Xenia Community School District School Board member Dr. Robert P. Dillaplain is the recipient of a 2017 OSBA Award of Achievement. This award reflects his true commitment toward public education and the importance he attaches to his role on the Xenia school board.

Of the more than 3,400 board members in Ohio, only 65 are receiving this honor. He will be honored at the Southwest Region OSBA Spring Conference Tuesday, March 14. Board members Cheryl Marcus and William Spahr have earned this award in the past. Thank you for your commitment to our district and our kids.

Love the Bus Month: Did you know that students are approximately 70 times safer in a yellow school bus than in a passenger car? Because of this and because of the great job our bus drivers do we celebrate Love the Bus Month each February. Thanks so much to our drivers who safely transport our students every day. Our drivers play an essential role in providing students with a positive start and end to their school day.

Bond Issue Update: Why is this being done now? The middle and high school buildings are past their prime and need so much costly work that it’s time to replace them. The more than $28 million in project funding offered to us by the state expires this August.

To take advantage of the state funds, the Xenia community must pass a bond issue to meet the local funding share. Without the state matching fund, 100 percent of the cost to repair, maintain, or renovate the existing buildings will have to be paid for by us locally, and some other school district will receive the funds that had been set aside for us.

NSTA National Convention: Congratulations to Bill Richey who has been asked to be a speaker at the National Science Teacher’s Convention in Los Angeles late March. The convention covers all STEM related curriculum and will be attended by 20,000 teachers from across the nation. Richey will be speaking on chemistry demonstrations for all grades.

Xenia Preschool: The SNAP-Ed nutrition classes finished up this week and there was wonderful feedback from both the Greene County Extension instructors and for the staff members on how great these classes were for the children. The content was provided at the appropriate level and the snacks were nutritious.

Arrowood: The fifth graders may have looked a little taller this week. They were practicing a growth mindset during math class and have been practicing their “power pose.” Based on the research of Amy Cuddy, the students have been learning about how body language and posture can impact their brain. Before taking their weekly quiz, students struck a power pose for two minutes in order to get their brains ready to do their best work.

Lee Elzroth from The Greene County Soil and Water Conservation District came to Arrowood last week. He shared a stream table with the fourth grade students. The purpose of his visit was to show the processes of weathering, erosion, and deposition and how it affects our environments. The stream table was able to show the students an enhanced time demonstration of how these processes shape the land over long periods of time.

Cox: Keith McKinley’s third graders and Carla Skaggs’ kindergarteners worked together on a STEM project. Each third grade student was paired with a kindergartener and the team’s had to create an igloo. They worked together to figure out what supplies they needed to build the structure so the roof would not collapse.

The second grade classes researched groundhogs and the meaning of Groundhog Day. They made a graph to predict whether or not the groundhog would see his shadow. Danielle Kubasky’s class completed research projects on an endangered animal of their choice.

McKinley: The MD classes enjoyed a trip to the Victoria Theater to see Brown Bear. A parent connection meeting was held last Monday evening. The discussion was love and logic. The third grade teachers held an informative meeting with parents last Tuesday to discuss the reading guarantee and ways parents can help prepare their children for the upcoming tests.

Shawnee: Kindergaretn through second grade students were finishing up their gymnastics unit. The focus of the unit is on body position, shapes, and movement. Students have been working on 1-, 2-, and 3- point balances, pencil, egg, forward and shoulder rolls. This week Shae Washburn transformed the gym into a shopping mall for the students.

Students entered the mall and traveled to the different stores practicing the skills they have been taught. Students in grades 3-5 completed the lacrosse unit with small-sided games. The students were assessed on two areas for this unit. Students were assessed on their ability to catch a lacrosse stick and on their decision making in small-sided game situations.

Tecumseh: The Tecumseh ticket winners played red light/green light in the gym doing many different animal moves: Crab walk, bear crawl, froggy jumps, bunny hops, and turtle crawls. The Student Ambassador Committee met and had great dialog discussing the awards assembly process. It began planning for the year-end event. The Family Involvement Committee met Monday to plan for its upcoming Right-To-Read Week event that begins at the end of February.

Warner: Thanks to Karen Nolen, Linda Wilson, Dan Egbert and Courtney Dortsten for their four day and three night commitment to more than 90 sixth graders as they planned and chaperoned the science based trip to Glenn Helen. Warner had its National Junior Honor Society induction ceremony Feb. 9.

Congratulations to their 50 new inductees. Warner staff had an intense, purposeful professional development day last Friday. The focus on curriculum, climate, and scheduling took center stage. Open house for incoming sixth grade students and their parents is 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23. I hope there is a huge crowd to experience what Warner is all about.

XHS: Several band students participated in the Ohio Music Education Association Solo & Ensemble Adjudicated Event that was held at Stebbins High school. Mackenzie Coonrod, flute soloist, was rated superior; Sophia Ensey, clarinet soloist, was rated superior; Timothy Stahl, bass clarinet soloist, was rated superior; Gabriel Gonzales, alto saxophone soloist, was rated superior; Frank Hicks, trumpet soloist, was rated superior; Megan Miller, piano soloist, was rated excellent; flute trio (Brianna Banks, Katie Laney and Alexis Woolwine) were rated superior; and trumpet trio (Hicks, Erik Boggs, and Chase Keys) were rated superior.

Thanks to Zavaan Johnson, Greg Sell who worked with Hicks on his trumpet solo and to Jim McPeek and Eric Neunschwander, who accompanied the soloists on the piano. Special thanks to Debb Rucker, Keenan Mikal, student council and all the staff and student teachers who volunteered their time to put on an excellent dance last Saturday night. The guidance office is bringing a career panel to XHS where a variety of successful XHS graduates will share their experiences during and after high school regarding education, work, experience and other helpful information for students approaching graduation.