LIBERTY-BENTON LOCAL SCHOOLS

MONDAY NOVEMBER 20, 2006

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, October 16, 2006 regular and special board of education meetings.

IV.              Communications and Discussion

Regional School Improvement Team presentation by John Olds and Kathy Brickner

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 10/31/06, and monthly financial report of the Treasurer.

2.       Approve appropriation modifications for November 2006

3.       Approve the five year forecast and assumptions

4.       Approve the listing of obsolete/disposed of inventory

5.       Accept $6635.60 from NWO SERRC for the State Improvement Grant FY2007

6.       Accept $2000 from the Liberty-Benton PTO for Camp Storer

7.       Accept the following donation for the Dana Bowman Program:  Findlay Tall Timbers Distribution/Ohio Logistics $1500, Rowmark $1500, Kiwanis Club $500, The Right Thing $400, Marathon $250

8.       Approve agreement between the Liberty-Benton Local Schools and  “The Architect” for architectural services for the auxiliary gym floor

9.       Approve agreement between the Liberty-Benton Local Schools and “The Architect” for design services for the athletic complex

10.   Approve the following “Then and Now” purchase orders:

PO #128640 to “The Architect”

PO #128641 to “The Architect”

PO #128687 to “Rahmberg Stover and Associates

PO #128713 to “Alltel”

11.   Accept 1st and 2nd quarter EMIS FY07 subsidy payment in the amount of $1000 each

12.   Accept 2006-07 Literacy Improvement Building Volunteer Coordinator Stipend in the amount of $2000 for OhioReads

13.   Approve the following resignation:

Dawn Blankenship, junior class advisor effective November 10, 2006

14.   Approve the following classified staff:

Janet Jones, increase to 6.25 per day, special education aide

Michelle Groves, Substitute

Melissa Holley, Substitute

Kim Cook, Substitute

Kristine Bartel, Substitute

Tami Karhoff, Substitute

15.   Approve contract correction, Step 5 to Sue Stennett

16.   Approve supplemental contract for Sarah Santilli, before school Choir instruction

17.   Approve the following extra-curricular personnel for 2006-07 school year:

Dave Rath, Assistant Boys Basketball Coach

Jeff Kloepfer, Assistant Girls Basketball Coach

Ryan Lieb, Assistant Girls Basketball Coach

Marshal Headley, 8th grade Girls Basketball Coach

 

18.   Approve the following certified long term substitutes:

Eileen Rucki

Claudia Benjamin

19.   Approve transportation in lieu of for Deb Lussier, mother of Hannah, third grader at Trinity Lutheran School

B.     Accept Kesha Brooks, daughter of Jason and Sarah Harper as tuition free student to complete her senior year

C.     Accept Ashley Hughes, daughter of Cindy Hughes as tuition student for the 2006-07 school year

D.     Approve Camp Storer Science Trip for 2007-08 school year

      IX.        Other Business

X.                 Executive Session

XI.               Adjournment

 

LIBERTY-BENTON LOCAL SCHOOLS

NOVEMBER DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION REPORT

DENNIS L. RECKER, SUPERINTENDENT

 

  1. As public schools, we attempt to provide our “at best” estimates of cost.  Note how some “education” providers might be circumventing the rules, or maybe being a bit “selective” in reporting procedures.  (Item A)
  2. Attached are copies of correspondence from the State Board of Education reflecting our academic growth.  (Item B)
  3. I came across this article “Ten Moral Concerns About No Child Left Behind”.  Since we are a public school and non-sectarian, what is so compelling about this article is that it is written by The National Council of Churches of Christ, more frequently noted as The National Council of Churches, or NCC.  This is so compelling in my mind, because these ten concerns cut across all religious, socio-economic, ethnic, or intellectual boundaries.  These concerns speak to the issue of children, and for that reason, ring “true” in my mind.  As you read this, please disregard any of the religious overtones (because we’re supposed to) and no matter what a person’s religious orientation may be, you can’t help agreeing with the message.  This also validates our actions as a board of education and school administration, along with our instructional and operational methods, that we are a public school district that is educating its young “the right way”.  (Item C)
  4. Our ITC site is developing and implementing “Progress Book”, which is similar to Edline.  While Progress Book has some expanded capabilities beyond Edline, we required our staff to use Edline three years before Progress Book appeared.  We’ll transition to Progress Book when the principals and Mr. Eckhart advise me to do so.  This information is being passed on in case you hear “fault finding” regarding our current Edline communications.  Our administrators believe the transition to Progress Book will be easier on our teachers once they are well versed with Edline use.  The greatest current concern by administration is equivalent capability and similar or less cost.
  5. We will be conducting a disaster drill in the future regarding our county/city response to a pandemic.  Since L-B is one of two “Points of Dispensing” the medical medications for up to 70,000 people within 48 hours, we’re looking at a two-day simulation/drill over spring break, April 3 and 4.
  6. Here is a news article on the Ohio Core Curriculum.  L-B is way ahead of everyone else since we’ve offered, in effect, and strongly encouraged our students to have the CORE, as presented in this article, four years ago (Class of 2002).  (Item D)
  7. Ms. Santilli is extending her school day to provide choir instruction for students who have a “full” schedule.  This increases the choir members and helps meet the board’s goal of supporting the fine arts.
  8. We’re attempting to reduce escalating workers compensation premium costs and our liability premium cost by attending yearlong safety sessions and participating in insurer sponsored workshops.  If anything, we’re able to validate current safety practices, and the staff is able to pick up “pointers” to improve school safety.  Our premium savings should off-set any costs, as well as provide a potential reduction in premium costs.  Joyce Jackson is our liaison for BWC activities and Lisa Dobbins is working with our underwriters, Indiana Insurance.
  9. In 2000, we presented at OSBA about the concept of DSL.  This was changed to DASL and as of October 20, 186 school districts in Ohio are using this product.  We estimate 400 districts will be using this next year.
  10. Sometimes we tend to overlook the broad range of our “educational scope of service”.  I’ve heard concerns that we sometimes overlook career-technical education.  As a district we’re required to provide at least 12 programs in 8 career fields by law.  L-B provides a total of 20 programs in 12 fields through our own offerings and with Millstream.  At our local level, we’ve streamlined by modernizing our offerings and are actually able to provide more opportunities for our students.  Also, these areas are based on the needs of area industries, and not the interest areas of students.  Again, L-B was a leader in this area when we provided college level credit through OWENS for our Agriculture Entrepreneurship class.  Note our compliance letter along with a copy of our offerings and a statewide student distribution by career area.  (Item E)
  11. Findlay City Schools are looking at improving their capacity for technology.  At L-B, we have a fiber optic backbone with a fiber connection between buildings (done in 1996).  However, we have a T-1 currently “feeding” the high school, and are experiencing periods of “slowness”.  I’m having Mr. Eckhart looking at different solutions to improve this situation, and we have people from the ITC site in Lima, along with other community resources, willing to help and see what good solutions might be available to us.
  1. I’m enclosing the article, “Is Bill Gates a Good School Leader”, which is very well written and presents a positive slant to improving public education.  As you read this, you’ll sense how everyone wants improvement, but this article also attempts to winnow out the profiteering groups and focus on student achievement, student needs beyond the classroom, and what our children will need to know if we’re to be a nation that will be competitive (academically and economically) in the future.  You’ll see, I hope, many parallels to what we do for our children at L-B and what is envisioned by these philanthropists.  They aren’t trying to usurp our roles, but do want to help.  This article reinforces how we currently operate as a district.  (Item F)
  2. The building principals and teachers have been pro-active in attempting to improve student academic performance.  With the addition of our inclusion teachers, along with their studying student performance data, the staff is attempting to improve student achievement.  Even more compelling will be when we can see if we maintain and improve student performance relative to their expected levels of achievement, as well as the required state tests.  This article speaks to two of the “3 R’s”, relevancy, and relationships, but does not address the third “R”, which is a L-B standard, that of academic rigor.  (Item G)
  3. The teacher’s organization, LBTA, has filed an unfair labor practice with SERB against us regarding health insurance.  “The employer unilaterally and without bargaining changed the benefits……”  Our attorney is researching this charge as to whether it is valid.  I may ask for a motion to dismiss this charge.
  4. Here is an article “A Misdirected Push: College for All?”.  It is well written and insightful.  One sentence I found compelling is, “of course, job readiness is not the best reason for college”.  However, if we don’t prepare our children to be able to succeed at the next higher educational level, i.e., college (be that community through university setting), ours is the greater “sin” because we have taken that opportunity away from our children (community includes “technical and associate degrees”).  (Item H)
  5. In the “for what its worth” department, I received some data from the regional school improvement team showing that of the 22 tested areas used to determine school effectiveness, 16 areas showed higher performance levels for students who were in attendance 3 or more years at L-B.  This is a “pat on the back” for students and staff, plus it provides more credibility to our statement that we help create higher levels of performance over time.  However, if we don’t meet the state mandated “targets”, the news will still be portraying L-B as needing improvement.
  6. I nominated Findlay/Hancock County Chamber of Commerce President and L-B resident Doug Peters to serve on a national committee NAEP National Assessment of Educational Progress) on the subject of high school economics and what knowledge growth students should possess.  Given the fact of Findlay’s ability to thrive in a rust-belt state, which requires an astute understanding of economic systems, and with Liberty-Benton’s reputation as an excellent academic institution, I thought he might be a good candidate.  As it turns out, so did the national committee who reviewed our nomination, and selected Mr. Peters to serve on this national study group.  (Item I)
  7. I’ve received a contour lay-out for the concession/restroom/athletic field area and the needed elevations for purposes of rough grading and tiling.  Jeff and I reviewed them, and I’ve communicated to the group interested in expediting the process to allow soccer games to be played in the fall.  Feel free to “check out” the contour layout drawings, which I have available in my office.  I’ve asked Mr. Roth to create the needed specifications and cost estimates to allow us to move forward with this project so the different support groups can complete their part of the project in the spring, which fits in with the concession/restroom area.
  8. Enclosed is a prologue Mr. Winkle and I’ve been working on for our strategic plan.  I think it speaks to the degree of effort and thought that went into this project.  Hopefully we can conduct final editing at our next strategic planning session.  (Item J)
  9. Note the article on a top flight school, Scarsdale, dropping AP and “adjusting” their thinking about student readiness for higher level education.  Oh my gosh, that’s the same mind-set L-B operates from.  (Item K)
  10. A page from the Special Education Regional Resource annual report highlighting L-B.  (Item L)
  11. At our November board of education meeting, we’re having representatives of Ohio’s West Central Regional School Improvement Team brief the board of educations on their role, but also how L-B “figures in the picture”, not only as a client, but our level of competency regarding the use of data driven discussion making.
  1. Here is an article on Bill Gates small school experiment.  Interestingly, the results in Seattle are mixed.  (Item M)
  2. We’ll be approving winter sport coaches, Dave Rath, Jeff Kloepfer, Ryan Lieb, and Marshal Headley.
  3. We will be approving in lieu of transportation for a Trinity Lutheran student.
  4. At our local superintendent’s meeting, the regional school finance consultant notified us that there will, in all probability, be a state endorsed “dual enrollment” component of providing college credit for high school work next year.  Current colleges being considered for this arrangement include University of Findlay, Oberlin, Kenyon, and BGSU is asking for consideration.  Again, this was led by L-B in our dialogue over the past couple of years with our area legislators and other state officials, as well “testing” the program with the University of Findlay and Oberlin College.  I was able to share with the superintendents and finance people, L-B’s participation with the University of Findlay, Oberlin, and our discussions and meetings at L-B with BGSU and my conversations with OSU officials.  It was noted (surprise) how along with being an academic benefit, this could be a cost benefit to local schools and families.
  5. We’ve completed a year of service with a group hired to help our staff “navigate” the health care system.  While the “selling point” of this group was to lower costs, our utilization trend was nearly identical to the national trend at a rate of 17%.

However, we’ve been able to find some interesting data points.  87% of our employees have primary care physicians.  The remainder tend to self-refer to a specialist.  While a national average of 47.7% of employees utilize preventive care, our consortium utilizes at a 38.4% rate.

One overarching factor which might be influencing cost is that 42% of the health care enrollees are aged 40 or greater, (25% are 50+) and our biggest “jump” of enrollees from 2005-2006 is the age group of 50 or greater.  (Historically, teachers retired at age 51 or 52, but this has changed due to the reduction of STRS insurance coverage.)

The health consortium is not performing as expected due to:

·         a significant increase in high cost claims due to unpreventable catastrophic claims

·         an aging population with escalated chronic conditions, and a low use of preventative care services

·         a high proportion of enrollees are Level III disease management patients

·         our enrollees not using primary care physicians and moving to self-referred specialty care

Our last plan year, we had 5.4 million in health care expenses, covering 1656 enrollees, averaging $3305 per enrollee for the year.  When we calculate an annual fee per enrollee to help “navigate” the system, the cost is $95 per year per enrollee.

  1.  Lisa McClure Burleson has served us as our lead negotiator for five negotiated agreements.  She has worked for OSBA, transitioned to Means, Bichimer, Burkholder and Baker as an associate.  She now has been “hired away” to be general in-house council for the Franklin County ESC, which is allowing her to maintain an attorney/client relationship with select clients.  Lisa has been an exceptional lead negotiator for the district, one who sees issues systemically, and has a level of superior expertise in the negotiations process, as attested to her being sought out by other employers.

Her results have been negotiated agreements with our unions that are fair to them and to us, the employer.  She also avails herself to answer any questions, which are few and far between, stemming from the negotiated agreement, and has become our “go-to” counsel for employment related questions.

  1. Notice the article on the “New Tack…..” published 11-7-06.  We’ve been doing this at L-B for over 10 years with our Ag Entrepreneurship class in association with Owens Community College.  We have a class of ten students involved in this for the 2006-07 school year.  (Item N)
  2. Spoke with the architect and he updated me as follows:  He’s waiting on elevation study from engineers now that survey is complete to get estimate of grading costs for soccer and other perspective athletic fields and the concession/restroom area.  He’s also needing information on foundations to be able to create specifications.  By going “pre-engineered”, Mr. Roth believes spring completion date to be “very doable”.
  1. This data is phenomenal.  This is fall 2006 IOWA/Cogat testing for grades 3, 4, and 5.  You can see the growth of our group intelligence, which then calls for a higher level of predicted performance.  We then get an actual performance level compared to predicted performance.  We then also can get a level of “chronological” performance based on actual grade level.

Again, for the 12th years I’ve been doing this, we see growth in student intelligence levels, higher predicted levels compiled, for the most part, with even higher actual grade equivalency.

This is “value added” we need to focus on because when I reviewed this we also got state 3rd grade reading results.  The state assessment had us dead even with the state projection, yet we find ourselves 4 months ahead of our 3rd grade peers on the IOWA Test of Basic Skills.

This is not to belabor the point as to which instrument is more valid (The IOWA in case anyone asks), but to show that cross-referencing data might be a way to “check the facts” regarding student performance.

 

SAS (Group)     2004     2005     2006

3rd                                            94.2

4th                                99.0      107.1

5th                    97.4      102.9    105.3

 

Grade 3                        N=106              Tested at Grade 3.2

Reading Predicted  2.9         Language Predicted   2.9     Math Predicted     2.9           Soc Stud Predicted  3.0

Reading Actual       3.7        Language Actual       3.1     Math Actual         3.3           Soc Stud Actual       4.0

Difference              +0.8        Difference                  +0.2     Difference         +0.4             Difference                +1.0

 

Science Predicted    2.9        Source of Inform Predicted  3.0          Composite Predicted           2.9

Science Actual        4.0        Source of Inform Actual       3.6         Composite Actual                3.6

Difference              +1.1        Difference                              +0.6         Predicted Difference         +0.7

                                                                                                                Chronological Difference +0.4

 

Grade 4                        N=79                Tested at Grade 4.2

Reading Predicted  5.0         Language Predicted   5.2     Math Predicted     4.8           Soc Stud Predicted  5.0

Reading Actual      5.4        Language Actual       5.3     Math Actual         4.9           Soc Stud Actual       5.7

Difference              +0.4        Difference                  +0.1     Difference         +0.1             Difference                +0.7

 

Science Predicted    5.2        Source of Inform Predicted  5.2          Composite Predicted           5.0

Science Actual        5.7        Source of Inform Actual       5.7         Composite Actual                5.5

Difference              +0.5        Difference                              +0.5         Predicted Difference         +0.5

                                                                                                                Chronological Difference +1.3

 

Grade 5                        N=102              Tested at Grade 5.2

Reading Predicted  6.0         Language Predicted   6.6     Math Predicted     5.8           Soc Stud Predicted  6.1

Reading Actual       6.3        Language Actual       6.5     Math Actual         5.6           Soc Stud Actual       7.0

Difference              +0.3        Difference                  -0.1      Difference         -0.2              Difference                +0.9

 

Science Predicted    6.3        Source of Inform Predicted  6.1          Composite Predicted           6.1

Science Actual        6.8        Source of Inform Actual       6.6         Composite Actual                6.4

Difference              +0.5        Difference                              +0.5         Predicted Difference         +0.3

                                                                                                                Chronological Difference +1.2

The last time we saw results like this was last school year.

  1. Bruce is asking that we approve Camp Storer trip for middle school science for next year so he can “lock in” a better rate per student.
  2. A story of two horses and lessons they can provide people.  However, people can make choices, and sometimes there are those “who lie in wait”.  (Item O)
  3. Sometimes we need to compare some of what we do with other schools.  While at the OSBA Conference, I found three superintendent newsletters to the community.  As I’m prone to do, sometimes I give so much information; it can be overwhelming, especially when compared to these three samples.  In the past four years, I’ve been involved in strategic planning for not just us, but for Findlay (Mayor’s Visioning Committee), the YMCA, and my parish.  One of the “nuggets” of information came from the topic of “communication”.  The overriding principle is that communication should not be a goal, but always be a strategy.  When thinking about this, it makes sense because there is subjectivity in goal statements, and two people could look at the same result and one claim goal exceeded and the other goal not met.  This last “bit of info” came from a person who oversees the planning process for a huge institution.  (Item P)
  4. With fluctuating energy prices the past four years, I’ve had Roger and Jeff look at windmill generators (too costly and currently unreliable and expensive to repair), plus a fixed cost of 3 cents per kilowatt for energy sold back.  I then looked at geo-thermal and if involved in new construction, the excess cost of implementation is re-captured in savings within seven years.  For example, a retro-fit for the high school would be approximately 2.7 million dollars and a 15 year pay-back.  We’re getting our “biggest bang for the buck” by being in our consortium to date.  However, in the future, we need to look at all these options, should we get involved in new construction.

ELEMENTARY PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Liberty-Benton Board of Education

November 20, 2006

 

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

                                                                                                Oct. 2006

Pre-school        -    21  (1 section – ½ a.m. & ½ p.m.)               (  21)

Kindergarten     -    97 (5 sections – avg. class 19.4)                    (  99)                 

First Grade        -    74 (4 sections – avg. class 18.5)                   ( 78)                  

Second Grade   -    82 (4 sections – avg. class 20.5)                    (  82)                 

Third Grade      -  105 (5 sections – avg. class 21.0)                    (108)                 

Fourth Grade     -    84 (4 sections – avg. class 21.0)                    (  85)                 

Fifth Grade       -  105 (5 sections – avg. class 21.0)                                (104)                 

TOTAL (K-5):     547 School Average:  20.3                              (556)    Average (20.6)

                                     (568 with pre-school) 

 

2.       Our Veteran’s Day event with Dana Bowman went extremely well.  I believe he truly touched not only our students, but our staff as well.  His message of remaining positive, focusing on your abilities  (not what you can’t do), and what our Veterans have done and continue to do for our freedom was inspirational to say the least.  I would like to thank Mr. Schimmoeller and our bus drivers for making the transportation for this event run so seamlessly.  Additionally, the administration and staff of all buildings were wonderfully supportive of and flexible with the arrangements for this to be accomplished at McComb’s Auditorium.  A large thank you also goes out to Mrs. Darlene Mack, McComb M.S. guidance counselor and McComb Schools for their partnership in this joint project!  Our goal in providing this program was to raise the level of appreciation of our country’s veterans and for our community, teachers, and students to hear the inspirational message of Sgt. First Class Dana Bowman.  For more information about Dana and his message, it is easily accessible from his website:  www.danabowman.com.

 

3.       Below is a breakdown of our 3rd Grade Reading Achievement Test results that we received this

       past week:

Oct. 06 (106 tested)           Oct. 05 (80 tested)               

Advanced Level            19.0% (20 students)           27.5% (22 students)              

Accelerated Level         19.0% (20 students)           15.0% (12 students)              

Proficient Level             22.0% (23 students)           26.3% (21 students)              

(Total Prof. or above:)   59.0% (62 students)           69.8% (55 students)              

Basic Level                   23.0% (24 students)           11.3% (9 students)               

Limited Level                18.0% (19 students)           20.0% (16 students)              

  

We are in the process of analyzing our school data, providing in-service on effective strategies,

interventions, and programs and collaborating to strengthen our program.  We are currently working

with the Hancock County ESC curriculum supervisors, Northwest Ohio SERRC, and RSIT 

(Regional School Improvement Team) from the Ohio Department of Education.  Our last two year’s

(2004 & 2005) final 3rd grade Ohio Achievement tests in reading results were  84.9% and 85.7%

proficient or above respectively.  We are committed to maintaining a high-level of achievement for

all students.

 

      4.   Attached you find a copy of our specials teachers’ (art, music, physical education, and computer)    

            1st quarter update.  This went home with all students with their report cards to enhance

            communication between our specials’ programs and our parents.  I provide one for you as well so

            you are aware of the fantastic educational opportunities are specials programs bring to our

            students!

  1. We are very proud to share that Lisa Ruggiero, our K-3 art teacher, had an award winning photograph in  the magazine “Dot” published in Maumee, Ohio this month.  Her photograph “Thanksgiving” received the 2006 Toledo Friends of Photography Award at the Toledo Area Artists 88th Annual Exhibit, held at the Toledo Museum of Art.  This is the fourth year that photographs by Ms. Ruggiero have been accepted into Toledo Area Arts exhibitions.  In addition to this, she as participated in several juried exhibits throughout Ohio.  The information also goes on to share that as a first generation Italian, Lisa’s goal is to preserve her family’s traditions through her photographs.  She is currently working collaboratively with Mrs. Walker and our MORE gifted students on “Pin Hole” cameras.  My hope is to have some of our MORE students, Ms. Ruggiero and Mrs. Walker to come and share at a future board meeting about their project.  We are very proud of the work they are ALL doing!

 

  1. Our Salvation Army Food Drive ran the past week and ends today, Nov. 20th.  We continued our Michigan vs. Ohio State tradition again and had the students put their food items in the box of their favorite team.  You can imagine – the Buckeye’s which outnumber the Wolverine’s  10 to 1 – dominated the contest.  We appreciate the level of giving our students and parents give each year to this collection for our local community!

 

 

UPCOMING ELEMENTARY EVENTS:

 

Nov. 20            Parent Teacher Conferences 5:30 p.m.- 8:30 p.m.

Nov. 21            Parent Teacher Conferences 8:30 a.m.- 4:00 p.m.

Nov. 22-26       Thanksgiving Break – No School

Dec. 5              Scheduled 2-hour Delay

Dec. 7              Family Movie Night 7:00 p.m.

Dec.11-14        PTO Winter Book Fair all week

Dec. 13            Stevi B’s Night

Dec. 14            4th Grade Holiday Music Program 7:00 p.m.

Dec. 15            Elementary Interims (Mid-terms) go home

Dec. 18            Board Meeting 6:00 p.m.

MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Liberty-Benton Board of Education

November 20, 2006

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 will have their picture taken by Baker photography and will be treated to ice cream at Dietsch’s. 

 

Eighth grader: Devin Harmon    

Seventh grader:  Marie Strasbaugh

Sixth grader:  Nick Curto

 

2) Student Council Dance a Success: On November 3, 2006 students at Liberty-Benton Middle School enjoyed a fun filled evening at our fall dance.  The dance was from 7:00-9:30 and was DJ’d by Liberty-Benton’s own Mr. Scoles.  The kids and chaperones had a great time.

 

3) Limo Pizza Luncheon: Students that sold 10 magazines or more were treated to a limousine ride and pizza luncheon on Friday, October 27, 2006.  Students cruised to Stevi B’s Pizza in either a stretch limo or stretch Hummer and enjoyed an all you can eat pizza buffet for about 1 hour.  78 students enjoyed the reward.  A good time was had by all. 

4) Midterms Dates:

Qtr. 2 – December 8
Qtr. 3 – February 23
Qtr. 4 – May 4

5) Grade Cards/End of the First 9 Weeks:  The end of the grading period was Friday, November 3, 2006.  It is hard to believe that the year is one quarter over!  It has been a memorable fall and we are off to an excellent start.  Grade cards will be mailed home Friday, November 10, 2006.

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

Thursday, November 16 @ 5:30-8:30

Monday, November 20  @ 5:30-8:30

Tuesday, November 21 @  8:30-11:30 and 1:00-4:00

The Thursday evening conferences were well attended with 29 team conferences scheduled.  I enjoyed speaking with parents and students.

7) National Junior Honors Society:  The following twenty one  students were inducted into the National Junior Honor Society on Tuesday, October 24, 2006 at 7:00 p.m. at Vanlue.  Mrs. Amy Schroeder, NJHS Advisor, did a nice job recognizing these students for their accomplishments at the ceremony. 

Taylor Allen                              Caitlin Mathias

Rebecca Birkhofer                    Warner Moses

Eric Bowsher                            Evan Nailborski

Paige Brodine                           Jared Peverly               

Adrienne Ford                          Jenny Shadle

Austin Fox                                Josh Shaffer

Devin Harmon                          Brooke Stennett

Spenser Hoagland                    Louis Streacker

Alyssa Hunker                          Brandon Swope

Brett Koenig                             Chelsea Whikehart

Georgia Krebs

 

8) Current Enrollment:

 

Grade                          Total

    06                                103

    07                                  92

    08                                  91

Total Students:              286                      

 

9) Power Outage:  Monday, November 13, 2006 was not a typical day in the district as a semi-truck knocked out a major power line.  At approximately 9:45 all three buildings lost power.  The initial report was that power would be restored in two hours.  I collaborated with Mr. Burkett and Mr. Horstman to develop a plan of action.  It was determined that lunch could be served.  Middle school students were dismissed to the gym as most of our classrooms have no exterior windows and the majority of the building would be dark.  Mr. Schoonover brought a generator in and we were able to watch a movie on the big screen in the gym while we waited for the power to be restored.  The goal was to get students through lunch, during which time, power should be restored.  Somewhere in the middle of lunch, it was learned that the power would be out for 5 hours. 

 

The students and staff made the best out of an abnormal situation.  In retrospect, some positive things can be drawn from the experience. We de-briefed as a staff on 11/15/06 and ideas were pooled

on how to be better prepared for similar situations should they arise in the future.   

 

HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL’S REPORT
Liberty-Benton Board of Education Meeting
November 20, 2006
6:00 P.M.

 

 

1.)                Veterans’ Day Assembly -  Thank you to Mr. Burkett for all of his hard work in securing the funding for the special Veterans’ Day assemblies with Dana Bowman.  His message was quite meaningful and very professionally orchestrated.

2.)                First Quarter Attendance -  Our first nine weeks’ attendance rate overall was 97%.

3.)                First Quarter Honor Roll -  We had 220 students make the first nine weeks’ honor roll.  The Academic Boosters treated honor roll students to our first quarter ice cream social on Friday, November 17, 2006.  What a great way to end our week!

4.)                Grade Card DASL Issues -  We have experienced a DASL problem with our first nine weeks’ grade cards, but the problem does not effect all students.  This is a problem in the software that the A-site programmers are currently working to fix.  The students who have been effected are the students who had changed their schedule earlier this Fall.  As a result, even though everything appears correctly on the grade card, the computer mistakenly thinks the students are in multiple sections of those courses, and the calculations being used then throws off the GPA listed for the nine weeks.  Of course, the nine weeks’ GPA does not directly effect the cumulative GPA’s because these calculations come directly from the first semester averages.  Other schools have also experienced the same problems with their DASL software.  We can easily identify which students have been effected by this, or not, because the ones who are effected have an incorrect number of credits displayed at the bottom of the grade card when compared to the credits that are actually shown on the print-out.  We have been explaining this to parents all week.

5.)                National Honor Society Induction -  Congratulations to the 36 LBHS students who were inducted into the Hancock County Chapter of the National Honor Society on November 6th, and special congratulations to Michael Shivers who was elected to serve as president of the group for this school year.  This is a very nice honor, and Michael did a very nice job in delivering his campaign speech.

6.)                Salvation Army Canned Food Drive -  It is that time of year again when the can wars are on at the high school.  Once again, some classes are being very competitive and working to add a lot of fun and interest into this worthy, annual service project.  Thank you for Z-Club and Student Council for assisting in this joint venture.  Our building goal this year is to collect 7,000 pounds of food.  If we meet our goal, we will hold our annual Winter Fun Day activities on the afternoon of December 22nd before we leave for the break.  This, too, is also a good motivational tool for a successful food drive.

7.)                OSBA Conference Presentation & Student Achievement Fair -  I would like to thank Joyce Jackson and Mike Scoles for assisting me with the OSBA Capital Conference presentation.  Our presentation titled, “Developing a Sense of Belonging Through Leadership and Service,” was well attended for the very first session of the conference, and we received very complimentary ratings for our work.  Also, I would like to thank two of our students, Chelsey Benjamin (sr.) and Monica Switzer (jr.) for joining us at the conference for the Tuesday Student Achievement Fair.  These two ladies did an outstanding job of representing our high school and teaching the schools, superintendents, treasurers, school board members, and principals in attendance about the strengths and assets of our STRIDES program.  We were very proud of being able to promote this program at the conference.

8.)                Power Outage -  Of course, the great power outage of November 13, 2006, had perfect timing by occurring in the middle of our OSBA presentation on Monday morning.  We had been instructed to turn off our phones or put them on vibrate, and once our presentation was over, we could tell from the 20+ phone calls and text messages that there must be a problem back home.  However, the operations back here were in complete confidence and handled so smoothly!!!  Everyone pitched in and really handled things very well in our absence.  I especially thank Mrs. Schimmoeller, Mrs. Metzger, Mr. Frommer, Mr. Horstman, Mr. Burkett, Mr. Otley, Mr. Butler, and Mr. Eckhart for all helping to cover the special needs of the day.  Classes in the dark rooms were moved strategically.  Flashlights were available for the bathrooms.  Lunches were arranged quickly, and most instruction continued as usual.  Way to go, team!

9.)                Lockdown Drill -  At the high school we held our best lockdown drill ever on November 10th.  We had no violations to report for the procedures in our policy.  The entire building was quietly in hiding in less than a minute, and our school resource officer filed an official report to document our drill.

10.)            Fire Drill -  Of course, our fire drill was a completely different story on November 1st.  Our previous drills in September and October were fine, but now, none of the equipment is working in the A-Wing part of our building.  Both the audible alarms and the strobes have malfunctioned.  Until the alarms are repaired or replaced, we are using the manual system of air horns being sounded by teachers.  We have four air horns in place in the four corners of the A-Wing for any emergency or drill that occurs.

11.)            Relay For Life Update -  The final decision was made at a November 4th meeting that the Hancock County Relay For Life event, which has repeatedly been held at Donnell Stadium on the same days as our LBHS Relay For Life, is now moving out here to combine with our Relay.  Our STRIDES program is really excited about this joint venture, and we are looking forward to this year’s Hancock County Relay For Life.  Joyce Jackson and I are co-chairing the event along with a teacher from McComb High School, Maggie Hendrix.  We are planning on working to involve much more of the community in this year’s event.  The Relay will be held on the same weekend, which is May 18-19, 2007.  Mark your calendars.

12.)            Upcoming Events:

Nov. 20                 Parent-Teacher Conferences, 5:30-8:30

Nov. 21                 Parent-Teacher Conferences, 8:30-11:30 & 1:00-4:00

Nov. 22                 Stevi B’s Pizza Night

Nov. 22-24            Thanksgiving Break

Nov. 29 & Dec. 1  Winter Play, “A Little Christmas Spirit,” 7:00 p.m.

Dec. 5                    Two-Hour Collaboration

Dec. 9                    Student Council Winter Dance, LBHS students only, 8-11:00

Dec. 12                  Holiday Concert, 7:30