Centerville City Schools recognized Centerville High School social studies teacher Jason Whited as the 2018 Teacher of the Year.

As a social studies teacher based in the East Unit at CHS, Whited teaches U.S. history. In addition, he has coordinated a building-wide Veterans Day program for the past five years to connect students with veterans in the community and serves as the varsity baseball coach.

“Mr. Whited is an enormous advocate for the development of students and a tremendous resource for the Centerville

community,” said Jack Durnbaugh, CHS East Unit principal. “His work in and outside of the classroom positively impacts students, staff, parents and our community.”

Whited will represent Centerville City Schools as the district’s finalist for the Ohio Teacher of the Year competition,

where his credentials will be reviewed by a state selection panel this spring that will choose one individual to be honored as Ohio’s 2018 Teacher of the Year.

VOLUME 46, NUMBER 2 - SPRING 2018

A C E N T E R V I L L E C I T Y S C H O O L S N E W S L E T T E R

Centerville Education Foundation awards 28 grants to teachersThe Centerville Education Foundation recently awarded 28 grants to teachers in Centerville City Schools. More than $10,000 will be used by kindergarten through high school teachers for projects ranging from money management to tinkering with circuits to wearable art to hummingbird habitats.

The Centerville Education Foundation is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization founded in 1983 to enrich the education programs in Centerville City Schools.

Superintendent discusses school safety protocols, proceduresPage 2

Curriculum Department partners with higher educationPage 3

Stingley named 2018 Ohio School of CharacterPage 6

Centerville Education Foundation grant recipients were recognized at the Board of Education meeting in January.

Whited named Centerville’s 2018 Teacher of the Year

Watch video: youtu.be/1BAtePJXVag

Did you know ... The Centerville Education Foundation has awarded nearly 500 grants to teachers since 1989. More information: centervilleeducation.org

Message from Superintendent Dr. Tom Henderson

School safety is everyone’s businessWhen I started my education career many years ago, the research was pretty clear about the importance of creating school buildings which were invitational, welcoming to all and with doors that were always open. Unfortunately with the tragedies that have occurred in school districts over the past 20 years, this philosophy has changed dramatically. School safety protocols and procedures have also evolved over the years as well.

Our safety and security measures now include locked school doors and a “call box” at each front entrance for visitors to identify themselves and to notify the office of the reason for their visit. If we do not know you, we may continue to question your reason for wanting entrance, delaying the opening of the doors. In some cases, we may deny entrance if we do not understand the reason for your visit. If this occurs, I will apologize in advance, but please understand that providing a safe and productive learning environment for our staff and students is always at the forefront of our efforts. As a visitor, we will require you to check into the office and secure a visitor pass. When exiting, we ask that you make sure the doors are securely closed behind you, and under no circumstances hold the door open for others to enter. We need your help in making sure all school doors are secure during the school day.

In response to state mandates, our schools continue to perform fire drills or rapid dismissals six times a school year, as well as tornado drills conducted on a regular basis throughout tornado season in the spring. Additionally, our schools conduct safety drills at least three times each school year. During the school safety drills, we continue to practice our strategy for lockdown procedures known as the A.L.I.C.E. plan. A.L.I.C.E is an acronym for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate. Rather than moving students to an interior part of the school where they could not be seen, and quietly remaining there until the “all clear” announcement was given, the A.L.I.C.E. plan relies on realistic training to increase the potential for student and staff survival. The idea behind A.L.I.C.E. is to use technology to provide information so staff can make informed decisions in a crisis and remove as many people as possible from the danger zone.

Two years ago we installed the Multi-Agency Radio Communication Systems (MARCS) in all of our school buildings. MARCS is the statewide public safety radio/communication network providing connectivity and coverage throughout the state of Ohio. This system provides instant radio communication and rapid response in moments that matter.

I recently announced that Centerville City Schools has entered into a collaborative endeavor with the other Montgomery County school districts contracting with a company named Social Sentinel. This company will provide a service scanning all social media sites by zip codes looking for key words that may lead to cause and concern for school safety.

School resource officers will also continue to be used throughout the district. These officers are either part of the Centerville Police Department or the Montgomery County Sheriff ’s Office assigned to Washington Township. These officers assist our staff, investigate serious matters and if required, file charges against students who not only violate the school’s rules and regulations but violate the law as well. We very much value and appreciate the support we receive from Centerville and Washington Township officials and these officers.

It’s integral that we work together to achieve a safe and orderly school environment. We urge you to assist us by discussing the expectations we have established for your child’s behavior at school and at school related events, and by reporting behaviors that seem to be suspicious or unusual. We will thoroughly investigate any information shared that may prevent students from hurting themselves and/or others.

There are several ways to report concerns. One way to share information is to utilize the Student Safety Reporting hotline, which you can access by toll free number, 1-866-547-8362, or through the Safety Helpline link at the top of our website (www.centerville.k12.oh.us). The 24-hour anonymous tip line allows individuals to leave an anonymous message and school officials are then contacted so a follow-up can occur. If you have any questions, feel free to contact a building level administrator or call me at Central Office at 433-8841.

There is no greater responsibility than protecting the security of the children and adults in the school setting, and school safety is everyone’s business.

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School Resource Officer Jim Stephenson of the Centerville Police Department talks with students during lunch at Centerville High School.

Schools that are able to establish relationships with Institutions of Higher Education (IHE), business and industry are able to provide valuable resources for both staff and students. These relationships allow for an exchange of ideas regarding the needs of higher education, connections to the workforce as well as student access to opportunities that otherwise are not available in the Pre-K through 12 setting. In Centerville, we are doubly fortunate in that we have established rich connections with both Sinclair Community College and the University of Dayton. This year alone we have embarked on two new, exciting ventures with our IHE partners.

With the support of Sinclair Community College and several business partners, we were able to link a community workplace need in the manufacturing industry to a career pathway recognized by the Ohio Department of Education. With key participants from Sinclair, the manufacturing industry and Centerville Schools, we were able to move from a vision of what this career path might look like academically, consider what qualities our industry partners needed from a future ready workforce (our students) and establish a new career pathway. This new pathway will ultimately lead to certification for students who successfully complete the program as a Certified Production Technician prescribed by the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC). The value of this partnership is even more apparent when one considers that this process from vision to implementation was started in October 2017, with our first class of students able to enroll just three months later in January 2018. Centerville’s first class of Certified Production Technicians will graduate workforce ready in 2019!

Centerville City Schools has also partnered with the University of Dayton’s Institute of Applied Creativity for Transformation (IACT). IACT has already made tremendous strides with the students attending the

University of Dayton. IACT’s relationship with several departments within the university has led to an understanding of the application of creativity as a value in today’s job market. IACT looks to educate not only on concepts related to creativity, but most importantly, to give students the chance to practice exercising creativity while receiving valuable feedback. Centerville’s relationship with IACT began in September 2017 and is a three-year partnership that is unique not only to the region but perhaps the nation. This year, nearly 300 Centerville educators from preschool through high school will have experienced professional development to begin the process of examining our beliefs about what, how and why we teach in an effort to enhance our students’ future academic growth, their success in the workforce and their daily living. Through this partnership, we hope to transform school climate and instructional strategies as they relate to a variety of “power skills,” such as critical thinking, problem solving, communication, teamwork and persistence.

Study after study continues to emphasize the importance of these power skills. Power skills will provide our students with the necessary qualities to be successful adults regardless of their path. Colleges, business and industry are looking for high school graduates who can communicate, think critically, problem solve, persist and contribute as a team member. These entities are not looking for a student’s performance on state assessments as these results are not a clear predictor of success. They want students and employees who possess the skills that give our youth the “power” to control their own destiny.

Partnerships like those we have with Sinclair and UD offer us an opportunity for our teachers to be able to teach in a manner that allows our students to prepare for the world and workforce of tomorrow -- a world where we know the future of work will look very different than it does now. What few are willing to predict is what those jobs and the work will look like. The World Economic Forum predicts that as many as 33 percent of jobs in 2020 don’t even exist yet. Rather than bury our heads in the sand and continue to do what we’ve always done, we hope to use our IHE partnerships to provide our students and teachers with the skills they need to meet the challenges of an exciting but unpredictable future.

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Curriculum update from Bob Yux

Community partners provide resources for Centerville staff, students

We hope to use our IHE partnerships to provide our students and teachers with the skills they need to meet the challenges of an exciting but unpredictable future.

Sixteen juniors are currently enrolled in the Advanced Manufacturing course at Centerville High School.

Centerville High School Theatre students will perform “Legally Blonde: The Musical” at 7:30 p.m. on April 20-21 and 27-28 in the Performing Arts Center. Don’t miss the memorable songs and dynamic dances in this action-packed musical! Visit www.centervillehstheatre.com for more information or to purchase tickets.

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Congratulations to the Centerville High School Culinary Program’s Management and Culinary teams! In February, they competed at the Ohio Restaurant Association state competition. The Management team of Erika Taylor, Derek Johnson and Austin Kick took first place with their restaurant concept “J’s Little Diner.” In addition, the Culinary team placed fourth in their cooking event, and Austin Kick was presented with the “Top Leadership Award.”

According to Culinary Arts teacher Mark Mitrovich, this competition highlights the business side of the culinary industry and showcases critical thinking, teamwork, content knowledge and creativity. With their win, the Management team secured a spot to compete at the National Restaurant Association’s competition with more than 40 teams from around the country from April 27-29 in Providence, R.I.

Culinary Arts is part of the Career Education Program, which is a collaborative effort between Centerville, Kettering and Oakwood High Schools that offers 17 distinct programs for juniors and seniors.

CHS Theatre to perform musical

Did you know ... Centerville High School students can choose to participate in more than 100 non-athletic clubs and activities.

CHS Culinary Management wins stateSenior receives national Spanish scholarship

Emily Horwath, a senior at Centerville High School, was awarded the 2017 Joseph Adams Senior Scholarship from the Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica (SHH), an honor society for high school students studying Spanish or Portuguese, for her dedication to the study of Spanish and excellent skills in that language.

This national award is a prestigious honor. The $1,000 scholarship is awarded to only 60 students from over 2,400 SHH chapters across the United States. Students become eligible by being an inducted member of the SHH and then submitting samples of their written and oral work in Spanish to a selection committee appointed by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese.

CHS athletic teams complete winter season

Our winter athletes at Centerville High School recently completed their seasons. Be sure to follow Centerville Elks Athletics on Facebook or @chselksad on Twitter for updates on spring sports.

Boys Bowling: GWOC East Champion, District Qualifier, State Qualifier (3rd)

Girls Bowling: GWOC East Champion, District Qualifier, State Qualifier (3rd)

Cheer: GWOC East Champion, State Runner-up, National Runner-up

Gymnastics: Individual State Qualifier

Boys Swimming: GWOC East Champion, Overall GWOC Champion, State Qualifier (28th)

Girls Swimming: GWOC East Champion, Overall GWOC Champion, State Qualifier (14th)

Wrestling: Individual State Qualifier (6th)

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Young artists in Centerville City Schools had the opportunity to display their work during the district’s annual art exhibition at the Performing Arts Center. The “Take a Closer Look” exhibit, which took place during Youth Art Month in March, celebrated artwork created by kindergarten through eighth grade students. Art classes are offered in all Centerville Schools for kindergarten through high school students.

Offering all-day, every day kindergarten remains a priority for the district, and this is a great time to give our community an update.

Last summer and fall, the district administrative team worked with the Montgomery County Shared Resource Center on a feasibility study to see whether this concept is something that will work using current facilities. After an extensive study of preschool through fifth grade buildings, as well as looking at enrollment data, it is clear the district would be able to restructure current facilities in order to offer

all-day, every day kindergarten.

District administrators recently provided an update to the Centerville Board of Education as well as primary and elementary staff members. The next step is for the board to determine how all-day kindergarten and the realignment of buildings would affect district finances. As plans move forward, there will be more opportunities for

staff and community members to become involved. Please watch our website, www.centerville.k12.oh.us, for updates to this process.

Melissa Lehmann, a science teacher at Watts Middle School, now has $10,000 more to make activities count in her classroom this school year, thanks to the McDonald’s MAC (Make

Activities Count) Grant program. Lehmann is partnering with the other science teachers at Watts to implement a project based learning unit where students will make an aeroponic growing system called the Tower Garden and construct traditional horizontal growing containers.

In addition to Lehmann’s award, four other Centerville teachers also received smaller MAC Grants, including Leslie Bair, math teacher at Watts Middle School; Jackie Mahaffey, art teacher at Primary Village North; Nicole Mick, science teacher at Watts Middle School; and Alice Tavani, art teacher at Normandy Elementary.

Watts teacher receives $10K grant

Update on plans for all-day, every day kindergarten

English Learners at Tower Heights

Middle School hosted an event

celebrating holidays from

their home countries.

The “Happy Everything …”

festivities included a

dragon parade in celebration of the

Chinese New Year.

Visitors from the Cincinnati Museum Center presented a program titled “When Two Worlds Meet” to fourth graders at John Hole Elementary. Pictured here are

students in Mrs. Hippenmeyer’s class as they learn about items that would have been exchanged at early trading posts in Ohio.

Fifth grade students at Normandy Elementary learned about force and motion during an egg drop challenge. Individual students created containers from household items to carry their eggs, which were then dropped from a ladder and graded based on how well they performed.

Gordon Korman, the number one New York Times bestselling author, visited the district in preparation for his latest release, Supergifted. Here, he is speaking with fourth and fifth grade students from Cline and Weller Elementary Schools.

Character.org, a national advocate and leader for character in collaboration with the state of Ohio, named Centerville’s Stingley Elementary a 2018 Ohio School of Character. The program recognized Stingley as a school that has demonstrated its use of character development to drive a positive impact on academics, student behavior and school climate.

Stingley Elementary serves more than 275 students in second through fifth grade. Led by principal Diana Keller, the school has more than 40 staff members. Stingley is one of just three schools in Ohio to be recognized by Character.org in 2018.

The Schools of Character application process is an opportunity for schools and districts to receive thoughtful

feedback for growth and excellence in the area of character development through Character.org’s “11 Principles of Effective Character Education” framework. It is also a method of recognizing exemplary schools and districts in the nation.

Since its inception, Character.org has recognized more than 565 schools with the distinction of State School of Character. Criteria for the designation include providing students with opportunities for moral action, fostering shared leadership and engaging families and communities as partners in character-building efforts.

Representatives from Character.org made a presentation to Stingley staff and students during the Centerville Board of Education meeting in March.

Stingley joins Primary Village North as the two Centerville City Schools that have been named Schools of Character. PVN has been recognized as a National School of Character since 2014.

Stingley Elementary named 2018 Ohio School of Character

Stingley Elementary is one of just three schools in Ohio to be recognized by Character.org in 2018.

PVS gets creative with early literacyPrimary Village South held a “Wondering about Fairy Tales Week” in March. Students enjoyed a performance of “The Three Little Pigs” by Town Hall Theatre, reading to their teddy bears, parading through the halls with their favorite books, dressing up as their favorite fairy tale characters, and spending time reading, writing and retelling their favorite tales.

As part of the activities, families visited the school for the Tinkering with Fairy Tales Literacy Night. Literacy stations with books and writing ideas were set up throughout the building. At those stations, children had the opportunity to tinker with various materials as they tried to meet challenges set up by the staff, such as building a beanstalk for Jack (pictured at right) or a chair for Goldilocks. Families also enjoyed a sing-a-long with Chris Rowlands. What a great night to encourage students to become problem solvers and creative thinkers!

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Did you know ... Centerville City Schools received a rebate of $162,703.90, following a year-long energy audit of Centerville High School by Dayton Power & Light. The audit followed the replacement of the HVAC system at the high school.

Magsig students raise money to benefit Make-a-Wish

Students and staff members at Magsig Middle School were recognized by the Centerville Board of Education for their community service initiatives.

According to Principal Stacey Westendorf, the school community decided to approach service projects differently this year. Magsig adopted a “Just One” theme, focusing on doing just one thing to make a difference. This spring, they are supporting the Make-a-Wish Foundation and specifically a local 6-year-old boy named Aiden, who is being treated for neuroblastoma, a type of childhood cancer.

Efforts to support Aiden’s wish to visit DisneyWorld are being led by Magsig’s lacrosse players, who organized the Penny Wars fundraising competition, Student Council, which took on the initiative of selling Make-a-Wish stars during lunch, and the Junior Optimist Club, which collected donations to create a travel bag with activities for Aiden.

“My favorite thing about this fundraiser is that everyone in the school is willing to support and participate,” said sixth grader Cami Staudt. “No matter whether it’s a competition or not, we all know the real winner here is Aiden.”

Students and staff in each of our schools give back to the community in many

ways. (left) On Valentine’s Day, students at Primary Village North spread

love beyond their school by filling buckets to share with Ronald McDonald

House, Daybreak and St. Vincent DePaul. (right) Weller Elementary students

participated in a school-wide Reading Challenge to encourage and reward

reading and literacy. As part of their activities, they collected more than 750

books to donate to Hannah’s Treasure Chest.

Curriculum Department hosts free parent seminarsJen Molitor, the founder of Lift Up Leaders, Transformational Coaching for Schools, spoke to a crowd of parents in early February about building resilient kids as part of the Curriculum Department’s Parent Seminar Series. Watch www.centerville.k12.oh.us for information about the next free seminar in the series, which is scheduled for April 10.

Driscoll students participate in speech contestFifth graders at Driscoll Elementary participated in the Woodmen Speech Contest by writing their own speeches on “Inventions That Have Improved the Quality of Life.” The first round was judged by the Centerville High School Speech and Debate Team, and nine students participated in the final competition, which was judged by community leaders and members of Toastmasters. Three winners were selected: Paige Rose, first place; Abigail Latham, second place; and Kayla McCall-Williams, third place.

(back row, left to right) Matthew Jeng, John Moyer, Noah Carlson, Grant Stoller, Danny Coderre; (front row, left to right) Kayla McCall-Williams, Paige Rose, Abigail Latham

Centerville City Schools111 Virginia Ave.Centerville, OH 45458(937) 433-8841www.centerville.k12.oh.usDr. Thomas Henderson, Superintendent

Non-ProfitOrganizationU.S. Postage

PAIDDayton, No. 268

A school newsletter for residents of Centerville-Washington Township

ECR WSSPOSTAL CUSTOMER

Mark your calendarApril 10 Parent Seminar Series - 6:30 p.m. at Cline Auditorium

April 13 No school - Teacher work day

April 23 Board of Education meeting - 7 p.m. at Centerville High School

April 24 Centerville Education Foundation Hall of Fame Dinner

May 9 Scheduled 2-hour delay

March 21 Board of Education meeting - 7 p.m. at Centerville High School

May 26 Graduation - 8 p.m. at Wright State University Nutter Center

May 28 No school - Memorial Day

May 31 End of fourth quarter

May 31 Last day of schoolDid you know ... You can see a “day in the life” of students at each grade level by following us on Instagram @centervillecityschools

Centerville City Schools

Kindergarten Registration

Will your child start kindergarten in the fall of 2018?

Register your child through May 11 at Primary Village North or Primary Village South

Office hours are 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. but the best time to register your child is between 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

Download a registration packet from the Centerville Schools website: www.centerville.k12.oh.us/students-parents/enrollment

For more information, contact PVN at 438-6062 or PVS at 312-1273

To determine which school your child will attend, visit www.centerville.k12.oh.us/Transportation-Maps or call 885-7776