Welcome to the 2017-2018 school year. Our administration and staff are eager to begin another year with the students, parents, grandparents, and community members throughout our district. We hope to have everyone work together to make this another successful educational and fun filled year for all.
I trust each of you have had a relaxing and enjoyable summer with your family and friends. I hope your vacations, special trips, and family gatherings have been fun, safe and educational. As August is upon us, I hope all of you are looking forward to another exciting and rewarding school year. As you return to school, notice the new K-8 facility has had many punch list items completed this summer, including beautiful painting to the playground surfacing, further seeding and lawn work around the perimeter of the school and many other painting, furnishings, and corrective punch list items inside the complex. At the High School complex, you will see the finished product of our field turf at the football stadium with other improvements around the field. Work continues at our track and field complex with completion scheduled by the end of Fall. We also have completed many required annual inspections in preparation for the upcoming school year. I hope you all share the same excitement and enthusiasm I have about our upcoming year in our new K-8 complex, as well as, our upgraded football and track facilities. Thank you to the Greenville community for your ongoing support.
A special thank you to the Friends of Harmon Field who have assisted the school district in off-setting funding for our new stadium projects. Thank you to all community members and businesses that have contributed to the project. We look forward to our upcoming soccer and football seasons on the new turf. Our first home game on the stadium turf is scheduled for Friday, August 25th at 7:00 p.m. versus Eaton. We hope many community members attend the game to see the renovated field and support our team.
We have certainly enjoyed our experience with Shook Touchstone Construction Manager at Risk and Garmann Miller Architects and Engineers as we work through the final stage of construction, being the punch list phase. Our co-owner, the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission and the district will soon be conducting our eleven month walk through of our new K-8 facility making sure punch list items are complete and reviewing that HVAC, electrical, technology, plumbing and geothermal equipment are functioning appropriately. We want to thank Four Seasons Environmental, Inc. for serving as our commissioning agent on both the High School renovation and the K-8 new facility. We appreciate their review and functional test performed on our HVAC, electrical and geothermal systems. Their commissioning and the district commitment to ongoing preventative maintenance are both instrumental to the operations of our buildings.
The district is also moving forward with the abatement and demolition of our older buildings. East and South are close to complete with both processes. The Junior High is close to completion with abatement and soon will be beginning demolition. That will be followed up with the addition of green space and parking areas next to Memorial Hall. Abatement has begun at Woodland Heights and will continue this Fall with demolition to follow. It has been a pleasure to work with our professionals Brumbaugh-Herrick, Inc. in abatement consultation and Gilbane Building Company in demolition supervision and consultation and Complete Demolition Services that have been the professional contractor performing both the abatement and demolition services. All our professionals have worked with the Ohio Department of Health inspectors throughout the removal process.
Our district will participate in two teacher professional development days this year. These are non-instructional days for students that allow for additional professional development for our staff. These two days are scheduled for Monday, September 25th and Monday, October 30th. These days return to the Fall this year with the completion of construction. We also have staff work days scheduled for August 24th and 25th. There is an additional staff work day after first semester on Monday, January 22, 2018 that students will not be in attendance. Curriculum implementations our district is continuing with at the elementary level this year include our one to one iPad technology initiative at grades Kindergarten through Sixth grade, as well as, our ESpark program. Likewise, at all elementary and junior high grade levels we are participating in Measurement of Academic Progress (MAP) testing to continue throughout the year to keep a close measure on our alignment to end of year required state assessments. At the high school, we will continue for the third year with the College Credit Plus program, as well as, our high performing Career Tech Programs. Our ninth and tenth grade high school classes will also participate in MAP testing and we also will be involved in required state end of course exams and American Institute for Research (AIR) assessments. This year's junior class will continue to take the required ACT test in the Spring. This is scheduled presently to be a paper version of the test.
Our high school career tech teams continue to shine in National Competition. The District would like to highlight the Greenville High School Auto Tech Program for earning Gold during National Competition in Louisville, KY during June 2017. The presenting team consisted of Shelbi Miller, Nathan Remencus, and Austin Lacy, with Jim Anderson and Travis Nicholas as the instructors. Congratulations on a job well done!
The District would like to highlight the Greenville High School FCCLA program for earning the following awards during National Competition in Nashville, TN during July 2017. 1st Place in FCCLA Chapter Website went to Maddy Meade, Hayley Burns and Mary Fenhaus. 2nd Place in Advocacy went to Haylee Rohr, and 3rd Place in Digital Stories for Change went to Sierra Cress, Maddie Shepard and Taryn Cooper. The instructor was Amy Schoen. You all are a source of pride for Greenville City Schools and we Congratulate you! You have represented yourselves and our district in an outstanding manner.
Our district is on a rotation basis to purchase textbooks and supplemental materials beyond the required College Credit Plus textbook purchases. This year our district purchased many new English Language Arts textbooks and materials. Next year our district will be purchasing social studies materials.
We have added many new wireless access points at the high school to improve the technology delivery. The district has kept the added staff to the technology department to help manage all the new technology and online testing. A Facebook page has been implemented. We have also increased our curriculum supervision personnel to help oversee our testing achievement data and provide additional help to our instructional delivery process and involvement with our coordination in the Ohio Improvement Process. We are pleased to have additional curriculum staff.
This Fall we will continue to contract with the City of Greenville to provide us with two school resource officers. One will continue to be housed at the high school while the other will be at the K-8 facility. These SRO's will assist us with safety and security, but also provide educational programming. They have done an outstanding job for the district and it is a pleasure to work with the City to staff these positions.
We look forward to our Advanced Manufacturing Lab being used by our Career Tech program again this year, as well as, some adult programming held in the evening coordinated by a joint agreement between Edison State and Greenville City Schools that is also in place again this year.
Reminder that lunch at the high school will be closed this year to all students. As we begin a new school year, remember to travel slowly on Ohio and Main Street and observe the speed limit when students are present and particularly during drop off and dismissal times at the K-8 complex, as well as, the high school. Always slowdown in the parking lots and follow marked traffic flow to keep everyone safe.
Please join me in welcoming the following new employees to the Greenville School District. We look forward to working with each of them in our educational delivery and are glad they have joined the Greenville School District team.
Kurtis Combs - Supervisor of Maintenance, Building & Grounds
Angela Wills - Speech Pathologist
Michelle Wilson - Speech Pathologist
Nanci Willman - Certified Payroll Clerk
Kevin Cantrell - Intervention Specialist
Andrew Miskimen - Math Teacher
Pam Lehman - Intervention Specialist
Julie Winters - Language Arts/English Teacher
Scott Eberwine - NJROTC
Kaylee Hartrum - Language Arts/English Teacher
Steve Buckingham - Language Arts/English Teacher
Amanda Koenig-CT-Medical Tech Prep Teacher
Rita Potter - CT- Family & Consumer Science
Sara Lewis - Instrumental Music Teacher & Band Director
Mary Lee Moore - CT Secretary
Tammy Abell - Student Activity Clerk/Accounts Receivable
Steven McGlinch - Custodian
Jerry Foster - Para Professional - Study Hall
Jeff Miller - Intervention Specialist
Laura Ratermann - Intervention Specialist
Dawn Nicholas - Secretary - Accounts Receivable
Emily Plessinger - Para Professional
Kelly Elleman - Para Professional
Jennifer Smith - Intervention Specialist
Lauren (Bakker) Gardner - Elementary Art Teacher
Alexis Mills - 1st Grade Teacher
Angela Beumer- Bus Driver
I invite everyone in the community to attend and support our students in the various extracurricular activities that take place throughout the school year. Your attendance is appreciated by the students and the school system.
Remember, the entire Greenville School faculty and staff is here to assist you - our students, parents and community. If we can be of assistance, please feel free to contact our principals myself. I can be reached by phone at 937-548-3185. I can be reached by email at dfries@gcswave.com. Let's all work together to make 2017-2018 an outstanding school year and keep Greenville Schools a great place for students to learn and teachers to teach.
Mr. Douglas W. Fries
Superintendent
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