July 21, 2011
O'Reilly to recommend Hall for AD job By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Superintendent Ed O’Reilly will recommend to the Grandview Heights Board of Education July 22 that Jim Hall be hired as the district’s new athletics director. Hall is a former high school principal for the Northridge Local School District. Earlier this month, the Northridge school board voted 3-1 to eliminate Hall’s position and reorganize the remaining principals’duties so that one principal would administer grades 6-12. The board will meet at 7:15 a.m. Friday to vote on O’Reilly’s recommenda-
tion. If the board approves Hall’s hire, he A closer look will begin work on Monday, allowing him to work with outgoing athletics director Kathy Kinnard during her final Jim Hall is the former high school principal for the Northridge Local week before her retirement. Grandview had originally hired Chad School District. Earlier this Little on July 6 as its new athletics di- month, the Northridge school rector. On July 11, Little notified the dis- board voted 3-1 to eliminate Hall’s trict he was opting to stay at Bloom-Car- position and reorganize the reroll after that district’s board added in- maining principals’ duties so that centives to his contract, including be- one principal would administer coming an assistant middle school prin- grades 6-12. cipal. Hall was not one of the approximate- district of his interest in the aftermath of ly 50 candidates who applied for the the Northridge decision and Little’s withGrandview position, but he notified the drawal.
“After what happened in Northridge, I kind of kicked myself that I didn’t apply for the job in the first place,” Hall said Tuesday. Hall spent four years working as a principal in Northridge. Before that, he spent two years as the district’s athletics director. It’s a job he enjoyed, Hall said, and he is looking forward to returning to working in athletics, especially in Grandview. “I lived in Grandview for two years while I was attending Ohio State, and I just loved the area,” he said. “It was always a place I thought I’d like to come back to someday. “I think Grandview is this gem that’s
hidden a bit because of everything that surrounds it,” Hall said. “It’s just a great community.” O’Reilly said Hall was interviewed Monday night by a committee comprised of administrators, school board members and parents. The committee had previously interviewed three other candidates who had been finalists for the job before Little was originally selected, and while they were considered again, Hall got the committee’s nod and his recommendation, O’Reilly said. “He’s obviously has the skill sets to See HALL, page A3
Council OKs new zoning district, rezoning for Yard By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By Eric George/ThisWeek
Grandview designer Mike Dexter with his Mexican-inspired artwork. Dexter, owner of IDC Design, has designed the posters for all the Lazy Daze of Summer festivals and will be exhibiting his work at the festival this year.
Dexter to be Lazy Daze exhibitor for first time By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Grandview resident Mike Dexter has been associated with the Lazy Daze of Summer arts and crafts festival throughout its 18-year history, having designed all of the festival posters. This year, Dexter, owner of IDC Design, will be more directly involved. For the first time, Dexter will be one of the exhibitors at the festival. He will be showcasing and selling graphic prints he has created in the blackletter art style of Mexico. The blackletter graphic style has been used for centuries in Mexico, Dexter said. “You see it a lot on old handbills and it’s also kind of the type style used for tattoos,” he said. Dexter’s works, which he is selling through a side business he calls Dex-Mex Graficos, are framed prints that combine a Spanish phrase or word with a graphic that illustrates the words. For example, one piece has the words, “perro
feliz” (happy dog) with an image of a grinning canine. “As a graphic designer, I’m really interested in typography and I love the look of the blackletter style,” Dexter said. “I think it really stands out.” He has created more than 30 blackletter designs, some lighthearted or humorous and others with a bit more of an edge to them. “I love animals so there are a lot of them that feature animals and I also love motorcycles, so they’re incorporated in some of the designs,” Dexter said. First, he will decide on the words he wants to use, then come up with a graphic that illustrates the words, he said. Ornamental elements made of clay are placed on the black frames of the prints. For Dexter, the Dex-Mex project is a way for him to connect to his Mexican background. Dexter is one-half Mexican on his mother’s side and grew up in San Diego. “My mother and grandmother would start to
speak in Spanish when they wanted to talk about something they didn’t want me to hear,” he said. “But I never connected to that heritage, because they never really highlighted it. I don’t speak any Spanish.” But in recent years he has began to research his Mexican heritage at the same time as his interest in blackletter art also was growing. The two just seem to go together, Dexter said. He said he’s excited about being an exhibitor at Lazy Daze. It will be the first time he has participated in an arts festival. “I really don’t know what to expect,” Dexter said. “I hope people are interested in this work I’ve done. I’m anxious to see what captures people’s attention. I’d like to do more of these festivals in the future.” Dexter will be one of more than 50 craft exhibitors who were selected by a jury to participate in Saturday’s Lazy Daze festival. The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on West First Avenue, near the Grandview Heights Public Library.
Grandview Heights City Council Monday night approved ordinances to create a new zoning classification for the area that includes the Grandview Yard project and to rezone the affected property. With the passage of the legislation, approximately 89.1 acres bounded by West Third Avenue on the north, the CSX railroad tracks on the east and West Goodale Boulevard on the south will be rezoned to the new Grandview Commerce Mixed Use District (GCMXD). The creation of the district is intended to implement the goals and objectives for the area as identified in the Grandview Heights Community Plan, said Patrik Bowman, the city’s director of administration/economic development. Several revisions were made to the legislation at both a July 14 economic development committee meeting and at Monday’s council meeting. The legislation needed to be adopted Monday because Nationwide Realty Investors, the developer of Grandview Yard, will be on the agenda at the July 20 planning commission meeting, seeking a major site plan review for the construction of three apartment buildings at the Yard. The new zoning needed to be in place because residential developments are allowed as a permitted use under the new district, but not under the current zoning for the area. The ordinance creating the GCMXD includes provisions listing permitted, conditional and prohibited uses; the details to be included on applications for developments within the Yard; and a set of principles for the district relating to such issues as general development, streets, building placement, building form and massing, building frontage, See COUNCIL, page A2
District headed for another ‘excellent’ state report card By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers
While the numbers are still preliminary, data from the Ohio Department of Education indicate the Grandview Heights City School District will earn at least an excellent rating on the 201011 state report card. Superintendent Ed O’Reilly reviewed the data at the July 12 school board meeting. The district’s Performance Index Score is expected to be 106.2 out of a maximum possible score of 120, O’Reilly said. That is an increase of 1.5 over last year’s report card, he said.
A closer look On most tests, the district saw more than 90 percent of its students earn a proficient or higher score. The lowest percentage was fifth-grade reading, in which 82.4 percent of the students met the standard.
A performance index score above 100 is rated excellent and an increase of a point or two is “a good upward trend,” O’Reilly said. The performance index score is determined by assigning a point total for
each of the five performance levels on state achievement tests. The higher the level, the more points are awarded. Each weighted score is multiplied by the percentage of student scores at that level to generate a district’s or school’s performance index. About 70 percent of the district’s students tested at an accelerated or advanced level, encompassing all of the tests, O’Reilly said. The high school maintained a high index score of 108.7, about the same as on last year’s report card, he said. At the middle school level, the district’s index score rose by 1.1 point to 107.2, O’Reilly said. The increase was 3 points in the in-
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termediate grades at Edison, to a score of 103.2 on the 2010-11 report card. “When you jump three points, that’s a big deal,” O’Reilly said. Stevenson Elementary saw its index score increase by about 4 points to 109.7. “You don’t see jumps like that,” O’Reilly said. The emphasis the school put on math this past year was indicated by a 10-percent increase in the number of thirdgraders who scored proficient or above on the math achievement test, he said. The report card standards measure the district’s success on the state’s third-, fourth-, fifth-, sixth-, seventh-, and eighthgrade achievement tests and the Ohio Graduation Test.
On each test over all grade levels, the district easily met the state standard of having at least 75 percent of its students earn a proficient or higher score. On most tests, the district saw more than 90 percent of its students earn a proficient or higher score. The lowest percentage was fifth-grade reading, in which 82.4 percent of the students met the standard. The preliminary data indicates the district has not met its Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals, but the AYP rating will not be final until all data is submitted later this month, O’Reilly said. See REPORT, page A3
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