4
PROGRESS 2013
February 23, 2013
TROY DAILY NEWS/PIQUA DAILY CALL
Troy City Schools continue to excel BY ERIC HERMAN Troy City Schools Superintendent
being named a “Hall of Fame School.” Forest was one of only four schools named in the entire state Troy City Schools conas a “Hall of Fame School.” tinue to perform well acaForest Elementary demically, achieving the School’s staff and students state rating of “Excellent” are extremely focused on their students learning, with our performance index of 102. We again allowing “no excuses” for earned 26 out of 26 state lack of effort and academic indicators. Our staff and success. students continue to work Troy City Schools are hard to maintain our good the largest school district success. in the county with 4,440 Five of our elementary students and 500 employbuildings were also named ees. Even with the high “Excellent,” with Concord number of students, our Elementary School having schools were able to mainthe highest performance tain a 96 percent attenindex of 108.3. A special dance rate for the year. recognition goes out to Recent results also show Forest Elementary School an increase in SAT scores for being rated “Excellent with Troy City Schools havwith Distinction” as well as ing the highest average of
KDI
KOVERMAN DICKERSON INSURANCE
339-4119
2363631
COVINGTON | PIQUA | ST. PARIS | TROY
For 24|7|365 Insurance Service Visit www.kovermandickerson.com BUCKEYE INSURANCE GROUP
HOME | AUTO | FARM Proudly Representing Buckeye Insurance Group
• More than 200 Smartboards; • More than 1330 Desktop Computers; and More than 195 Netbooks. Technology is integral to our new state mandated testing, as all testing will be online instead of the traditional paper and pencil tests of old. It has become a powerful tool that is used by our teachers to reach a diverse population of learners. Students and staff use STAFF FILE PHOTO/ANTHONY WEBER technology daily throughThe Troy Pop Rocks jump rope team is one of many out their classes. points of pride for the Troy City Schools. BEYOND THE CLASSROOM schools in Montgomery and Our teachers have been Our students work hard Miami County with a score working hard all school of 1,186. year on the new curriculum to excel outside the classOur ELL Department transition, which covers all room. We have a strong (English Language grades (K-12). We also are community that supports Learners) and students working on the state-man- our students in their many endeavors. were able to meet all state dated new evaluation sysOur band continues to measurable Achievement tem for teachers and Objectives for Limited administrators. We plan to grow and to excel. It comEnglish Proficient stuunfold our new evaluation peted in the State Finals for the 33rd year, where it dents. This is an extremely system next year in the received a “Superior “ratincredible task due to the 2013-2014 school year. ing. high number of students One of the most amazTECHNOLOGY speaking several different languages in Troy City We continue to improve ing clubs we have added is schools. the technology available to a group of young students, our students. All of our third grade through eighth SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT buildings continue to grade, called Pop Rocks. INITIATIVES receive upgrades of their They are an exciting hard“wireless systems” as well We are finishing our working group of students as other various equipthird year in the Race to who perform a jump rope ment. Right now across the show at many local and the Top education initiadistrict we have: tive. The major drive for state events. • More than 360 iPads; our third year has been in As always, we are • More than 250 LCD the transition to the new blessed to have high-qualiProjects with several Apple ty students and families Common Core Standards that take effect in 2014-15. TV’s; here in Troy. One outstand-
Celebrating 49 Years! Choose the
Original
Wissman Door Sales, Inc. 2364265
• Garage Doors • Entry Doors • Windows • Patio Doors • Electric Garage Door Openers RUSSIA 937-295-2300 SIDNEY 937-498-7023 TROY 937-339-4299 CELINA 419-586-3700
A Name you know. A Company you can trust.
ing example would be Keenan Kinnel, who was recently awarded the honor of being the top middle school male student in the state. Keenen is an outstanding example of the students of Troy.
THE FUTURE The district realizes the financial world we live in. As with most districts, funding is our biggest concern. The district’s free and reduced percentage remains at 43 percent, even through unemployment levels drop. Over the last two and a half years, we have reduced more than $15 million from future expenditures by not replacing staff when possible, employee severance buyout programs and a district wage freeze, as well as other cost cutting measures. A significant percentage of our expenses go to instruction, as it should be. Our schools are a good value. We have made numerous reductions to live within our means while protecting the quality of education that our students are receiving. Our hope for the future is that the economic conditions will continue to improve and the State will devise a better funding system. We strive to live within our means unsure of what the future may bring.