OPEN ENROLLMENT
Open Enrollment begins May 1, 2022 and runs through May 31, 2022. Parents will be notified in early June of their application status.

PERSONNEL
The following personnel contracts were approved at the April board meeting.
 
Certified Staff
Kayla Gretzinger - 1 Year (Title I)
Megan Loar - 3 Year (Grade 7/8/9 LA and Grade 7/8 SS)
Dave Losey - 5 Year (High School LRC)
Steve Reser - 3 Year - 5/8 (Spanish)
Stephanie Runyon - 5 Year (Grade 5)
Heather Schalk - 1 Year (Elementary Counselor)
Carla Torok - 5 Year (Middle School LRC)

Noncertified Staff
Dan Beisner - 2 Year (Bus Driver)
Melisa Blaser - As Needed (Special Education Aide)
Amber Chapman - 2 Year (Adult Cleaner)
Diane Clouse - Continuing (Aide)
Allison Gooding - As Needed (Special Education Aide)
Jessica Kohl - 2 Year (Cafeteria Worker)
Ray Pollard - 2 Year (Adult Cleaner)
Greg Scherger - Continuing (Adult Cleaner)
Violet Wagner - 1 Year (Payroll Clerk)
Christine Williams - 2 Year (Bus Driver)

Treasurer
Jane Schalk’s retirement will be December 1, 2022.  It was approved at April’s board meeting.  A full search began on Tuesday, April 12 and will continue throughout the month of April and May.  All applications are due by May 20 and can be found at:  https://www.newriegelschools.org/OurDistrict.aspx

CAFETERIA
USDA Universal Free Lunches
As it stands right now, the USDA is going back to traditional rules and regulations for their lunch program for the 2022-2023 school year. Minus a congressional act, there will not be universal free lunches next year and free/reduced pricing will be based, once again, on income eligibility.  However, there has been a bill introduced in the Senate which would reinstate free lunches.

ACADEMICS
Preschool
We will maintain the NCOESC preschool contract for the 22-23 school year      

Prom
Prom was approved for May 7 @ the American Legion.

Economics Day  
5th grade students participated in economics day on Thursday, 3/17/22.  Groups chose a business model, planned and produced advertisements, materials, expenses and potential profits. Students in grades 3-12 were provided tickets to spend.  Ms. Runyon’s 5th grade class tallied business information and reflected upon discoveries from the project.  Business included goods and services such as raffle prizes, games, ice cream, cotton candy, bracelets, slime, drawings, etc.  

March Professional Development
Elementary staff received professional development on the dyslexia requirements and evidence-based practices to support at risk students.  An overview of word study, and the Science of Reading was provided.  Additional professional development will be scheduled over the next school year for K-5 staff which is mandated by ODE.  In addition, staff continued their work on identifying academic vocabulary in standards for ELA / Math in a K-5 scope and sequence document, updated priority standards, revised grade cards to reflect these changes and designed common quarterly assessments / projects with rubrics to assess these standards.  High school staff received professional development on the book study: Grading.  The process led to some quality and meaningful discussion about our grading policies and philosophy in the high school.  

SEAL planning and training for 22-23 school year (grade 6,7,8 version of SAIL).  
The revamped SEAL program is in it final stages of planning and will be ready to be implemented for grades 6 through 8 next year.   The 6-8 staff has done an excellent job of creating a program that should build on the success of the current SAIL and SEAL programs.  

2nd Grade Authors
The 2nd grade students worked together to author a book and submitted it to be published.  The book is scheduled to arrive on April 13th.  An author celebration will take place in the classroom.  Families were invited to purchase a copy of the book.  In addition, one copy will be housed in the New Riegel Library.

Spring Activities
Elementary students go on educational field trips including visits to Miller Conservation Farm (Kindergarten, May 14), Lyme Village (Grade 1, May 19), Lyme Village (Grade 2, May 18), Mad River Train Museum and Rutherford B. Hayes Center (Grade 3, May 12), Ohio History Center (Grade 4, May 4) and Franciscan Earth Literacy Center Overnight (Grade 5, April 28,29).

Right to Read Week 2022 – Grow with a Good Book! – May 2-6.
5-6 Spring Band/Choir Concert – Tuesday, May 10 @ 6 p.m.

Angie Ford
The 2nd graders learned about birds, habitats and endangered species after a visit from a Natural Resources Educator, Angie Ford, who works to rehabilitate wild animals in Seneca and Wyandot counties.  

American Heart Association
Ms. Clouse’s physical education students raised $371.74 to donate to the American Heart Association. Students participated in a Kids Heart Challenge (KHC) event. The donations make a life-saving difference for people in our own community and across the nation.

Elementary Spring Concert
The K-4 Spring Concert took place on Sunday, 4/10/22 at 7pm in the gymnasium.  Many families not only attended but also participated in the activities.  Instead of a typical performance, Mr. Frankart called down one grade level at a time and along with their families.  The students and Mr. Frankart taught the families a familiar lesson / activity and practiced together.  Families practiced steady beats, musical instruments, dances and singing.  All had a great time!

OSS Solid Waste Ceremony
Jon Long and Gary Baty from OSS Solid Waste organization attended our SAIL meeting on 4/11/22 and presented Drew Faeth with a certificate and miniature model representing a copy of his billboard art display currently showcased on Ste. Rt. 224.

Scheduling
The high school schedule is built for 22-23 and Mrs. Depinet is meeting with students to review their choices.   Students will be given a schedule to be reviewed by their parents and provide an opportunity to request changes.  Signatures from parents are required.

COMMUNITY
Legacy Federal Credit Union, Tiffin and First National Bank New Riegel
Legacy Bank members can order New Riegel Blue Jackets checks now through Legacy Credit Union.   The checks will have our anchor logo and Go Blue Jackets! on them.  First National Bank in New Riegel have similar checks available too.  

A special THANK YOU to the First National Bank of New Riegel and the Webster Foundation for their generous donations for our new golf cart used to transport anyone needing transportation from the parking lot to the ball fields to watch our baseball and softball teams this spring.  

TECHNOLOGY
iPads
In an ongoing effort to keep technology current for all of our students, we will be updating our kindergarten iPads this summer.  Mr. Kramer is ordering 40 new iPads to replace the 5-year-old iPads currently used in kindergarten.  These new iPads are used with our new Math curriculum and for our classroom NWEA assessments.  

Testing
Over 150 students in grades 3-10 completed a portion of their state testing this week simultaneously on their Chromebooks.  Our wireless network handled the testing without an issue.

TRANSPORTATION
We had a bus break down on a couple of weeks ago after school out near 224/587.  Mr. Zoeller safely parked the bus in a driveway and radioed in his mechanical issue.   We activated the ONE CALL system to immediately inform parents of the mechanical issue and that the bus would be arriving late to drop off the students.   Mr. Piper took the spare bus out and was able to return Mr. Zoeller's bus to school.  Mr. Zoeller completed the route with the spare bus.

I hope everyone has a restful and relaxing spring break!

Mr. Rombach