NREVSD joins group to oppose mandates

The New Richmond Exempted Village School District has joined 40 other Greater Cincinnati school districts in forming the Greater Cincinnati School Advocacy Network to lobby Ohio legislators to scale back on unfunded mandates returning local control to education.

“By joining the Greater Cincinnati School Advocacy Network we hope to encourage parents, educators and community leaders to contact their legislators to eliminate unfunded mandates. We would like to see reductions in testing time, data-collection requirements and teacher evaluation programs and return local control to schools,” explained New Richmond Supt. Adam Bird.

Some of the unfunded mandates the advocacy group opposes include:

• OTES - the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System • The third grade guarantee • College credit plus • Ohio's new career advising policies • Teacher residency programs • Career technical requirements at the Junior High level.

The Greater Cincinnati School Advocacy Network conducted a random telephone survey of over 800 southwest Ohio registered voters in May 2015.

Some results of that survey:

41.6% percent saying current testing requirements hurt more than helps (26.5%);
50.7% wanted local control of education rather than the Ohio Board of Education (27.1%);
62.1% disagreed with local tax levy funds approved by voters for public schools being shared with for-profit charter and online charter schools;
80.8% said the State Legislature should reduce the amount of mandates and demands it places on public schools, and give more control to communities and local school boards;
93.8% agreed that privately-operated charter schools that receive public tax dollars should be held to the same standards for transparency and accountability as public schools.

BUTLER COUNTY Edgewood City Schools, Fairfield City Schools, Hamilton City Schools, Lakota Local Schools, Madison Local Schools, Middletown City Schools, Monroe Local Schools, New Miami Local Schools, Ross Local Schools, Talawanda Schools

CLERMONT COUNTY
Batavia Local Schools, Bethel-Tate Local Schools, Goshen Local Schools, Milford Exempted Village School District, New Richmond EV School District, West Clermont Local Schools, Williamsburg Local Schools

HAMILTON COUNTYCincinnati Public Schools, Deer Park Community City Schools, Finneytown Local Schools, Forest Hills Local Schools, Indian Hill School District, Lockland Local Schools, Loveland City Schools, Madeira City Schools, Mariemont City Schools, Mt. Healthy City Schools, North College Hill City Schools, Northwest Local Schools, Norwood City Schools, Oak Hills Local Schools, Princeton City Schools, Reading Community Schools, St. Bernard-EP School District, Southwest Local Schools, Sycamore Community Schools, Three Rivers School District, Wyoming City Schools

WARREN COUNTYLittle Miami Schools, Mason City Schools, Springboro Community Schools

NREVSD to conduct intruder drills

If you student comes home from school talking about ALICE, it isn’t in reference to the new girl in school.

ALICE stands for Alert; Lockdown; Inform; Counter and Evacuate, the standard for training and dealing with an intruder during life threating lockdown situations. State law mandates that schools conduct three unannounced ALICE training drills for students each school year. Administrators, teachers and building staffs have had their required intense training session.

NRE principal Jamie Kunz

“Much like we practice other safety drills (fire & tornado) the students at New Richmond Elementary will be practicing up to three safety drills in accordance with state law,” explained NRE principal Jamie Kunz. “These will be unannounced drills so it is important to talk with your child about ALICE.”

Ohio’s School Safety Task Force, formed by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine after the Sandy Hook tragedy, concluded that that lockdown is no longer a standalone strategy to secure in place and aligned Ohio with ALICE standards.

Task Force recommendations included all of the training protocols found in ALICE Training including barricading, evacuating and countering. It also empowers and authorizes decision making by those people under attack.

ALICE training for K-12 students will be age-appropriate and based on curriculum developed by The ALICE Training Institute (www.alicetraining.com).

“Our ALICE drills are designed so that should we ever have a situation, the intruder is not going to find a soft target in our schools,” said NREVSD Supt. Adam Bird.

Some of the conclusions and recommendations of Ohio’s School Safety Task Force:

“Lockdown is not a stand-alone defense strategy.” [Page 50] “When securing in place, this procedure should involve barricading the door and readying a plan of evacuation or counter tactics should the need arise.” [Page 50] “Do not place students in one location within the room.  In the event that entry is gained by a shooter or intruder, students should consider exiting by running past the shooter/intruder.” [Page 59] “Staff and students may utilize methods to distract the shooter/intruder’s ability to accurately shoot or cause harm, such as loud noises or aiming and throwing objects at the shooter/intruder’s face or person. [Page 50] “If students and school personnel are outside of the school at the time of a LOCKDOWN, teachers should move students to the designated off-site location.” [Page 51] “If an intruder enter and begins shooting, any and all actions to stop the shooter are justified.  This includes moving about the room to lessen accuracy, throwing items (books, computers, phones, book bags) to create confusion, exiting out windows, and confronting (assault, subdue, choke) to stop the intruder.  Tell students to get out any way possible and move to another location” [Page 59]

Read the full School Safety report at the following link:

http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Files/Publications/Publications-for-Schools/School-Safety-Task-Force-Report

It’s no longer ‘Your father’s library’

The New Richmond Board of Education decided a decade ago not to build a new high school and began the process of bringing the New Richmond High School building up to modern standards.

First came the replacement of the façade and structure repairs; then came removal of asbestos and replacing ceilings and floors; and most recently adding energy efficient lighting, heating and air conditioning. But something was missing inside the modernized high school building.

The library remained ‘Your father’s library,’ not the modern equivalent of  learning centers which have become the social, collaborative hub of the campus while maintaining their role as places for intense study.

“We had a classic library which was using original furniture when the building was built in 1965,” noted NREVSD Supt. Adam Bird.

Laura Kramer, HR manager for TQL uses the Media Center's mobile chairs
 during the  NRHS  College and Career Success Class

The 1965 library experience wasn’t going over very well with recent graduates who went on to college.

“Our building leadership team did research during the second semester last year to develop a multi-year vision for the building,” explained NRHS principal Mark Bailey. “One of the things we discovered in our research was that many of our graduates said there were things that they felt they should have received though a media center education that would have prepared them better for college for doing research.”

That all changed this summer when, with the backing of the Board of Education, Mr. Bird and Mr. Bailey presented returning high school students with a contemporary, $200,000 learning center that provides private study space while at the same time supporting multiple large and small group meetings.

Jim Huebner,Senior Vice President, River Hills Bank,
uses one of two ottoman seating areas during a NRHS
College and Career Success Class.

"We want our students to be inspired to learn and we were looking for a more collegiate and contemporary look for our new media center," said Bird.

“The room is designed to be very flexible in its use,” explained Bailey, who reclaimed the school’s original library space for the media center. “It’s set up where you can do large-group presentations with a projection board and three 65-inch flat screen TVs, with chairs for the large-group presentations being mobile and arranged quickly in any order.”

Seating options include booths, mobile chairs, bar stools, ottoman seating and open cubicles.

“Some students do better in some type of seating options so we have those,” said Bailey. “Some spaces are conducive to small group work. Some spaces are conducive to groups of 2 to 8 students who are working on a major project. Other sections are for students who are doing independent work who want to be isolated so they can focus on their work.”

Ted Groman , Assistant Director, Ohio
 Means Jobs, used the Center's table
seating for his talk with NRHS
students during a College and Career
Success class.

An example of the media center’s flexibility is the College and Career Success class taught by seven business leaders from the Clermont County Chamber of Commerce.  The course focuses on helping senior students learn the skills necessary to aid in the smooth transition from high school into the workplace or college life and the Chamber group is able to go from one large group to seven individual groups in a matter of seconds.

“If you have a class and you want students to work in pairs or in groups of four, it’s very easy to maneuver to change the academic focus to allow students to something a little bit different from the classroom,” said Bailey.

Cyn Macke, Director of Member Services,
Clermont Chamber of Commerce, uses
a second ottoman seating area for her part
of the College and Career Success class.

 “Several schools have done electronic media centers (Medina, Madeira) but we wanted to make ours something that was very flexible and something where we could house all our books and assorted media while keeping up to date with the changes in technology so that our students could have that experience and be prepared if they choose to go on to college.”

The media center has been a big hit with teachers and students alike.

“Teachers can reserve use of the media center to do class presentations because it’s ideal for large groups with its projection boards and three large screen plasma televisions,” said Bailey. “It’s also idea for smaller groups or independent work with our institution of learning periods this year (modern day study halls) and that has created flexibility with student schedules where they may have time to visited the media center and use it to the fullest extent and I see that happening on a daily basis.” 

Booth seating areas are perfect for 4 to 6 group meeting. Lee Rose – Admissions Counselor for Chatfield College is pictured with her small group during the College and Career Success class.

Mark Bailey speaks at Chinese forum

New Richmond High School Principal Mark Bailey was one of five American educators invited to make presentations at the 2015 Shanghai International Forum on Student Development and Education in June. Click on the Play button below to watch a video of Mr. Bailey talking about his China experience.

NREVSD goes digital in big way

The New Richmond Exempted Village School District is well on its way to becoming a fully digital school district with the addition of 450 Chromebook laptops for 2015-2016 school year.

"It is a part of our strategic plan to 'provide high quality instruction' and to 'cultivate knowledge networks to become college and career ready,'" said NREVSD Supt Adam Bird. "Our students are growing up in a digital age and our students deserve the best resources that we can provide for them."

New Richmond High School senior Brianna Gonzalez uses a Chromebook while studying in the high school media center.

New Richmond started buying Chromebooks (which cost one-fourth of the price of a desktop computer-monitor combination) prior to the 2014-15 school year when the majority of the district’s aging PCs needed upgrading. Chromebooks range in price between $150 and $225 which is less than half the price of an Apple iPad, plus they have keyboards and touchpads which are critical for use in courses and assessments that require composition.

New Richmond’s Chromebook program targets grades 3-8 due to newly adopted curriculum requirements for those grade levels in Science and Social Studies and for mandated online assessments.

"We're excited that our entire Middle School will now be 1:1 with students (404) and devices (Chromebooks) beginning in 2015-2016 and approaching 1-1 for grades 3-8 (1132 students),” said NREVSD technology director Matt Prichard. "Adding these new Chromebooks presents a wonderful opportunity for our students and teachers to align daily curriculum and lessons with technology use in the classroom daily."

New Richmond Middle School now has a 1-1 ratio of Chromebooks to students.

Chromebooks are inexpensive laptop computers running Google’s Chrome operating system that offer a quality and inexpensive technology option for schools by providing cloud computing, portability, long battery life, centralized management with no software charges. Chromebooks run Google Apps for Education which gives the district the benefit of Google Docs, Gmail, Google Calendar, Blogger, Sites, and much more, all for no cost to the district.

“We have migrated to Google Apps for Education so we already receive the wonderful benefit of Google Docs, Gmail, Google Calendar, Blogger, Sites, and much more, all for no cost,” said Prichard.

The additional Chromebooks bring the district’s total to 1450 and allowed the transfer of enough iPads to grades K-2 to achieve a 1-1 ratio of devices to students (577).

Chromebooks lead to less ‘listen-to-me’ lecturing and more active student involvement in the classroom.

“Three of the four recent textbook and program adoptions utilize Chromebooks in the classroom nearly every day,” said John Frye, district director of pupil and staff services. “The recent HMH Science Fusion program that will be implemented in grades 3-8 uses Chromebooks to conduct “virtual labs” for students.”

 Students work independently or in partners in the virtual labs, conducting experiments in a virtual environment with all of the same expectations for scientific application that their parents experienced in senior high school science labs. 

“Math Expressions K-5, Math Innovations 6-8, Teach Ohio (social studies) all have virtual applications for students and teachers to assign and collect homework, assessments and daily record keeping,” said Frye. “This generation of students certainly will have many, many opportunities to learn and demonstrate their technological prowess in the learning in our school district.”

While New Richmond High School isn’t near a 1-1 ratio of devices-to-students, students are permitted to bring their own computer devices (cell phones are banned).

“One of the most amazing things to me is that Chromebooks are now as affordable to the school district and families as graphing calculators are,” noted Frye. “For about $150 per unit, students can access the internet and use the device as a productivity and learning tool through Google applications.”

Ohio offering sales tax holiday on school supplies

Ohio is offering tax-free back-to-school shopping on clothes, shoes, school supplies Aug. 7-9
The sales tax holiday applies to purchases made from 12:01 a.m. Friday, Aug. 7, through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 9.

Ohio passed legislation last year exempting sales tax on purchases of clothing and footwear priced at up to $75 per item, as well as school supplies and instructional materials priced at up to $20 per item.
Consumers can buy as much as they want of eligible items, as long as the retail price for each item does not exceed the limit.

The state defines clothing as "all human wearing apparel suitable for general use," including but not limited to "shirts, blouses, sweaters, pants, shorts, skirts, dresses, uniforms (athletic and nonathletic), shoes and shoe laces, insoles for shoes, sneakers, sandals, boots, overshoes, slippers, steel-toed shoes, underwear, socks and stockings, hosiery, pantyhose, footlets, coats and jackets, rainwear, gloves and mittens for general use, hats and caps, ear muffs, belts and suspenders, neckties, scarves, aprons (household and shop), lab coats, athletic supporters, bathing suits and caps, beach capes and coats, costumes, baby receiving blankets, diapers (children and adult, including disposable diapers), rubber pants, garters and garter belts, girdles, formal wear, and wedding apparel."

Check your student’s school web site for supply lists.

New principals hired for Monroe and NRE

The Board of Education of the New Richmond Exempted Village School District at its June 22 meeting hired two administrators with ties to the district to lead its Monroe and New Richmond elementary schools.

Jamie Kunz, a New Richmond resident whose children attend New Richmond schools, was hired as the new principal at New Richmond Elementary and William Craig Horn, a 1999 graduate of New Richmond High School, was hired as the new principal at Monroe Elementary.

Jamie Kunz

“The New Richmond Exempted Village School District has attracted two outstanding educators and administrators with New Richmond ties to take the leadership roles of our Monroe and New Richmond elementary schools,” said Supt. Adam Bird. “Jamie Kunz comes to us from Hamilton City Schools and brings six years of administrative experience including three years as a principal and Craig Horn returns to his home district with an outstanding resume that includes serving the past year as an assistant principal in the Mt. Healthy district.”

 Both Kunz and Horn have backgrounds in the important area of special education.

“I am passionate about education and strive to help all students achieve success and believe that all children can learn in a learning environment that is stimulating, comforting and appropriate to their unique talents and abilities,” said Kunz, who has been the principal at Hamilton’s Fairwood Elementary School since 2012. She previously worked as an assistant principal at Hamilton’s Garfield Middle School in 2011-2012 and as dean of students at Fairwood from 2009 to 2011.

Kunz was graduated from Miami University in 2004 with a B.S. degree in Integrated Language Arts Education and received a M.S. degree in Curriculum & Teacher Leadership from Miami in 2005 and is currently enrolled in post-graduate studies at the University of Dayton.

“I live in New Richmond with my husband and three children and I very much look forward to working with the students, parents, staff, and community members of New Richmond Elementary,” said Kunz, who replaces the retiring Terry Miller at NRE.

Craig Horn

Horn received a B.S. in Education degree from Georgetown College in Kentucky in 2003 and a Masters in Educational Administration from Xavier University in 2007 and is currently taking a post-graduate course from Florida State University in Educational Leadership.

“As a NRHS graduate with the class of 1999, I couldn't be happier to accept a position with the district where I was inspired to be an educator, and more specifically, to be an educational leader,” said Horn, who taught for four years at Campbell County (Ky.) schools before moving to Florida where he held positions as a special education teacher, special education program coordinator, dean of students, curriculum specialist, and assistant principal.

He had an opportunity to return home last year and accepted a position as assistant principal at Mt. Healthy North Elementary.

Even though I had a position in Mt. Healthy, I bought a home in New Richmond, and I'm excited to live and work in the community where I grew up,” said Horn, who replaces Joe Roach as Monroe’s principal.

Roach moves to New Richmond’s Locust Corner Elementary where he succeeds Dr. Tara Rosselot, who is moving to New Richmond High School as a language arts teacher.

Tom Wessner picked to coach Lady Lions

Pending school board approval, 13-year coaching veteran Tom Wessner has been selected to coach the New Richmond High School Lady Lions basketball team. Wessner, who was picked by a school committee to fill a social studies vacancy, comes to New Richmond from White Oak High School where most recently the boys varsity basketball coach. He was introduced to the Lady Lions on June 9 by NRHS athletic director Doug Foote.

Six picked for Buckeye Boys/Girls State

Six New Richmond High School juniors who exemplify character, integrity, leadership and scholarship have been selected to attend the 2015 American Legion’s Buckeye Boys and Buckeye Girls State conventions the week of June 14.

Nick Kirby, Chase Heflin, Evan Grippa and Carter Light will be attending Buckeye Boys State at Bowling Green State University.

Lindsey Williams and Ella Lindsley will attend Buckeye Girls State at the University of Mt. Union in Alliance, Ohio.

New Richmond High School juniors (from left) Nick Kirby, Chase Heflin, Evan Grippa and Carter Light will attend Buckeye Boys State June 14-21 at Bowling Green State University.

New Richmond High School juniors (from left) Lindsey Williams and Ella Lindsley will attend Buckeye Girls State June 14-20 at the University of Mt. Union.

“The six students selected to attend Buckeye Boys State and Buckeye Girls State from New Richmond High School exemplify the definitions of ‘Character’, ‘Integrity’, ‘Leadership’, and ‘Scholarship,’ “ said New Richmond High School principal Mark Bailey. “I am exceedingly proud of these students and know they will represent our school and community well.  I would like to thank Ralph Shepherd from American Legion John Farina Post 550 for making this opportunity possible for our students.”

American Legion Buckeye Boys State is an eight-day hands-on experience in the operation of the democratic form of government, the organization of political parties, and the relationship of one to the other in shaping Ohio government. 

Through a practical, objective, nonpartisan approach, participants in the American Legion Buckeye Boys State program are exposed to fundamental democratic principles in local, county and state elections and governmental functions which prepare them for leadership roles as patriotic American citizens.

Founded in 1936, Buckeye Boys State is the largest Boys State program in the nation with an attendance of over 1,200 young men annually, representing nearly 600 Ohio High Schools, several on-line High Schools, and the Home Schooled Community.

Distinguished alumni of Buckeye Boys State include astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, and fellow astronauts Terence Henricks, Carl Walz, Michael Gernhardt and Gregory Johnson. Other alumni include Thomas Moyer, Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, and U.S. Congressmen Michael Oxley and Paul Gilmore.

Buckeye Girls State is a week-long program designed to educate Ohio's young women in the duties, privileges, rights and responsibilities of good citizenship. By getting involved in the process, Delegates can learn more about City, County and State Government in one week than they will learn in an entire semester of high school

Buckeye Girls State alumni include former Texas Governor Ann Richards, Former Miss USA Terri Utley, newscaster Jane Pauley, country music performer Janie Fricke, television personality Leeza Gibbons, Brigadier General Sharla Cook and U.S. Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn.

NRHS athletes make their college choices

Eight New Richmond High School athletes announced their colleges May 11. Pictured are (seated from left) Cody Kirschner, Thomas More for tennis; Tucker Schweickert, Thomas More for football; Isiah Young, UC Clermont for basketball; (standing from left) Patrick Richardson, Mt. St. Joseph for football; TJ Burbage, Wilmington College for track; Austin Fischer, Illinois Tech for baseball; Steven Wolfe, UC Clermont for baseball; Dalton Henderson, Ohio Wesleyan for baseball; Jacob Carnahan, UC Clermont for baseball; and Taryn Rupp, Ohio Northern for cross country and track.

Click on the play button below to watch the signing ceremony.