$
3995
• Synthetic Blend • Vehicle Check-Up OR LESS • FluidTop-Off Oil Change • Tire Rotation & • BatteryTest Pressure Check • Filter Check • Brake Inspection • Belts & Hoses Check WWW.JIMKEIMFORD.COM • 614-888-3333
April 10, 2014
District, teachers union ink one-year contract
Columbus Jewish Day School
Buckeye band members dot ‘i’ in innovate By LORI WINCE THISWEEKNEWS.COM Ryan Barta, a senior trumpet player in the Ohio State University Marching Band, visited the Columbus Jewish Day School in New Albany on April 4 and explained how he is helping reduce the amount of paper the band uses during practice. Barta and Charlie King, a fellow senior and trumpet player in the band, thought they could devise a way to reduce the amount of paper instructions the band was using. They started using an application on their iPads that could be used by band members, said Rachel Hillman, the Columbus Jewish Day School’s marketing director. Prior to that, the 225 marching band members received 80 pages of paperwork each week when learning drills, according to Ohio State’s website. By eliminating the paper, the university could save $24,000 a year. Barta and King pitched the project to Ohio Sate, and the university’s office of sustainability matched $25,000
in the band’s budget to “buy 50 iPads for squad leaders, staff and directors to test,” according to Ohio State’s website. The project was tested this past football season and is expected to be implemented fully in the fall, the website said. Barta’s visit to the Columbus Jewish Day School included an explanation of the difference between invention and innovation to the school’s fifth- and sixthgraders. He said the iPad idea was an example of using an existing application innovatively. “He was able to work within the application for iPad and customize it to use it for the purposes of choreography for the band and to expand on what the band does,” Hillman said. The idea resonated with the fifth- and sixth-graders because they use iPads in their robotics course and in other classes, Hillman said. “There was a real connection made,” she said, explaining that students learned how to step outside the box and think of other innovative uses
By LORI WINCE THISWEEKNEWS.COM
Columbus Jewish Day School fifth-grader Phoebe Wasserstrom learns how she will need to march to dot the ‘i’ in Script Ohio from Ohio State University Marching Band drum major David Pettit on Friday, April 4, at the school in New Albany. Another band member, senior Ryan Barta, told fifth- and sixth-graders at the school how the marching band began using an iPad app to map out its formations. After the presentation, all the students at the school gathered to create a Script Ohio formation by Pettit. INNOVATE >> A4 LORRIE CECIL/THISWEEKNEWS
The New Albany-Plain Local school board on March 31 unanimously approved a one-year agreement with the local teachers union, the Plain Local Education Association. The agreement includes no base-salary increases but still allows average step increases of 3.29 percent. Members of the PLEA who will not receive step increases will receive a 1-percent increase. Step increases are based on education and years of experience. The step increases will cost $1.48 million for fiscal year 2015, according to district officials. District Treasurer Rebecca Jenkins said the contract will be for one year because the district’s most recent fiveyear forecast estimates enough funds to cover costs associated with the contract through June 30, 2015, when the contract would expire. She said if the district cannot reach an agreement before then, it would have to pay step increases based on the contract, and the five-year forecast says there will not be enough to cover those costs. The most recent forecast, approved in October 2013, estimated a deficit of $3,452,216 in fiscal year 2016. District spokesman Patrick Gallaway
CONTRACT >> A7
April 19
Spring Fest will include egg drop by helicopter
By LORI WINCE THISWEEKNEWS.COM
when children arrive at the New Albany High School football field. “Around 11 a.m. we’ll have the New Albany’s Spring Fest on April helicopter come and drop some eggs. 19 will feature some 20,000 eggs, but After it safely lands, then we’ll let not all of them will be on the ground the kids go out,” said event organizer
Brian Minier. Minier said the event, organized by the New Albany Community Events board, took the helicopter idea from a central Ohio church that has done an egg drop for a couple of years.
Discover the Oakland Value!
OAKLAND NURSERIES
$
Columbus
Dublin
Delaware
New Albany
614-268-3511
614-874-2400
740-369-5454
614-917-1020
1156 Oakland Park Ave. 4261 W. Dublin-Granville Rd. 25 Kilbourne Rd. 5211 Johnstown Road
All stores open daily • Delivery service available
Inside
Police beat >> A2 Commentary & opinion >> A6
He said the helicopter will fly low Road. Minier said students will be divided so the children can see it and it will into three age groups: preschool and drop a few bags’ worth of eggs. Spring Fest will begin at 10:30 a.m. kindergartners; first- to third-graders; Saturday, April 19, at the New Albany SPRING FEST >> A4 High School football field, 7600 Fodor
500 OFF
Since 1940
with purchase of $40 or more Expires 4-30-14. Valid on newsprint only. Not valid with other clipped savings, discounts or on prior purchases. Garden store sales only. Limit $5 off.
Letters >> A7 Schools >> A8
0132996
Sports >> A16 Classifieds >> A20
www.oaklandnursery.com