Garfield Heights City Schools - Open Line Newsletter - Spring 2011

GARFIELD HEIGHTS CITY SCHOOLS 5640 Briarcliff Drive Garfield Heights, OH 44125

A publication designed to keep an open line of communication with the community.

GH

Superintendent’s Message

www.gar fieldheightscityschools.com

District Spotlight: Great Work Fifth Graders!

Fifth grade students at Maple Leaf Intermediate School have recently been given a fantastic opportunity to form a new band, courtesy of Maple Leaf music and band instructor, Sarah Reinhardt. To date, more than 80 students have signed up to participate in the band, which has already held several concerts, and have even performed at varying community events. One particular event was a performance before a room full of Garfield Heights Senior Citizens earlier this year, where a handful of fifth graders play different an entire set.

Maple Leaf students perform for Garfield Heights Senior Citizens.

Instruments range from flutes, to clarinets and include trombones and saxophones. Congratulations to the students of Maple Leaf Intermediate School for taking advantage a wonderful opportunity…

Middle School Spelling Bee Champ Represents GHCS at County Contest Garfield Heights Middle School Seventh Grader Elijah Hambrick represented The Garfield Heights City Schools at the Cuyahoga County Spelling Bee with his victory at the 4th annual GHMS Spelling Bee earlier this year. The word that gave Hambrick the win: ‘benevolent.’

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After dueling thirteen rounds with runner-up Kaye Paraon, and outpacing 27 other finalists in all, Hambrick was awarded a year’s

free subscription to Britannica online Encyclopedia and Powerspeak, an online foreign language course, courtesy of The Plain Dealer. He also received a trophy, a t-shirt and gift certificates to Dick’s Sporting Goods and Best Buy, from the Middle School PTA. With the victory, Hambrick moved on to represent the school district at the countywide competition, held at Cuyahoga Community College’s Metro Campus on March 5, 2011.

“We’d like to thank those that volunteered their time to help, including administrators, teachers Elijah Hambrick with middle school and the MS PTA” said Mrs. Maureen principal Joe Nicklos.

Millet, who in coordination with Mrs. Nicole Thomas, served as spelling bee coordinators, “Congratulations to Elijah.”

The two coordinators cited their being proud of all the students who have been studying the last few months to prepare for this academic event.

During the spelling bee competition, which featured 6th, 7th and 8th graders, donations were taken up to raise funds for underprivileged children with HIV/AIDS, called Amerikids. A special thanks to Mrs. Maureen Millett and Mrs. Nicole Thomas, coordinators of the annual spelling bee competition this year.

Great Work Elijah!

Superintendent Linda N. Reid

District Planning Process Involves Community Input

Meeting the unique needs of every student and preparing them to achieve their life goals isn’t just a dream it is a challenge worth meeting.

That’s why this past year we launched a strategic planning process that will craft a shared mission and guide our plans and decisions in the upcoming years.

Today, Garfield Heights City Schools is a diverse, vibrant district of over 4,000 students. Over the last decade our community has changed, our school district has changed, and our financial picture has changed. The strategic planning process provides us the opportunity as a community to determine what our collective values are. Once we have identified those values, we can focus on agreed upon priorities that will direct our resources accordingly.

Strategic planning also engages a new generation of leaders. Over the past several months the district has met with parents, students, teachers, elected officials, faithbased groups, and business leaders to understand from their prospective what they expect from their school district. Focus groups were conducted and a fair amount of constructive input was collected for district leadership.

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Garfield Heights City Schools

We are currently in the Action Team phase of the process.

Volunteers from the community and staff have formed Action Teams to write operational plans that turn the strategic plan concepts into reality. Later this spring we will have a State-of-the-Schools address, where we will present a draft of our plan to the community.

As superintendent, I am excited and encouraged by the amount of input we have received from the various stakeholders in the community. As a result of following this process, our community will create a strategic plan that will align and focus resources in the district toward achieving one unifying mission, impacts all levels of district operations, and engages us in a continuous renewal process that ensures we will adjust to changing conditions and continue to move forward.

District launches new web site!

To continue its sincere belief of communicating with parents and with our community, The Garfield Heights City School recently launched a new web site, www.garfieldheightscityschools.com, to create a more interactive and timely mode of communications.

Check out regularly updated calendars for the district and bybuilding, access to student information and a regular update by our superintendent, Linda N. Reid. Best of all, the new web site has come at a 40% ongoing savings to the district, over and above the previous web site.

Visit the NEW www.garfieldheightscityschools.com

POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT INITIATIVE (P.B.I.S)

Board Brief

GARFIELD HEIGHTS CITY SCHOOLS BOARD OF

EDUCATION

Schools’ Deliberate Efforts Greatly Improve Student Behavior DistrictJoseph M. Juby

President

Liaison for Student Activities

District Liaison

Gary Wolske

As we enter another spring season, we’d like to take this opportunity to once again extend our congratulations to the students of The Garfield Heights City School district. Our students continue to excel despite the severe cuts our district has experienced in the last several years, and we are confident that they will continue to make our community proud not withstanding coming cuts to our budget. The High School Boys Varsity basketball team has brought a good deal of honor and respect to our district, having been ranked “Number 1” in the state rankings by the OHSAA for a period of time.

Our Music Express program is one of a kind, and for the third year in a row, one of divers made the state finals, even though our district doesn’t even carry its own varsity team. This, among other examples of our students, should give the community something for which they can be proud.

Unfortunately, the full extent of our students’ success does not seem to translate in our community to support of our levies at the ballot box.

Naturally, the school district remains disappointed with the failure of yet another levy, and at the same time resolved to continue to balance our district budget. In a sense, the community makes our decisions very simple. We will continue to make drastic cuts, and if those we have made to date have not made an impression—such as busing reductions to state minimums, and early close times of some of our school buildings—they

Talking Finance$

The other vehicle, which citizens in our community know all too well, is through levies. Because of declining revenues, and increasing costs since the last time the district received new money from the voters, in 1992, the schools have had no choice but to come back to the residents of Garfield Heights time and time again to ask for their support. Notwithstanding the failures of the levies in the past, the district has made painful cuts of approximately $ 4 million from its budget in the last two years.

This May, voters will have a chance to vote on TWO LEVIES for the Garfield Heights City Schools, a renewal levy and an operating levy. For this edition of “Talking Finances,” we thought it would be appropriate to demonstrate the difference between the two.

Christine A. Kitson

Member Curriculum & Instruction Parent Involvement Liaison

soon will. Massive cuts are on the way, if not this school fiscal year, then certainly for next school year. Activities will continue to be cut, pay-to-play fees are likely to increase and class sizes will grow. Ultimately, the number of quality student opportunities will vanish, and their chances for eventual success beyond our schools, in terms of competitiveness for jobs or colleges, will diminish.

In other important Board related news, our team is happy to report that the cost-free enhancements at Elmwood and Maple Leaf continue to remain relatively on track, and under budget as well. Furthermore, the Board has also recently completed its “tour” of the various school buildings, where regular board meetings were held “on location” at district facilities, to make meetings more accessible. Thank you to the residents and parents who came to take advantage of these meetings.

At the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year, a deliberate, district-wide initiative, known as Positive Behavior Support Initiative, or P.B.I.S. for short, was fully implemented in all five school buildings from Elementary schools through High School. The objective was simple: To improve the academic culture and climate for all students. As a result, EACH BUILDING, now has a plan to improve their building culture, and a few of those examples are illustrated below. Though each building has its own examples, Elmwood Elementary School and William Foster have two shining models below:

Elmwood’s “Big Three” a Big Part of Elementary Students’ Day

Be Safe. Be Responsible. Be Respectful.

These three directives may seem like simple, personal commands, but put together, they have served as the foundation for elementary students at Elmwood over the last four years. This year, a new campaign was launched, driven by the students themselves, so that others would come to know the importance of Elmwood’s “big three.” And by doing so, it doesn’t take long for a visitor to notice how much Elmwood’s “big three” clearly plays such a “big part” in the daily life of Garfield Heights’ elementary students.

“Elmwood’s Big Three helps to creative a positive learning environment,” says building principal Jody Saxton. “We chose these three traits because of their life-long importance, and because the expectations of them are easily taught and modeled.”

With district financial bulldog, Allen Sluka, Treasurer. consideration RIGHT NOW. As always, you can receive detailed financial information on the district by visiting our Web site at

www.garfieldheightscityschools.com.

Issue 3- Additional Money for Operating Expenses

Issue 4- Renewal levy Elmwood 2nd grader, Damill May.

An additional levy is a request by the district to generate additional revenue to cover anticipated future deficits without having to drastically reduce necessary programming and cuts in staff and personnel. These levies go towards funding day-to-day operating expenses, including personnel, transportation, supplies and other support.

A renewal levy is money that has been relied upon by the district to provide revenues at current levels of operations. If a renewal does not pass, this will lead to future deficits, which could lead to larger cuts in programming.

Will generate an additional $3.9 million annually for 5 years.

Will continue to contribute approx. $2.8 million annually, as it has since the mid- 1990s.

Will cost the average homeowner in Garfield Heights an additional $20/month.

WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR TAXES.

New voter-approved new money HAS NOT been passed since 1992.

Has been renewed by this community every five years since then.

Goes toward providing day-to-day costs of the district including personnel, transportation and supplies.

Goes toward providing current levels of operations.

If NOT passed, FUTURE CUTS will come from personnel, programming and activities.

If NOT passed, district will take a giant step BACKWARDS financially, since schools have relied on this money since mid-1990s.

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The district is currently facing substantial deficits in FY 2012 and FY 2013, and although we will know more by the time of the May update to the 5-year forecast, we are asking for your 2

Member Board Representative to Cuyahoga Valley Career Center

GO BULLDOGS!

School District Levy 101- KNOW THE DIFFERENCE. BOTH ARE CRITICAL.

As I have reported in the past, as your district treasurer and chief financial officer, there are several vehicles by which our school district receives monies. One vehicle is state funding, which as you may know, is in jeopardy because of the $8 billion shortfall confronting the State of Ohio, and public education as a potential target for funding cuts.

June A. Geraci

Our schools need your help. Please support our efforts in May, for both a renewal and operating levy. In closing, the district would like to heartily thank outgoing Board President Robert Dobies and Vice President Christine Kitson, for their leadership during tough fiscal times. We welcome the return of Joe Juby as School Board President, who will serve once again in this capacity for the third time.

District Financial Report:

Allen Sluka Treasurer/CFO

Robert A. Dobies, Sr.

Vice President Member Community Liaison to Liaison to City Faith-based Initiatives Legislative Liaison

ISSUE

District Financial Information Available Online!

Visit www.garfieldheightscityschools.com, and click to Center for Finance, for all the info that you need!

Allen Sluka Treasurer/Chief Financial Officer Garfield Heights City Schools

To reinforce Elmwood’s “big three,” school days at the very beginning of the school year were set aside so that the building-wide initiative could be fully explained to staff and practiced with students. This year, these practice days eventually culminated in a student contest to design a shirt, putting a visual look to the “big three.” Out of nearly 150

students who submitted designs, Damill May—an Elmwood 2nd grader, won the contest with his design. In all, t-shirts, and buttons that are worn by staff, have been created.

Further reinforcement comes from “Bulldog Bucks,” which is pretend currency that students can redeem individually at the Bulldog store, for toys, sunglasses, and other fun items. Just get “caught” demonstrating Elmwood’s “big three” and any teacher, parent, staff member or administrator can award a student with the bucks. Classes are also rewarded with popcorn parties and movies. Needless to say, the “big three” has played a “big part” of a students’ daily life, at Elmwood Elementary School.

Energy Education Program Intended to Save District Dollars

trict each week. These audits are recorded A Garfield Heights City Schools energy by physically going to a combination of all initiative, intended to save the district considerable costs on utility expenses, seven facilities that the district operates, is underway and we wanted to report to (five school buildings, the central office the community that areas of improving and bus garage) and monitoring energy efficiencies are already being developed. usage by taking temperature readings, making sure lights are shut off when not Improved energy efficiency is expected to in use, checking for minimal levels on boilcome from monitoring use of energy, iners, equipment and air conditioning units. cluding lighting, heating, air conditioning Mr. Hasenohrl is called to perform these and equipment usage. The district began audits not only durthe initiative in Octoing daylight hours, ber 2010, through but also during “una partnership with occupied” times, Energy Education, even in the middle an energy conservaof the night. Since tion company which October, George has has helped school monitored that each districts nationwide, room, in each of the save on their respecfacilities districttive energy costs. wide, is running at With specific criteria, optimal energy stanEnergy Education dards. has helped more Energy Specialist and HS Science teacher than 1,000 organi- George Hasenohrl monitors energy readings.

Though results in zations nationwide save more than $2.2 billion on energy terms of bottom-line cost savings are expected to be realized within the first 12 costs. Their guaranteed estimated savings for The Garfield Heights City School months of the program, district treasurer District is approximately 12.5 percent of and chief financial officer, Al Sluka is excited already. “The district is constantly current utility costs- a substantial savings. on the lookout for ways to cut costs and High School science teacher, George improve efficiencies,” he said. “The Energy Education program was a smart, strategic Hasenohrl, has been named the ‘specialist’ in charge of performing no less than 10 move to do so, and we expect the cost savings to be substantial.” energy audits at all the facilities in the dis-

Students at William Foster asked “What’s Your P.A.W.S. Behavior?”

As part of the district’s overall “Positive Behavior Intervention Support” initiative, students at Garfield Heights’ William Foster Elementary School are being taught a valuable lesson, not only for school and academics but for life in general—to “learn, grow and behave…” And if you’re walking through the halls or slip into a classroom, you may very well hear building principal Ms. Sandy Powers, or one of her teachers ask their students, “What’s our P.A.W.S. behavior?”

of the behavior. Some of those behavior focuses included bus line protocol, entering and exiting the building and recess protocol.

Introduced last school year, and fully implemented at the beginning of this year, the Positive Behavior Intervention Support, or PBIS for short, has improved overall student behavior and student learning at the district elementary school. According to William Foster principal Sandy Powers, giving students a chance to earn “Dog bones” as a reward for good behavior, “is teaching our students valuable lessons about positive behavior that they can take with them as they move onto to the next level of education.”

Other P.A.W.S. behavior includes appropriate washroom behavior, being kind or helpful to another student, maintaining appropriate Principal Sandy Powers rewards students. attention in the hallways or lunchroom, or performing well on tests or assignments. With the first two quarters nearly underway for the school year, placing such an emphasis on ‘positive behavior’ is showing results.

For two weeks early in the school year, students, teachers and administrators stopped classroom instruction and took specific time to learn the areas of ‘positive behavior’ on which the entire building would focus. Then, once a month, teachers revisit those specific behaviors with students to reinforce their understanding and importance

For demonstrating their “P.A.W.S. behavior,” any student can be rewarded and earn “dog bones.”

“Before academics, student behavior skills must be down pat,” continues Ms. Powers, “Adopting the PBIS initiative has created such a positive environment for everyone from the students to the teachers to our support staff.”

The PBIS, and “P.A.W.S. behavior” program will be running throughout the year, where conflict resolution skills will be a focus. William Foster rewards in the future will also include a popcorn party and even a dance.

Stay tuned for more updates on William Foster’s “P.A.W.S. behavior” initiative!

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