You can let us know your interests in proceeding or revising this board policy.
3.) OGT Week Testing - This has been one heck of an OGT testing week. The OGT Week is such a high stakes, high stress week of testing for many students that we have been faced with a week of many challenges during the week of March 13-17. We had a student who threw up all over the test booklet, answer document, and calculator. This created a chaotic environment for that testing room so we had to interrupt the testing to move the group to a different testing room immediately. This also creates a lot of extra work in reporting the specific problems to the state because test materials had to be considered “destroyed” and “non-returnable.” The good news is that the ill student was permitted to make up the tests involved in the destroyed answer document during this week’s make-up testing week. We had another sophomore hospitalized for medical issues that occurred during testing, and from the recent car accident last month, we had to make special one-on-one testing arrangements for three of the students involved. I specially thank Mrs. Joyce Jackson for coordinating our testing week filled with so many obstacles while she also maintains her health classes and other guidance tasks as well. I thank our teachers who gave the tests, especially Mrs. Lauree Miller, who has helped to provide a lot of special accommodations that are required in addition to her regular teaching load, and I thank our whole staff for being flexible with our special schedule during the week. On Tuesday and Thursday we reversed our class periods to run from Period 7 through Period 1. This allowed our sophomores to attend all of their classes over a two-day period, instead of missing their first three class periods for an entire week. In order to pull this off, several teachers had to move their classes to other rooms and work flexibly through the day.
4.)
OGT State Flaw With The Writing Test - I am one of hundreds of
principal across the State of Ohio who happens to be furious with the Ohio
Department of Education about a major testing flaw on this year’s writing test.
The flaw occurs in the answer document that the students use each day to record
all of their answers for the five required OGT tests. On Monday’s reading OGT
test, students recorded their answers in the answer document, and when they got
to page 11, they saw “This page left intentionally blank.” This page is shaded
in pink and is located after the completion of the reading test. On
Tuesday’s mathematics OGT test, students continued to record their answers in
their answer booklet, and when they got to page 21, they saw “This page left
intentionally blank.” This page was shaded in pink and was located after
the completion of the mathematics test. On Wednesday’s writing test, students
continued to record their answers in their answer booklet, and when they got to
page 29, they saw “This page left intentionally blank.” At this point, students
had already completed two writing sections and two multiple-choice sections,
BUT this was NOT the end of the writing test. There was one more writing
section worth 18 points. By this time in the week, students were pretty
conditioned to thinking this was the daily pattern to the test, and this was a
wide-spread problem across the state that the ODE is not willing to answer to.
As each of our school districts has contacted the ODE about the poorly
structured answer document, they have been nothing but rude in ignoring the real
problem and repeated placing the fault on our students, teachers, and schools.
They cannot explain why this “intentionally blank page” is even there or
necessary, and they have no plan to revise the situation to account for this
major flaw in the high stakes testing.
I am furious about this situation for a couple of major reasons. First of all,
this was extremely unfair for our students who were tested! Leaving a written
response completely blank on an 18-point question has really added stress to our
students this week. Secondly, as several of our students have been effected by
this situation, we are angered as a school because this will greatly impact our
AYP scores and ratings! The students who were effected are very, very strong
students. We had nine students effected by this situation, and these
nine students have an average GPA of 3.478. I would have had every expectation
for them to receive an “Advanced” or “Accelerated” testing score, and these
respective ratings carry the weight of 1.2 and 1.1 per student toward our AYP
score. Now, I am just hoping that these students have even a chance for
passing the writing test at the simple “Proficient” level, both for their sake
and ours. These 9 students account for 8% of our scores so the difference in
their score level (Advanced, Accelerated, Proficient, or Basic) could mean the
difference in us meeting AYP, or not.
Just out of curiosity, I reviewed the structure of the answer document on both
Thursday’s and Friday’s OGT tests. On Thursday’s science test, there was NO
“intentionally left blank page” at all, and on Friday’s social studies test, the
“intentionally left blank page” was after the completion of the test.
Let’s all hope there is enough pressure on the state that they will do the right
thing and make up for this problem somehow with the scoring of the test for the
students and with the scoring of the test toward the AYP points, but as we are
all familiar with the way the state does things, that is some pretty great hope
at this point. In the seven years that I have been the high school principal,
we have always received an “Excellent” school rating, and if this wrecks that
from happening, I will be very upset. All I know is that the phone calls and
e-mails among Ohio’s high school principals this week has been fast and furious
regarding this issue, but clearly, the matter is out of our hands. I feel like
saying, “Keep your fingers crossed,” but when it comes to such high stakes
testing, that is not the way we like to approach things! I hope you can
understand my concerns and frustrations.
5.) Spring Sports Seasons - Our Spring sports seasons are underway, and we have 128 high school students involved in a Spring sport. This equates to about 32% of our student body. Our Winter sports awards night is scheduled for Monday, March 27th, at 7:30 p.m. in the high school auditorium.
6.) Student Handbook Updates - Our high school staff and principal’s advisory committee have been looking at the student handbook and discussing any potential updates and revisions. There are only a few minor revisions planned. I will e-mail these revisions to you in case you have any questions, and I plan to submit the handbook to the printer in early May to receive some major printing discounts. We typically then wait to board approve all of the student handbooks for our three schools at the same time at the June meeting. When I e-mail the proposed updates, you can e-mail me back if you have any questions.
7.) DASL Update - Our new DASL system has been working very well. Since the nine weeks will be ending on March 24th and we will be printing grade cards for distribution on March 31st, we have just completed a “trial run” with teachers submitting their students’ grades. The trial run worked beautifully, and the whole process so far seems much easier than before. This means the grade cards will look a lot different now, but they are very easy to follow. The grade cards are being printed on a laser printer with special watermark paper, rather than being printed on a triplicate-copy continuous-feed form.
8.) Talent Show – Our district-wide talent show was a fantastic success once again. Congratulations to our director, Mrs. Brenda Hoyt-Brackman, and all of our student performers and crew! Special thanks to our nine faculty members who performed in the rock band, “Staff Infection.”
9.) 3.5 Banquet - Our 3.5 Banquet on March 20th honored 141 high school students with a 3.5 or higher grade point average. The Academic Boosters did a nice job of helping to coordinate the event. The meal was catered by Karen Schroeder, and the special guest speaker was Mrs. Jennifer (DeGraaf) Pecora from the LBHS Class of 1995.
10.) Upcoming Events:
March 22
Stevi B’s Pizza Night, anytime
March 30 Academic Booster Meeting, 7:00 p.m.
March 31 LB Track Relays, 4:30 p.m.
April 2 Honor Roll Ice Cream Social, 2:15 p.m.
April 8-17 Spring Break J
April 21 K-12 Art Festival, HS gym, 6:00-10:00 p.m.
April 22 K-12 Art Festival, HS gym, 10:00-5:00
April 26 Stevi B’s Pizza Night, anytime
April 28 Family BINGO Night & BBQ
April 29 LB Invitational, 9:00 a.m.
May 4 (Tentative) YIELD Assembly for Jrs. & Srs., 1:00
May 6 Prom
May 9 Spring Concert, 7:30 p.m.
May 10 & 12 BVC Track Meet @ LBHS
May 19 & 20 Relay For Life, Noon – 8:00 a.m.
May 29 No School Memorial Day
June 2 & 5 (Tentative) Senior Exams
June 7 & 8 (Tentative) Exam Days
June 8 (Tentative) Graduation Practice Day
June 9 (Tentative) Teacher Work Day
June 11 (Tentative) Graduation, 2:00 p.m.