Home Food News New buildings could be done within 2-3 years

New buildings could be done within 2-3 years

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By Denny Morrison

If the bond issue in May passes, when will the new buildings be ready for students?

With voter approval, the district, with the community’s input, will begin the design phase of the new middle/high school in 2017. By late 2018 construction should be underway and completed by 2020 or 2021.

Community forum: Terry Strieter from the Greene County ESC and Kathy Harper from the Ohio Department of Education will be facilitating an Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) community forum in our Board of Education Building 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27. We have invited the other school districts in Greene County to join us to spread the word about what the new possible ESSA legislation is going to mean for school districts. Possible topics include the number of points needed for graduation and the number of tests Ohio requires that the federal government does not. Hope you can attend. This forum is open to everyone.

Effective School Board Award: Kudos to Board of Education President Pam Callahan, board vice-president Cheryl Marcus, and board members Dr. Robert Dillaplain, Jennifer Marietta and William Spahr for once again receiving the Effective School Board Award — Gold Level recognition. To reach this level takes the positive cooperation of the board, superintendent, treasurer and administration. The board members will be recognized at the Southwest Region OSBA Spring Conference Tuesday, March 14 at the Warren County Career Center in Lebanon.

Xenia Preschool: This past week the preschool concluded the visits from the dentist. Thanks to Smile Wright for coming to teach our children about dental health. Students and staff enjoyed a lively week at preschool this past week and dressed up on their spirit days to support their “Pennies for Patients” drive. Jean Brady made a presentation at the February Board Meeting sharing all that the preschool staff and students have accomplished.

Arrowood: Kindergarten had a great time celebrating the 100th day of school. Second grade students did a nice job organizing the encouraging hearts for the hallway. The words of encouragement are always appreciated. Fourth grade students began researching a famous African-American. Students were engaged and enjoyed learning about they person they chose. In fifth grade math, students have been tracking their individual growth on weekly quizzes as well as their growth in class. This week all three fifth grade math classes improved 10 percent or more on their weekly quiz. Students were excited to see their personal growth as well as the class growth. Candygram sales soared at Arrowood this year. Students purchased $450 worth of candygrams for their friends and staff. More importantly, the service learning committee organized the funds to be donated to 4 Paws for Ability in Xenia.

Cox: Cox’s Student Council raised $82.25 this week by selling candygrams. All proceeds from this project are going to St. Jude Children’s Hospital. Cox participated in a special PAX activity where parents were asked to send in Tootie notes written especially for their child. The notes of praises and compliments were shared with the students this past week. Deborah Holmes’ second grade class has been learning about Presidents Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. They have researched both presidents using books, computers, and short articles. They completed their project by doing an art activity where the students drew a portrait of Lincoln and mounted it to a watercolor background.

Shawnee: Shawnee fifth grade students spent their first of five days at STARBASE last week. STARBASE is at WPAFB and the goal is to motivate students to explore science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The program engages students through the inquiry-based curriculum with its hand-on, mind-on, experimental activities. Students built an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) using the CAD system and built rockets that they will launch at a future session. On Thursday Shawnee held a Muffin with Mom event. This was a great event to get mothers and positive female role models into Shawnee to show out appreciation to them. There were 310 students who brought their mothers in for the breakfast. The event was made possible by the sponsorship of the Shawnee PTO and Faith Community United Methodist Church.

Tecumseh: Thanks to the PTO for hosting its first Mother-Son dance last Friday. There were many compliments about the event and it was great to see the boys excited about dancing. The PTO also held a Parent’s Night Out last Tuesday (Valentine’s Day) so parents could enjoy a few hours together. On Thursday evening the PTO hosted a skating party. The PTO has been extremely busy this past week doing things for our students.

Warner: Warner Middle School hosted a dance last week with 400 students staying after school to enjoy music, dancing, and fun with friends. Thanks to all the Warner staff who stayed late to supervise this event. Warner MD students are giving back to the community. Last Monday, students created Valentine’s Day cards to give to the residents of Hillside Assisted Living in Xenia Tuesday. This community service project was a collaboration between aids and teachers to allow their students to experience the importance and establish the purpose of giving back. Also last week the sixth grade students got to experience Muse Machine — The Magic behind the Movies. Last week began the penny drive for Leukemia Lymphoma research at Warner. Thanks to the Leadership students and their advisors Karen Nolen, Justin Shirley and Dana McClain for their effort to raise $4,000 for research.

XHS: Cabaret 2017 was held last Friday and Saturday evenings. The Xenia High School Vocal Ensemble performed. Eric Neuenschwander was the director, Eli Shapiro led percussion, Bradley Campbell choreography and David Payne was in charge of lights and sounds. Kudos to all of the performers but especially seniors Dana Naas, Gabe Gonzales, Christoper Koehler, Julia Becker, Marah Croley, Kaili Deck, Mariel Elleman, Emma Myers, Carols Anderson, Davion Clemens, Joshua Goodrum-Green, Nathan Hardy and Jessee Hughes. Thanks to student council for putting together the pep rally last Friday and all of the events for Spirit Week. The 140 members of Chemistry Club visited Arrowood and Shawnee elementary schools last week to share the exciting world of chemistry.

XTAR: X-Group students started the day staring at two drawings on the board. Students were instructed to stare at the black dot inside the heart for 10 seconds and then transfer their gaze to the opposite blank side of the board. Donna. Shaw then read “Hello, Red Fox “by Eric Carle and they discussed the color wheel, color theory, complimentary colors, and primary and secondary colors. Students then created their own edge to edge drawing using the color wheel colors only. Students will be participating in the National Museum of the United States Air Force annual art contest. Students took a brief quiz to see how much they knew about the Air Force and then began researching to prepare for their edge to edge drawing on the history of the USAF.

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Denny Morrison is superintendent of Xenia Community Schools.