Good evening everyone State of the Schools Michael E. Zalar, Ph.D. Superintendent of Schools REMARKS 3/15/16 The Times They Are a Changin Thank you for taking the time to come out and attend tonight s meeting. I appreciate the opportunity to update and review many of the accomplishments and challenges currently facing our schools These are busy times for the district We are currently undergoing the most significant change our organization has experienced in the last fifty years Needless to say, there is a lot going on and we have a great story to tell But before I begin, I would like to thank some very special people who have made this event possible It all starts with the Board of Education I would like to thank and recognize each member beginning with Mr. John Lasko, President; Terry Groden, Vice President; Tom Herbster; Linda Cleary, and; Kim Rahm Thank you for your willingness to serve this community with your time, energy, and talents It is not easy being an elected official Especially, when you are overseeing a large organization that is undergoing transformational change It takes a great deal of courage and commitment to keep your hands on the rudder and stay the course while steering the ship through the constant high winds and numerous storms encountered on our journey Your vision, passion, and leadership are making a difference in the lives of the children in our schools and community I thank you for your service I would also like to thank all of our Teachers, Staff, and Administrators for the hard work you do each and every day on behalf of kids You are the backbone of our school system The very heart and soul of our operation You work harder and care more deeply about children than any group of people I have ever
known Our students, parents, and community members are very fortunate to have you working for them It is a privilege for me to be a part of this great team Thank you to Mayor Kennedy and all of his team down at City Hall I appreciate everything you, your administration, and City Council is doing to make North Olmsted a great place to live and raise a family Thank you to our Police and Fire Departments Chief Gallagher and Chief Schepp and your team of first responders Thank you for helping to make sure our city and schools are a safe place for kids I know that every time I have ever had to pick up the phone and call for help, you have been there It is very reassuring to know that we have your support, and help is on the way Most importantly, I want to thank all of the students, parents, and community members in our great City of North Olmsted For your continued support and efforts in making our schools outstanding We are very fortunate to have great parents and kids The support we receive from the community is phenomenal Without you, we wouldn t have a chance We would only be a shadow of who we are Thank you sincerely for everything you do to make the North Olmsted City Schools great! As I thought about what to share with you this evening I decided to focus on a couple of aspects of our district operation Certainly, our construction program and building initiatives are a huge undertaking We are making significant progress in this area and are well on our way to breaking ground this summer on our new 6-12 campus, including a new Performing Arts Center and Athletic Stadium Complex. Secondly, our academic and extracurricular program continues to provide an outstanding array of opportunities that help prepare our students for success not only in school but they are ready for college and career when they graduate. I think that if I were to select a song that best summed up the situation we are currently facing in our schools it would be Bob Dylan s The Times They Are a Changin. That song was written in 1964 and it is as relevant today as it was then The 60 s and 70 s were a time of great growth for the city and schools Student enrollment was growing faster than you could build schools You could barely
keep up with the rate of change Like all things, it eventually leveled off and began to decline slowly over the years The buildings aged and now, nearly fifty years have gone by and another cycle of change has begun The community has supported the district recently with the passage of a 7.9 mill operating levy in November, 2010 and then a 5.45 mill bond issue in November, 2014 This revenue has provided the district with the stability it needed to take on a major facilities project The construction of the new 6-12 campus will cost approximately $90 million with the majority of the dollars being raised locally We have been tightening our belts to try to stretch the revenue from the operating levy out as long as possible Because of the nature of school funding in Ohio, we cannot do this forever However, we are taking advantage of every opportunity to reduce our operating costs and still maintain a high level of programs and services to our students For example, we have reduced a number of positions through attrition and retirement These reductions have not had a negative impact on student learning We will continue to look for opportunities to cut costs and maintain quality services wherever we can Due to the design and construction of our new 6-12 campus we needed to relocate our middle school students We did that last year and are now in the process of closing one of our primary schools Butternut will be repurposed and converted to an Administrative Center that will house our Transportation, Maintenance Service, and Central Office operations It was identified by the Community Task Force that put together the recommendation to move forward with the 6-12 campus specifically because of its central location and the available space it has to provide parking for the buses In addition, two different architectural and planning firms studied all of our district facilities and confirmed that this is the most cost effective solution for the district The Board of Education approved new grade configurations and school boundaries for our primary schools and the various educational programs that were formally housed at Butternut are being relocated to other schools in the district In addition, our teachers and other staff are in the process of being reassigned to other school buildings, where appropriate
The old middle school is now completely down The site is being cleared and will be ready for ground breaking later this spring or early summer Many community members have taken advantage of stopping by and picking up a souvenir brick, or two During the final stages of demolition many citizens stopped by to take pictures, videotape, and simply reminisce about the old school We have removed a number of architectural elements of the building and hope to be able to incorporate them into the new campus for posterity We also have installed time lapse video cameras that will document the construction of the new campus from start to finish We have been working closely with the City Planning and Design Commission, Landmarks, and the City of North Olmsted to get our plans approved and obtain the necessary building permits needed to begin construction as soon as the school year ends The design of the new 6-12 campus is nearly finished It has taken a little over a year to complete The architects have spent hundreds of hours designing, listening, and talking to people Getting their input We began last year with a visioning process that involved many teachers, staff, and community members Other meetings have taken place throughout the school year This is a very large and complex project One of the largest in the state of Ohio There are many constraints due to the nature of the site Every opportunity is being taken into account to help alleviate site challenges related to storm water drainage and traffic congestion The campus is really a series of buildings Six in total Intentionally broken up to diffuse the mass of the structure It will have a red brick exterior and is designed in the Georgian architectural style The campus will complement the existing library and make the beginnings of a beautiful Town Center and focal point for the community The 6-12 campus is designed to facilitate 21st century teaching and learning throughout the building It will contain flexible work spaces that are conducive to communication and collaboration Technology will be present throughout the building Classrooms will have furniture that is flexible and movable The middle school and high school will have separate entrances, media centers, and
cafeterias Students will also have the opportunity to take advantage of accelerated courses due to being in close proximity to the high school The building will also promote STEM and STEAM education This is the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math Students will be able to take advantage of maker spaces that promote hands on learning and project based instruction The Architects will be presenting the 6-12 campus design to the Board of Education later this month It will then go before the City s Planning and Design Commission and City Council for their review We are planning to host another Community Forum for the public some time later in the month of April We are also looking forward to scheduling an official ground breaking ceremony for some time later this spring or as soon as school gets out The Times - They Truly Are a Changin! In the meantime we continue our important work with providing our students access to a world class education I hesitate to go into a great deal of detail concerning the recent release of the State Report Card I believe there are major components of the testing process that were compromised Thus, in my opinion, the reliability and validity of the results is questionable This has been reported in many news outlets around the state of Ohio Districts are challenging many of the results Especially those related to the number of students who opted out of state testing altogether As well as the alarming difference in performance between districts that administered the test on-line or via paper pencil The fact that the state threw out the PARCC test, after only one administration of the test Even though they spent millions of dollars putting it in place is enough to tell me that even they didn t think it was a good test One area I will draw attention to is the performance of our high school I think those numbers are pretty solid because all they do is count the number of students who graduate on time The high school has consistently received an A for their graduation rate That tells me that if a student sticks with our program they will be prepared for success in college and career No matter when they begin attending our school system
Our high school does a tremendous job in offering a wide variety of academic courses and extra-curricular experiences for all students Our students are excelling under the outstanding quality of instruction from our faculty The high school offers 34 different Honors or Advanced Placement classes In addition, we partner with the MyUniversity program to allow students to earn college credit for free while attending high school Our NOHS graduates earn over $7 million every year in college scholarships to universities across the country Our graduates are currently attending many outstanding two and four year colleges and universities in the area As well as some of the elite Ivy League universities nationally This past year was a banner year for NOHS athletics Recently, at the Winter Sports Recognition Night, the Eagles unfurled three championship banners Boys Basketball, Girls Bowling, and Ice Hockey all took 1 st place finishes in the SWC The Ice Hockey team also took 1 st place in the GCHSHL in the White West Division and 2 nd Place in the Baron Cup We continue to invest heavily in technology as a district In the last three years the district has purchased nearly 1500 Chromebooks on carts for students We have purchased 475 desktop computers for use in computer labs throughout the district In addition, we have another 350 ipads and 110 MacBook s on carts that students have access to every day At the same time we are gradually increasing our technology infrastructure by increasing the number of wireless access points, network switches, and servers to better support our instructional program We recently added a new web filter that allows students and faculty easier access to appropriate instructional materials for classroom use that is available on the web Our core classrooms at the primary and intermediate levels are fitted with projectors, active boards or Brightlinks Middle school teachers have projectors mounted in their classrooms Some of the core academic classrooms at the high school have their rooms retrofitted with active boards and projectors Students routinely rotate from on-line learning tasks, to small group discussion, to traditional paper pencil assignments at their desks
This technology is being used by our students and faculty to drive teaching and learning towards 21 st century outcomes For example, all of our NOCS are using some form of blended learning in their core academic classrooms Some classrooms are engaged in what is known as the flipped classroom. In this model, students participate in on-line learning off site, in place of traditional homework, and then attend the brick and mortar school to receive face to face instruction, guided practice, or projects from their teacher The flipped classroom is currently being used at the high school in the math department and the middle school in the science department Finally, the Google Classroom is becoming more and more of a reality for our students For example, let s suppose I am a middle school math teacher... I teach 6 sections of math 3 general math and 3 algebra I want my algebra students to start learning about factoring equations so I make a video explaining how it is done, giving them examples and showing them where students usually go wrong... I want only my algebra students to watch the video and not the general math students so I don t want to post it on my website... Nor do I want to email it to all my students I use Google Classroom! I post the video on my Algebra Google Classroom along with a worksheet where students can ask and answer questions... Students are instructed to login to their Google Classroom for homework, watch the video and come prepared to practice factoring in class the next day where I, the teacher, will serve and coach and guide... If additional face-to-face instruction is needed, the teacher will immediately see that need and be able to deliver the content... In a Google Classroom, teachers are able to deliver and manage instructional material and student content electronically in a collaborative work space When it comes to using technology and the impact it is having on teaching and learning The Times They Are a Changing! All of our schools support the arts and celebrate a mosaic of cultures For example, at Birch Primary students will celebrate Cultural Arts Day with a full day of story-telling, music, languages, dancing, food, and arts from different cultures Students will carry a suitcase and passport and travel around the world The North Olmsted Middle School students are adapting well to their new home for the next three years at St. Richard s School They recently spent a day with
representatives from Google Expeditions and virtually visited places around the globe using Google viewers Last year the middle school was recognized by the Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators (OAESA) as a Hall of Fame School The award states The Hall of Fame award recognizes schools that go above and beyond the call of duty to get students, teachers, and community members excited about education. The school staff submitted an extensive application documenting the quality of their educational program in the following areas: instructional system, student achievement, student development, personnel, administration, school management, and stakeholders. We are very proud of the outstanding work that continues in our middle school program and look forward to the day when we can move our students and staff into the new 21 st Century campus Service learning is an important part of our educational program Our students are engaged in the community working with the local civic organizations such as the North Olmsted Kiwanis, Community Council, the Senior Center, Oxcart Food Pantry, and the City of North Olmsted, to name a few Our students are cheerful givers They are encouraged to give back to the community and pay things forward During the holiday season, students across the district donated thousands of dollars in cash, toys, clothing, household items, and gift cards for over 50 families Tomorrow, the SITES students will host their annual Seniorfest celebration right here at Springvale with dancing, lunch, prizes and fun for all ages This year the theme will be Spring Fling and our senior students have been learning and practicing their ballroom dancing to get ready The community is very generous with our students at all levels and we are deeply thankful as a district for their support Last year, the Class of 2015 received over $85,000.00 in scholarships from 47 different civic organizations The NOCS Education Foundation provided $15,000.00 of that scholarship total and the Kiwanis raised and awarded an additional $17,000.00.
As you can see These are exciting times for the North Olmsted City Schools The Times Are a Changin for the better! Thank you for making all of this possible Together, with your support, we are reimagining our schools and community Your investment is making North Olmsted a destination suburb on the west side of Cleveland and making our city an even more attractive place to put down roots, build a family, and live and learn together I would like to conclude my remarks at this time and will entertain questions about the status of our schools Thank you. Michael E. Zalar, Ph.D. Superintendent