June 2, 2011
FIELD OF HEROES
By Eric George/ThisWeek
Volunteer Bob Coco walks through the Westerville Sunrise Rotary’s annual Field of Heroes at the Westerville Sports Complex, 325 N. Cleveland Ave., where 2,500 American flags were on display through Memorial Day, May 30. For a video of the event, visit www.ThisWeekNEWS.com.
Westerville schools
Commission OGT scores up in all subjects OKs St. Ann’s parking garage By JENNIFER NESBITT
ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Mount Carmel St. Ann’s Hospital can move forward with the construction of a three-tier parking garage and with the expansion of its energy plant and kitchen and dining areas. The parking and building expansions, which will precede a remodel of the hospital that will include reorienting the entrance toward Schrock Road and constructing a cardiology tower, were approved by the Westerville Planning Commission May 25. The parking garage will be built at the southeast end of the hospital. Due to the grade of the site, visitors entering from Cleveland Avenue will see only the top deck of the parking garage, which will be even with the rest of the hospital’s parking. The lower levels will be visible from its other three sides, and hospital employees will access those levels from Copeland Mill Road, which runs along the hospital property’s southern border. The parking garage will mirror the architecture of St. Ann’s main building, with brick construction, white-trimmed windows and stair towers that are designed to look like the hospital’s glass towers. “Staff is comfortable in the overall architecture. It certainly is more nuanced than a typical parking garage,” Westerville senior planner Bassem Bitar told the planning commission. While the parking garage and expansions were unanimously approved, planning commission members expressed concerns about the garage transferring traffic from the main traffic entrance to St. Ann’s on Cleveland Avenue to Copeland Mill Road and about a lack of landscaping on the top level of the See ST. ANN’S, page A2
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In preliminary results released to the Westerville City School District, students improved their performance in all areas of the Ohio Graduation Test taken in March. The biggest improvement came in writing scores, where 93.9 percent of students were graded “proficient” or above, an increase of 3.6 percent over scores on the March 2010 test. The percentage of students passing science was up 3.5 percent, to 84.5; math was up 2 percent, to 90.6; reading was up 1.2 percent, to 92.2; and social studies saw the smallest increase, of 0.2 percent, to 90.9 percent. The totals will not be official until the city receives its state report card from the Ohio
Department of Education in August. The district usually sees minor changes in results between the preliminary and the official results, said Karen McClellan, district chief of academic affairs. McClellan said the district is proud of the growth it has seen on the OGT score this year, but will begin analyzing scores both at the administrative and school-building level to see what areas need to be targeted for further improvement next year. “We applaud the effort from our students and their parents and the teaching staff,” she said. “We’re proud and happy with the gains, but we know we can always improve. We have that continuous improvement model.” The district’s OGT scores have been relatively flat in recent years, McClellan said, but have stayed close to the 90th percentile.
“It’s up and down. They don’t fluctuate a lot when you’re at the 90th level of proficiency. They fluctuate some,” she said. However, this year’s reading, math and social studies scores were the highest in the last five years, the writing score was the secondhighest, and the science score was the thirdhighest, district communications director Greg Viebranz said. McClellan said she credits the high scores to the district’s focus on intervention and professional development. When Ohio Graduation Test scores are received, the district analyses them to see which areas it should focus on during professional development days; which subgroups of students, such as special education students or See OGT SCORES, page A2
District gears for summer projects By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
This summer, Westerville North and Westerville South high schools will get new artificial turf in their stadiums, South will get a new track, Heritage Middle School will get new gym bleachers and the storm sewer lines at Emerson Magnet School will be replaced. Those are just some of the capital improvement projects planned to take place at Westerville City Schools’ 27 locations this summer.
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The Westerville Board of Education approved bids May 23 for $1.32 million to Heiberger Paving, $112,800 to Farber Mechanical for plumbing work and $1.05 million to ProGrass LLC. That bid package will include paving repair work at all of the district’s buildings, the repair and resurfacing of the tennis courts at Genoa Middle School, replacing Westerville South High School’s running track, track maintenance at Genoa and Walnut Springs middle schools and installing artificial turf at Westerville North and
emorial Day was not conceived to be the kickoff to summer activities or as a reason to schedule a three-day weekend. It was established to recognize the nation’s military veterans who died while fighting for their country. In keeping with efforts to recognize and honor the sacrifices and service of military veterans, ThisWeek Community Media is launching Honoring Heroes, a continuing series through which we will share the stories and remembrances from and about local men and women who are either on active duty or retired from service. As part of covering their beats, our reporters often hear about and write about veterans leaving for overseas or com-
South high schools. The board also approved a $43,500 bid from Farnham Equipment Co. for the replacement of the bleachers at Heritage Middle School and a $238,900 bid from Speer Mechanical to replace the sewer lines at Emerson Magnet School. In June, the board will vote on bids for more summer projects, facilities and operations services executive director Jeff LeRose said. That will include work to convert a woodshop at Heritage Mid-
dle School to a special education classroom, work at Blendon Middle School to quiet noise from the music room to two adjacent classrooms and the addition of pavement near South High School’s stadium to accommodate more bus traffic at the transportation building, he said. The amount for those projects is not yet known, LeRose said, but even with that, the district will not come close to spending the $11.6 million in capital improvement See PROJECTS, page A2
ing home at the end of a tour of duty. We’ve covered funeral services of those who have sacrificed their lives. We’ve written about soldiers who arrive at their homes or their children’s schools to unexpectedly surprise their delighted families. We know many more stories are out there, waiting to be told. We want to tell them. And we need your help. If you have a story idea about a friend, family member or colleague, let us know by emailing editorial@thisweeknews.com, with the subject line, “Honoring Heroes.” Honoring Heroes isn’t just a ThisWeek Community Media project: It’s about sharing history.
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