Good things are happening at Greenfield Middle School
The McClain girls swim team, this year’s FAC champs, were recognized at Monday’s school board meeting. Those present Monday are pictured. Back row (l-r): board members Sandy Free and Rachel Fraley, students Madison Knowles, Ahanor Moore, Dixie Johnson, Avarey Hammond, Allie Flowers, Katelyn Barrett, Anna Barrett, Jillian Arthurs and school board members Eric Zint and Eric Wise. In the front row (l-r): coach Jeana McNeal, students Allison Shope, Harley Peabody, Elana Unger, Jaylee Little, Addison Smith, Lillian Bateman and Laura Barber. (Photos by Angela Shepherd)
By Angela Shepherd
GEVS
There are good things happening at Greenfield Middle School and some of those were highlighted at the Monday Feb. 27 board of education meeting held in the middle school gym.
This school year started a new system of support for students at the middle school called Family Group.A couple students stood up to tell school board members about it at the meeting.
Kalliegh Freeze and Lila Banks told board members what they liked about Family Group, which places sixth, seventh, and eighth-graders into groups together. Students remain in the same group throughout middle school, as do the adults heading up the groups, which includes teachers, aides, and monitors.
According to principal Jason Potts previously, the idea for the program came from reflecting over the last three years of his time in the middle school where the need for social-emotional support had become imperative, especially with the pandemic and the negative impact possible with social media. Many students struggle with anxiety, he said, and helping them learn to cope with the daily stressors of life as well as to communicate face-to-face instead of hiding behind their phone screens is important. This program is meant to focus on those things and appropriate social interactions.
Freeze and Banks both talked about how the closeness of their groups, the interaction within their groups, and how the group setting has facilitated goal setting.
The groups are competitive as points are assessed for absences, disciplinary incidents, and grades. As Potts said, “It’s like golf. The lowest score wins.” Winning groups receive rewards, and during the challenges, the winning groups get to post a banner above their door.
The program is something that is yielding good things for not only the students, but staff also, Potts said previously.
Assistant principal Jeremy Andrews covered some information regarding disciplinary and attendance matters. This includes the attendance rate’s steady improvement over the last three years as well as the reduction of disciplinary referrals, detentions, in-school reassignment (ISR), and suspensions. Some of these have dropped drastically over the last three years, according to the information provided by Andrews. One thing that has not dropped however, but has increased, are the instances of after-school cleanup. It’s something that Andrews said he believes to be a valuable disciplinary tool, doing good things for other people.
The improvement of the middle school is also something Potts touched on when he shared a letter from the Ohio Department of Education stating that the school is no longer a Targeted Support and Improvement (TIS) school. In Ohio that means that the middle school was previously a school identified as one that struggled with large achievement gaps among student subgroups.
Moving beyond this designation, Potts said, is something that he credits to the staff that have worked hard to make it happen and he is “very proud.”
In other meeting matters, the school board recognized two girls sports teams, the seventh grade basketball team and the high school swim team.
The seventh-grade team won the FAC (Frontier Athletic Conference) seventh-grade tournament and ended their season with 14 wins and five losses. According to Superintendent Quincey Gray, the girls had a huge cheering section of students and community members for their tournament.
The high school girls swim team is the FAC champ, and according to coach Jeana McNeal, the girls worked harder this year than ever before to earn that top spot after six years at number two. She said the team was also backed by a staunch group of supporters.
On legislative matters, school board member Eric Wise noted the movements of a few bills as they make their way through the state’s house and senate regarding matters that could affect the school district. You can check out introduced legislature and track the movement though the House and Senate at legislature.ohio.gov.
Allie Flowers, high school student and the evening’s representative of the superintendent’s student advisory council spoke about band. Recently, she said, four McClain band students participated in a solo and ensemble competition, and each of the four students achieved high marks. The participating students were Lillian Bates, Leland Ewry, Alexis West, and Alexis Arthurs. Flowers also discussed the experience of being in band and talked about upcoming performances and competitions.
Gray, in her report noted that Flowers is this year’s Konneker Scholarship winner, which was met with a round of applause. Also, the district very recently hosted the annual Rotary Four-Way Speech Contest, with Nicholas Alvarez winning. The superintendent also said the spring musical, “The Little Mermaid,” is being performed March 22-23.
In other business, it’s the end of an era as treasurer Joe Pat Smith will be retiring from the school district at the end of March. The school board on Monday accepted his resignation effective March 31.
The board also voted on a couple related matters regarding the treasurer. One of those was hiring Brad Barber, who happens to be a McClain graduate, as the new treasurer effective March 4. The others were for Smith to serve as assistant treasurer beginning on that date until March 31, and thereafter in a consulting position to aid Barber and the district in the transition to the new treasurer.
Other employment approved included Mikel Pritchard, junior high track; Shania Massie, softball assistant; Craig Wise, softball assistant; Kameron Reed, junior high track; Spring Roberts, softball assistant; Richard Swan, baseball assistant; Taylor Boeckman, softball assistant; Emma Stegbauer, softball assistant; and certified substitutes Shane Fligor and Tyler Carman.
The Greenfield Exempted Village School District Board of Education meets next in regular session on March 18 at 7 p.m. in Buckskin Elementary. For information and updates, go to the district website at greenfield.k12.oh.us or go to the district’s social media pages. The individual buildings also have Facebook pages. The district’s central office may be reached by calling (937) 981-2152.
Below, The seventh-grade girls basketball team was recognized at Monday’s Greenfield school board meeting. On the far left board members Rachel Fraley and Sandy Free are pictured. On the far right, coach Leann Thieman and board members Eric Zint and Eric Wise are pictured. Students able to attend the meeting are pictured: (in the middle and l-r) Mackenzie West, Amber Woods, Emily Turner, Allie Havens, Ava Hamilton, Kalliegh Freeze, Brylee Douglas, Lila Banks and Kylie Adams.
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