Ohio State Report Card
Once again, our school district was rated “effective” on Ohio’s annual state report card. Our students work hard and our dedicated teachers and support staff are determined to keep up with the latest state and national initiatives in education. Great teachers and supportive parents working together can have a very positive effect on students. Following are some examples of successes where teachers, students, parents, and community members have been positively affecting our schools:
For example, even with our current expenditure reductions, we have been able to expand our Advanced Placement (A.P.) courseofferings at the high school this year. The rigorous curriculum refers to the requirements for A.P. classes which are outlined by the College Board for all A.P. programs. All A.P. teachers must submit a class curriculum following these requirements which must then be approved by the College Board. Presently,Ledgemont Local Schools offers A.P. English 12, A.P. English 11, A.P. Calculus, A.P. Science and A.P. ComprehensiveGovernment. All staff members teaching these courese have attended College Board sponsored training and have had their curricula approved by The College Board. High school A.P. credit is very advantageous on student transcripts when applying to competitive colleges for admission. This year's A.P.Environmental Class has very high standards to live up to after last year's great scores on the exam, including one perfect, 5 score! A.P. Environmental Science has been busy this year. These students visited Hidden Valley to conduct stream quality monitoring and macro-invertebrate testing, while the 8th grade students conducted tree mensuration (calculating tree species diversity and number of trees per acre), at the Thompson Ledges. In the near future, students will visit the Easterly Plant of the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District to learn about waste water treatment processes.
On another note, The Envirothon kicked off the year with the Quad County Envirothon at the Environmental Learning Center in Concord. At the event, students received additional training in wildlife, soils, aquatics, forestry and the special topic of the year which is “Sustainable Rangeland Management: Achieving a balance between Traditional Agricultural Uses with Non-Agricultural uses on Montana Rangelands”. The finalcompetition will be held in the Spring of 2013.
In addition, this is the fourth year that our fifth-graders have been instructed by Geauga Park District naturalists through their Nature Scopes interactive program. Nature Scopes concludes in May with a field trip to the Rookery where students are awarded their own Bushnell binoculars and two field guides for participating in the program. This year-long program is working to inspire a new generation of conservationists.
Kudos go out to The National Honor Society, which will be hosting two Blood Drives with the American Red Cross this year. The first is scheduled for Friday Dec. 21, 2012. Last year, the Red Cross Scholarship for $500.00 was awarded to Rick Loveland Jr., who is presently attending The Ohio State University.
In regard to shifting instructional practices to align with the Common Core and Enhanced State Standards, Legdemont staffare currently in the planning stages and preparing to reinforce formative instructional practices (FIP) district-wide. In a FIP school, all stakeholders understand the importance of formative instructional practices and use the practices to move learning forward. A FIP school embraces formative instructional practices as part of its culture. The school engages in a formative learning system where all members are learners who intentionally use formative instructional practices to guide and support adult and student learning.
At the elementary and middle school levels, students have participated yearly in Career Day programs. Parents and community members visited our buildings to present information about their respective careers. Eighth grade students will visit the Ashtabula County Technical and Career Campus and further explore potential career opportunities.
Also at the Elementary School, the students have been very busy learning and progressing. The teachers have been working collaboratively to ensure students are successful. The teachers communicate daily with their peers to enrich and provide interventions for struggling learners to ensure all students are making growth. The teachers are providing research based interventions to assist students in being successful. In addition, teachers are conducting frequent progress monitoring checks to determine whether or not students are making the expected progress.
The Thompson and Montville Fire Department sponsored fire safety activities for the students with classroom presentations being made to grades K-4, while the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program has been offered to our 6th graders yearly and is one of the most important programs that the Geauga County Sheriff's Office offers, as it directly involves the lives of our children.
A shout out goes to Melanie Lausin, a parent in our district, whohas headed up the “Kids with Character program”. This program is a resource for teaching the essential behavior standards to our children to help them be productive, responsible members in our community.
Clearly a lot is happening at Ledgemont Local Schools and we have much to be proud of in our district!
Julie Ramos
Superintendent Ledgemont Local School and Geauga County Educational Service Center Outreach Coordinator