Mantua – In his report to the School Board, Superintendent David Toth shared that first grade teacher Natalie Harr was one of only two Ohio educators to receive the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science this year. Harr will receive a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation, which administers the program. She is currently on professional leave from the District as she serves as a 2013-2014 Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow at the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C.Superintendent Toth also clarified that the High School Band will operate as a class, instead of as an extracurricular activity, as previously discussed. As such, participants would not be required to pay a fee to participate, but will instead be asked to pay an instructional fee, the value of which will be determined in the coming months based on input from Band Director Mrs. Kate Ferguson.
On the topic of calamity days, Mr. Toth stated that so far, during the course of the 2013-2014 academic year, Crestwood has used seven of five available calamity days. As it currently stands, the District is scheduled to make up the extra two days by extending the school year to include June 6th and June 9th. Currently, the Ohio House is reviewing a Bill that would provide a total of nine calamity days during the current academic year. In addition, the Ohio House is considering a bill that would exempt high school seniors from attending extra days scheduled after their graduation ceremonies. In similar news, the Ohio Department of Education announced last week that it would extend the window to complete state tests by one week. Toth announced that in the coming academic year, in lieu of receiving a set number of calamity days, Districts will need to meet a minimum number of hours of instruction. Luckily, Crestwood school schedules currently provide more hours of instruction than the state minimum will require.
In other news, Toth announced that the District had begun the process of developing a strategic plan to set goals and priorities of how the District will allocate it’s resources in the coming years. Toth and the Board hope to have the new plan finalized by the end of the school year or early summer.
In financial news, District Treasurer Jill Rowe shared that several Federal and State budget cuts will again necessitate the use of cost-saving efficiency strategies. State cuts won’t be determined until July 2016 at the earliest. Further discussions about District finances will continue in the coming meetings.
Later, Debra Soltisz presented her Athletic Update, sharing that at the Middle School, winter sports are coming to a close. The eighth grade boys’ basketball finished with a 0-13 record. They had a tough loss to Coventry in the quarterfinals. Seventh grade girls’ basketball finished with a 5-8 record. They lost a close game to Coventry in the quarterfinals. Eighth grade girls’ basketball finished 2-11 record. They lost to Stanton in the quarterfinals.
The Middle School Wrestling team (pictured above) finished with a 12-1 overall record. CMS grapplers were West Geauga Big Ten champs and Aurora Dual Invitational Champs. They also performed well at the Portage Trail Conference (PTC) Tournament, with many wrestlers finishing in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place. Lastly, the cheerleaders did very well in the Girard Competition in January. They will be at the Canton Charge game on March 26. The Middle School Track and Field season starts on March 6th.
At the High School, the CHS Wrestling team made it all the way to Regional Final match of the Ohio Dual Tournament. For the second year in a row, CHS was only one match away from going to Columbus. At the recent PTC Tournament, CHS wrestlers finished first in the tournament and finished first overall in the PTC. This is the fourth straight year of a league championship. In addition, this was the first year Crestwood qualified to host tournament matches, which were held on January 22 and 29. Individual champions for Crestwood were Kenny Jackson (2 time champ), Jake Zemaitis (3 time champ), and Conner Nemec (4 time champ).
In Boys and Girls Swimming, at the final home meet, nine seniors and their parents were recognized. Boys and Girls teams will be at Sectionals Swimming at the University of Akron. In Cheerleading, for the first time in seven years, the varsity squad qualified for state competition.
The girls will represent CHS on March 1 & 2 in Columbus.
Lastly, at the PTC Bowling Tournament in Akron, the boys team finished second and the girls finished fourth. Matt Lyons had high series with a 712 three-game total including a 289 game.
Emma Dockery finished with the second highest series for the girls with a 574 total.
In music news, the OMEA Large Group Adjudicated Event will be held on February 27th at 7 pm. The Middle School will be hosting the CLS Jazz Festival on March 21st. The CMS Solo and Ensemble Festival will be held on April 12, and the All-District Concert will be held on April 15th.
The next regularly-scheduled meeting of the School Board will be held on March 3rd at 7 pm in the High School library.
