SCHOOLS A6
Bethel Journal
October 1, 2009
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JOURNAL
New school times in Bethel creating problems
By Kellie Geist
kgeist@communitypress.com
The new school hours in the Bethel-Tate Local School District are having some unexpected consequences, especially at the middle school. At the beginning of the last school year, and even after the district cut high school busing and went to a three-tiered system for the other schools, the middle school started at 7:30 a.m. This year, the middle school has classes from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. “I know 30 minutes doesn’t
seem like a big change, but it really is,” said middle school Principal Steve Gill. “For some reason, that extra half hour has been a big factor.” Superintendent Jim Smith said the changes were made this year for two reasons: So the new drivers at the high school will be driving in the daylight for most of the year and so the younger kids at William Bick Primary are home before 5 p.m. “We had to work some of the kinks out of the tiered system, but you’re never going to make a system like this perfect,” Smith said.
“It’s not an ideal situation.” In order to accommodate the tiered system, each of the schools with bus service had to start about an hour apart. Gill said the middle school was OK with starting earlier to accommodate the other schools, but the new hours are not without issues. One of the biggest problems comes at the end of the day. “Our kids are out at 2 p.m. and a lot of our coaches can’t be here yet because they are not teachers in the building and they have jobs,” Gill said. “If our games start at 4:30
(p.m.), what do you do with a football team from 2 (p.m.) to 4:15 (p.m.?)” Gill said the school is having trouble finding chaperones for those kids involved in extracurriculars and, in some cases, they’ve had to just send the kids home to find their own way back later in the afternoon. “The kids aren’t misbehaving or anything while they are waiting, they just need someone to keep an eye on them,” Gill said. In addition to the after-school issues, starting earlier has resulted in more students being late to school.
If a student is 20 minutes late to school, that’s a lot of missed educational time, Gill said. Smith said he would like to get the school times at all the schools as close to the original times as possible, but that would require the community to pass the district’s 4.34-mill operating levy on the Nov. 3 ballot. This five-year emergency property tax would cost the owner of a home with a market value of $100,000 about $131 more per year, according to Chuck Tilbury, chief deputy auditor for the Clermont County Auditor’s Office.
Students successful at national conference ‘When the Grant Career Center chapter of the Business Professionals of America meets each fall, they wait eagerly for the announcement of the location of the national convention. Sometimes it is a distant and fun location like Anaheim, Calif. Sometimes it is the thrill of the big city such as New York. This year the theme of the conference was “Blaze New Trails,” and with the location being in Dallas. Students set their sights on earning a trip to National Leadership Conference in Dallas by preparing for competitive events at the local, regional and state level. Thirty-three students started down the path by winning 49 competitive events in District 13 Regional Competition at Grant Career Center in late winter. Thirteen of those students continued down the road by competing at the state level in Columbus in March. Two students placed in the top five and earned the right to represent Grant Career Center at the National Leadership Conference in Dallas, June 17 through June 21. The conference was postponed from its original May date due to the outbreak of the H1N1 virus. Officials worked to be sure the students were safe from harm when they brought thousands together in Dallas. Senior Medical Information Technology students Bridgette Reed and Searra Parker, both from Bethel-Tate High School, represented Grant Career Center at the conference. Reed competed in Medical Office Procedures where she displayed her talents in medical office skills such as medical terminology, transcriptions and anatomy. Parker competed in the Advanced Word Processing competition where she completed mul-
KELLIE GEIST/STAFF
Working hard
Issac White, a third-grader at Ebon C. Hill Intermediate School in Bethel, works on a book about himself during class. PROVIDED.
Grant Career Center Business Professionals of America national competitors Bridgette Reed, left, and Searra Parker await the results of their competitions at the National Leadership Conference Awards Ceremony, which was held in Dallas in June. tiple documents such as letters, memos, agendas, tables and reports. She was judged on accuracy, proofing and presentation. Accompanied by their instructor Jana Adams, the students joined about 6,000 students from the nation as they participated in national-level skill competitions, workshops, certification testing, general sessions and the national officer elections.
During the conference, Reed placed 15th in the nation in Medical Office Procedures and Parker placed in the top 25 in Advanced Word Processing. Business Professionals of America, Inc. is the national organization for students preparing for careers in business. The organization consists of local chapters in high schools, colleges and middle schools in North America.
Bubp bill protects Ohio JROTC State Rep. Danny Bubp (RWest Union) recently announced legislation he has drafted to add the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) program to the Ohio CORE curriculum. “Without legislative action, Ohio will certainly see a drastic decrease in students joining JROTC,” said Bubp. “This decrease will result in a loss of federal funding and scholarship opportunities for our students.” Currently, students entering the ninth grade on or after July 1, 2010, are required to complete five elective units from the following: foreign language, fine arts, business, career-technical educa-
tion, family and consumer sciences, technology, agricultural education, English language arts, mathematics, science or social studies. Freshmen entering school next year cannot use credits earned from JROTC to meet the five elective unit’s requirement. Bubp’s legislation will amend the Ohio CORE in two ways. First it adds JROTC as a permitted elective to the five elective unit’s requirement. Secondly, the legislation permits schools to include JROTC with interscholastic athletics, marching band and cheerleading as a substitute course for physical education. “I think it would be unfortu-
nate if Ohio becomes the only state in the country not to offer JROTC as an elective credit towards graduation,” said Capt. David Pollauf, senior Army instructor at Western Brown JROTC. The JROTC program teaches young people the value of citizenship, community, personal responsibility and academic achievement. Sixty-three programs with more than 7,000 cadets who are actively participating in schools across Ohio. The bill is scheduled to be introduced and assigned to a committee this fall.
Be aware of domestic violence, wear purple Community Press Staff Report “Domestic violence is a growing problem across the country,” said Kirstin Eismin, shelter manager for the YWCA House of Peace in Clermont County. “Our shelter for victims of abuse is at capacity, and our abuse hotline (that also serves Brown and Adams counties) had more than 500 phone calls for assistance last month. Compare that to 300 calls only two months previously.” Eismin said part of the increase for assistance can be attributed to the struggling economy and how some have reacted to the pressure, but she believes more women are realizing they can get out of the abusive situation and are reaching out for help. Wednesday, Sept. 16, the Clermont County commissioners proclaimed October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Numerous local events are scheduled to promote awareness, and the community is encouraged to wear a purple ribbon or article of clothing
to show their support. “On Wednesday, October 21, 2009, we invite those who have been touched by domestic violence, to come to UC Clermont College to create a T-shirt for the Clothesline Project,” said Eismin. “The T-shirts will be hung on a clothesline as a powerful reminder of domestic violence and its impact on a family.” The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence reports that 1.3 million are physically assaulted by a loved one each year. One of every four women will experience domestic violence during her lifetime. A vigil and march to promote awareness about domestic violence will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, at the Clermont County Courthouse, 270 E. Main St. in Batavia. The featured speaker will be a woman whose daughter was killed as a result of domestic violence. For more information about the October events planned, call 7537282. To contact the abuse hotline, call 753-7281.