(PHOTO BY AMY WENDT / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
FOUR STARS … Archbold School Board receives a breakdown of the annual School Report Card issued by the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce.
By: Amy Wendt
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
amy@thevillagereporter.com
The Archbold School Board met for a regular meeting on October 21 with members Gina Benecke, Skeat Hug, Tyson Stuckey, Karen Beck, and Jeremy Hurst at the table.
Elementary Principal Andrea Thiel, Middle School Principal Matthew Shields, High School Principal Royal Short, Curriculum Director Michele Bagrowski, Superintendent Jayson Selgo, and Treasurer/CFO Joyce Kinsman were on hand to share the latest district news with the board. The evening began with the board approving the Agenda before diving into admin reports.
Curriculum Director Michele Bagrowski presented a slide show offering an explanation of district ratings issued by the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce on its annual School Report Card.
Across the state, districts and schools receive an overall rating between 1 and 5 stars in half-star increments, based on five components: Achievement, Progress, Graduation Rate, Gap Closing, and Early Literacy.
The Archbold Area School District received the following ratings: 5 stars for Achievement, 2 stars for Progress, 5 stars for Graduation Rate, 5 stars for Gap Closing, and 4 stars for Early Literacy. Based on these individual ratings, the district earned an overall rating of 4 stars.
In her presentation, Bagrowski explained that these components are not weighted equally in determining the final rating. Achievement and Progress (or Value Added) account for nearly 30% each, while Graduation Rate, Gap Closing, and Early Literacy each contribute around 14% to the overall rating.
Bagrowski offered more insight on the 2-Star Progress rating. “Progress is actually ‘Value Added,’” Bagrowski began by highlighting the color markers on the chart, indicating where each grade stands.
The fifth-grade rating shows the color red across the board, signifying “significant evidence that the district fell short of student growth expectations by a larger margin,” according to state standards.
Bagrowski continued, “When we start to look at our test scores, our fifth graders—our fifth-grade teachers knocked it out of the park, which I’m going to show you on the next slide.”
“But we have to remember that Value Added looks at where students are and where they project to end up.”
“So, they look at how those students have scored on all their tests before fifth grade; so, the third-grade ELA, fourth-grade ELA, and then it’s going to predict how they do on the fifth-grade ELA, and then the same thing with math.
And then they also project where they should end up on science based on ELA and math scores because they haven’t taken the science test before.”
“And so, all of those scores from before help project where they think those students are going to end up and they need to make more growth than other kids who are projected to end up in that same area.”
Moving on to the test score slide, Bagrowski continued.
“We had 92% of the fifth-grade ELA students pass the test, which is 21% higher than the state’s passing average.”
“And in fifth-grade math, we had 90% of our students pass the test which is 32% higher than the state’s passing average. And then in fifth-grade science, we had 91 percent pass, which is 27% higher than the state’s average.”
“I don’t want anyone to look at Value Added (Progress) and think ‘Oh we’re doing something wrong.’ We’re not necessarily doing something wrong; we still have a large portion of our students passing the test and making significant improvement.”
“However, when you start to look at where their projected growth should be, then the Value Added is telling us they should have made more growth than they actually did. So, it projected those students to score even higher than they did on the test.”
“Now, we are a smaller school, so when you have 100 kids testing, four or five (students) can make their projection – you know, not make their projection, and it would affect our numbers significantly,” Bagrowski added before moving on to the remainder of the report card.
The report card in its entirety can be reviewed at https://reportcard.education.ohio.gov/district/047043.
Moving on to the superintendent’s Report, Dr. Selgo highlighted resolutions before the board that following approval would allow for the complete early payoff of bonds for high school and elementary school construction.
According to Selgo’s report, “this decision will end the real estate tax for these bonds one year sooner, saving the district $9,518.33 in interest and taxpayers 0.30 mills, which amounts to $97,323 annually.
Over time, the district has reduced taxes as property values increased, with reductions of 1.3 mills in 2010 and 1.6 mills in 2020.”
The superintendent’s report also touched briefly on the Rapback expansion and Senate Bill 29.
Treasurer Joyce Kinsman highlighted the Section 125 Plan in her report, which focuses on allowing employees to pre-tax their shares of benefits, including flexible spending accounts and health savings accounts.
Kinsman also pointed out the two resolutions for bond payment on the agenda and shared that if passed, the measure will save taxpayers over $97,000.
In the elementary report, Principal Andrea Thiel recognized the Students of the Month of September for exemplifying the monthly character trait of “Courage.”
The following students received recognition. Kindergarten: Zoey Reyes, Magnolia Gnagey, Ian Bojorquez, Eugenia Lozano, Maya Plata, and Cy Curry. 1st grade: Addison Ward, Brenex Baden, Josephine Coats, and River Stuckey. 2nd grade: Tucker Trowbridge, Joseph Gibson, Ruby Sefranka, and Margot Gnagey. 3rd grade: Nixon Salas, Isaac King, Aaliyah Rojo, and CJ Sortor. 4th grade: Noah Babcock, Gael Medina, Dominic Rossi-Perez, and JJ Peace, Jr. Specials: Leah Krueger, Stella Carpenter, Apphia Verhoff, Tegan Plata, and William Steingass.
Thiel shared that elementary students were treated to an assembly featuring Ned’s Mindset Mission where they heard three important messages: Never Give Up, Encourage Others, and Do Your Best. Kindergarten students will continue to visit various “community helpers” throughout the month of October.
Kindergarten students also visited T22 Farms for their annual Fall Festival and both first and second-grade students made visits to Sauder Village.
First through fourth-grade students will celebrate the fall season with classroom parties and the annual costume parade on Thursday, October 31.
Thiel’s report also touched on Bully Prevention Spirit Week which included dress-up days at AES. Third and fourth-grade students have been taking part in the “Too Good For Drugs” program presented by Recovery Services of Northwest Ohio.
Parent-teacher conferences will be held on Thursday, November 21, Monday, November 25, and Tuesday, November 26.
Leading into his report, Middle School Principal Shields took a moment to express gratitude to the custodial team in the middle school building for always going “above and beyond” in their job. He noted Beth Grime will be retiring at the end of the year and will be missed.
“They take great pride in keeping the building clean but they do so much more than that. They care of our students and our staff and they’re great with the community, great with the public.”
AMS September Mindset Leaders for exhibiting an “Everything is Possible” attitude were also recognized. Those receiving the distinction included the following students: 5th Grade: Reese Culler, Norah Fruth, Stella Hancock, Marley Livensparger, and Kip Welty. 6th Grade: Hollyce Baun, Luke Beck, Mycah Miles, Tobin Nafziger, and Kaden Pierson. 7th Grade: Kayla Benecke, Lorelei Miller, Maci Morrow, and Emi Pinter. 8th Grade: Isaac Brown, Brookelyn Morrow, Clayton Nafziger, Logan Ruffer, and Aubree Vandock.
AMS hosted over 200 Grandparents of fifth graders on October 4 who were treated to a musical performance led by Mrs. Courtney Grisier. In support of fall athletics, AMS students also took part in Spirit Week.
The following students have been selected by their peers to serve on the AMS Student Council. 8th Grade: Clayton Nafziger, Tyson Bosco, Aubree Vandock, Eli Krueger, and Ginger Ruffer. 7th Grade: Zayd Guelde, Alex Baden, Audree Plassman, Naomi Curry, and Brooklyn Moyer. 6th Grade: Luke Beck, Wyatt Stuckey, Carson Baden, Marian Shields, and Anna Meyer. 5th Grade: Blaizlee Wurster, Reese Culler, Kip Weldy, Mila Gors, and Gehrig Selgo.
In the high school report, Principal Royal Short recognized new NHS members: Jade Whitacre, Miley Gericke, Autumn Benecke, Preston Nofziger, Evan Wendt, Avery Roth, Evynn Roth, Irelyn Hug, Makena Thiel, Lydia Frey, and Emma Krukowski who were inducted into NHS on October 6.
The Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) volunteered by insulating a house for Habitat for Humanity. The students are also teaming up with Fairlawn Haven for an upcoming bake sale.
The AHS Ag department has a full schedule up ahead including an interview contest, Parliamentary Procedure contest, dairy judging, and soil judging and some members of the FFA will soon travel to Indianapolis for the National FFA convention.
Other upcoming AHS events include the Fall Play on November 9 and 10, the Student Council Blood Drive on November 20, the Band and Choir trip from November 22-25, and Parent-teacher Conferences on November 21, 25, & 26.
The board addressed the Consensus Agenda by approving the meeting minutes from September 16, September 2024 financial reports, and also approved the tuition reimbursement for classes taken during the 2023-2024 school year for teachers continuing their education under the negotiated contract agreement.
Donations in the amount of $15,787.00 were accepted and $13,8950 in appropriation modifications were approved.
The board approved several other items during the meeting including the Section 125 Plan Document, effective January 1, 2025, and a resolution authorizing the prepayment of refunding bonds.
The board also passed a resolution authorizing the transfer of monies from the bond retirement fund to a designated permanent improvement fund. A student was also approved for early graduation so long as all requirements were met.
Moving to personnel recommendations, the board appointed Anne McCarty, Jill Martinez, Allison Bentley, Kevin K. Miller, Jan Lindsay, Claire Conrad, and Brenda Beck as Grade Level High Dosage Tutors for the 2024-2025 school year.
The board approved one-year supplemental contracts for several coaching positions. Ed Miller will lead the 8th grade boys’ basketball team, while Doug Rupp will coach 7th grade boys’ Basketball.
Tess Pinter has been appointed as coach for the 8th grade girls’ basketball team, with Mindy Gruenhagen taking on 7th grade girls’ basketball. Kevin Bostelman, Mitch Hogrefe, and Austin Wilson will all serve as coaches for 7th and 8th grade wrestling. Mike Kennedy and Ryan Holdgreve were approved as assistant basketball coaches, with Rich Thiel coaching the 9th grade basketball team.
Courtney Stewart and Billy Hug were named assistant coaches for girls’ basketball, while Garrett Grime, Shelyce Yeager, and Colton Soles will serve as assistant wrestling coaches.
Several volunteers were also appointed to serve throughout the winter sports season and Adam Griesier will serve as a volunteer for The Company Choir.
The board approved the salary schedule placement for several certified employees who have completed additional education courses.
Shannon Schmucker and Jason Bacik have both reached MA+30, while Andrea Oyer and Ryan Holdgreve have achieved MA+15. Sarah Dominique and Krysti Bowerman have obtained their MA, and Maria Oyer has also reached the MA+30 level.
The board accepted the retirement resignation of Elizabeth Grime effective January 1, 2025.
Catherine Brubaker, Sarah Meyer, and Kristi Keefer were appointed as Classified Substitutes for the 2024-2025 school year. The board also accepted the Northwest Ohio Educational Service Center’s substitute teacher and paraprofessional substitute lists.
Archbold Board of Education will hold its next regular meeting in the high school media center on Monday, November 18, 2024.
