INDEPENDENCE HIGH SCHOOL

Annual Report

2014 ~ 2015

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Independence High School Office of the Principal

Annual Report 2014-15

During the 2014-15 school year, Independence High School continued to provide a comprehensive education to the students of Independence, Ohio. Three hundred and seventy (370) students entered Independence High School in late August with Three hundred and seventy (370) leaving the building during the first week in June. This annual report is meant to capsulize the many academic and extracurricular activities that took place during the 2014-15 school year. It becomes readily observable that Independence High School offers a wide range of activities for students. Our curriculum is very extensive for a small high school and our co-curricular program provides ample opportunity for every student to become involved and experience success.

~ CURRICULAR AREAS ~

Business Education

Courses Taught: Computer Apps I & II, Business Law, Introduction to Business/Stock Market, Accounting I & II

Students Served: 159

Activities, Awards, etc.: - Since some of the Business Department courses are offered on a rotating basis, Introduction to Business/Stock Market was offered this year.

English

Courses Taught: Honors English I, English I, English III, English II, Pre-AP English II, AP Lit and Composition, English IV, Speech

Students Served: 347

Activities, Awards, etc.: - Mr. Walchanowicz created a year-long 12th Grade Speech course for 2014-15 that fulfilled the 12th grade English graduation requirement. Course was a huge success and will hopefully be for many years to come.

- 97% OGT Score in Reading in 2014-15 - 94% OGT Score in Writing in 2014-15 - In January 2015, eleven IHS students participated in the Cuyahoga County Shakespeare Competition, with senior Ben Ciulla winning.

- Students were provided with a pre-college level composition course experience. They were taught close reading strategies to enhance their understanding of text. They were encouraged to talk, write, and think deeply about language and language use.

- Students were encouraged to engage in thoughtful, meaningful discussions about the texts, language, and rhetoric.

- Common Application Narrative – English III (September) - Literacy Analysis taught / incorporated in the English III classes

(December). - Measured Progress Writing Assessment given to English III classes

in September.

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Family and Consumer Science

Courses Taught: Foods 101, Parenting, Fit for Life, Tasty Travels

Students Served: 103

Activities, Awards, etc.: - An accomplishment by the department was incorporating community service into the classroom. Students enrolled in Foods 101 participated in a service-learning project. Students in Foods 101 made 650 cookies with donated ingredients to give to St. Augustine’s Hunger Center for the holidays.

Fine Arts

Art Courses Taught: Art I (Intro), Art II (Advanced Art), Art III (Art Explorations), Advanced Placement, 2D Design, 3D Design, Clay and Ceramics

Students Served: 154

Activities, Awards, etc.: - Participated in: Governors Youth Art Exhibition, District 10 Congressional Art Contest, Independence Art Guild Scholarship selection. Students developed art portfolios for college, Integrated Photography into Arts I and II and Arts I-III designed and built sets for the Spring Musical.

- Advised painting for senior projects in Mr. Piscura’s room, Mr. Corpuz’s and Mr. Walchanowicz’s room and also meeting rooms in the offices. Assisted Student Council and Cheerleaders with painting projects. Designed and painted the sets for the High School Musical. Designed and painted backdrop for Preschool graduation.

- The Art Department is very proud to have several of the graduating seniors choose to pursue their collegiate careers in the field of Art. Independence Art Guild winner ($1000), Art Guild Scholarship winner ($500) and Art Guild winner (2 x $100).

- It proved to be a challenging but successful year in the art room. More students showed exceptional skills and there is a bright future for the art program. With a few more tweaks in future class offerings, all the students needs can be met whether they are artistically inclined or not.

Music Courses Taught: Marching/Concert Band

Students Served: 169

Activities, Awards, etc.: - OMEA Solo and Ensemble Adjudication (January, 2015) 17 events from IHS, 26 students participated

- CVC Honors Choir @ Cardinal High School (April, 2015) 8 IHS students attended

- Performances August, 2014 – Home Days Parade Performance (MB) August-November, 2014 – 10 Varsity Football Performances of 3

Unique and Original Shows (MB) November, 2014 – Fourth Annual Sounds of the Stadium Performance (MB)

Approx. Attendance = 350 $143.00 and 200+ canned goods donated to Cleveland Food Bank

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December, 2014 – Holiday Concert (VE + WE) January, 2015 – Spaghetti Dinner Performances (Solos and

Chamber Ensembles) January, 2015 – OMEA District 4 Solo and Ensemble Adjudication

(Tri-C West) April, 2015 – IHS Music Department Florida Trip 109 Students Attended Performance by the MB (Magic Kingdom) April, 2015- Combined IMS/IHS Band Concert May, 2015 – Music Department Revue (2 nights) Approximate Attendance - 400

May, 2015 – Memorial Day Parade (MB) May, 2015 – Senior Awards Night Performance (WE) May, 2015 – Commencement Performances (VE + WE) - Inducted 4 students into the Tri-M Honor Society, Chapter 877 - 2 Students participated in the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony

Art: 154 Music: 169 TOTAL Students Served: 323

Foreign Language

Courses Taught: Spanish I, II, III

Students Served: 146

Activities, Awards, etc.: - Mrs. Corrigan Spanish I students made skull magnets (for their locker or to take home) in celebration of the Day of the Dead, a holiday celebrated in Mexico on Nov. 1 and 2. Spanish I students also constructed their own small altars to dedicate to a loved one’s/famous person’s passing. This custom is also celebrated annually in Mexico during the beginning of November.

- Spanish II classes constructed computer generated Christmas cards for their most influential staff member at the high school. Students enjoyed applying concepts learned in Spanish class to their card. The staff enjoyed reading and interpreting the cards as well. Another technology assignment Spanish II classes completed was a computer-generated family tree that incorporated family words and past concept learned in Spanish. Students could use their own family members to create their tree or be creative and use fictional/famous people as their own. Students had the option of using Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Prezi, or a Video to create their family tree. Spanish II students also were given a quarterly translation assignment to complete that applied concepts previously taught. This assignment worked well to address the “Presentational Communication” standard for World Languages because students had to choose appropriate vocabulary and create meaningful sentence patterns according to the given theme. Spanish II students also constructed a restaurant dialog in groups during their study of food vocabulary. They were also able to present it to the class, in which they were able to make it authentic. Hopefully, by learning expressions relevant to this situation, they would also be able to apply them the next time they visited a Mexican Restaurant.

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- Mrs. Fowler’s Spanish II students used the laptops to write an original skit for class presentation. Spanish III students used the laptops to research an endangered animal species and write a report in Spanish about its characteristics, habitat, habits and other background information. Some of the laptops were inoperable. It seems that we need new ones for the coming year. At various times throughout the school year, individual Spanish III students were asked to research specific vocabulary and topics on their cell phones to share information with the class.

- All of Mrs. Fowler’s classes celebrated Cinco de Mayo by eating chips and salsa and watching a video on the history of this holiday. - Next year Mrs. Fowler hopes to assign power points and video

presentations to my students. We will also celebrate additional Hispanic holidays by experiencing some of the typical traditions of these holidays.

Health and Physical Education

Courses Taught: Health, Adaptive PE, Weight Training

Students Served: 235

Activities, Awards, etc.: - PE Activities (Health) – Suicide Prevention, Rape Crisis Center, Operation Keepsake.

Industrial Technology

Courses Taught: Wood & Construction Tech, Technical Drawing I, II, III, Exploring Technology, Home Maintenance, Design Squad

Students Served: 136

Activities, Awards, etc.: - Successfully completed drawings using 3-D CAD program Inventor - Bridge design and construction competition – Technical Drawing I - Construction of over 115 individual projects and furniture pieces

which students were able to take home. - Built items for After-prom and the city - Constructed and dismantled two working bathrooms. Students

participated in wall framing, electrical, plumbing, siding and drywall - Introduced Vex Robotics equipment to students and completed a 6

week lesson on robotic with CAD II students.

Mathematics

Courses Taught: Pre-Calculus, Honor’s Pre-Calculus, AP Calculus, Calculus, Algebra B, Algebra II, Honors Algebra II, AP Statistics, Algebra II Essentials, Algebra A, Geometry Essentials, Geometry, Honors’ Geometry, Algebra I, Advanced Math

Students Served: 355

Activities, Awards, etc.: - The graphing calculators are being used extensively throughout the department. Students in the higher level courses are buying their own a more regular rate. Document camera is a vital tool, it’s used every day. Mr. Echstenkamper has been using the Smart Slate along with Notebook software.

- AP Calculus Conference in the fall was very beneficial. A must every year to stay current on the curriculum and Exam updates. - Miniature golf project using Geometer’s Sketchpad

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- Mrs. Paulus attended four Saturday morning NE Ohio AP Statistics Teacher meetings at John Carroll University. - Mrs. Paulus was an AP reader in Kansas City last summer for 8 days. - Mrs. Paulus invited the Math Department Chairman from Cleveland

State University to speak to her current and past AP Statistics class. His topic was Careers in Statistics. She also invited her Honors Algebra 2 and the Honors Geometry classes to join in. About 35 students attended.

- Mr. Corpuz went on a Putt-Putt outing at the Mr. Divot’s Mini-Golf in North Royalton to reinforce the concepts from Chapter 7 (Similar Polygons and Angles of Incidents and Reflection)

- Mr. Corpuz - Integrated practice/preparation with the sophomores for the OGT using Study Island and March ’08 test downloaded from the internet and the OGT transparencies.

- Used Smart Notebook software for notes, used the “Airliner” as an instruction tool and used Post-its approach for homework - This year Mrs. Stefanski used the NHS students as tutors for her

lower achieving students. Most students did benefit from the tutoring. The NHS students felt pleased to know that they made a difference.

- Mrs. Stefanski attended the following GCCTM workshops: Winter Mini Conference Implementing the Core: Principles to Actions, Winter Meeting Principles to Action.

Science

Courses Taught: Chemistry, Honors Chemistry, Physical Science, Astronomy/Meteorology, General Biology, AP Biology, Honors Biology, Research Biology, AP Environmental Science, Physics, Science Exploration, Human Anatomy and Physiology, Science through Film

Students Served: 402

Activities, Awards, etc.: - The Human Anatomy students had one guest speaker - Bill Maxwell, Physical Therapist. He came and spoke to the class on October 21st and also on March 26th.

- The Environmental Science class utilized the Land Lab for field studies during the duration of the 1st and 2nd semesters. Mr. Maretka continues to renovate the Land Lab classroom allowing it to be more functional as a classroom for the Environmental Science course and other school activities. Mr. Maretka’s Environmental Science class was taught 1s period, making it easier for students to meet at the Land Lab classroom before the school day begins and leave in time to arrive at IHS for 2nd period classes. This happened 1 to 3 times per week and became a more permanent part of the routine as the year went on. A 2nd AP Environmental Science course has been added for next school year.

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- The AP Environmental Class and Biology Society hosted 4 environmental workshops at the Land Lab this past fall. Students participated by leading a pond study for the community Preschools. A mutualism has been formed between the Preschools and the Biology Department over the past 10 years and we hope to continue this relationship for many more.

- This year, the Primary School joined in on the fun. Ms. Sluka brought down the entire 3rd grade class in the winter and the 4th grade team came down in the spring.

- Mrs. Lewis took the Physics classes on a field trip this year. They completed a comprehensive lab on the mechanics of physics at

Cloverleaf bowling alley. - The Physics class competed in two National Competitions. In

April, the American Association of Physics Teachers host an annual Physics Bowl in which students from Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky compete in an individual and group contest. In January, students completed the construction of their Roller Coasters. All of the Physics students participated in our Fifth Annual Egg Drop Challenges in February. In May, the Physics students completed the challenge of constructing a successful Rube Goldberg Simple Machines Project.

- Jennifer Wisniewski was selected for this year’s Kiwanis Science Award. Jen was also selected for the Biology Society Scholarship Award.

- Alec Coutris, an Honors Biology Research student, utilized the iPad to film the tropisms of plants. He used an ap. for stop/motion photography, successfully filming both phototropism & gravitropism.

- Sabrè Randall and Anna Buczek (Honors Biology Research) also utilized the iPad to film the learning process of rats in a maze.

Social Studies

Courses Taught: World History, Honors World History, American History Through Film, Government, Psychology, AP Government, Honors Economics, Economics, United States History, Sociology, Honors US History, AP US History, American Pop Culture

Students Served: 520

Activities, Awards, etc.: - In December the American History through Film class was

encouraged to read the book, Unbroken. It is about the true story of American veteran, Louie Zamperini. In January, they visited Cinemark in Valley View to view the film, Unbroken. Mrs. Dietrich plans on incorporating this book/film in future classes.

- Honors Economics participated in Junior Achievement Titan, which is a computer game that simulates being CEO of a manufacturing company. JA Titan is taught by JA volunteers from the business world.

- Economics participated in Junior Achievement Personal Finance. Four JA Volunteers taught the lessons, one of which was Independence alum Kelly Tonsetic.

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- Course of Study revision – Honors Economics is being converted into AP Microeconomics for the 15-16 school year.

- In Mr. Piscura’s classes, Officer Kevin Piazza from the Ohio Investigative Unit spoke to all the Government students about the legal consequences of underage drinking.

- Councilman Jim Crooks came and spoke to the AP Government students regarding organizing a successful campaign.

- Tony Avila spoke to our AP Government students about the responsibilities of being a school board member.

- This was the first year of the AP US History redesigned test. Unfortunately, the College Board seemed very unprepared when rolling out this new test, as they provided limited resources for teachers to meet the new requirements. Although they sent materials and tutorials throughout the year, most of these were sent after Mrs. Satola already covered various periods. Teachers across the country, including Mrs. Satola, were quite frustrated with how they handled this, especially since they said they spent 10 years on the redesign. Countless hours of Mrs. Satola’s own time was spent realigning the curriculum to meet the new requirements and preparing students to adjust to the new writing rubrics.

- The Social Studies department organized a school-wide field trip to see the movie Selma at Valley View Cinemark. About 300 students and 12 staff members attended.

Special Education

Courses Taught: English Essentials III, Intervention, At-Risk Students, Wilson Reading System Intervention, Resource Room English, Math, Adaptive PE, Community Life Skills, Career Exploration, Adapted Technology

Students Served: 44

Activities, Awards, etc.: - Special Programs – Used STAR Reading and STAR Math for monitoring and assessing. Used Scholastic Scope, Math and Choices for supplemental materials. Ran student-led Café and Recycling Program.

- Faculty In-service – 1 Workshop Disabilities Services for the Post- Secondary student, 1 workshop on Co-teaching, Beyond the Basics, 1 workshop on Co-teaching with Dr. Marilyn Friend

- Attended conference for DCDT (Division on Career Development and Transition through the Ohio Means Jobs K-12 - Seminar over the services for students with disabilities held at CVCC - Transition meetings with the incoming 8th grades, who are currently on IEPs - Training for the prevention of child abuse, violence, substance abuse, and the promotion of positive youth development. - Monthly advisory board meetings held at CVCC - Numerous special education meetings - Attended Positive Behavior Supports in-service presented by The Achievement Center - Attended the Alternate Assessment in-service

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- Attended 2 day in-service at ESC to discuss implementing OACS-e statewide extended standards - Attended a two-day conference district-wide initiative for PBIS on

transition, through the Association for Career Technical Education (ACTE – Special Needs Division)

- The Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities, to promote and explain the Employment First Initiative 2 day in-service - United Cerebral Palsy participated in our classroom to help train in the use of technology without using hands. - Year 1 Resident Educator Program (Hannah) - Made observations at North Royalton and Cuyahoga Valley Career Center (Hannah) - Will be attending Cleveland Sight Center workshop, Wilson Reading

Training Program, and HQT for Moderate to Intensive Intervention Specialist for math

- Major Accomplishments: We were able to fulfill the services required by our students in their classes as well as teach them important strategies for their independent learning while maintaining good communication with the parents about the progress of their child. We again had six students graduate this year; 1 to a 4 year university, 2 to community college, 2 to the workforce, and 1 entering CVCC program as an adult. On the OGT testing, 3 out of 10 sophomores passed all 5 sections. The rest at least passed one section and were very close in passing most of the other sections.

Substance Abuse/Wellness Program

The substance abuse/wellness program coordinator was available in the high school building approximately one-quarter time during the school year. Counseling sessions, parent contacts, coordination with the guidance program and court and treatment center involvement all were part of the assignments handled by the coordinator of this program.

Guidance

The Guidance Department played a major role in providing individual and group guidance for our students. The department is responsible for conducting the college orientation meetings for parents and student. The Guidance Department was responsible for producing the following publications: which are revised and published every year; We Point With Pride, which is a publication issued at the end of the school year listing senior awards and post high school plans along with scholarships, the school PROFILE, and the Curriculum Guide.

The Advanced Placement program (A.P.), Preliminary S.A.T. (P.S.A.T), and the PLAN (practice A.C.T.) were coordinated through the guidance department. All testing was administered and coordinated through the guidance department.

Report Cards, Transcripts, student schedules, grade reporting reports, teacher class lists and numerous other daily operating procedure data processing is generated through the guidance department.

The guidance counselors were involved again this year with the special services personnel, working with the learning disabilities program, and working with the special education placement committee. The ACT was again administered by the guidance department to qualifying special education students. Guidance counselors were actively involved in coordinating activities between the Cuyahoga Valley Career Center and Independence High School. Career planning is taking on an increasing role of importance across the state of Ohio

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and our counselors were actively involved in the development of these programs.

The Guidance Department developed a “Glass Ceiling” Group for senior girls – met 6 times during the year with various speakers and activities.

The following is a sampling of what Mrs. Dolejs does in her current role as a high school counselor for grades 9 and 11:

Freshmen Orientation/Transition Classroom Guidance 9th and 11th graders (study skills, interest inventories, career

assessments, etc…) Individual meetings with ALL 9th and 11th graders Weekly monitoring of grades Weekly running reports of students with multiple D/F’s…No Pass List Communicate weekly with coaches grade concerns per Progress Book data Coordinate all IAT meetings for 9th and 11th grade level students Conduct individual student weekly meetings with at-risk 9th and 11th grade students Meet with any grade 9 or 11 students who need to attend recovery credit classes due to

failure of graduation requirements Attend IEP/ETR meetings Write/maintain/coordinate all grade 9 and 11 504 Plans Process Report Cards, transcripts, honor roll, merit roll, academic athlete, etc… All DASL data entry concerning grades, grade changes, incompletes, etc… Attend professional training workshops at NCC re:DASL DASL Master Scheduling Coordinate post secondary/college credit plus (PSEO/CCP) informational meeting Coordinate with students post secondary/ college credit plus (PSEO/CCP) scheduling

concerns Glass Ceiling coordinator Attend various 25 & Alive meetings Work with Clerk of Courts in Independence/Angie Zleznik to coordinate mutual “client”

care Bring students to monthly Chamber of Commerce luncheons at the Holiday Inn Cafeteria/Lunch duty during Sem II, 5th period Implement and maintain NAVIANCE, a student college and career planning system

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Library/Media Center

The mission of the school library media program is to ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information. It empowers students to be critical thinkers, enthusiastic readers, skillful researchers and ethical users of information by:

● Collaborating with teachers to design engaging learning experiences, ● Providing access to materials in all formats, including up-to date, high quality

varied literature. ● Instructing students and teachers in using, and evaluating a broad range of

resources, and information technologies. ● Provide leadership in the total education program and advocating for a strong

library media program. ● Provide students and teachers with instruction and resources that reflect current

information needs and anticipate changes in technology and education. ● Develop and strengthen a love of reading.

In trying to adhere the above Library/Media guidelines, listed below are the many activities that I have facilitated and participated in throughout the school year here at IHS.

Information Literacy/Curriculum Connections: Major Instructional Units this year:

Information Literacy units Co-taught with Mrs. Ribovich in English III. ● TRAILS- September/April

TRAILS is a knowledge assessment with multiple-choice questions targeting a variety of information literacy skills based on 9th and 12th grade standards. This Web-based system was developed to provide an easily accessible and flexible tool for school librarians and teachers to identify strengths and weaknesses in the information-seeking skills of their students. All items have been aligned with the Common Core State Standards. Students were given a pre/post assessment.

● Poetry Research Project- October (Mrs. Ribovich) Students were provided a Puritan poem to study and research. Students were shown how to access information from literary on-line databases to complete the assignment. Students were also taught to cite using MLA format.

● Literary Analysis – December (Mrs. Ribovich) Students were given an argumentative essay topic on A. Miller’s The Crucible. Students were taught how to incorporate literary criticism to support their argument. Students were asked to use the library databases to complete this task:

● Research Ready – December – January (Co-taught with Mrs. Ribovich) ResearchReady is an online platform that teaches students how to navigate all parts of the research process, from defining a topic and accessing library resources, to citing sources and avoiding plagiarism. ResearchReady has been aligned with Common Core and ISTE standards.

○ We customized the course to help the juniors with their research paper this year.

○ ResearchReady provides students with the knowledge and skills that they need to complete ethical and quality research at the high school and college level.

● Naviance/Resume/References Writing English III- February (taught with Mrs. Dolejs/Mrs. Ribovich in LMC)

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● Persuasive Research Paper – May - Ribovich - English III Students used the following databases to write the paper:

○ Current Events & Controversial Issues ○ SIRS Knowledge Source

Points of View Reference Center ○ Gale Opposing Viewpoints

Student Research Center from EBSCO ● (August) I met will the entire freshman class for a library orientation through Mrs.

Mackey’s science classes. I was able to introduce the library, it’s web page along with its many resources. Students focused on using Discovery Education to locate videos and images, and two Science databases; Science in Context and Science online to conduct their research. Mrs. Mackey’s classes came back in December. Students were given instruction on how to properly cite sources to create a works cited page for their project.

● (September) I instructed Mrs. Lewis’s Physics classes on how to use the online social bookmaking tool Diigo. Our goal was to get students to share and collaborate with one another in class by posting articles and comments to one another. Students with in her classes had an on-going all year projects to post and comment on articles posted on various science topics.

● (September) Mr. Foor brought his classes into the LMC to create safety equipment videos for class. We used several iPad apps to do this, including Splice and Animoto. Students created a story board and script, and then recorded and edited their videos. Upon completion I helped Mr. Foor upload the videos to his Youtube channel so classes would be able to watch the videos.

● ThinLink iPad Project. Students researched a top and created a picture/informational collage using the iPads. (Mr. McMahon).

● Mrs. Satola’s Pop Culture Classes came into the LMC each semester. I instructed students on how to use iMovie (on th iPads) and GarageBand. Each student created a slide show to present information on a 1960’s music artist.

● Additionally, Mrs. Satola’s honors history classes came in for a research lessons on using databases to find primary sources. Later in the year, her honors classes conducted Civil Rights Research and I provided instruction on how to properly create a works cited page-using NoodleBib.

● Mr. Bogigian’s 12the grade classes wrote an end of year research paper using library databases.

Special Programs, participation in contests:

Author/Reading Programs

● AR Reading. Throughout the course of the year, I assisted students and teachers in selecting AR books for English classes, administering quizzes and updating AR lists with new titles.

● The LMC Lunch Book Club continued this year. Throughout the course of the year we had a 5 staff and 20 students involved. We were able to read and discuss 4 books this school year.

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Right to Read Week Right to Read Week was observed at the high school the week of April 7-11. This year's theme was "Make it @ Your Library". There were a variety of activities and contests for staff and students to participate in throughout the week.

The Library/Media Center was turned into a MakerSpace-- a hands-on space to can create, explore, tinker, design, and DIY. She had high and low-tech projects to conduct. The space was available to students and staff all week. Some of the activities included:

Makey Makey Mania: Students were able to turn the whole world into a functional keyboard. Using their wildest imagination, they discovered different ways to use everyday objects (such as fruit, play-doh, pencil drawings or even cups of water) as touch pads for fun activities. They did a demo Makey Makey piano and drum.

Aww Snap Circuits: Making Electronic Circuits Students discovered the basics of electronics, integrated circuits, and more, creating circuit board projects with Snap Circuit Jr. Kit and the Tapetricity cards.

Duct Tape Universe: Duct tape can be used for everything from securing air ducts together to creating prom dresses and tuxedos. Students explored how to craft this popular tape into everyday objects.

Power Up your Favorite Paper Airplane: Students enjoyed trying the amazing PowerUp 2.0 Electric Paper Airplane Conversion kit. It added motorized power to their paper airplanes and delivered 30 seconds of flight with a 20 seconds charge.

Concluding the week was the ever popular Edible Books Contest on Thursday, April 30. Students and staff were able to create a book out of anything edible.

Faculty in-service – meetings, workshops, etc.:

● I served as the WVIZ Advisory Council district representative and attended 5 meetings throughout the school year. At Advisory Council meetings, representatives learn about cutting-edge professional development workshops related to the use of electronic media and technology in the classroom, instructional TV, online learning, distance learning programs and early childhood workshops and activities.

● I served as the LNOCA LLIS liaison for the district and attended– 4 meetings. The LLIS consists of K-12 school library/media representatives from public and private schools in the LNOCA service area. Representatives meet during the school year to receive updates and training from INFOhio Support staff at LNOCA, make suggestions with regard to INFOhio and LNOCA, and to collaborate with colleagues about library/media services.

● Attended The Ohio Educational Library Media Association fall conference January

● May Early Release Day – I facilitated a Library Department meeting with Tari Mackanos and Marian Streibel.

Major accomplishments of the department: ● I presented a session to the High School Staff on the November 7th Waiver Day. The

session was titled: Common Core Writing: Research to Build and Present Knowledge. The goal of the session was to examine the Writing standards that focus on both short and extended research projects, discuss the Parcc research simulation task and student

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expectations, identify strengths and weaknesses of our current research projects, examine strategies to repackage research to meet CCSS, and explore tools that support good research practice.

● Active Member of the District Technology Committee, this committee met frequently throughout the year after school on Wednesdays with Joe Hribar and Gina Koziol.

● Promoted library databases with the staff through emails, newsletters and handouts. ● The LMC hosted the AP Exams this school year. ● Collaborated with Dottie Louis CCPL teen librarian to host a book club during lunch

periods throughout the school year.

Collection Development

In order to provide access to materials in all formats, including up-to date, high quality varied literature and resources, new purchase were made this year by the LMC.

Print

250 new titles were added to the print collection this year. 110 titles were added in the non-fiction, biography and reference collection 140 new titles were added in fiction and paperback. The majority of these books are Accelerated Reading books that the English department assigns to students in Grades 9-12 throughout the school year. Online Databases – The LMC currently subscribes to the following databases:

● SIRS Knowledge Source ● Discovery Education ● Student Resources in Context ● Gale Virtual Reference Collection ● Opposing Viewpoints in Context ● North Coast Education Media contract which provides; Literature Reference Center,

Biography Resource Center, Pop Culture Universe, Science in Context, Country Reports, U.S. History in Context, World History in Context.

Plans and goals Next year one of my major goals is develop a strategy to see more classes throughout the year and to work with them integrating research skills into the Common Core curriculum. I will strategize with teachers, especially freshman and sophomore teachers so as to work with students early and often in their high school year. Below is a list of skills that are important to teach students. The research outcomes I identified in the CCSS include:

● Conduct short research and more sustained research projects ● Gather relevant information from multiple sources, including digital and print ● Demonstrate understanding of the subject matter ● Assess credibility and accuracy of sources ● Integrate information while avoiding plagiarism ● Draw evidence to support analysis, reflection, and research.

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Athletics

The Independence High School Interscholastic Athletic Program won three conference championships during our tenth year in the Chagrin Valley Conference (CVC). Team championships were garnered by Boy’s Cross Country, Volleyball and Wrestling. In addition, numerous individual awards were earned and records broken by our student-athletes. CVC runner-up team finishes were achieved in Boys Soccer, Girls Golf and Softball. Individually, the following athlete was recognized as Most Valuable Performer in his CVC sport: Tyler Polman (Boys Cross Country). It is also significant to note that this was the first time in school history that we had an official Girl’s Golf team.

As in past years, the 2014-15 school year once again saw some outstanding team and individual performances at the OHSAA end of season tournament level. During the Fall, our Boys Cross Country and Volleyball teams won Division III District Championships. The following athletes received All-Ohio honors: Jacob Spino (Wrestling) and Jennifer Wisniewski (Girls Soccer).

Participation in interscholastic athletics at Independence High School decreased slightly from the previous school year as 218 of a possible 370 students participated in the interscholastic sports during the 2014-15 school year. However, this was the smallest total enrollment since the 2003-04 school but it was the second highest participation percentage during that twelve year time period.

For the second consecutive year, gate receipts were higher than what had been projected primarily due to the football and boys’ basketball revenue. The main source of income for the Independence Athletic Department continues to be gate receipts along with adult, family and student passes. The deficit balance for the 2014-15 school year was also higher than had been anticipated due to several unexpected necessary purchases. The deficit balance will be supplemented by the Board of Education.

The “pay to participate” athletic fees for 2014-15 remained unchanged from the previous school year. The fee schedule was a follows: ~$65.00 fee per sport ~$105.00 maximum fee per athlete ~$165.00 maximum fee per family (Middle School athletes included)

For the second year in a row, the Independence Athletic Department played host to five OHSAA tournaments. During the Fall season, we hosted Boy’s and Girl’s OHSAA Sectional Soccer games. In the Winter, we hosted Girl’s Division III Sectional Basketball along with the Division III Sectional Wrestling tournament and in the Spring we were the host site for the Boy’s & Girl’s Division III District Track & Field Championships. The Independence Athletic Department expanded its partnership with the Akron/Cleveland CYO program as we hosted Football, Soccer and Track & Field contests during the Fall and Spring seasons. The outstanding relationship between the Independence Local Schools and the Independence Recreation Department continued for another school year as we once again successfully hosted the 8th annual Renee Roche Volleyball Invitational, the 7th annual North Coast Wrestling Tournament, and for the 10th consecutive year we hosted Indoor Track & Field Invitational’s in the Shared Use Fieldhouse.

As was mentioned previously, during the 2014-15 school year we added Girls Golf as another OHSAA sponsored sport. The Independence Athletic Department now offers thirteen Varsity sports with seventeen actual teams competing in OHSAA sanctioned sports. Our affiliation with the “old” Chagrin Valley Conference (CVC) will end after the 2014-15 school year as we transition into the “new” Chagrin Valley Conference with sixteen (16) teams that will be divided into two divisions of eight (8) based on school enrollment.

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CHAGRIN VALLEY CONFERENCE FIRST TEAM RECOGNITION WAS GIVEN TO THE FOLLOWING ATHLETES:

Larissa Adams……………….…………………………………..Softball Adam Anielski …….……………………………………Cross Country Ben Artrip…………………………………………………Track & Field Joe Bernstein…...…….……………………………………………Soccer Lindsay Blum..………...…………………………………………….Golf Nick Brunsman………...…………………………………………….Golf Austin Buc……………………………………….........Football / Baseball Brian Calvey.. …….……………………………………...Track & Field Evan Collins………….………………………………….…………Soccer Paul Deely……………………………………………….………Wrestling Halle Dorko…..……………………….……Soccer / Basketball / Softball Nicole Ferrara…………………………….……………………….Softball Tanner Hadick………………………….………………………..Wrestling Colin Jedrzejek …….………………….………………….Cross Country Shane Mathew…………………………….………………..Cross Country Daniel Mathews………………………….………….Basketball / Baseball Tyler Polman (CVC Valley MVP)…….....Cross Country / Track & Field Ashley Pucella…....………………………………………..Cross Country Kim Rega…..……………………………………………………..Softball Megan Screptock ……………………………………………...Volleyball AJ Senick.……………………………………………………....Wrestling Nick Sia…..…..………………………………………………....Wrestling Jacob Spino…………………………………………………....Wrestling Mallory Trombetta…………………………………….……….Volleyball Sophia Trombetta……………………………………….……………Golf Tyler Wilson……..….………………………………….…………….Golf David Wisniewski…………….............................................Cross Country Jennifer Wisniewski……………....................................................Soccer Bolded athletes received All-Ohio recognition

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EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Biology Society

Advisor: Mr. Maretka

Students: 55

Activities: - Spring Trip (Carter Caves Kentucky) - Weekend Hikes (Metro Parks & National Park, local nature centers

and Land Lab) - Service Projects – Weeded Primary School garden beds, hosted 4

pond studies (local preschool) - Jen Wisniewski received the 2014 Biology Society Scholarship

Concession Stand

Advisor: Mr. Mann and Mr. Stefanski

Students: Varies

Activities: - Operation of concession stand for varsity football games, boys’ basketball, district and CVC track meets

- Goal for next year is to get more students volunteers.

Key Club

Advisor: Mr. Wells

Students: 24

Activities: - We held 2 Bloodmobiles at the High, and also helped the Kiwanis Club at their functions (Chicken Barbecue, Pancake Breakfast, Fishing contest, and Easter Egg Hunt, etc.). We assisted the Kiwanis Club with their Santa Delivery program by dressing up as elves and riding on the sled with Santa

- We sponsored a Food Drive during the month of October. We collected money during homeroom. The winning homeroom got to go shopping at Giant Eagle and spend the entire amount collected by the entire school. Approximately $750 was collected and the Key Club donated an additional $200. Mrs. Paulus homeroom won the contest and being a math teacher, she made the shopping excursion into a math lesson. The students dropped the food off at Lend-a-Hand. After delivering the food, they proceeded to assist with the organizing and packing of the food for needy families in our local communities.

- We had a Giving Tree at Christmas time. We had the names of 60 children who attend University Settlement. Students took the names of these children and bought gifts for their “adopted child”.

- We deliver food through an organization called All Faith Pantry. Once a month we deliver food at an apartment complex where the residents are all unable to walk. We pick up the food in Cleveland and transport it to the apartment complex and then go door to door to the clients who are eligible for their services.

- We bought a brick for the “Turf the Field” initiative. The Club donated a total of $1,000 to this project. This was completed over the summer and the sports teams competed on the field this year.

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- We donated money to purchase raffle items for the Cornerstone of Hope annual gala. This year a $200 chair was purchased and raffled off at the Gala.

- Key Club donated $250 to help fund a guest speaker at the beginning of the school year. The speaker talked about dealing with Tourette’s syndrome.

- To raise money this year we had a Homeday booth at the Independence Homeday’s festival selling fresh cut fries during the 2 day event in early August raising over $1,000. The club sold over 600 lbs. of potatoes at this two-day event. We need to continue to work on ways to get more students to work our booth. As is often the case at IHS a few students are asked to do a lot. They are pulled in many directions because they are involved in so many activities.

- Our Key Club remains a strong club in the school. We do need to work on getting our younger students more actively involved in Key Club. This could be accomplished by making sure the students are aware of what the club is and what it does. I feel our Key club accomplished a great deal this year. I look forward to a great year next year

Music Department Flag Corps/Drill Team

Advisor: Mrs. Weaver

Students: 9

Activities: - All home and away football game half-time shows (Marching Band Auxiliary) - Fund raising (Home Days, fruit sale and candy sale)

Drama

Advisor: Mrs. Schatt

Students: 55

Activities: - Activities: Interest Meeting and Officer Elections (November, 2014) Musical Announced, Audition materials distributed (December,

2014) Auditions with Mrs. Schatt and Ms. DeScioli (January, 2015) Rehearsals (January – March, 2015) Tech “Two-a-Day” rehearsal (March 14, 2015) Performance for Senior Citizens (March 19, 2015) 2 Performances of “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the

Forum” (March 20 & 21, 2015) Set Tear-Down (March 22, 2015) - Fund raising – Program advertisements ($1100) and ticket sales - Successful presentation of a major Broadway Musical (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) - Accomplishments – Highest attendance recorded in the past 6 years,

Highest gross ticket sales in the past 6 years, Highest number of participants and parent volunteers in the past 6 years, Highest program advertisement sales in the past 6 years; headed by Jim Riley

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Instrumental Music (Marching Band/Concert Band)

Advisor: Mr. Schatt

Students: 102

Activities: - Fund raising (Home Days raffle tickets, Candy sale, fruit drive, Butterbraid Sale)

- Pre-season band camp - Home Days and Memorial Day Parade - Christmas and Spring Concert - Marching season – performances at all home/away football games - Various ensemble performances, including Spaghetti Dinner

performance - Senior Awards Night and Graduation performances

Monopoly Club

Advisor: Mr. Maretka

Students: 20

Activities: - Game night once a week (every Monday after school until 5:00 pm) - The name of the club will be changed. We really never played much

Monopoly.

National Honor Society

Advisor: Mrs. Ribovich

Students: 19

Activities: - The Independence High School chapter of National Honor Society has had a successful 2014-15 academic year. We inducted nineteen new members at our all-school induction ceremony, during which members inspired the rest of the IHS student body to think about the roles character, leadership, service, and academics play in their lives.

- Our members got right to work on service projects after induction. We completed one major group service project and several smaller individual ones. Overall, our members completed over 500 service hours in the name of NHS. For our annual Kids’ Night Out, members provided an evening of fun activities for several dozen area children. Aside from larger events, members worked diligently second semester to tutor their peers who were struggling with academics. Our tutoring program benefited over thirty IHS students, and several teachers have expressed that their students who were tutored by NHS members gained confidence and improved their grades.

- Current Members – Julia Abbadini, Marissa Artrip, Nora Baran, Rachel Brocco, Cynthia Cooper, Kylie Duhn, Julia Halamek, Katie Jovanovic, Shane Mathew, Troy Nemeth, Ally Porochonski, Hannah Presot, AJ Senick, Brandon Stralka, Greg Synek, David Terrano, John Terrano, Jen Wisniewski, Christa Zubic

- New Inductees – Jordan Bianco, Madelynne DeAngelis, Nicole Ferrara, Kathleen George, Rebecca Jindra, Nicholas Krasnoschlik, Maia Lentz, Amanda Pucella, Ashley Rega, John Roddy, Alexandra Sobczak, Matthew Terrano, David Wisniewski

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Ski Club

Advisor: Mrs. Whitacre

Students: 13

Activities: - Ski Club goes skiing on Thursday nights. We attended Brandywine Ski Resort for five ski sessions, as long as weather allows.

- Ski Club accomplished completing five ski sessions this past winter. - As advisor of Ski Club, I found this activity to be of great fun and

entertainment. It is a nice way to get to know students that are not in my classes. They proved to be responsible and timely. Unlike organized athletics, students have the option of coming each week. This made the number of students attending different every week. So, if students had to study for exams or had other commitments, they did not feel pressure to attend.

Student Council

Advisor: Mrs. Stefanski

Students: 40

Activities: - Student Council sponsored the following activities: August - Homedays – Food booth made $200, cookout for student

council members, Freshmen Orientation, Packet Pick-up, Open House, Back to School dance, Money drive with Key Club, Painting cafeteria and foyer, sports hall signs

September – Homecoming (Great Class Challenge, King, Queen and Court Selection (Top 10 then Top 5), AM Assembly, PM Assembly, Spirit Week, Each class hall decorations, band practice half time show).

October – Haunted House trip, Spirit Week December – Candy cane sale February – Carnation sale March – MDA Shamrock sale, I-Pride, Spring Dance April – Junior/Senior boys volleyball game May – Faculty appreciation luncheon, softball game, elections - Fundraising activities: Candy cane sale, carnation sale, 2 dances and

Homedays

Yearbook

Advisor: Mrs. Lewis & Mrs. Panteck

Students: 11

Activities: - Pictures taken by Woodard for sports, events, and musical functions - Fall workshop through Jostens at Lakeland Community College - Journalism Day with the Columbus Blue Jackets…cancelled due to

timing conflict - Business and senior advertisements - Accomplishments – maintain budget for this year’s book without

sacrificing quality. Increasing yearbook sales with a decrease school population, approximately 200 copies ordered.

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Class of 2015

Advisor: Mrs. Paulus

Students: 103

Activities: - Put on Homecoming dance and purchased homecoming decorations - Purchased Career Portfolios for each senior - Purchased a t-shirt for each senior and provided an opportunity for

each senior to order additional senior spirit wear - Paid for the Peggy Nicholls award engraving - Provided a senior discount on prom tickets - Provided funds for senior DVD – given to each student - Provided funds senior picnic - Purchased palms, flowers, stoles and honor cords for

Commencement, ordered caps, tassels and gowns for each senior (class paid for $1 of each order)

- Purchased gifts for Independence High School – 3-D printer and filaments, podium for Auditorium

- Transfer funds to other IHS accounts: Student Council, Principal’s Account

Class of 2016

Advisor: Mrs. Lewis

Students: 80

Activities: - As a part of the junior class, students not only selected a location for Prom 2015, they also organized all details for Prom 2015. This included hiring a DJ and florist, coordinating and purchasing favors and invitations, planning for student pictures, coordinating Prom Court voting and implementing Prom Court assembly

- Fundraising – Spirit Sign Sales, donut sales - The planning and implementing of the many aspects of Prom is a

major undertaking each year and the largest concern in being able to assure an enjoyable evening for all students who attend that is affordable. This year the students who represented the Junior class did a phenomenal job planning and organizing their assigned responsibilities.

Class of 2017

Advisor: Mrs. Janosek

Students: 86

Activities: - Fundraising - ran the concession stand for four track meets, HoneyBaked Ham fundraiser and Celebrating Home Candle fundraiser

- The sophomores struggled this year coming up with fundraisers. It is very difficult to come up with ideas that aren’t already taken by other groups in the school, or that meet district approval.

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Class of 2018

Advisor: Mrs. Dolejs

Students: 94

Activities: - During the past year 15-20 freshmen donated their time to the fund raiser conducted by the Class. The Freshmen are responsible for raising funds to begin the operation of the concession stand for all of the home Varsity football, Boys Varsity basketball, and major Track and Field meets during their Sophomore year. The purpose of raising money as a class is to help offset the expense of prom when they are Juniors.

- The Freshman class sponsored one major fundraiser this past school year. They conducted a “spiritwear” sale offering several different items that promoted IHS pride throughout the schools and community.

GENERAL ITEMS

Academic Challenge

Advisor: Mr. Wells

Students: 6

Activities: - This years Academic Challenge Team consisted of 6 members: Kiely Duhn, Tanner Haddick, John Roddy, Nick Sia, Ben Ciulla, Troy Nemeth who competed against students from other schools and on Monday nights at IHS when we were not competing somewhere else.

- The Academic Challenge Club practiced by competing on Monday nights. Miss Baird would also show up and practice with us. She was invaluable, because she is very good at these competitions and provides good practice and competition for our students. We kept tract of the scores of each student individually during many of these competitions.

- We did very well as a group when we competed against the schools in our Academic Challenge “league.” The schools we competed against were Normandy, Padua, Holy Name, and Valley Forge. We won every match we participated in but one. When we host the competition, the students write the questions used in the competition.

The students did a great job writing the questions this year. - One of the highlights for the Academic Challenge Club was the

opportunity to compete on the television show “Its Academic.” We had tryouts for the opportunity to be on the team. The team consisted of Kiley Duhn, Tanner Haddick and John Roddy with alternates Nick Sia, Ben Ciulla and Troy Nemeth. We ended up winning the competition and it was an excellent opportunity for our students to compete against other schools. We are currently in 6th place overall at the time of writing this end of year report. It is always great to be a part of the show “It’s Academic

- A continued major concern going forward with the Academic Challenge Club is the lack of underclassmen. The team was comprised of all seniors.

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Advanced Placement Tests

Independence High School administered 137 A.P. exams this spring. This year, we offered AP courses in: Calculus, Statistics, Studio Art, United States History, American Government, Biology, English Literature and Environmental Science.

IHS-TV

Advisor: Mrs. Panteck

Students: 10

Activities: - Ten students participated in the morning announcements this year. Students were responsible for gathering announcement information, reporting it on air daily and posting it to the web page. The students also made sure the announcements were running continuously on the inside cable television channel daily to keep everyone informed of all activities.

- Mrs. Panteck continued the process of creating a newsletter from the morning announcements for parents who signed up with their email address. This announcement newsletter was sent out once a week to keep parents informed. Job responsibilities were rotated once a month so that everyone would become proficient in the different areas of broadcasting and the use of the equipment.

O.G.T. Results Reading: 97% passed (30% advanced & 40% accelerated) Math: 95% passed (55% advanced & 24% accelerated) Writing: 94% passed (5% advanced & 49% accelerated) Science: 92% passed (29% advanced & 31% accelerated) Social Studies: 92% passed (53% advanced & 21% accelerated) 87% of all the sophomores passed all 5 subject area tests on the first attempt.

The Principal’s Newsletter

The Principal’s Newsletter was published five times during this past year and we continued to go “GREEN”! All newsletters will be published on our district webpage (www.independence.k12.oh.us). These publications provide information, recognize student and staff achievements and serve as a vehicle for providing necessary public information to student homes in our community.

Right to Read

Right to Read Week was observed at the high school the week of April 7-11. This year's theme was "Make it @ Your Library". There were a variety of activities and contests for staff and students to participate in throughout the week.

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ODDS ‘N ENDS

The school is very blessed to have such great support from the P.T.O, and the three booster organizations (Academic, Athletic, and Music.) These groups provide financial support for our students and our programs. Their enthusiasm towards our students and our school is always appreciated!

Final Note

This annual report is an attempt to capsulize a year in the life of Independence High School. Our strong academic program, our special services, our diverse extracurricular program and our continued emphasis on individual students have made us unique in the ranks of public schools. We have attempted to maintain our total educational program while continuing to provide us many opportunities as possible for our students.

WM/hl 6/15