Archbold Area Schools

Right-To-Read Week – Camp Read-A-Lot is the theme of this year’s Right-To-Read Week activities. Camp Read-A-Lot will be set up in room #203 for classes to visit throughout the week. There will be tents, fake campfire, read aloud books, etc. The kickoff assembly was held on March 7 and the prizes will be awarded to students at the closing assembly on March 15 at 2:15 PM. The “Fear Factor” theme will be used at the kickoff assembly to help explain individual reading goals and the school goal. Students can get a small prize if they meet their daily goal and 53 students will be entered into a drawing for a “bigger” camping prize each day. If a student meets their goal all week, they will get a coupon for a free personal pizza. Jennie Johnson is the chairperson for this year’s activities and is supported by committee members Kara Koppenhofer, Carla Hoverman, Kris Warner, and Jen Hurst.

Kindergarten Registration – Children who will be five years of age on or before August 1, 2007 can be registered for kindergarten by their parents in the elementary office from 9:00 AM-5:00 PM on March 12-13 and from 9:00 AM-3:00 PM on March 14. Parents need to bring the child’s birth certificate, social security card, immunization records, and proof of residence to register a child. Once the child is registered, parents will be assigned a time to bring the child to the school for kindergarten screening on April 16 or 17.

Connections Program – The administrative team met with the parents of students in the Connections Program grades 1-5 on February 20 in the AHS auditorium. Changes to the program were outlined with the parents, including the elimination of the multiage concept due to testing and curriculum concerns. The program has been an integral part of the school system for 12 years and many of the ideas generated from the instruction that took place in the Connections Program have been adopted school wide at the elementary. Many parents expressed their disappointment with the decision, but also understood why the decision had to be made at this time in the best interest of the students.

Healthwalk – The Healthwalk fundraiser will return to the elementary this year after a three year absence. The event will begin with an assembly presented by Jim “Basketball” Jones on April 9 and will conclude with the Healthwalk and closing ceremony on April 20. Donated funds will be used to purchase DVD players for the pod areas, a voice messenger system, rock wall and Dance Revolution systems for the PE program, and TV’s on portable stands. Sarah Tiplady is the chairperson of the Healthwalk committee and is supported by Lori Coressel, JoAnn Short, Rhonda Bruot, Sue Neff, and Kara Bacik.

DARE Program - There has been a change in the DARE program this year. In the past the sheriff’s department has been responsible for working with our 5th grade students in this very important program. However, due to a retirement in the sheriff’s department, the Archbold Police Department has taken over the program. Officer Joe Wyse has gone through the extensive training, so the DARE program could be continued to be offered at AMS.

Winter Athletic Teams - The 7th/8th grade boys and girls basketball teams enjoyed a very successful winter season. All teams represented our community extremely well with the 7th grade boys placing 1st and 7th grade girls placing 2nd in their respective tournaments. The 8th grade girls placed 1st in their tournament, while the 8th grade boys made it to the quarterfinals. The Jr. High wrestling team also enjoyed success as they competed extremely well in several matches.

AMS Quiz Team - This is the 5th year for the Archbold Middle School’s quiz team. This year’s team consists of 17 members and is being coached by Mrs. Jan Lindsay. Currently, they have several matches scheduled with the final match being the Fulton County Junior Quiz Bowl to be held at Swanton HS on April 17th starting at approx. 4:00 p.m.

AMS Band Concert - The annual AMS band concert was held on Monday, March 12th. This year’s concert will include bands from the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. Also included in the spring program is the AMS Jazz Band, under the direction of Ms. Maria Kern.

AHS Chorale - Over the weekend of March 3rd, our HS Chorale participated in competition and received a rating of Superior (I) qualifying them to participate in state competition. As best as I can determine, it has been at least eight (8) years since our vocal music program has earned their way to state competition and we are proud of their efforts and wish Mr. Vandock and our students good luck!

Heart Saver CPR Training – After 2 cancellations due to weather, 33 students were certified in CPR. The program was a great success and will hopefully become an annual event at AHS.

OGT Testing - The OGT Testing took place last week March 5-9. AHS operated on a two-hour delay schedule for testing purposes. This went very well. The make-up testing week is March 12-16.

Change in Senior Boards Date – The Senior Boards date was moved to May 3 and 4. It was originally May 10 and 11, but this conflicted with the national AP testing dates.

Seniors to Rotary – On March 16, the Archbold Rotary will be hosting the senior class as part of their recognition program. This includes a meal and a speaker.

Recently Adopted Legislation - Before Governor Taft left office, he approved not only Senate Bill 311 (Ohio’s New Core Curriculum) but several other pieces of legislation that will affect schools as well. One piece of legislation that will take affect yet this school year, Sub. House Bill 276 (The Anti-Bullying Law), requires each school district board of education to adopt an Anti-Bullying policy. Also included in this bill were several unrelated provisions. Two of these provisions included:

Due to these provisions, changes in the way we look at the Third Grade Reading Guarantee and how we conduct our kindergarten screening need to be made this year.

Local Report Card – With testing in full swing, it is that time again to start thinking about our Local Report Card rating. With new requirements and new state tests being implemented this year, the 2007 Local Report Card will look different from last year’s report. Below is a quick look at the components of the 2007 Local Report Card.

2006-07 State Indicators

Grade	Tests	Proficient or Above Standard
3	Reading, Math	75%
4	Reading, Writing, Math	75%
5	Reading, Math, Sci, SS	75%
6	Reading, Math	75%
7	Reading, Writing, Math	75%
8	Reading, Math, Sci, SS	75%
OGT- 10^th	Reading, Math, Writing, Sci, SS	75%
OGT- 11^th	Reading, Math, Writing, Sci, SS	85%
Non-Test Indicators
Graduation Rate		90%
Attendance Rate		93%
Total:	30 State Indicators

2006-07 Federal Adequate Yearly Progress Goals (for all sub-groups)

Grade Band	Grade	Reading (% Proficient)	Math (% Proficient)
Elementary	3	71.2%	60.6%
	4	68.3%	67.1%
	5	68.3%	49.6%
Middle	6	75.8%	55.1%
	7	68.6%	47.3%
	8	73.8%	47.5%
High	10	71.8%	60.0%

Ohio Should Spend More on Education - A study by a team of researchers at the University of Washington, funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, suggests that Ohio should spend between 16 percent and 31 percent more on public education. The full study has not been released yet, but a working draft addresses issues including longer school years, early learning, more money and training for teachers, especially math and science instructors, and an effort to drive more dollars toward reducing teacher-student ratios in poor and rural districts.

Paolo DeMaria, an education department analyst, said the study is more a blueprint for finding ways to link academic outcomes to funding than it is determination of the cost of adequate school funding, but he acknowledged that often the discussion ends when costs are pinpointed. Currently state lawmakers have relied on residual budgeting for schools, meaning they set aside an amount of money based on available funds rather than determining what is needed. Summary courtesy of CORAS, http://www.coras.org

School Funding Declines Over Past Three Years - A recent Akron Beacon Journal analysis of school-district data shows that since the Ohio Supreme Court relinquished control of the DeRolph school-funding case in December 2002, the State of Ohio has reversed its progress in complying with the court's order regarding the over-reliance on local property taxes to support public schools.

According to the Beacon Journal, in the three years of state budgets since the Court gave up control, 533 of 609 school districts in the newspaper's analysis saw a decline in the state's share of their revenue. The Beacon Journal said, "The state's contribution fell so dramatically that by the 2005-06 school year, Columbus was providing only 41.8 percent of revenue to Ohio school districts, lower than the 42.6 percent it contributed in school year 1991-92, when the court case began.”As the shift occurred," the Beacon Journal said, "school districts across the state struggled with reluctant voters to make up the difference. The number of levies on ballots soared to the highest level in 14 years as [Governor] Taft and the legislature aggressively shifted funding." To read the article, visit: 2/18 Akron Beacon Journal Districts' school funding burden growing http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/16727394.htm

Early Retirement Incentive - Careful investigation has been ongoing since the February meeting into the possibility of the district considering an early retirement incentive option (ERI) in an effort to examine future cost savings for the Archbold Area Schools. As was conveyed in the February meeting, the benefit to the district would be that if teachers eligible to retire would consider accepting the plan, replacement teachers could be hired in at much lower levels on the salary schedule thereby resulting in substantial savings to the district over time. In effect, we would be making a financial investment today that would return greater savings to us in the future. However, there is some risk involved in this decision to “invest” now in order to “save” later.

It is difficult for us to predict savings because we do not know which eligible teachers would consider taking advantage of it. Because of this “unknown” factor, it is impossible for the board to consider the exact costs or future savings because the plan requires the district to offer it to every eligible employee. My goal is to provide an alternative to the board, that no matter who chooses to accept the option, the district will save money in the future because of the ERI decision. While Mrs. Ziegler and I have tried to account for every possible scenario, there is still room for some uncertainty. Our goal was to consider both the “worst” and “best” case scenarios for savings to the district and to try and present a “worst case” scenario that would still save the district money in the long run, perhaps just not as much.

This resulted in us figuring the costs and savings for the most expensive employees eligible for the option as well as the least expensive employees. We determined the amount that we felt our district could safely spend up front that would allow us to continue our operations without interruption, but would make the return on the investment the greatest in the shortest period of time. What the board and the community should keep in mind, is that if even one employee takes advantage of this opportunity, it will result in modest savings to the district. The reality is, the more that is invested up front, the greater the potential long term savings. So we have worked to answer the question, what would be a careful investment (a calculated risk) with a strong yield or gain in savings in the future for the Archbold Area Schools?

For this option to be most beneficial to the school district; there is a narrow window of opportunity and the board will need to take action on the issue during the month of March. The reason for moving forward so quickly is based on the school board’s goal of trying to request the smallest levy possible in 2009 or to postpone the need to return to the voters for additional operating expenses for a year if possible. If we do not move forward promptly, the savings for the district could not be realized prior to 2009 and would thus, not permit the chance to reduce or stave off the need for additional revenue from taxpayers.

Upon continued review by Mrs. Ziegler and after consultation by us with other districts that have pursued the early retirement option, after speaking more than once with the State Teachers Retirement System, the Ohio School Board Association and other administrators and treasurers throughout the state, I will be recommending that the Archbold Board of Education consider implementing an Early Retirement Option that I feel confident will present savings to the district in the future.

House Bill 79 - This bill was passed and becomes law on March 29, 2007. The basic components of the bill will require teachers who are applying for licensure, renewal, transition or advancement of a license to undergo a BCII fingerprint checks prior to being granted renewal. In addition, all teachers will be required to undergo these criminal record checks at least every five years, irrespective of their licensure status. This law will apply to all employees who will be working with children in a public school setting.

Senior Experience - In light of the reduction of a Family and Consumer Science teacher from full-time to half-time, it has become necessary for us to reconfigure the senior project from its’ original state. I will be working with Mr. Meister and the HS guidance staff to modify this program to maintain as many of its’ components as possible. However, we should keep in mind that the program will likely have a very different look and feel to it in the future. I want to thank Mrs. Emch for the many, many hours of dedication that have allowed this to be an opportunity that few high schools students have been able to experience. Our goal will be to allow some freedom of selection by students to pick their project, while maintaining the community outreach focus, the writing components and the presentation of the project to a panel of business/community leaders.

Constitutional Amendment - This issue is gaining steam and the details have been released to the public for the first time in February of this year. The plan is for school districts to work closely with their communities with an effort of gaining a registered voter’s signature for every student that attends their district throughout the state of Ohio. They are also seeking financial support to fight for passage of this amendment to the community. The goal of the amendment is to try and cap the amount of local property and income tax that could be imposed at the local level, thereby placing more responsibility onto the state to help fund education in Ohio. More details will follow later.