Super News September 2016

Chagrin Falls Schools

September 2016

SUPER NEWS

SHOWING

TIGER SPIRIT

at Annual

Boosters' Tail Gate

SUPER NEWS

1

Message from Our Superintendent September is a wonderful month at the Chagrin Falls Exempted Village Schools. It is when teachers and families settle into the routine and begin the work of growing our students academically, socially and emotionally. It is also a month of community building centered around our schools as events such as Booster Tail Gate to the Dads' Club Picnic create a sense of unity and enjoyment that makes our school district and community so very special. This will continue in October with the Film Fest 5k on October 2nd sponsored by our Educational Foundation, which is a prelude to Homecoming week in our schools. We hope you can join us for the run / walk that supports education in our community: http://www. hermescleveland.com/roadracing/events/chagrinfilmfest.asp.

Last week, the Ohio Department of Education released district report cards for every school district in the state of Ohio. On page 6-7 of this publication is a complete overview of the report card. While there is a fair amount of criticism throughout the state regarding the methodology within this report card, there are areas in which we derive meaning for improvement. We know there is more to the experience and quality of school districts than can be quantified in test scores.

In fact, over 25 years ago, the Effective School Research conducted by Ronald Edmonds from Harvard University emerged in response to the Coleman report funded by the U.S. Office of Education that credited the student’s family background as the main reason for students' success in schools. His findings indicated that students that lacked the prime conditions or values could not learn, regardless of the school experience. Edmonds, and other researchers, found and studied schools in which this was not the case. This became the foundation of the Effective Schools research and can serve as a lens for communities to evaluate the success of their schools. As stated in August, we will focus on one area of this research each month in the Super News.

The first identified area is an articulated school mission in which the staff shares an understanding of and commitment to the instructional goals, priorities, assessment procedures and accountability. Our staff accepts responsibility for our students' learning of the school’s essential curriculum. The mission of the Chagrin Falls Exempted Village School District is to provide an educational experience empowering students to maximize their potential. This is executed through

2

September 2016

the implementation of our vision, which is to provide a personalized education for all students. These were created through a comprehensive strategic planning process that engaged hundreds of stakeholders including students, staff, parents and community members. The mission and vision are consistently displayed throughout the district and drive the work we undertake each day. As evidence of progress, the district has implemented selection criteria and expanded offerings amongst other things to better place students properly. We are also working to develop learning plans that will better personalize the experience for our students and parents. These are just two examples of progress, many more can be found on the district website found here: http://www. chagrinschools.org/StrategicPlan.aspx. Last spring, staff and parents were surveyed to understand their perceptions of progress specific to our mission and vision. 84% believed the district was moving in the right direction. These results indicate we have further work to be done. The survey also provided insightful feedback on where we need to improve.

This will lead to increased work in defining personalization for our staff and parents. We look forward to working together on moving towards the attainment of our mission and vision.

Finally, the Chagrin Falls Board of Education and staff continue to work to bring the best possible plan forward for community consideration on May 2 of this year. The decision has been made to bring forward a combined operating levy and bond issue. Although final numbers have not been established, cost estimates indicate the millage to be around 8.9 mills and will provide operating monies for three years and address the most pressing facility issue facing the district, Chagrin Falls Intermediate School. The district has received $600,000 in the State of Ohio's Capital Budget that will be utilized towards this project as we create a dynamic educational facility that will meet the needs of our students now and into the future while becoming a center for the continued growth of our community art partners that will have access to the space outside of school hours. We look forward to sharing more information with you on this concept plan over the next couple of months.

Robert W. Hunt Superintendent Chagrin Falls Exempted Village Schools Bob.hunt@chagrinschools.org 440-247-4363 @Hunt_Edleader

U

X

A Review of the September Board of Education Meetings “Board Briefs” The Chagrin Falls Board of Education meetings in September focused on student achievement and setting clear goals for the district for the 2016-2017 school year.

The Board received a comprehensive overview of district achievement data from the 2015-2016 school year as reported in the Ohio School Report Card. Within the context of the state changing the tests for the third year in a row and revamped grading scales to raise the bar for all schools, Chagrin Falls ranked 15th in the state and 6th in Northeast Ohio. The presentation to the Board

by Assistant Superintendent Lisa Shannon emphasized identifying the areas the district can impact and should evaluate, including: increasing the amount of progress that all students, especially students “in the middle”, are making compared to last year (value-added), developing actionable goals to address district-wide gaps in math achievement, and analyzing potential for expanded gifted services at Gurney.

Feedback from parents and teachers via the Strategic Plan Survey mirrored some of the results in the state test, with parents indicating a concern for students “in the middle” being left behind. Parents also expressed a distaste for too much testing and a desire for a better definition of and more opportunities for personalized learning for all students. As the administration, teachers and Board continually evaluate ways to augment student performance, the state report card, strategic plan survey and goal attainment serve as important data inputs. As evidence of this, the District Leadership Team’s Goal #1 for this school year is to increase the district performance index score to an “A”. Goal #2 is to achieve the goals set forward in the strategic plan to optimize curriculum and

instruction, flexible learning, shared leadership and parent and community engagement. Goal # 3 is for at least 90% of teachers to achieve their personalized growth plans to bolster their instructional aptitude.

In addition to evaluating test scores and survey results, the Board had the pleasure of recognizing and presenting 26 certificates of achievement to Realize-U Student Award winners in grades 3 through 12 who have demonstrated a commitment to and actuation of realizing their potential through a commitment to academic growth and achievement. Congratulations!

This month, the Board continued its careful financial analysis and planning, and further defined the need for an operating levy and bond issue in the spring of 2017 to allow the district to appropriately address its operating and urgent facility needs. After successfully stretching the last two 7.9 mill levies from four years to five, the Board expects to approach the community for an 8.9 mill levy in May, 2017 that will not only provide appropriate operating revenues for at least the next three years, but will also include the funds needed to rehabilitate the intermediate school and allow the district to fund high priority facility maintenance and repair projects in all buildings.

We welcome and encourage community involvement in our schools and invite you to attend our next Board meeting on Tuesday, October 4 at 6pm in the Sands Community Room on the high school campus.

Kathryn Garvey Member, Board of Education

Chagrin Falls Exempted Village Schools Board of Education President: Mary Kay O’Toole (440) 338-8636

Members: Michael Hogan (440) 543-5280

Vice President: Rob Weber (440) 665-4104

Kathryn Garvey (216) 401-7735 Sharon Broz (440) 715-0326

SUPER NEWS

3

Chagrin Falls Schools Publishes Third Quality Profile On September 15, 2016, school districts throughout Ohio once again released a comprehensive, community-oriented companion to the State’s School District Report Card. Called a “Quality Profile,” the report includes additional accountability measures that better define a high quality education and are not included in the State’s report card. Chagrin Falls Exempted Village Schools has placed its Quality Profile report on its website homepage. It can also be viewed at: bit.ly/QP_ ChagrinFalls_2015_16.

The Quality Profile helps to evaluate the effectiveness of a school district beyond standardized testing measures.

The content of Chagrin Falls Schools’ Quality Profile is based on commitment to improvement, academics, digital learning, arts/music, fiscal stewardship, student leadership and activities, parent and community involvement, and awards/accolades.

“Public schools should be a reflection of the values and expectations of the local community,” said

Superintendent Robert Hunt. “The profile allows us to annually engage the community in a conversation about how we define quality at Chagrin Falls. This profile includes the information our community wants to know about their schools.”

Over the last several years, participating districts have been surveying residents to determine factors they value in their child’s education that are not measured on the state report card. The result is an expanded report that describes, in detail, the programs and values of their school system. The district’s Strategic Plan Advisory Council provided input into both the information and the enhanced look that has been included in this year’s Quality Profile.

The Quality Profile is supported by the Alliance for High Quality Education, an education consortium that works to improve educational opportunities for students and to speak for member districts on matters of educational policy and funding.

“Public schools should be a reflection of the values and expectations of the local community,” said Superintendent Robert Hunt. “The profile allows us to annually engage the community in a conversation about how we define quality at Chagrin Falls.

This profile includes the information our community wants to know about their schools.”

4

September 2016

Chagrin Falls Exempted Village Schools “Treasurer’s Corner”

Table 1 compares actual monthly receipts to the monthly estimates and to prior fiscal year actual receipts.

General fund revenues spike in the 1st and 3rd quarter as a result of real estate tax collections.

Table 2 compares actual monthly expenditures to monthly estimates and to prior fiscal year actual expenditures. Expenses are typically fairly consistent throughout the fiscal year.

Table 3 compares estimated and actual monthly ending cash balances demonstrating compliance with Board of Education cash balance policies.

Table 4 is a cash flow summary comparing revenues to expenditures each month.

SUPER NEWS

5

A Message to our Community Regarding State Report Card Results Dear Community,

report cards, but by other information about what is happening in schools and with students."

The Ohio Department of Education released the 2016 We echo that sentiment and trust that we have Ohio School Report Cards this month. The Chagrin demonstrated to our community that our schools and Falls Exempted Village School District ranks in the top students are strong and competitive. We know that we 2.5% of districts in Ohio, at #15 in the state. Although have a community that supports education and values more than respectable, these statistics do not reflect the more than an outcome on a standardized test. The standing the district has held in the past. The overall district continues to pursue its goal of personalizing performance indicator score for the district fell from the educational experience for every student by 110.3 in 2014 to 103.6 in 2016, dropping our grade providing a well-rounded, rigorous education. The from an A to a B. To the degree that this drop results district’s Quality Profile, also released this month, from inherent problems in comparing results from applies multidimensional measures to help elucidate different tests and from changes to the state’s grading the effectiveness of our schools. The content of scale, it is our responsibility to help our parents and the Quality Profile is based on our commitment to residents understand them. improvement, academics, digital learning, arts/music, fiscal stewardship, student leadership and activities, The Report Card grades districts and schools on six and parent and community involvement. It highlights components based on data from the spring 2016 state our students’ and staff ’s achievements, awards and tests and in many cases, relies on comparisons between accolades. A summary of the Quality Profile can be spring 2016 and 2015 testing. The components are: found on page 3 of this Super News. Click here to Achievement, Progress, Gap Closing, K-3 Literacy, view the entire report.

Graduation Rate and Prepared for Success. New this year are letter grades for each of the six components, Although we want to make you aware of some which are expanded upon on the next page. Also new inconsistencies and issues with the State Report Card, this year is the adoption of the AIR assessment and the we also want to reassure our community that we have transition away from PARCC tests. It is worth noting thoroughly evaluated the Report Card data, seeking that Ohio’s assessment system has changed three to understand what we can and should improve. We times in the last three years (2014 OAA and OGT have identified gaps and areas for improvement and Assessments, 2015 PARCC and AIR Assessments, and we are in the process of developing specific goals to 2016 AIR Assessment). Each test applied different address any gaps. One example of this is the District scores to define proficiency, making it difficult if not Leadership Team’s goal for this school year to achieve impossible to compare results on one report card to an A on the state’s performance indicator. another, or to determine growth or progress.

Summary of Component Results Reported for the These changes make it very difficult for the state District: assessments to accurately reflect district performance.

Our district is not alone. In 2014, the State gave Achievement: B B grades to 67% of the districts in the state on The Achievement component of the report card represents performance index and A grades to 6%. This year, whether student performance on state tests met established levels only 0.3% earned an A and 14% earned a B. State of proficiency and how well students performed on tests overall.

Superintendent Paolo Demaria told state school board The district will use achievement test data as a basis to drive members, "I hope that communities will keep these instructional and intervention decisions for students. results in perspective; that they will gauge the quality of their districts not only by what they see on the

Indicators: A

Performance Index: B September 2016 6

Progress: C The Progress component looks closely at the growth that all students are making based on their past performance. This C rating means the district met its expected growth of one year’s growth in one year’s time.

The Graduation Rate component reflects the percent of students who successfully finish high school in four or five years.

Progress Subscores:

Students Overall: D

Students ID’d as Gifted: B

Students performing among the Lowest 20%: C

Students with Disabilities: C

Prepared for Success: A Whether training in a technical field or preparing for work or college, the Prepared for Success component looks at how well-prepared Ohio’s students are for future opportunities.

Measures used to calculate this component come from data of graduates from the class of 2015 and include: SAT and ACT college entrance exam remediation-free scores; honors diplomas; industry-recognized credentials or group of credentials; Advanced Placement test scores; International Baccalaureate test scores; and College Credit Plus credits.

Gap Closing: D The Gap Closing component shows how well schools are meeting the performance expectations in English/language arts, math, and graduation for our most vulnerable populations of students.

A comparison of last year’s scores to this year’s scores determines if gaps exist. As stated previously, it is difficult to compare tests that were of different formats offered by different vendors.

K-3 Literacy: C The K-3 Literacy component looks at how well schools prepare young, struggling students to read and get “on track” with age level peers. The K - 3 Literacy measure compares the results of a student’s preliminary reading assessment to their proficiency on the grade 3 state test. The new state test, however, now incorporates reading and writing. As such, this measure attempts to calculate a score from a preliminary test’s reading score to an end of year state test’s reading AND writing score. As a result of this unbalanced comparison, we believe the calculated score may not reflect actual literacy attainment.

4-Year Rate: A 5-Year Rate: A

This is a lot of information to absorb and so Assistant Superintendent Lisa Shannon gave a detailed presentation on the State Report Card at the September 19, 2016 Board of Education meeting and we invited parents to attend and ask questions. The slides are available on the district webpage at www. chagrinschools.org.

Sincerely, Robert Hunt Superintendent Chagrin Falls Schools

Graduation Rate: A

SUPER NEWS

7

CHAGRIN BOOSTERS TAILGATE IN REMEMBRANCE OF LENNY MAY - 9/9/16

8

September 2016

SUPER NEWS

9

FOOTBALL GAME HIGHLIGHTS - 9/9/16

10

September 2016

SUPER NEWS

11

A Day in the Life . . .

Chagrin Falls High School Students Photojournalism students in Mrs. Angie Jameson's Yearbook class enjoy capturing the day in the life of their fellow students each week. Here are a few of their pictures.

Junior Laney Russo concentrates while sketching her project as she sits listening to music in Mrs. Eisert's printmaking class on September 8. Mrs. Eisert’s class worked on their sketches for their “T-shirt prints” Photo by: Lillian Subel Junior Lily Subel striving to create art show material during her first print of Printmaking 1.

Photo by: Hannah Ducas An anxious crowd watches as junior Caitlin Weitzel focused on increasing the varsity volleyball team’s lead over the Wickliffe Blue Devils with a powerful serve during the Tigers’ home opening win on August 25.

Against the Blue Devils, Weitzel played both setter and middle hitter. Senior Danielle Currey adds to the excitement of the win for the Tigers by saying the team is “Excited for an amazing season!”

Photo by: Allie Rodusky

12

September 2016

The Chagrin Falls High School percussion plays for the football team at Notre Dame Catholic High School upon scoring a touchdown putting Chagrin in the lead. First in drumline, sophomore Matt Suzelis, has been playing in band since fifth grade. “The worst part about being in drumline is carrying around the heavy instruments when it is hot outside,” said Suzelis. Photo by: Molly Miller

Sophomore Emmerson Zimmerman cheers on the JV football team on the morning of September 3. The JV football team unfortunately lost the game, 14-18, against the NDCL lions.

Zimmerman has been a Chagrin Falls cheerleader since she was in seventh grade and would like to continue to cheer throughout all of her high school career. Zimmerman said, “I love getting up early every Saturday morning and pumping up all the parents of the football players in the crowd. It is always a great start to my weekend with some of my best friends.”

Photo by: Aubrey Tutkovics

Freshman Henry Janson gives the ball a solid kick in the midst of a trying game versus the Beachwood Bison.

Photo by: Camille Concannon

SUPER NEWS

13

Chagrin Valley Rotary Club Student of the Month for September . . . Danielle Currey Danielle Currey was chosen for her service and leadership qualities as the September Chagrin Valley Rotary Club Student of the Month. She is a National Merit Semifinalist and Yale Book Award Winner for 2016. She was named the Chinese Student of the Year for 2015-2016 and participated in the Cleveland Volleyball Company (CVC) second team for 2015. Also, she won the Bausch and Lomb Honorary Science Award and was named the National Center for Women and Information Technology Affiliate Award Winner Runner-Up for 2016.

Her AP and Honors classes include: AP U.S. History, AP Physics 1, AP Physics 2, AP English Language, AP English Literature, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry, AP Chinese, AP Government, AP Computer Science and AP Biology.

When Danielle is not working hard in her classes, she is active in many extracurricular activities. She is the Founder and President of the Science Olympiad, captain of the varsity volleyball team, a member of the Principal’s Advisory Committee, a Tiger Society

math and science tutor and a member of Key Club. She is a member of Gurney Coding Club, the Robotics team and is a participant in the Congressional and Verizon App Competitions.

Outside of school, her extracurricular activities include playing sand volleyball, participating in Junior Olympic Volleyball and is a volunteer for the Chagrin Falls Chamber of Commerce. She is also a Cleveland Clinic Radiology Intern for 2016.

As for college, Danielle is planning on studying computer science or cognitive science and then attending medical school.

Danielle was recognized at a recent Chagrin Valley Rotary Club meeting.

Chagrin Falls Middle and High School Recognized as First S Northeast Ohio to be Accredited by Heart Safe School/SADS At the September 16 Chagrin Falls High School varsity football game at Harris Stadium, Chagrin Falls Middle and High Schools received a banner to display as the first school in Northeast Ohio to be accredited as a Heart Safe School from the SADS (Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndromes) Foundation.

In order to achieve accreditation, the schools go through a program consisting of seven elements aimed at raising awareness and preventing cardiac arrest. The seven elements include: students being given a screening/risk assessment to complete at home with their families; those students with a cardiac diagnosis create care plans for themselves at home and at school; schools conduct at 2016 14bothSeptember

least three emergency medical response drills a year; Automatic External Defibrillators (AED) are no further than 90 seconds from any point in the building; students and staff receive CPR training; a sudden cardiac awareness activity, event or fundraiser is held.

The first school was accredited in 2013. There are currently 38 schools in five states accredited, but Chagrin Falls is the first school in Northeast Ohio to achieve the accreditation. Chagrin Falls will hold the accreditation for three years during which they are required to provide documentation regarding how they are continuing to meet the seven elements.

Seven Chagrin Falls High School Students Named Semifinalists in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program Chagrin Falls High School is pleased to announce that seven of its students have received recognition in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program (NMSC) as semifinalists.

These seniors include Daniel Berlin, Danielle Currey, Leah Gillespie, Trevor Gravely, Grant Harrison, Grace Hass-Hill and Karl Koenig.

Approximately 16,000 students were notified this month that they have qualified as the 62nd annual National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists.

To ensure that academically talented young people from all parts of the United States are included in this talent pool, semifinalists are designated on a state representational basis. They are the highest scoring entrants in each state.

NMSC provides scholarship application materials to semifinalists through their high schools. To be considered for a National MeritÂŽ Scholarship, semifinalists must advance to finalist standing in the competition by meeting high academic standards and all other requirements explained in the information provided to each semifinalist.

Schools in S Foundation Special thanks to State Representative Marlene Anielski for presenting the banner to the district.

SUPER NEWS

15

Chagrin Community Honors First Responders

By EVAN TEICHER, Senior, Chagrin Falls High School Before the Chagrin Falls Tigers took on the Wickliffe Blue Devils in football on September 16, students, teachers, and families convened in the football field to honor the community's first responders. The football players showed their spirit by holding an American flag while coming out for their huddle. State Representative Marlene Anielski also attended the event, showing off her Chagrin Falls pride by wearing an orange Chagrin jersey. Representative Anielski also presented Chagrin Falls Middle and High School with a banner to recognize both schools as the first in Northeast Ohio to be accredited by Heart Safe School/SADS Foundation. See story on page 14-15.

16

September 2016

Photos by EVAN TEICHER, Senior, Chagrin Falls High School SUPER NEWS

17

Intermediate School Implements Personalized Learning Time On September 9, the Intermediate School in Chagrin Falls began implementing their Personalized Learning Time, known as PLT, which sets aside 260 minutes each week for individualized programming for all students. During this time, students are able to engage in trimester theme-related enrichment activities, seek out intervention support (as needed), and participate in Friday enrichment classes.

Cognitively gifted students may participate in the new STRETCH program, enrolling in self-selected enrichment offerings.

One of the first PLT classes was Teacher Mandy Marlo’s “Travel the World.” During this learning time, students explored their geography skills and learned about countries around the world that might not otherwise be studied in class. Over the 10 sessions, students will select a specific country to explore. They will learn tools for identifying statistics,

landmarks, government and culture of a foreign country. Students may even have the opportunity to Skype with students in the country they are studying, if time zone differences allow. By the end of the semester, students will create a virtual field trip to the country of their choice.

Other enrichment offerings include “Using our Gifts,” “Reader’s Theatre,” “Wellness,” “STEM,” “Improv and Sketch Comedy,” “Basic Sign Language,” “The History of NASA,” “Exploring Latin America through Picture Books,” “Folk Dances and Play Parties,” “Kindness Campaign,” “Computer Science,” “Writing Warriors,” “The Math/Analytics of Sports,” “Solving the World’s Problems,” “Healthy Living,” “Sip, Snack and Chat,” “Peace Studies,” and “Be Strategic.”

“As it is our mission to provide a personalized learning experience for each student, we are excited to be able to offer such a variety of interest-based learning opportunities to every one of our students. I applaud all the teachers at the Intermediate School for going above and beyond in creating such fun and unique PLT’s and look forward to seeing all of our students take this exciting journey this school year.”

Principal Sarah Read, Chagrin Falls Intermediate School.

Invention Convention

18

September 2016

Latin America through Picture Books

Sports Analytics SUPER NEWS

19

"Team Coding Tigers" Spend Summer Learning and Collaborating Animated stories, flying Super Hero cartoons, bouncing balls on a computer screen with hand gestures, drawing shapes on demand, computer program greeting you by your name...if this sounds like next generation technology, then behold this is exactly what five fifth grade students from Chagrin Falls Schools did during their summer vacation.

All of this was made possible with eight 45-minute sessions, each combined with their imagination, passion to create and willingness to learn something new. The fifth grade team included Shlok Bhattacharya, Nicholas Rohde, Griffin Laws, Liam Butler, and Jason Cheng.

Some of the team’s projects can be found at the Scratch Studio link https://scratch.mit.edu/ studios/2999471/.

"Computer programming is becoming a critical skill for these next generation kids with communication with devices becoming more and more prevalent. Kids with computer programming skills will be more creators of new technologies than just users or consumers of these technologies. Computer programming is all about problem solving, critical thinking and trial and error."

Sujoy Bhattacharya, parent and leader of the group

"It was rewarding to see Mr. Bhattacharya work with these students over the summer, teaching them various aspects of coding and then watching them demonstrate an incredible set of skills including trial and error, problem solving, and critical thinking."

Mike Daugherty, director of technology and information systems, Chagrin Falls Schools

20

September 2016

Chagrin Falls Students Recognized by Board of Education for Completing Summer 2016 Math Bridging

Congratulations to the Chagrin Falls’ students who successfully completed Summer 2016 Math Bridging to move into Advanced Math coursework this school year. Students left to right: Calvin Struk-Marn (7th grader), William Gottschalk (7th grader), Alyssa Zaffiro (6th grader), Grace Svette (6th grader), James Rose (5th grader) Not pictured: Alex Kacir (7th grader), Caitlyn Young, (6th grader), Colby Wells (5th grader), Alexander Kroon (5th grader), Kenny Clark (6th grader), Rory Brosnan (6th grader)

SUPER NEWS

21

Students from Chagrin Falls Schools Recognized as NUMATS Award Winners

Each school year, gifted and advanced students in grades 3-9 are invited to register for the Northwestern University’s Midwest Academic Talent Search (NUMATS), which provides above-grade level testing opportunities, including access to the ACT and SAT in grades 6-9. At the September 19 Chagrin Falls Board of Education meeting, these students from Chagrin Falls Schools who participated in NUMATS and earned the highest scores on each test per grade level were recognized for their achievement.

NUMATS students who have the highest national scores (approximately two to three percent of all NUMATS test-takers) on EXPLORE, ACT and SAT taken during the 2015-2016 academic year received an invitation to the award ceremony sponsored by Center for Talent Development. This was held on September 10, 2016 on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Three current ninth graders at Chagrin Falls High School were identified as NUMATS Award

22

September 2016

Winners and were invited to the Award Ceremony at Northwestern University. Margaret Mills and Grace Lee were invited as a result of ACT scores which were within the top 2-3% of all NUMATS test-takers in 2015-16. Robert Snider was invited as a result of his SAT score, which was within the top 2-3% of all NUMATS test-takers in 2015-16.

“The NUMATS Program provides an opportunity for our gifted students to challenge themselves and compare their achievement to other highly gifted students across the country via above-grade level testing,” said Chagrin Falls High School Principal Steve Ast. “We are extremely proud that these students were able to perform in the top 2-3% of gifted students tested on the ACT and SAT via the program. Their pursuit of ongoing challenges, willingness to grow, and perseverance reflects our district commitment to growing the potential of all students. Maggie, Grace, and Robert truly exemplify REALIZE U.”

Scientists for the Day at Gurney Elementary For the year 2015-16: Alexandra Holtz (top ACT score in 6th grade), Jackson Quinn (top ACT score in 7th grade), Jacob Freese (top ACT score in 9th grade), Nathan Hill (top EXPLORE score in 5th grade) , Katherine Quinn (top EXPLORE score in 4th grade), Benjamin Lewis (top EXPLORE score in 3rd grade), Margaret Mills (Northwestern Center for Talent Development Award Ceremony Qualifier - scoring in the top 2-3% of all students tested on the ACT via NUMATS).

Not pictured: Matthew Daniels (top EXPLORE score in 6th grade), Robert Snider (Northwestern Center for Talent Development Award Ceremony Qualifier - scoring in the top 2-3% of all students tested on the SAT via NUMATS in 201516 and top SAT score in 8th grade), Grace Lee (Northwestern Center for Talent Development Award Ceremony Qualifier - scoring in the top 2-3% of all students tested on the ACT via NUMATS in and top ACT score in 8th grade)

In Stephanie Malley’s first grade class at Gurney Elementary, students are enjoying the opportunity to be a “Scientist of the Week.” “The student takes home the folder with an ongoing record sheet for the class so the student is able to choose an experiment that hasn’t been done already,” said Malley. “We are using YouTube videos as a guide to find an experiment that interests the student. Each student completes a scientist of the day record sheet with hypothesis, materials, steps and results. I also find a video on YouTube showing the experiment and push it out to the students in our Google classroom on the Chromebooks so they can see the experiment performed in a different way and we review our new science words learned like density and chemical reaction.”

SUPER NEWS

23

Follow Us on Social Media and On-Line Facebook • Twitter • Website • Constant Contact The Chagrin Falls Exempted Village Schools intends to use a variety of avenues to communicate to the district stakeholders. The list below outlines the various methods to connect with the district through social media.

District Website Facebook Visit us on the web at www.chagrinschools.org Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CFEVS Twitter Join the conversation on Twitter. Use #CFEVS. You can also follow the school district administrators: Robert Hunt Superintendent @Hunt_EdLeader

Steve Ast High School Principal @steven_ast

Sarah Read Intermediate School Principal @read_chagrin

Christopher Woofter Director of Operations and Strategic Initiatives @ChrisWoofter

Amanda Schmidt High School Asst. Principal @cf_schmidt

Dr. Rachel Jones Gurney Elementary Principal @DrJ_cfprincipal

CFHS Counselors @cfcounselors

Charlie Barch District Athletic Director @ChagrinAD

Mike Daugherty Director of Technology @MoreThanATech Becky Quinn Director of Curriculum @becky_quinn1

Laila Discenza Middle School Principal @CFMSdiscenzaPal

Stay Connected Would you like to be notified via email of what’s happening in the Chagrin Falls Exempted Village School District? Register to receive emails through Constant Contact. Go to the homepage, www. chagrinschool.org. In the upper right hand corner, click the “Stay Connected” icon to sign up.

24

September 2016

District All Calls Our district uses an automated calling system to send out important messages such as school closings, school delays, or other valuable information when necessary. This service is only for the parents of district students. Parents will be eligible to receive these calls when they enroll their students. If you are a parent in the district and you are not receiving the automated calls, or if you need to change the number that these calls go to, please contact Pupil Services at (440) 247-4564.