August 11, 2011
Grandview City Schools
Early start just one of new changes By ALAN FROMAN
ThisWeek Community Newspapers
The Grandview Heights City School District will open its 2011-12 school year on Wednesday, Aug. 17, with a number of changes, including that opening date, which falls six days earlier than in past years. The change in the school calendar will allow the district to give first semester exams to high school students before the winter break starts, Superintendent Ed O’Reilly said.
In past years, students were not able to take the exams until school resumed after the lengthy break, he said. The earlier start of the school year will also pro vide more time before state testing,including the fall administration of the third-grade reading achievement test and the Ohio Graduation Test, begins, O’Reilly said.
While students and their families have had to adjust to an earlier start to the school year, it has also meant there is less time than usual for the district to complete summer clean-up, maintenance and other preparatory work in the school buildings, he said. It also means the Oakland Avenue rehabilitation project may not be completely finished by the time school be gins next week. “My understanding is there will be some pavement down (on Oakland) and we will have access to all the Oakland
Avenue parking lots,” O’Reilly said. “There will be part of the time when one or another of the parking lots may be temporarily closed.” Students should have easy access to the schools on OaklandAvenue, he said. Because of retirements and resignations, the district will have 14 new staff members this year, including three new administrators. “That is a significant change when you have basically one-third of your administrative team turning over,” O’Reilly said. The new administrators are high school
principal Dawn Sayre, athletics director James Hall and pupil services director Nancy Schott. Other new staff members include Shannon Crackel and Sara Karl, Edison Intermediate/Middle School intervention specialists; Caitlin Craig, Stevenson Elementary intervention specialist; seventhgrade math teacher Rachel Figliomeni; Carolyn White, Spanish and French teacher at Edison and the high school; kindergarten teachers Sarah Hoepf and See SCHOOL, page A2
Von Jasinski plans to vie for mayor’s office Nov. 8 By ALAN FROMAN
ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By Eric George/ThisWeek
(From left) Jill Gaugham watches as her 3-year-old triplets, Lauren, Audrey and Samantha, take turns diving into the Grandview Heights Municipal Pool Aug. 8.
Pool memberships, daily admissions up fr om 2010 By ALAN FROMAN
ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Perhaps not surprisingly, considering this summer’s heat, the Grandview Heights Municipal Pool has seen an increase of season memberships and daily admissions during the 2011 season. “In terms of dollars,we’ve seen our season passes for the pool increase by $5,000 over last year, as of July 12, which is the latest data we have,” said Sean Robey, parks and recreation director. That represents a 6.3-percent increase over 2010, he said. “We actually have had a few more pass-
es sold since we started a half price sale after July 15,” Robey said. The receipts from daily admissions was up by about $4,000 over last year as of July 12, he said. “We had some big attendance days through July, but attendance has dropped a bit so far in August, which is typical,” Robey said. “I think football practice,band camp, family vacations and maybe a bit of burn-out after two and a half months at the pool play a part in that.” The atmosphere at the pool has “been really fun this year,” pool manager Ryan Horn said. “I think people really appreciate what a great community resource they
have with the pool. People really enjoy the pool.” A staff of 25 lifeguards, including himself, means there are always at least seven lifeguards on duty at the pool, Horn said. “We’re able to have five lifeguards in the chairs and two on the ground at all times, which is really good,” he said. “Fortunately, we haven’t had any major problems this year.” The repairs made to the pool over the off season, including the replacement of the pumps and motors, have held up throughout the summer, Robey said. See POOL, page A3
Grandview Heights City Council member Steve Von Jasinski will be running for mayor in November against incumbent Ray DeGraw. “I’m in the process of collecting signatures and I expect to have that done and turned in later this week,” Von Jasinski said Monday. Von Jasinski has served the last eight years and a previous fouryear term on council, but had already announced he would not be running for re-election to the council. He has decided to run for mayor “because I think we are at a point where we need a change in the administration of our city,” Von Jasinski said. “We have had two income tax increases in the last eight years, yet we are still running a b udget deficit,” he said. “We are in essence in the same place we were in back in 2003 when Big Bear left.” The city cannot continue to ask residents for increases in taxes, Von Jasinski said. “We have to maintain our city services within our current revenue stream,” he said. If elected,Von Jasinski said,he will present to council a plan to do just that within six months,although he provided no specifics about what the plan would include.
“We need to find better , more efficient ways to do things in the city,” he said. One possibility is finding Steve ways to share Von Jasinski services with other communities, Von Jasinski said, noting his participation in meetings with representatives from other communities on that topic. His 20 years spent managing acquisition companies in the building industry gives him the experience to determine how that can be done, Von Jasinski said. In that role, he would examine a troubled company’s operations and determine how best to turn the firm around, he said. “In 20 years, every company I reviewed had more employees when I was finished than when I started,” Von Jasinski said. “I can apply the same skills to the city’s operations.” DeGraw said the city is indeed facing continuing tough economic times, especially given the loss of up to $600,000 in state funding over the next few years. “You’re looking at a potential 5- or 6-percent reduction in our budget revenue (from the state See CANDIDATES, page A3
New Trinity principal making return to Grandview community By ALAN FROMAN
ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Four decades after he graduated from Our Lady of Victory Catholic School,Jim Silcott has returned to the Tri-Village area, this time as the new principal at Trinity Catholic School. “When OLV’s school closed,it was absorbed into Trinity, so in a sense,I’ve returned to my old school,” Silcott said. “Grandview’s a great community and I’m excited about being here.” Silcott began his new post at Trinity after spending the past four years as president and principal at Fisher Catholic High School in Lancaster. “I enjoyed working at the high school level, but when this opportunity came up, I couldn’t pass it up,” he said. “Two of my three children live in the Columbus area and my parents live here. And I’ve known my boss (St. Christopher Church pastor) John Cody for many years. “I’m looking forward to working in a small school,” Silcott said. “My goal is to know everybody’s name, all the students,by the middle of September. I think it’s important to have that kind of personal relationship with students where you know them by
name.” Silcott has been an educator for 33 years, 30 of them working in the Columbus Diocese. “We all need to develop our spirituality. I think that’s an important part of a child’s education,” he said. “It’s not that public schools can’t do it, and I would never say anything negative about our public schools, but they have to do it separately. We can put it all together in Catholic schools.” It was one of his teachers at St. Charles Preparatory School, an English teacher named Mike Gilligan, who inspired him to become a teacher, Silcott said. “He was the smartest man I’d ever known,” he said. “I wanted to be like him, so I decided to become a teacher.” While he enjoyed his own time as an English teacher, Silcott said he has found being an administrator even more rewarding because it allows him to assist and influence a greater number of youngsters in a greater variety of ways. “A big part of being a principal is problem-solving, and I really enjoy that aspect of the job,” he said. See SILCOTT, page A2 Jim Silcott is the new principal for Trinity Catholic School.
By Chris Parker/ThisWeek