PERSON 2 PERSON
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Rosemary and Frank Bloom of Blue Ash
Your Community Press newspaper serving Evendale, Glendale, Sharonville, Springdale, Wyoming E-mail: tricounty@communitypress.com We d n e s d a y, O c t o b e r
Volume 27 Number 7 © 2010 The Community Press ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Trick of the night
We want to know when your community is holding Trick or Treating this year. Please email calendar@cincinnati.com and include: name of community, date, start and end time and contact phone number or submit the information through SHARE here: http://local. cincinnati.com/share/.
Election opinions
If you have an opinion you’d like to share about a candidate or issue on the Nov. 2 ballot, it is time to get your thoughts together. Tri-County Press will accept election-related letters and guest columns until 5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 13, for publication Oct. 20. The only election-related letters and columns which we will publish Oct. 27 – the final edition before the election – are those responding directly to previously published letters and columns. The deadline for those letters and columns is 5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 20. For more information, see Viewpoints, A8.
6, 2010
A man of numbers
Students who hate math, meet Michael J. Robertson. The 21-year-old Princeton High School graduate, a Wright State University senior, is in his third year tutoring students in math. After a couple of sessions, not only do the students have a better grasp of trigonometry and calculus, many of them find math more bearable. A few actually go from hating it to liking it. SEE SCHOOLS, A5
By Kelly McBride
kmcbride@communitypress.com
Wyoming City Council approved a severance agreement with City Manager Bob Harrison that provides a lump sum payment as well as an agreement to fund his defense in two pending lawsuits. Harrison, who has worked for the city for 12 years, accepted a job as city administrator in Issaquah, Wash., where he starts work Oct. 11. The agreement, approved unanimously at council’s Sept. 20 meeting, stated that Harrison would receive $75,000 on Oct. 1, his last day of employment with the city. The agreement also stated that the city would defend Harrison in
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two pending lawsuits. One is a civil rights case filed in April against Harrison, the Hamilton County treasurer and city council, by Harrison Lawrence Blaine. That case is pending in the Sixth Circuit of the Ohio Southern District Court. Details of the case were locked by the court, and a request to Wyoming Solicitor Frank Klaine, as well as city council, for information about the case went unanswered. Mayor Barry Porter responded, referring all inquiries to Klaine. The second pending lawsuit
had been refiled in August by three former employees of Wyoming’s Recreation Center. The original suit had been filed in late 2009. Cathy Deters, Michael Pearl and Monica Miller are suing Harrison, as well as the city of Wyoming, requesting that they be reinstated to their former jobs, and seeking financial damages. They have alleged racial, disability and gender discrimination; common law fraud; civil conspiracy; intentional infliction of emotional distress; false imprisonment; and breach of Ohio public policy regarding retaliation against employees for complaining of discrimination. In the severance document, Harrison agreed to “reasonably cooperate with (the) city in the
defense of such pending lawsuits, including reasonably making himself available for depositions, arbitrations, hearings and/or trial, and for the preparation for the same.” In return, the city promised to foot the bill. “When such cooperation is requested by the city, the city shall pay any and all out-ofpocket costs incurred by city manager specifically relating to such defense and cooperation arising from city manager’s attendance at any hearing, arbitration, and/or trial for the pending lawsuits.” Questions to Klaine and City Council about what both lawsuits have and will cost the city, and where that money will come from, went unanswered.
Learning branches out from STEM Princeton High School is taking stock in a program that incorporates a variety of academic subjects into project-based learning. The STEM approach, for science, technology, engineering and math, has been incorporated into the curriculum at the school, connecting the basics in ways that students can visualize. “STEM is part of 21st century learning that is experience-based, and hands-on,” said Brian Lien, who teaches engineering and architecture at the high school. “It’s harder for the teacher,” Lien said, “Now they have to think about a project to go with the lesson, and how is it linked to math or science?” For example, when students are reading a history lesson, how can it be tied into lessons learned in English class? To help do this, the school has stocked a STEM cart with supplies that teachers can use to help students complete their projects. Some items included on the cart are video cameras, digital cameras, poster
board, colored paper, markers, scissors, tape and glue. The school received a $7,500 one-time grant from the General Mills Foundation for the current school year, and is using that money to stock the cart. Lien said that while the school will apply again next year for another grant, Princeton would accept any donations that would be appropriate for the projects. He said he hopes to add a second cart next school year. That one would contain tools, such as scales, mirrors, wood and lasers, for STEM projects. Teachers can use items or borrow from the cart, Lien said. Projects vary as widely as the subject matter, he said, and items could be used for assignments such as math teacher Kevin Tucker’s slingshot assignment. Students have to propel a water balloon from a slingshot to hit a mannequin. To do so, they must calculate the wind, figure the angle and decide how hard to pull back on the slingshot. “It’s learning by doing versus listening,” Lien said. “Students can learn better if they can touch and feel.”
What is 21st century learning?
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B E C A U S E C O M M U N I T Y M AT T E R S
Wyoming will also defend Harrison in two lawsuits
kmcbride@communitypress.com
Get in the Halloween spirit by visiting CincinnatiMoms LikeMe.com and entering the online Halloween Photo Contest. You can enter in three categories: Best Baby/Toddler; Best Kids; Best Adult. Deadline for entries is 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 17, and voting will begin at 9 a.m. Monday, Oct. 18. To enter the contest and for official rules, visit the Contests page on CincinnatiMomsLike Me.com.
Web site: communitypress.com
Former manager gets $75,000
By Kelly McBride
Halloween photo contest
PRESS
Twenty-first century learning focuses on the infusion of skills, academic content, expertise and literacy to help students prepare for life in the 21st
KELLY MCBRIDE/STAFF
Supplies from the STEM cart could be used for projects such as this one, assigned by engineering teacher Brian Lien. Princeton students dropped cereal through a straight chute, into a bin, where it was sifted to separate broken pieces. The project, which required engineering, math and English skills for a final presentation, was part of a partnership with General Mills.
century. Princeton City Schools has introduced methods to help students achieve competitive levels they will need to succeed. Some of those approaches will be explored in several articles in the Tri-County Press: • Corporate partnerships allow
community businesses to offer expertise and guidance to the students. • Resources, such as a STEM cart, will enhance teaching in a project-based format, and incorporate the basics of academics. • Flexible credits, mandated by the
state of Ohio, allow students to tailor their schedules to meet their personal academic needs and goals. • Critical thinking skills are strengthened by curriculum that incorporates a variety of subject matter through hands-on teaching.
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