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Superintendent Update

Superintendent Update

Mark North

February 13, 2017

 

I want to share some of the good news from Fairborn City Schools. Each and every day our students and staff are achieving in and outside of the classroom. Our strength comes in the diversity of our students and their interests and our excellent staff support!  Some district highlights include:

 

Seventy instrumental and vocal students from FHS competed at the Ohio Music Education Association Solo and Ensemble Contest at Stebbins High School. Out of 26 events, these fine students brought home 18 superior ratings, 7 excellent ratings, and 1 good rating. Most of the students participating competed in the top two (Class A and B) difficulty levels. This was the most superior ratings FCS students have received in 7 years. Two instrumental students who auditioned and made it into the OMEA District 12 Honors Band. Those two students are Jordan Burnett and Kayleigh Mick. The Honor Band Concert is on Sunday February 19th at 2:00 PM at Centerville High School. Three instrumental students who auditioned and made it into the 2017 Tri-State Honors Band. Those three students are Gabby Kovachich, Brianna Mayfield, and Ryan Greenside. It is incredibly hard to get into this Honors Band so we are very proud of these students! The Tri-State Honors Band Concert is on Saturday February 18th at 3:00 PM in Schuster Hall at Wright State University. Fifteen of Baker's finest 7th and 8th Grade instrumentalists have been selected to participate in the District 12 Ohio Music Education Association Middle School Honor Band. If you know any of these fine students, please congratulate them. This is a wonderful honor for these students and they have worked really hard to achieve this placement. Their concert will be on Sunday February 19th at 2:00 PM at Beavercreek High School,  if you would like to attend. Honor Band Members in the 7th grade: Katie Brown, Rebecca Parry, Javeon Mason, Ayden Locke, Colin Padilla, Keegan Gilbert, Maria Serna, Olivia Cook, and Keiana Briscoe. Honor Band Members in the 8th grade: Emma Boyd, Tyler Bland, Natalia Gandee, Gabe Gandee, Danielle Osborne, and Sean Dunlap. The Fairborn High School drumline placed 2nd at Northmont.

 

 

Our Project Lead the Way programs are helping students design for the future. Seventh grade students in the “Project Lead the Way” Green Architecture program are designing their classroom as a 3-D model. Today’s students have grown up in an age of “green” choices. Students are learning  how to apply this concept to the fields of architecture and construction by exploring dimensioning, measuring, and architectural sustainability as they design affordable housing units using Autodesk’s® 3D architectural design software. (From PLTW website).

 

Students at FIS recognized as STARR students:

From the 4th grade: Mustafa Mohammed, Alexandria Thongkoth, Corissa Lewis, Jared Lauderman, Hannah Zamara, Trinity Shipman, Jonnie Vance, Alex Jarvis, Brook Wagner, Karman Johnson, Dylan Maclean, Khang Nguyen, Lyndsie Sellers, Gabriel Bailey, Brooklyn Phillips, Dorian Eames, Tommy Slone, Ty Keeton, Makayla Enderton and Ayden Harbron.

 

From the 5th grade: Ella Bowman, Xavier McDougle, Brooklyn Little, Mason Landon, Jaylen Barrett, Keira Fritzsche, Aiden Billingsley, Kaitlyn Cox, Allyssa Bailey, Emma Jamison, Thomas Hart, Kyle Beard, Dacoda Mason, Lexi Diegel, Donovan Jones, Hailey Webb, Jayden O’Neal, Gabriell Jones.

 

Fairborn Primary School offers “Project More” reading mentoring program. The Primary matches volunteers with first grade students to provide one on one support and encouragement in reading. Students and volunteers involved in the program seems to really enjoy and benefit from the time. The school wants to expand the program, and need more volunteers. Training is provided to all volunteers, and FPS is seeking volunteers- even if you can give just one hour per week. Please contact Tammy Stewart if you would be interested in volunteering. Tammy can be reached at [email protected], or 878-8668.

 

I am proud to work with the Superintendents in Greene County. As part of our regular meetings, we compiled suggestions to improve public education in the state of Ohio including:

 

*Limit state testing. ESSA does not require as many tests as have had in recent years. Ohio should lead the nation in reducing testing, not increasing it and this aligns with the interest of parents.

*The new graduation requirements need to change. The Greene County Superintendents suggest that graduation requirements be a local decision and should be established by each respective board of education.

*Eliminate the College Credit Plus program. Focus on Advanced Placement (AP) classes (which are much more rigorous) and allow for the Post-Secondary Education option (PSEO) to be reinstated.

*College and career opportunities should be defined more clearly and funded adequately to address the needs and goals of Ohio and based upon the workforce requirements of each region.

*Reconsider Ohio’s return on investment for charter schools in the state and require the same level of accountability as demanded for public schools. We feel the use of public funds currently being offered to consistently unsuccessful charter schools could be better invested as a way to offer incentives to the long standing success within so many of Ohio’s school systems.

*Examine the state’s responsibility to the safe transportation of students. Funding for busing has nearly evaporated yet the districts must absorb the rising cost of new bus purchases.

*Keep the Teacher Performance rubric side of OTES as it is. Eliminate the Student Growth Measure portion-the 50% based on either testing or student learning objectives (SLOS) is extremely inconsistent, statistically inaccurate and unreliable. Legislators should move to eliminate the 50% Student Growth Measure (SGM’s) from the requirements for the teacher evaluation.

 

These suggestions were sent to our Ohio elected officials with signatures from every Superintendent in Greene County. Working together we can make a difference.

 

On the building front, the district is moving forward with the planning process to build a new Primary and Intermediate building. With passage of the May 2016 bond issue, the Fairborn City School District is working hard on laying the foundation to begin the building process for a new Primary building and a new Intermediate building. These are truly exciting times for Fairborn City Schools. This process takes time and as the planning stages begin to unfold, I will be sharing information with the staff and community. The district will have a link on the FCS homepage to share information as well as sharing with the Fairborn Daily Herald and Dayton Daily News. You can also follow the Fairborn City Schools on Facebook and Twitter. 

 

The “Tentative” timeline leading to the first groundbreaking:

 

2/2/17: Architect/Engineers-Pre-Interviews

2/9/17: Architect/Engineers-Interviews and Rankings

2/14/17: Announcement of Architect/Engineer selection

2/21/17: Architect/Engineers Kickoff meeting

2/23/17: Owner Agent Interviews

2/28/17: Announcement of Owner Agent selection

6/9/17: Start of Schematic Design

9/5/17: Start of Design Development

11/30/17: Construction Documents in process

2/5/18: Construction Documents Completed

5/18: Ground Breaking for the 1st building (Fairborn Primary School)

 

With strong support from the Fairborn community, we are working together to provide a safe and healthy environment for our students and staff. Thank you for your support as we work together to build the future for Fairborn students. These are truly exciting times for our school district!

 

Respectfully,

 

 

Mark North