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Wednesday, February 26, 2014
6th-graders could attend middle school Administration makes pitch to communities
Joe Awad Harrison Press Editor
jawad@registerpublications.com
By August, the Southwest Local School District may be operating a true junior high school containing sixth-, seventh- and
eighth-graders, or maybe not. For the past two weeks, administrators have been meeting with students, parents, PTAs and teachers to vet the possibility of moving all 2014-15 sixth-graders in all elementary schools to the second floor of the Junior School in Harrison, said Superintendent Chris Brown. Brown, however, told parents and others Thursday, Feb. 20, during the school board meeting at Crosby Elementary, the final determination will be based on reaction from parents and other community residents. A showdown could come at the Thursday, March 20, school board meeting, when board members might vote on the immediate future of about 250 fifth-graders. Brown and Assistant Superintendent John Hamstra, who directly administers the district’s educational component, are enthusiastic about the potential change which would create “teaming,” an educational approach that promotes advantages of containing all teachers of a particular grade in one building. Opposition primarily centers on the argument that sixth-graders are not prepared to be in the same building as more socially and physically advanced seventh- and eighth-graders, which translates partly to sexual awareness and behavior. Some parents apparently also are upset because they knew nothing about the “potential grade transition” until a three-section letter recently was sent home with their fifth-grade youngsters, although the administration has been molding the idea for at least six months.
Educational argument
On Feb. 20, Hamstra presented a program that stressed several benefits of making the change. Among them: * Teachers would concentrate on fields of expertise instead of teaching multiple subjects, which would result in greater depth. * Sharing resources would become customary. For instance, a sixth-grader with a sharp math mentality could step up with help from a seventh-grade instructor.
* More resources would be available to teachers and students, which fits into the state’s Common Core Curriculum that “clusters grade bands.” Common Core calls for sixth- through eighth-graders to be educated in the same building. * Teachers would meet daily to discuss student performance and interventions. * Teaming would promote group membership and interaction.
Social concerns
The Crosby gathering was modest but about five people demonstrably voiced their objection to the switch. Their main concerns: * Sixth-graders would be exposed to eighth-grade conduct; particularly on the bus and after and before classes. * School would start at 7:30 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. * Today’s fifth-graders would not have an opportunity to be school leaders for three more years instead of academic year 2014-15. * Sixth-graders would socialize with seventh- and eight-graders in the school building no matter what precautions are taken. * Sixth-graders, regulated by state law, could not participate in league sports. The curriculum would include intramural sports. At last week’s board meeting, Michele Graft, a former sixth-grade teacher, told the board a similar transition in Norwood failed, and parents put an end to it. The teachers “loved” teaming but sixth-grade performance plummeted. “I am telling you, from my personal experience, sixth-graders, do not belong in middle school, and the trend now … is to move the sixth-graders back to the elementary school,” said Graft. She said sixth-grade is an important year because students start to physically mature but don’t understand what is occurring with their bodies. “They notice the opposite sex, and their peer group comes into powerful play. And there are just things at the middle school that you don’t want your sixth-grader to see,” she said.
See SIXTH-GRADERS, Page 10
PHOTO BY JOE AWAD/Harrison Press
Southwest Schools Assistant Superintendent John Hamstra explains the possibility of moving all the district’s sixth-graders to Harrison Junior School beginning this coming August.
‘Bot’ builders build a better machine Roger Ford on floor Students eye championship win in year two of competition Patricia Huelseman Harrison Press Staff Writer phuelseman@registerpublications.com
“It was developed by Dean Kamen, who is an inventor. He invented stuff like the Segway. … He put it together to help get kids excited about science, technology, engineering, math, and to give them an outlet for those things in a fun way.” According to the official rules, the robotics club found out what its robot should accomplish the first week of January. From there, members had six short weeks to design and
manufacture the bot. This was a challenge this year because of so many missed days due to snow. Pope said that would have been worrisome but he knows that everyone has had the same brutal winter. Even with such setbacks, the team has devoted a remarkable amount of time to the project. “As a team,” says Pope, “we’ve put in over 2,000 effort hours and actually I think the last count we were at
of stock market for opening bell Tuesday
2,200 hours.” The students are particularly devoted, putting in time at “practice” several nights a week and on Saturdays. Russel Wilder, a senior and veteran on the team, described robotics as a sport for the brain.
Roger Ford, RFC & CEO of Conservative Financial Solutions, Harrison, was present on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, Feb. 25, for the Opening Bell ceremony. Ford represented Conservative Financial Solutions as a member of the Global Financial Private Capital advisor network, of which there were 15 advisors present. Global Financial, a Sarasota-based independently owned SEC Registered Investment Advisor managing more than $3 billion in assets, joined Advisor- Roger Ford Shares and Newfleet to ring the bell. Global Financial also invited seven executives from the firm’s partner relationships with Fidelity Institutional, Envestnet, and Advisors Excel. “For 29 years, I have been working to represent the interests of retirees and pre-retirees in Harrison, Ohio. It is an honor to be a part of a growing consortium that is being recognized for supporting our greatest generation in this low interest rate environment,” said Ford. Ford holds multiple licenses in insurance and securities and understands the importance of Comprehensive Wealth Planning. For this reason, he built the Harrison Financial Center that houses three businesses that he owns - Conservative Financial Solutions, Siefferman Insurance, Harrison Tax Advisors. Through these businesses, he commits to partnering with clients to help them reach their income and estate planning potential. Conservative Financial Solutions, LLC is an independent retirement firm that specializes in Medicaid Spenddown, retirement income strategies, and comprehensive wealth transfer. Global Financial Private Capital, LLC is an independently owned, SEC Registered Investment Advisor whose goal is to restore investor trust and confidence in the financial system through creation of client relationships based on full fiduciary disclosure and transparency of action.
Watch, learn
If you happened to wander Throughout the day, into Tom Pope’s classroom See ROBOTS, at Harrison High School on Tuesday, Feb. 18, you would Page 10 have found a swarm of students scrambling about, heavy machinery grinding away at metal, students working ravenously at a computer, trying to configure codes. All the mayhem made perfect sense; the robotics club, about 25 students strong, was in the final countdown. They had a robot destined for competition and after midnight, they couldn’t touch it again until onsite at Terre Haute, Ind., where they would compete. Pope started the robotics program last year when he came to Harrison High to teach physics. Their first year competing ended successfully. The team, then named the Thundercats, earned seventh in the region and ninth in the state. “We had a bang up rookie year. So this year, well now we have something to prove.” The club is associated with the international program called FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science PHOTO BY AMY ZWICK/Harrison Press and Technology). “FIRST is the organizing About 25 students devoted their week nights and Saturdays to building a “bot” body of the robotics competi- worthy of competition. Tom Pope, science teacher, is confident the team will make tion,” said Pope. it to championships this year. 2014 MALIBU
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