ACCOLADES

• Arnett Elementary: Arnett is a finalist for a 21st Century Learning Grant. They have made it to the next round and were visited by KDE as a part of the process. They will find out if they will receive the grant after the new year!
• Howell Elementary: Howell hosted their first men of Howell event with fathers of students at Howell. It was well received and the group has plans to take the children bowling for their next meeting.
• Lindeman Elementary: Lindeman has been working with Viox and Viox to design a plan for landscaping for their school. Viox and Viox kindly donated their services to develop a formal plan. Lindeman plans to work through BEST partnerships, the extension office, FRC student programs and local businesses and organizations to eventually fulfill the plan through donations and programs.
• Miles Elementary: Mr. Bryant Gillis, Principal, Mrs. Della Kemper, Teacher, and Mrs. Gina Danks, Teacher were asked to speak before the Education Committee of the Legislative Research Committee. They shared some of the work they are doing with standards based instruction, interventions, and all that they are doing to help students succeed. The Office of Education Accountability was also present and was extremely complimentary of Miles Elementary. Thank you to these three individuals for representing Miles and our district in sharing some of the wonderful things that are being done to ensure student learning.
• Tichenor Middle School: Tichenor received an aquatic grant and has been working with students through hands-on activities and events to provide students real-life science opportunities.
• Lloyd Memorial High School: This week Mr. Riehemann and I met with our first student advisory committee. The students were very insightful and informative. We look forward to collaborating with them to make our district the best it can be! Thanks to everyone involved that made this possible.
• Maintenance/Transportation: The maintenance/transportation department has been working diligently to make repairs and fulfill work orders and to transport our students safely. These staff members have accomplished quite a bit . Most of the maintenance department will be working over the winter break to continue that work. We appreciate all of their efforts!
• Food Service: More students than ever are participating in breakfast and lunch. This is largely attributed to the work being done by our staff members of the food service department. Thank you for providing our students with nutritious and delicious meals!

News and Events

• The Lloyd Girls' Varsity Basketball Team defeated Newport Ind. High School in the first round of the Grant County Tournament that began yesterday. The tournament started yesterday and will end on December 23rd.
• The Lloyd Boys' Varsity Basketball Team will host the Lloyd Memorial High School Invitational Tournament from 12/26/-12/28. Their first game will be on Sunday, December 27th at 8PM against North Laurel.
• The Fall Cycle for KTIP has concluded. Interns, you are halfway through your internship program. Resource Teachers, the district deadline for the spring timesheet will be April 23, 2010. Thanks to everyone for getting your timesheets submitted.
• ACCESS Testing for ESL/ELL Students will begin in January. This testing is a requirement of the state testing and NCLB and ALL ESL/ELL students must be tested at all schools. ALL STUDENTS SHALL BE RELEASED FROM THEIR CLASSES WHEN CALLED FOR ACCESS TESTING. NO STUDENTS SHALL BE PENALIZED IN ANY WAY FOR HAVING TO MISS ANY PORTION OF THEIR CLASSES FOR ACCESS TESTING.
• MAP TESTING winter testing window is January 11-January 29th.
• Tumble Books is a program that has been purchased for all schools. Please contact Mr. Palmore, Ms. Hellmann, or me if you have any questions about how to access this great resource for all grade levels.
• Site visits went very well and we learned a great deal about the strategies being implemented to move students toward proficiency.

ACCOLADES

• The district team has conducted 3 site visits and have had some wonderful discussions with teachers at Arnett, Tichenor, and Lindeman. Site visits at Howell, Miles, and Lloyd will occur in the next few weeks. We are very appreciative of the work teachers and principals are doing to focus on student learning, use real-time MAP data, other formative data, and the strives to improve instruction and increase student learning. Once all site visits are conducted we will post and share some of the great initiatives and ideas going on at the schools that other schools may be interested in replicating.
• On November 13th, all of the elementary teachers will be getting together for a district PLC. The school principals and teachers collaborated to create a fantastic agenda. Mr. Riehemann, the principal at Lloyd High School and Dr. Jennifer Cottingham will also be joining to help facilitate the grade level PLCs.
• Tichenor Middle School Student, Hayden Molitor participated in the Junior National Young Leaders Conference (JrNYLC) in Washington, D.C. He was nominated by teacher, Linda Noll.
• Lloyd High School is learning about and applying Developmental Assets for students. Chris Reeves, the school counselor has become a certified trainer and is collaborating with teachers.
• October 11th Tichenor Middle School students Beth Sheriff and Morgan Campbell as well as other Tichenor students participated in the Walk for the Cure in Downtown Cincinnati. Ms. Rainone and Ms. Campbell also walked with Tichenor Middle School Students.
• Tichenor Middle School Teachers and Administrators are collaborating with Joyce Harris, Literacy Consultant, and Tammie Sherry, NKU outreach literacy consultant to focus on literacy for students in all content areas. The staff has been pre-assessing and developing strategies to be implemented schoolwide.
• Lloyd High School held a Holocaust Assembly on October 27th. The guest speakers were Holocaust survivors who shared their stories with our students. It was a very moving experience for everyone in attendance. The presentation was a collaboration between the YSC and the teachers.
• On October 24th, Special Olympians and their families showed up for this year's Special Olympic Bowling Competition. There were over 50 people from Erlanger in attendance. Olympians from Tichenor, Lloyd, and graduates competed for the gold. Thanks goes out to those involved and Candace Campbell, Officer Brendel and Sam for their part as dignitaries handing out the medals.
• Lindeman Elementary will host a parent-involvement night with a live band, Salsa dancing and activities for parents and students on November 20th.
• Howell Elementary students partnered with Mazaak to conduct a penny war. The collaboration raised over $800 for the Elsmere Fire Department.
• I had the opportunity to conduct walk-throughs at Miles and Howell with Mr. Sayler and Mr. Gillis. We saw many great things occurring in classes we visited.

Veteran's Day

• Our schools had some wonderful tributes to our Veterans this week for Veteran's Day. Thank you to our Veterans for all that you have dedicated and sacrified and to our schools for honoring them.

UPCOMING NEWS AND EVENTS

• November 13-Early Release.
• November 19-Site Visit conducted at Miles Elementary
• November 20-Site Visit conducted at Howell Elementary
• November 23-Site Visit conducted at Lloyd High School
• The Kentucky Center for Mathematics will hold the annual KCM Conference on February 4th & 5th. It is only $60 to attend. Research-based effective strategies for math teachers in grades K-12 will be provided. Conference strands include: Teaching for Depth of Understanding and Formative and Summative Assessments. For more information visit the KCM website at www.kentuckymathematics.org or phone 859-572-7690.
• The Kentucky Reading Project is now accepting Applications for elementary teachers interested in taking part. The project provides training in research-based literacy strategies, free graduate credit, stipends and free materials. If you are interested in applying more information may be accessed through http://www.kentuckyliteracy.org/ and/or by contacting Kathy Burkhardt via email.

Trivia Night

Special Olympics Trivia Night was held on October 17th. Erlanger-Elsmere competed in the event with 5 tables! Howell Elementary Captain Krista Wainscott returned to her school with the 1st place trophy. Arnett/Miles had a table that included Mr. Engel, Ms. Weber, and Mr. Pilgrim. Captain Candace Campbell sported 3 teams from Tichenor and Lloyd. Team members included Mr. & Mrs. Flick, Mr. Robles, Mr. Hughes, the Edwards family, Ms. Burk, the Woolleys, Ms. Donnell, Ms. Hils, and Ms. Clark. One of the Campbell teams came in 2nd. Officer Brendel is now in charge of the event. Around $1900 was raised for Special Olympics.

UNITED WAY CAMPAIGN

On behalf of the Erlanger-Elsmere Schools, I would like to thank all of our employees who actively participated in our 2009 United Way Campaign. Our totals have increased this year, nearly nine-fold since last year, with $2,617.00 contributed in all. You’re to be commended for your efforts, and for your continuing commitment to those in need all around us. We’d like to offer special congratulations to the employees at Howell Elementary for having the highest employee participation rate during our United Way Campaign, with over 50% of their staff members participating. Howell also had the highest contribution rate per employee, averaging nearly $23.00 per staff member, and totaling $800.00. Howell was honored and presented plaques of recognition by the Erlanger-Elsmere Board of Education at the November 12th board meeting. We’d also like to thank our campaign managers for their energy and enthusiasm through the entire campaign: Kathy Nafus, Karen Costello, Maryann Moore, Karen Hughes, Missy Sorg, and Tracy Molley.

ACCOLADES

• The Erlanger-Elsmere Family Resource Center and the Miles Elementary Resource Center partnered to provide a great Halloween Fest on October 29th. Thanks to the coordinators, school staff members, district staff members, and community staff members that volunteered.
• The Tichenor Middle School and Lloyd High School Youth Service Centers are partnering to provide a grandparents raising grandchildren program.
• Lloyd High School held a parent day on October 30th.
• Two Miles Elementary students won state art awards for art they created in art teacher, Scott Fairchild's class.
• Participation rates for lunch and breakfast continue to be up at all schools. Thanks to all cafeteria staff members.
• The maintenance department has worked diligently to make repairs on the roofs at Lloyd and Scheben. Thanks to them for their dedicated efforts.
• Tichenor has been selected as one of two schools in the country to participate in Aquatic Adventures Academy. This program is run through Purdue University Calumet and is funded by a grant from the Toyota Foundation. Cyndi Etsler, associate director of the program, asked for student volunteers from Tichenor to participate in World Water Monitoring Day at Newport of the Levee on Saturday September 26th. Fourteen 7th grade students from Tichenor joined Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Noll for the event. The following students volunteered: Briann Landrum, Simon Fox, Kristen Huff, Lindsay Steenken, Jordan Gentry, Jaslynne Scruggs, Chris Huerta (all day), Yasmine Smith, Sam Gausepohl, Ashley Harrison, Brian Claypool, Megan McEntee, Michaela Ruppel, and Meagan Sipple.
• Tichenor held their annual Reality Store for students. Nearly 200 students at Tichenor Middle School participated and learned more about what it takes financially to make ends meet in today's world. Numerous community volunteers and school staff members participated.
• Howell's Fall Festival is on October 30th from 6:30-8:30.
• Arnett held a Family Literacy Night with a Visit from author Leigh Anne Florence on October 27th.
• Lindeman Elementary has been providing family movie nights for parents and children.
• I was able to conduct walk-throughs at some schools this week and enjoyed my brief time in those classrooms.

UPCOMING NEWS AND EVENTS

• School site visits at Arnett and Lindeman will occur next week. We are looking forward to discussing instruction and student learning.
• Odyssey Trainings were this week and will continue next week. A cadre of teachers from each school will be trained to assist others within their schools in learning.
• We will be conducting walk-throughs in various schools throughout the district.
• More information will be provided from the health department regarding H1N1 vaccines and the plans for inoculation sites.
• November 6th -The Kenton County Alliance will meet at 12:30 at Ensor.
• We are putting together district and community supt. focus groups: a student group and a community group will be developed for starts. We hope to improve lines of communication and collaborate to provide our students with positive opportunities and supports that extend out into the community.

Football Game for 10/09 Postponed

The Lloyd Football Game for 10/9/09 has been postponed and rescheduled for 10/10/09 at 7:00 PM.

ACCOLADES

• Lindeman Elementary now has 160 members of the Lindeman PTO.
• Miles Elementary held their second Parent Academy on October 7th.
• Tichenor Middle School developed a new Parent Handbook for middle school parents. Karen Hughes worked with the faculty and staff and put the handbook together to assist parents.
• The Erlanger-Elsmere Family Resource Center took several students on their annual Rotary Club Fishing Trip on October 3rd.
• The Halloween Family Fun Fest will be held on October 29th at Dietz. The Miles Family Resource Center and the Erlanger/Elsmere Family Resource Center are working together to organize and plan the event for our students and families. They are looking for adult/teacher volunteers. The event will run from 6:00pm – 8:00pm.
• The Adopt-A-Block Program is working toward coordinating events that will alternate locations at Arnett, Howell, Lindeman and Miles.
• The EETLC is tomorrow. Thank you to the planning committee and the many people involved in organizing the conference.
• Lloyd High School is providing a Chorus Club this year for students.

WHAT'S UP IN THE DISTRICT NEXT WEEK

OCTOBER 12-16 WILL BE FALL BREAK FOR STUDENTS. PLEASE HAVE A SAFE AND ENJOYABLE WEEK.

UPCOMING NEWS AND EVENTS

• The state department continues to develop Program Reviews for Writing, Arts and Humanities, and Practical Living. According to state law, all schools are required to continue writing portfolios and writing at all grade levels as well as continued instruction in Arts and Humanities and Practical Living as provided in the Combined Curriculum Document that contains the Program of Studies and the Core Content. Please continue to focus on student learning. If we have high expectations and teach the curriculum, we will see student progress regardless of the type of state assessment given.
• Teachers that implemented live scoring saw great progress in student learning according to MAP data and state assessment data. This is a strategy that involves a process of immediate feedback to students.
• School Site Visits have been scheduled with principals for each school. Please mark your calendars. We are looking forward to discussions focusing on student learning, hearing about your sucessess, instructional needs, and the impact effective instruction is having on student progress.

Accolades

· Thank you to the Erlanger-Elsmere Teaching and Learning Conference Planning Committee and Bryan Sweasy for all of their work in planning the district-wide conference scheduled for October 9, 2009. The conference has lots of great sessions thanks to their efforts!
· Thank you to the efforts of Peggy Daugherty and the EETLC Planning Committee, there will be wonderful door prizes for participants at the October 9th conference. There will over $4000 worth of prizes that were all received as a result of donations! Thanks to Peggy and the committee members involved in making the contacts to receive the donations!
· Paraprofessionals from all schools participated today in a second day of professional training at Dietz aimed at focusing on their unique needs. We appreciate everyone’s attendance, enthusiasm, and participation. Thanks also to David Palmore and Laura Hellmann on their efforts to coordinate the workshop.
· The district participation rates for breakfast and lunch are up at each school. Thank you to all cafeteria staff members for all that you are doing to provide our students with nutritious meals.
· Howell Elementary was featured in the Erlanger Recorder for their new dress code.
· Miles Elementary held a Parent Academy on September 30th and will host a second one on October 7th.
· Lindeman Elementary has almost 40 volunteers that will partner with individual students for the One-to-One Reading Program.
· Arnett Elementary welcomes a new custodian, Pete Voss. The staff at Arnett is very excited to have him on staff! Welcome to Mr. Voss.
· Sally Walker, Lloyd H.S. Teacher, Jennifer Mugavin, Tichenor M.S. Teacher, and Elaine Woolley, Tichenor M.S. Assistant Principal were selected to participate in the IEQ two week summer program for teaching math. They are continuing to meet throughout the school year and will each be working on a project through IEQ to assist their schools in increasing student achievement in mathematics.

ASSESSMENT RESULTS

· A briefing packet shared with the media that summarizes the results can be found at: file://e157000n1/ForTeachersOnly/2009%20Assessment%20Results or in the archives on the left.
· The assessment results indicate improvement in many areas. We also have areas on which we need to focus for improvement.
· As a result of Senate Bill 1, this year’s results will be a little more confusing since the state is no longer providing an index score for districts. However, KASC and the Prichard Committee have provided indices for schools for subject areas. The subject indices for reading, math, science, social studies and on demand writing can be compared to previous years from 2007-2009 for an exact comparison as the testing and weights have not changed. This will assist your school and the district in noting growth areas and areas for improvement.
· The state is now only using percent Proficient and Distinguished to determine whether schools and districts meet their goals for state accountability.

DISTRICT NEWS, EVENTS, AND ACTIVITIES

· The girls’ volleyball team won their last home game last night 2-0 against Ludlow. They play away at Conner on Oct. 6th and at Holmes on Oct. 8th.
· Tonight the Varsity Football team will play their homecoming game against Scott. The homecoming dance will be on Saturday at Dietz.
· Dietz Auditorium will probably serve as an inoculation site for the community for H1N1 vaccines. We are awaiting additional information from the health department, but we do know that free inoculations for children will probably take place on a Saturday sometime in October. We will share information with you as we receive it from the Health Department.

2009 Assessment Results

Erlanger-Elsmere Briefing Packet
The Erlanger-Elsmere School District will use the state assessment results to maintain its focus on continuous progress of student learning and individualizing student goals for each and every student. The assessment results recently released which are from the state assessments the students took in May 0f 2009 will assist the district in continuous improvement of student learning. These results provide us with one snapshot of how our students performed against set standards. The Erlanger-Elsmere School District also uses nationally-normed data and summative and formative tools such as MAP testing (Measures of Academic Progress), common assessments, diagnostic assessments and additional assessments to monitor student learning and set individualized learning goals with students throughout the year. Using the continuous progress data enables us to provide a longitudinal picture of student growth over time and target individual needs. We disaggregate state results and progress results target specific student needs.

Highlights of State Results
· The district saw increases mathematics, social studies and writing at all three levels (elementary, middle, high).
· The percentage of students scoring proficient and distinguished in math increased at all three levels.
· The district transition indices provided by KASC and the Prichard Committee were: Elementary 90, Middle 85, High School 85. (See table with specific subject areas listed.)
· All elementary schools met their NCLB Goals.
· This year the percentage of juniors meeting ACT benchmark goals increased in reading, English and mathematics.
· All schools are showing progress

NCLB Goal Results
Arnett- 12/12 Goals Met 100%
Howell-10/10 Goals Met 100%
Lindeman 10/10 Goals Met 100%
Miles 9/9 Goals Met 100%
Tichenor 9/13 Goals Met 69.2%
Lloyd 10/12 Goals Met 83.3%
Erlanger-Elsmere-13/16 Goals Met 81.3%
Transition Indices for each school
Arnett- 88
Howell-92
Lindeman 81
Miles 97
Tichenor 85
Lloyd 85

Areas of Focus
· Our focus is on student achievement and is not going to change. Our goal will remain to continue to move students and schools to proficiency.
· The schools will continue to disaggregate immediate learning data and work with specific strategies designed to elevate achievement levels student by student and classroom by classroom.
· Specific action plans will continue be developed to assist students and schools with areas of need.
· Our results indicate that we are providing many opportunities and that students are achieving. The greatest goal is to ensure that all of our students are attaining high levels of learning and reaching proficiency.

Accolades

· Howell Elementary was featured in the Erlanger Recorder last week for their Work Ethic Program with Mazak.
· Arnett was also recently featured in the Erlanger Recorder for their Buddy Reading Program.
· Lindeman Elementary, Tichenor and Lloyd recently held parent nights for all ELL students that were well attended and very informative and welcoming to parents and students. Thank you to the staff members that made these nights possible!
· Miles Elementary has been contacted by an educational author and their work on standards based report cards may be included in an upcoming book.
· The paraprofessional training on Friday of last week went very well. Thank you to all who attended.
· Thanks to the diligent work of Mary Burch, our District Health Coordinator, our School Based Health Centers will be partnering with the health department.

What’s up in the district this Week

· We intend start some district walk-throughs this week. Please continue with what you are doing if you see Mr. Palmore, Mrs. Hellmann or me enter a classroom. We are there to learn more about what students are learning and doing and do not want you to worry about stopping what you or doing or even acknowledging us. We hope that we will get to a point that everyone is used to having visitors in your classrooms from within your building and the district.
· The Lloyd Athletic Department will host their annual craft show on September 25 and 26. More details are located on the district website.
· State assessment results will be released at 12:01AM on Wednesday, September 23rd. The state will use percent proficient/distinguished to determine accountability for all schools at all levels. KASC and the Prichard Committee have put together indices for you to compare your subject content progress and an overall transition index. Your principals will be able to share more with you.
· The window for Explore, Plan and 12th grade On Demand Writing will close at the end of the week.

Looking Ahead

· All schools will now have Compass Odyssey which will automatically correlate with the MAP assessment results at the elementary and middle school levels. It will work differently at the high school. An overview of the program will be provided at the Erlanger Teaching and Learning Conference and separate dates have been scheduled for cadres at each school.
· Kentucky is joining approximately 45 other states in designing national content standards. More information will be presented to you as we learn more.
· State requirements we will be continuing to develop this year include a Literacy Plan and the RTI Model.
· School Site visits will begin in late October and early November. We are looking forward to meeting with everyone and learning more about all you are doing for our students.

Quote of the Week:

“If you find a pathway with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” Unknown

Looking Ahead

· September 17^th will be Lindeman’s Parent Night for parents of ELL students. The Parent Night for parents of ELL students at Tichenor and Lloyd will be September 15^th. Parents will learn about our ESL Program and the individual 2009-ACCESS results for individual students that were an important part of our 2009-10 state accountability.

· September 18^th will be the next Early Release day

· Please review your MAP scores and start goal setting with students. Research shows that involving students in personal goal setting can have a tremendous impact on their achievements

· Please continue to focus on defining learning targets for our students.

· The Fall testing window for Explore, Plan and On Demand Writing is quickly approaching and will begin on September 14th

Quote of the Week

Personalization is not just “nice” for students; it is essential for serious teaching and learning.” -Linda Darling-Hammond, Stanford University

Accolades

· Thank you to all school personnel for your assistance in handling the controversy over the Presidential Address to the students. All schools are airing the taped broadcast to students tomorrow. One school is also showing it to students today. The timing of the numerous complaints and threats we received regarding the broadcast were both disappointing and surprising and required us to make a difficult decision over the weekend in order not to disrupt the school day. Hopefully, this option of showing the taped broadcast will allow teachers to use this situation as a teachable moment. Since the broadcast was shown live at noon, this taped option will also allow you to take the time needed to allow students to see the broadcast in its entirety without interruption. Students whose parents have opted them out of viewing the broadcast should be given an alternate option during the viewing of the broadcast. (The script of the President’s speech is on our district website. It is a link at the top of the letter we sent home.)

· Elaine Woolley, Tichenor Assistant Principal, has been selected to serve on the joint committee of KDE and the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, to plan and implement a comprehensive process for revising the academic content standards for mathematics.

· Miles Elementary experienced a break-in and some vandalism very early Tuesday morning before the school day began. The faculty and staff were required to keep all students outside of the school building that morning while police officers gathered evidence. The entire school staff along with support from maintenance and food service managed the situation positively and effectively. Students were able to have a positive school day in spite of the morning disruption. A great deal of professionalism and teamwork was displayed that morning.

· MAP testing went very well at all schools. Thank you for your work to make the testing situation a positive one for students.

· Lloyd has begun using a student feedback form with their students from that allows assists them in self-analyzing their errors and misunderstandings of specific learning targets.

· Howell Elementary personnel have effectively worked to make home visits to discuss work with parents as concerns arise.

· Arnett Preschoolers began school this week. Thanks to the Arnett staff and the transportation department working together on the start of preschool 2009-10 school year.

·

What’s up in the district this Week

· The September School Board Meeting is this evening.

· The first home varsity football game is Friday, September 11^th. The Homecoming Court will be announced at the football game. It will be Miles and Lindeman night at the game.

· Planned viewings of the taped Presidential Message to Students: September 10^th- Miles, September 11^th-Arnett 9:15 AM, Howell 8:10 AM, Lindeman 2:00 PM, Miles, Tichenor-during study skills classes for grades 6-8, Lloyd-during Social Studies classes

· There will be a September 11^th ceremony at the Erlanger City Building from 7-7:30 PM

· Girls JV and Varsity Volleyball Teams play Dayton on September 10^th

· The Cross County Team competes in the Mason Invitational on September 12th