The New Richmond Board of Education has approved new graduation requirements that will reduce the number of credits required for graduation to 20 credits by 2014 to match new state standards.
Superintendent Adam Bird’s recommendation that the school board reduce requirements for graduation from the current 23 credits to 21 in 2012 and 2013 and to 20 for 2014 and beyond was approved by a vote of 5-0 at the Jan. 20 board meeting. The state currently requires 21 credits but will reduce that to 20 credits in 2014.
“We’re trying to create a system and schedule that is flexible for our students and we have found requiring our students to get 23 credits limits their flexibility in scheduling college prep and AP courses,” explained Bird. “What we have now also inhibits students taking post-secondary courses at Clermont College which gives them high school and college credit at the same time.”
Current New Richmond High School students are required to have 4 credits each in English, mathematics and science, 5 electives credits, 2 credits of American history, 1 credit of American government, 1 credit of practical arts (industrial technology and business), 1 credit in fine arts (art and music) and ½ credit each in health and physical education.
The 2012-2013 requirements of 21 credits will be achieved by reducing electives to 4 credits, science to 3 ½ credits, American government to ½ credit, American history to 1 credit, practical arts to ½ credit and the addition of 1 ½ credits in social studies.
The reduction to 20 credits in 2014 will be achieved by dropping the ½ credit for practical arts and reducing the science requirement to 3 credits.
Also included in the new graduation requirements are:
• Students who participate in interscholastic athletics or cheerleading for two full seasons will be exempt from the physical education requirement but must take another course of at least 60 contact hours.
• Students pursuing career-technical programs at Grant JVS will be exempt from the fine arts requirement.
• Science units must include 1 unit of physical sciences, 1 unit of life sciences and 1 unit of advanced study (chemistry, physics, advanced biology, astronomy or other physical, life or earth or space science).
• Elective units must include one or any combination of foreign language, fine arts, business, career-technical education, family and consumer sciences, technology, agricultural education, English language arts, mathematics, science or social studies courses not otherwise required.
• All students must receive instruction in economics and financial literacy during grades 9-12 and must pass all sections of the Ohio Graduation Test and complete a minimum of 20 community hours to graduate.
Students will not be limited on the number of credits they may take in high school under the new standards and will have the opportunity to graduate in 3 ½ years.
“They could go into the military or start college early if they wanted,” noted Bird. “There are students who are looking to be accepted by a select university are going way beyond 23 and many of their electives are college prep or AP courses. Those students will still have the opportunity to get 25, 26 or 27 credits.”
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Duke decision costs district $334,000
Ohio tax commissioner Richard Levin has informed the New Richmond Exempted Village School District that it has awarded Duke Energy a 20 percent reduction in the taxable valuation of generating equipment at its Beckjord generating plant equipment.
“Although the decision could have resulted in a $1.4 million loss to the New Richmond Exempted Village School District, we will lose $334,432 annually,” said New Richmond chief financial officer Teresa Napier.
Duke, which had asked for a 40 percent reduction in the valuation of its generating facilities along with its transmission and distribution equipment, has 60 days to appeal the Beckjord decision, and has re-filed its request for a 40 percent reduction in the taxes it pays on its transmission and distribution equipment for the current tax year.
Napier said the district does not have legal standing to fight Duke’s appeal. Clermont County Auditor Linda Fraley is meeting with the Clermont County prosecutor to determine the county's position on filing an appeal.
“This is just one hurdle in a long process, with Duke being able to appeal the tax commissioner’s decision to the Board of Tax Appeals and ultimately to the Ohio Supreme Court.,” said Napier. “This case must be closely monitored, as it could continue to negatively impact the district’s budget.”
The reduction lowers the valuation of Duke’s Beckjord plant from $40.7 million to $30.2 million.
“Our district suffered the largest loss in the State of Ohio,” noted Napier.
“I think that we can assume that this reduction in the value of generating equipment will continue for tax year 2010 and beyond,” said New Richmond superintendent Adam Bird, who has been studying ways to cut the district’s budget and raise revenues in anticipation of losing $8.1 million a year in 2017 when the state ends its electrical deregulation payments to New Richmond and other districts with electrical generating facilities.
The loss of $334,000 from Duke is the first of what is expected to be a string of bad financial news for New Richmond this year.
Ohio Governor John Kasich has said he will make up an estimated $8 billion deficit in Ohio’s next biennial budget with across the board cuts. Schools have been told to expect between 10 and 20 percent cuts in state foundation payments, from which New Richmond receives $4 million per year.
That means a loss of between $400,000 and $800,000 for next fiscal year which begins in July.
New Richmond's 2010-2011 expenditures total $25,331,121.
“There are no frills when it comes to educating our children, but you have to start putting a weight on some services we currently offer,” said New Richmond school board president David Painter. “The board was already looking at reductions in services and now we’re faced with losing $1.1 million this year.”
The school board meets Thursday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. at the board office, 212 Market Street.
“Although the decision could have resulted in a $1.4 million loss to the New Richmond Exempted Village School District, we will lose $334,432 annually,” said New Richmond chief financial officer Teresa Napier.
Duke, which had asked for a 40 percent reduction in the valuation of its generating facilities along with its transmission and distribution equipment, has 60 days to appeal the Beckjord decision, and has re-filed its request for a 40 percent reduction in the taxes it pays on its transmission and distribution equipment for the current tax year.
Napier said the district does not have legal standing to fight Duke’s appeal. Clermont County Auditor Linda Fraley is meeting with the Clermont County prosecutor to determine the county's position on filing an appeal.
“This is just one hurdle in a long process, with Duke being able to appeal the tax commissioner’s decision to the Board of Tax Appeals and ultimately to the Ohio Supreme Court.,” said Napier. “This case must be closely monitored, as it could continue to negatively impact the district’s budget.”
The reduction lowers the valuation of Duke’s Beckjord plant from $40.7 million to $30.2 million.
“Our district suffered the largest loss in the State of Ohio,” noted Napier.
“I think that we can assume that this reduction in the value of generating equipment will continue for tax year 2010 and beyond,” said New Richmond superintendent Adam Bird, who has been studying ways to cut the district’s budget and raise revenues in anticipation of losing $8.1 million a year in 2017 when the state ends its electrical deregulation payments to New Richmond and other districts with electrical generating facilities.
The loss of $334,000 from Duke is the first of what is expected to be a string of bad financial news for New Richmond this year.
Ohio Governor John Kasich has said he will make up an estimated $8 billion deficit in Ohio’s next biennial budget with across the board cuts. Schools have been told to expect between 10 and 20 percent cuts in state foundation payments, from which New Richmond receives $4 million per year.
That means a loss of between $400,000 and $800,000 for next fiscal year which begins in July.
New Richmond's 2010-2011 expenditures total $25,331,121.
“There are no frills when it comes to educating our children, but you have to start putting a weight on some services we currently offer,” said New Richmond school board president David Painter. “The board was already looking at reductions in services and now we’re faced with losing $1.1 million this year.”
The school board meets Thursday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. at the board office, 212 Market Street.
Friday, January 7, 2011
School board reorganizes for 2011
David Painter was elected president of the New Richmond Board of Education for 2011 at the board’s Jan. 6 reorganization meeting.
Sharon Stark was elected vice-president.
Committee appointments for 2011 were:
Legislative Liaison: Sharon Stark, Alternative: Kevin Walriven
Student Achievement Liaison: Ben Bird
Grant Career Center Board Member: Sharon Stark
Finance and Audit Committee: David Painter and Fred Heflin
Facilities Committee: Kevin Walriven and Ben Bird
Policy Committee: David Painter and Sharon Stark
Curriculum Committee: Ben Bird and Fred Heflin
Personnel Committee: Sharon Stark and Kevin Walriven
Sharon Stark was elected vice-president.
Committee appointments for 2011 were:
Legislative Liaison: Sharon Stark, Alternative: Kevin Walriven
Student Achievement Liaison: Ben Bird
Grant Career Center Board Member: Sharon Stark
Finance and Audit Committee: David Painter and Fred Heflin
Facilities Committee: Kevin Walriven and Ben Bird
Policy Committee: David Painter and Sharon Stark
Curriculum Committee: Ben Bird and Fred Heflin
Personnel Committee: Sharon Stark and Kevin Walriven
New grading scale proposed
Superintendent Adam Bird wants to even the playing field for New Richmond High School students when it comes to competition for college scholarships.
“We’re trying to help our students be a little more competitive when it comes to earning scholarships at the collegiate level,” explained Bird who will ask the New Richmond Board of Education to approve a new grading scale this spring when the Student Handbooks are approved for the 2011-12 school year.
“We’ve learned from colleges that when it comes to awarding scholarships our students are at a competitive disadvantage compared to students from other schools because of our grading scale.”
Currently it takes a 94 average to get an A at New Richmond and that puts the school’s graduates at a disadvantage compared to students graduating from schools using the traditional 90, 80, 70, 60 percent grading scale.
“We have surveyed other schools and we have found that many of them do have a grading scale like that,” said Bird. “So when our students get a 93 percent grade in a class it will show up as a B. If a student gets a 93 at Indian Hill, Anderson, Milford or Upper Arlington, it shows up as an A on their transcript.”
The new grading scale will include plus and minus grades and will be weighted for honors (college prep classes) and AP (advanced placement) classes.
“There’s a big difference between 90 and 99 percent,” said Bird. “We want to help the student who gets a 90, but when it comes to their GPA it’s going to show as a 3.7 which is higher than the 3.0 they receive under the old system. But it’s not as high as the 4.0 that the student who gets a 99 in the class will receive.”
The proposed grading scale will award a 3.7 GPA for 90-92 percent (A-) in a regular class and 4.0 for 93-96 (A) and 97-100 (A+). Students in honors classes will receive a 4.2 GPA for 90-92, and 4.5 GPA for grades of 93-96 and 97-100. Students taking AP courses would receive a 4.7 GPA for an A- and 5.0 for an A or A+.
“ Currently a student with a B in an AP class gets a 3.75 GPA and we know that a student getting a B in an AP class is working harder than a student in gym class and a student in gym class getting an A receives a 4.0,” said Bird.
“We’re trying to help our students be a little more competitive when it comes to earning scholarships at the collegiate level,” explained Bird who will ask the New Richmond Board of Education to approve a new grading scale this spring when the Student Handbooks are approved for the 2011-12 school year.
“We’ve learned from colleges that when it comes to awarding scholarships our students are at a competitive disadvantage compared to students from other schools because of our grading scale.”
Currently it takes a 94 average to get an A at New Richmond and that puts the school’s graduates at a disadvantage compared to students graduating from schools using the traditional 90, 80, 70, 60 percent grading scale.
“We have surveyed other schools and we have found that many of them do have a grading scale like that,” said Bird. “So when our students get a 93 percent grade in a class it will show up as a B. If a student gets a 93 at Indian Hill, Anderson, Milford or Upper Arlington, it shows up as an A on their transcript.”
The new grading scale will include plus and minus grades and will be weighted for honors (college prep classes) and AP (advanced placement) classes.
“There’s a big difference between 90 and 99 percent,” said Bird. “We want to help the student who gets a 90, but when it comes to their GPA it’s going to show as a 3.7 which is higher than the 3.0 they receive under the old system. But it’s not as high as the 4.0 that the student who gets a 99 in the class will receive.”
The proposed grading scale will award a 3.7 GPA for 90-92 percent (A-) in a regular class and 4.0 for 93-96 (A) and 97-100 (A+). Students in honors classes will receive a 4.2 GPA for 90-92, and 4.5 GPA for grades of 93-96 and 97-100. Students taking AP courses would receive a 4.7 GPA for an A- and 5.0 for an A or A+.
“ Currently a student with a B in an AP class gets a 3.75 GPA and we know that a student getting a B in an AP class is working harder than a student in gym class and a student in gym class getting an A receives a 4.0,” said Bird.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Artreach makes stop at NRE
Brooke Olejniczak's afternoon New Richmond Elementary preschool class is pictured with the cast of Artreach of Cincinnati's 'The Fantastic Toy Shoppe'. Artreach of Cincinnati performed at NRE on the last day of school before the Christmas break.
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