Here's the latest from around the district...
NOECA Internet Contract
The BOE entered into a five-year agreement with NOECA for internet services. They also entered into a ten-year agreement for licensure of our wireless access points with NOECA. Both agreements can be used for the eRate program which assists with 50% of the costs.
Preschool
We will be meeting with the NCOESC Preschool Superintendent regarding our preschool to gather information and logistics on the possibility of taking over the preschool.
Elementary
Title I
We have focused on K-4 to ensure we are meeting the Third Grade Guarantee so most of the 1:1 support from Title I has been with K-4. I will be recommending when acting upon contracts in April to make the Title I position full time for next year to address intervention support for all at risk students in math in grades K-5. At risk students identified early on, can benefit from individualized in-classroom instruction from a support specialist in not only reading but also in math. We received notice we will be receiving additional ESSER Federal relief funding which will be utilized to offset the cost of the Title I expanded role.
Kindergarten Screening
Kindergarten screening will be open to the general public on April 30, 2021. All district and potential open enrollment students are asked to pre-register in advance of the screening. The link is on the website. We currently have 38 pre-registered students. 16 of those will be open enrolled students into our district.
YMCA Swimming
The fourth grade will be attending Tiffin YMCA water safety program. Students will learn pool rules, stroke mechanics, self-rescue skills, boating safety and what to do when falling into a body of water with clothing on.
Fifth Grade Overnight
Our 5th graders will be attending an overnight field trip in April at the Earth Literacy Center in Tiffin. Students will complete team building activities, have a day hike in the woods, forensics testing, cooking over a campfire, wagon ride out to the woods to hike at night with headlamps, have a night time astronomy lesson and watch a movie.
Testing
Dibels /MClass / Amplify - Per ODE, all K-3 students will be required to take a screener for dyslexia at the beginning of 2022/2023 school year. This year our title 1 program included the dibels system to screen and progress monitor students. Dibels is adding a dyslexia screener that will meet requirements from the state. In addition, there is a digital assessment and data collection offered. We plan to pilot the online components of DIBELS with our ‘at risk’ 1st grade students the remainder of this school year and then anticipate adding the digital component of DIBELS for grades K-3 next year.
Cogat was successfully assessed using the online platform from Riverside. Students were assessed in the following areas: Verbal, Quantitative & Nonverbal areas. Our gifted coordinator is reviewing this data and will initiate informational letters for students who scored within the gifted criteria range. Student Written Education Plans (WEPS) will be created and shared with classroom teachers including classroom strategies and implications to support these students.
State Testing is coming up beginning at the end of March. Teachers will facilitate the testing sessions within their classrooms. Grade 3-5 will be tested on Spring ELA and Math, grade 5 will also be tested on Spring Science.
English Language Arts:
5th Grade: 3/28/22 - 3/29/22
4th Grade: 3/30/22 - 3/31/22
3rd Grade: 4/4/22-4/5/22
Mathematics:
5th Grade: 4/20/22 - 4/21/22
4th Grade: 4/20/22 - 4/21/22
3rd Grade: 4/12/22 - 4/13/22
Science:
5th Grade: 4/12/22 - 4/13/22 (pm testing)
Billboard Winner
Drew Faeth was selected as one of the billboard winners for Seneca County O.S.S. Solid Waste District. There were 3 winning designs per country. Along with his art, his name and our school name will appear on the billboard. The design is currently scheduled to post on U.S.224 in April.
High School
Scheduling
All student requests have been entered and we are currently waiting for NOECA to complete an update on their program. New Riegel will be the first school scheduled to move forward when that is completed.
State Testing
The state testing window for ELA begins on March 28. The state testing window for math, science and social studies opens on April 5. Teachers will be proctoring these exams in their classrooms and multiple student groups will be testing at the same time to reduce the disruption to our daily instruction.
National Machinery Senior Awards
This year the ceremony will be in-person at Seneca East High school on March 28, starting at 7:00 p.m.
Senior Class Trip
The senior trip went well and the weather cooperated for the most part.
Career Day
On March 21, students in grades K-12 will have the opportunity to experience our first annual Career Day event. This event will include representatives from over 30 different careers that will share their experiences and expertise with our students to help them make important career planning decisions.
End of Third Quarter
The third grading period will come to an end on March 24. The staff professional development day will take place the following day on March 25. PD topics for the 6-12 staff include finalizing our building grading philosophy and SEAL program to be implemented for grades 6-8 next year.
Athletics
The spring sports season begins with a baseball and softball double header at Danbury on March 26. Junior High track will begin its season on March 28, at Tiffin Columbian and our varsity track team will begin March 29, at Lakota. We do have some new faces as our coaching staffs for baseball and softball have changed. Dereck Uitto and his staff of Dave Uitto and Doug Depinet take over our baseball program and Tony Conner and his staff of Leah Bouillon, Darci Dailey and Shawn Conner are now leading our softball program. Kristen Hess and Brad Zoeller are back for another season to lead our track program.