SCHOOL ZONE 9-24-15

VERMILION EDUCATION FOUNDATION

The Vermilion Education Foundation held its annual banquet last week.  The dinner was very successful, as once again the attendees were generous in funding grant requests from teachers and administrators.  The Education Foundation committee has consistently supported quality educational projects not only for public schools, but also for St. Mary’s Elementary.  I applaud these volunteers for their continued dedication to Vermilion students and look forward to working with them in the future.

VOICEMAIL MESSAGE RETRIEVAL SYSTEM

Did you miss that call from your child’s school?  We now have a way for you to listen to past messages.  Any message that has been delivered within the past week can be retrieved and heard again. The toll-free telephone number to access the Inbound Message Retrieval System is:  888-882-7179.  When you call in you will hear the following message:  “Thank you for calling the Vermilion Local Schools Message Retrieval System. All messages directed to your current phone number for the past week are available for review. Please listen carefully to your options.”  Please follow the easy to use prompts that follow this message.  Respond to each prompt by pressing the appropriate key on your telephone keypad.   We hope that parents and guardians will find this service useful, especially during inclement weather. 

PUBLIC EDUCATION CHALLENGE

Recently two separate events caused me to reflect upon how politics affects education and what our priorities should be.  The first was a letter that was read to the Board at the September meeting, and the second was a questionnaire I was asked to complete regarding the role of politics in education.  Many of the topics on the questionnaire addressed how politics affect our jobs, what the role of elected officials should be.  The District Leadership Team, which is composed of teachers, administrators and community members, developed the district vision, mission, commitment and value statements that guide us in our decision making.  At the forefront is our commitment statement: “The student is the focus of every decision we make”. 

We must constantly strive to honor these precepts and improve in everything that we do.  We must be cognizant of the fact that we are no longer the only option parents have for education.  We are seeing increased competition coming into the market on a daily basis.  Many of you have seen advertisements for online schools, and other alternatives to public education.  These alternative educational options are not bound by the bureaucratic regulations that legislators impose upon public schools, yet they seek to use your tax dollars to support their programs. 

With ever increasing competition and scrutiny from social media and entertainment venues, the role of board member and educator are more difficult than ever.  The primary focus of any board member should be education.  We must face the fact that parents are seeking alternatives because they believe we are not serving their children well.  The role of the elected official is to publicly support the leadership team’s efforts to reinvent and update public education options to compete with media, online alternatives, home schooling, private schools and charters.  The job of the administration and teaching staff is to continue to improve what we do and not lament these outside competitive influences.   We must continually strive to improve by offering innovation, personalized instruction, fostering relationships with parents and students and setting high expectations for both staff and students.  Most importantly, I must always remind our staff, administration and board of our vision to “inspire students to be leaders and lifelong learners”, our mission of “making every student college and career ready through personalized instruction”, and finally our commitment that “the student be the focus of every decision we make”.  These values and statements should be more than mere words, but must be words to live by if we are truly going to be an exceptional school district that is viewed as excellent in all it does to educate the most valuable resource our country has, which are children. 

SCHOOL ZONE 9-10-15

EXCITING ENTREPRENEURIAL CLASS UNDERWAY

Mr. Rob Duray is currently working with a group of Sophomore, Junior and Senior student on an entrepreneurial course that will benefit the staff and entire high school student population.  A group of students will be speaking to the Board at their September 14 meeting about a partnership opportunity with the community that will offer students and staff a daily opportunity to enjoy a daily variety of coffees, smoothies, baked goods and other products.  Students are looking at this as a joint venture opportunity between themselves, the Board and local businesses that will create sustainability and future profitability.  After speaking with the Board, the students plan to contact local business about the possibility of purchasing products at a wholesale rate to sell at retail prices to consumers within our schools.  We believe that this will offer a win-win situation for local businesses, not only to sell products, but also to increase visibility of their brand.  The class will also work on creating and printing team apparel that will be offered in a VHS team shop in the near future.  This course provides our students with a hands-on opportunity to learn to think creatively, be innovative and work in a collaborative team environment.  The class will feature guest speakers from the business world who will share their ideas about starting and sustaining successful businesses.  Small business is a vital part of our U.S. economy.  Creating this entrepreneurial mindset is a real-life necessity for our future business leaders.  Please tune in to the Board meeting from our YouTube link on the district website to hear the Board discussion on this topic. 

THANK YOU V.E.S. STAFF

If you have not had a chance to tour the new elementary school building, please take time to visit and see the wonderful job our teachers have done to make our school welcoming to parents and students.  Each classroom teacher did an outstanding job of making this new building look warm and friendly.  I would like to especially mention librarian Diana Mitchell.  We were not sure how the open concept library would work, but Mrs. Mitchell has done an outstanding job of successfully making the space functional for the entire staff and student population.  The atmosphere Mr. Mitchell created makes it feel like reading is an integral part of the school, and the love of reading is open and available to all who visit the building. 

PARENT UNIVERSITY 2015-16

The VHS Counseling Department will be hosting the first meeting of Parent University for parents of students in grades 8-12 on September 22 at 6:30 PM in room 807.  The purpose of Parent University is to provide an informal place for parents to discuss and get more information about issues that are relevant to high school students. Our first meeting will feature Tracy Shuman, the Senior Director of Undergraduate Admissions for The Ohio State University, who will present information about “College Planning and Admission”.  She will include tips geared toward high school students at each level for starting and staying on the right track.  If you have questions or topics you would like to see addressed at these meetings, contact your child’s counselor, or attend the session on September 22.

2016 PROM TO DAWN COMMITTEE

Parents or guardians of VHS Seniors are invited to attend the inaugural meeting for the 2016 Prom to Dawn committee Thursday, September 10 at 8:00 p.m. in the VHS commons. The group has an immediate need for students and parents to help with a fundraiser during the Woollybear Festival that accounts for half the budget.  The main goal of this group is to keep students safe and give them a place for activities and fun after the Prom.  If you believe this is an important effort, please plan to attend, or let the group know that you are available to help.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUPPORT GROUPS

Both Vermilion Elementary and Sailorway Middle schools have active P.T.O. groups who work hard to support our students.  The purpose of these groups is to make all students feel welcome and to raise funds for equipment and supplies needed in each building.  If you have a child at VES or SMS, please consider helping PTO with one or more of their annual activities.  From book fairs to Santa Shops and holiday parties, your help is needed to make these events a reality.