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District News and Notes - October
October 
News and Notes
10.11.2021


State Report Card
House Bill (HB) 82 revises the state report card system for school districts, beginning with the
report card issued for the 2021-2022 school year.  Following is a quick overview of major changes in the report card.  

Rating System
HB 82 replaces the A to F letter grade system with a rating system that uses “stars” to indicate a district’s or school’s overall performance and performance for the individual components that are factored into the overall rating. The components will be rated with 1 to 5 stars. The overall rating for a school or district will also use half stars, making the rating system 1, 1 ½, 2, 2 ½, etc.

Rated Components
Rated components will include Achievement, Progress, Gap Closing, Graduation, and Early Literacy. “Prepared for Success” will now be titled “College, Career, Workforce, and Military Readiness.” This component will not be rated initially. An overall rating for schools and districts will not begin until the 2022-23 school year.

Attendance
Our attendance remains steady at 96% average this month.  Currently, there are seven students in quarantine due to at home exposure.  

Broadband Connectivity Grant
With additional funding from our broadband connectivity grant, we will be purchasing an outdoor wireless access point to be put on the north end of the building.  This will allow wireless access to anyone in the elementary parking lot and eventually access to the internet while at the outdoor learning space.   There is an agenda item regarding the grant.  

Public Safety Grant
The OFCC has a grant opportunity for safety upgrades around the facility.  A self-assessment is currently being completed to see if we can qualify to update any safety and security systems.  

Maintenance
A water leak was discovered near the previously investigated area on the northwest portion of the office area.   Small windows located in the area are the possible culprits as we have had the roofers, masons and Mays consulting conclude it's not the roof after multiple water tests over the past year.   Window flashing was installed this week to remedy the situation and will be closely monitored.  

New State Budget
ODE is still developing the formulas, reports and guidance on the major state funding overhaul and has recently notified schools it will be December until they have their work finished.  Mrs. Jane Schalk attended the OASBO Fall School Finance Workshop last week where we were told districts may be able to appeal the requirements of the restricted state funding for this school year.  

Parent Teacher Conferences
Parent teacher conferences will take place on the evenings of October 28 and November 4, from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.   Conferences will be returning to an in-person format similar to previous years pre-COVID and parents will be able to sign up for times to meet with their child’s teachers and some walk-ins will be accommodated as well.

In the Elementary
Professional Development
Teachers will be certified in PBIS and Success Maker (our new mathematics online program for support).  Teachers will be working on priority standard assessments for ELA.  

Staff Meeting
SAIL team group projects and PBIS professional development which includes integrating our PBIS components into SAIL.  Data will be collected from office discipline referrals, informal SAIL reminders and teacher observations.  That data drives our elementary counseling lessons, SAIL meetings and our weekly SAIL news.

RTI
Meetings will be ongoing with data review on students who need additional Title I support and social emotional support.  

Literacy Night
6-730 PM PreK – Grade 5.   Parents and students are welcome to attend.  Literacy stations will be set up with writing and reading activities.

In The High School
Professional Development
The October professional development day will take place on the 29th. Topics for the day will include continuing the discussion of On Your Mark and SEAL Program planning for grades 6,7 and 8.

October Staff Meeting
This month’s staff meeting includes topics regarding changes in the state testing database, preparing for parent-teacher conferences, emergency evacuation procedures and roles and a brief tutorial on the On to College program.

Students
Upcoming Student Events
Jacket Leadership students will participate in a team building ropes course on October 15, at Camp Glen just south of Tiffin.

The Music Department will be preparing a spaghetti dinner to raise funds for the music department and their biennial music trip. Meals will be served October 17, from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. in the auditeria.

On October 18, the high school band members will be traveling to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The goal of the trip is to learn more about the bands that wrote and originally performed the music that is currently being used for our band’s performances.

The Red Cross Community Blood Drive that is organized in conjunction with our National Honor Society will be held on October 20, from noon to 6:00 p.m. This event will take place in the junior high gymnasium.

The Student Council is once again sponsoring and organizing the Fall Fire event that will take place on the evening of October 23. This is an outdoor event with many activities, music, and light refreshments.

Jacket Leadership has resumed their role in organizing the Community Halloween Parade. This year’s event will take place on October 24, at 2:00 p.m. New for this year, the trick or treat event will be followed by a food truck fundraiser.

The National FFA Convention will take place in Indianapolis from October 26 – 30. Mr. Horner will be escorting several New Riegel students to the annual conference.

End of the First Quarter
The first quarter grading period will conclude on October 28. These first couple of months of school have transpired very quickly. The students have done an excellent job of getting back into their traditional routine with the reduced COVID protocols and the 8-period schedule.  

PSAT
Sophomore students who signed up for the practice SAT exam will be testing on Wednesday, October 13. The exam not only serves as the practice test for the SAT but is also used to determine National Merit Scholars winners for students who opt to take the test their junior year.

Around the Statehouse – recent bills proposed in the Ohio Legislature that impacts our district.

SB1 – sub teachers don’t have to have post-secondary degrees so long as they meet the requirements of the hiring district or ESC.  Once this is signed we will have to have a decision on our requirements.  Financial literacy requirement is included in this bill which we already have a graduation requirement.  
Status:  Waiting for Governor signature.

HB 368 – weighing of CCP courses to reflect similar weights for GPA and class standing.  
Status: Testimony given.  

HB 123 – Threat assessment teams need assembled which is reflected in Board Policy 8400.  
Status:  Signed

HB 290 – statewide universal voucher program (backpack scholarship program) Rep. McClain.  HB 290, which is pending in the House Finance Committee, is sponsored by Reps. Marilyn John (R-Richland County) and Riordan McClain (R-Upper Sandusky) and would create the Backpack Scholarship Program under which all students in Ohio would be eligible for $5,550 or $7,500 to be deposited into an education savings account to be used for private school tuition, tutoring, textbooks and other allowable uses. The bill would repeal the EdChoice and Cleveland voucher programs and retain the Autism and Jon Peterson Special Needs voucher programs. The impact of the legislation on the future of the Fair School Funding Plan is unknown, but it would no doubt be detrimental to further phase-in of the Plan. The cost of the legislation is being analyzed, but HB 290 will likely cost several billion dollars annually depending on student participation rates.     
Status:  In committee.

Reports from the Board of Education Members

Mr. Jeff Hohman – Legislative Liaison
Mr. Hohman reported on recently introduced HB 290 from our State Representative Riordan McClain.  

Dr. Jaclyn Schalk – Academic Achievement
Dr. Schalk recognized the following students:

This year’s Student Council Officers are:
President – Aubrey Bouillon
Vice-President – Jacob Bumb
Treasurer – Justin Lininger
Secretary – Cole Miller

Non-Voting Members of Student Council are:
Grade 12 – Will Clouse, Grade 11 – Katelyn Arbogast, Grade 10 – Katie Dryfuse, Grade 9 – n/a, Grade 8 – Lakyn Shaferly, Grade 7 – Jon Clouse, and Grade 6 – Lexi Lafontaine

The results from FFA County Soils on Monday, September 20, are as follows:
New Riegel – 1st place as a team;

Individually – Cate Reinhart – 1st place, Alexandria Elchert – 4th place, Cole Pusateri – 7th place, Reese Goshe – 12th place, Carson Staib – 18th place, and Kerri Dieu – 32nd place.

The results from FFA District Soils on Thursday, September 30, are as follows:
New Riegel – 1st place as a team. The team consisted of: Carson Staib, Cole Pusateri, Alexandria Elchert, Reese Goshe, and Cate Reinhart.

Individually, Reese was 2nd in the district and Cate placed 3rd. The State Competition is on Saturday, October 9.

Mrs. Angel Bodart – Athletics
The district volleyball seed meeting was yesterday.  New Riegel received the #2 seed (behind Tiffin Calvert) and will host the winner of Hopewell-Loudon and St. Joseph CC) on Thursday, October 21st at 5:00 p.m.  We also host the other match on the same side of the bracket - McComb and Old Fort will play after the conclusion of the first match.

The volleyball team is currently ranked 11th in the state with a 17-2 overall record and 11-2 in the SBC.

The Cross-Country teams will compete in the SBC meet Saturday and districts the following week.  The boys’ team is currently ranked 17th in the state in DIII.

The golf team closed out its season this past week.  Sam Whipple and Cole Miller both qualified for the district meet at Bowling Green but did not qualify for state.  The team finished tied for fifth in the SBC.  Sam Whipple earned 1st-team SBC honors while Carson Whipple was on the 2nd-Team.

We are still in need of a 7th grade boys basketball coach if anyone has ideas.

Mrs. Beth Kummerer – Vanguard Sentinel Liaison
Mrs. Kummerer reported on Vanguard Sentinel board news.   11 out of the 13 Vanguard Sentinel board members are up for re-election in November.   Superintendent Greg Edinger received a five-year contract.