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2 Lancaster City Schools: Roadway to a Strong Community Lancaster City Schools 345 East Mulberry Street Lancaster, Ohio 43130 (740) 687-7300 (740) 687-7303 (Fax) Administration Denise D. Callihan, Ph.D..................Superintendent Julie Taylor ................................Treasurer Rob Walker.................... AssistantSuperintendent Jerry Rainey......................... Support Services Steve Scott. . Educational Information and Technology Services Donna McCance ..............DirectorofStudentServices Bradd Molk....................... InstructionalServices Board of Education Bill Bickham, President (third from left) ................653-0783 Thom Pearce, Vice President (second from left) ...654-7383 Patti Moore (fourth from left) ....................................653-5963 Hollie Saunders (far left)...........................................654-4102 Amy Eyman (far right) ...............................................654-2417 Our Vision “A community focused on student achievement” Our Mission “To prepare students of all ages to meet academic, social, civic, cultural, and employment needs of the 21st Century” No Child Left Behind Notification Parents may request information regarding the professional qualifications of their student's classroom teachers, including: • If the teacher has met state qualification and licensing criteria for the grade level and subject areas taught; • If the teacher is teaching under emergency or provisional status; • Baccalaureate degree major, graduate certification, and field of discipline; • Whether the student is provided services by paraprofessionals and if so, their qualifications. From the Board President Answers to Much-Asked Questions By Bill Bickham President, Board of Education In recent weeks, two school-related questions have been asked that I would like to address in this issue of Chalkmarks. The first one had to do with textbooks. The question was, “Why isn’t any of the earned income taxmoneybeingusedtoreplaceoldtextbooks?” Ifyouremember,thelevypassedinNovember 2006. Prior to that time, the district had been experiencing very difficult financial times for several years and had eliminated more than 100 of its staff, consolidated classes, closed two buildings and made other difficult decisions, including placing a freeze on replacing old textbooks. Sincethepassageofthelevy,changeshavebeen implemented very cautiously and very slowly. That is because the Board and the Administration are making every effort to make sure that the funds generated by theearnedincometaxmeettheoperatingneedsofthe district for its 10-year life. Frankly, this will be difficult as state funding continues to be reduced. One of the areas of need that is being addressed is textbooks. After the levy passed, a five-year plan was developed to replace outdated textbooks. At the present time, we are on scheduled to replace textbooks for core, career technical and elective subjects at a pace that allocates dollars for at least one major core subjectareaperyear. • During the 2007-2008 school year, new mathematic textbooks, including technology ancillaries, were ordered for all grades – K-12 – at a total cost of $539,290.80. A committee of dedicated teachers worked together to ensure the new texts would provide a seamless program for students as they moved from the elementary level through junior high and high school. • During the 2008-2009 school year, new texts were ordered for pre-school reading and language arts; K-5 language arts; grade 6-11 literature; grade 9-12 language arts; French, Spanish and Latin texts for grades 9-12; grade 4-8 writing programs; senior literature AP; high school special education and CBI student literature; mass media and journalism writing; special education writing; and high school literature, mythology literature, and poetry. The total cost of these texts was $1,014,819.30. Another team of teachers were directly involved in this effort. • In addition to the more than $1.5 million spent overthepasttwoschoolyears,therehavebeen numerous textbooks purchased for the Career Tech Department in the areas of industrial tech, culinary arts, and media/television, just to name a few. Each year’s list of recommended texts are reviewed bytheProgramCommittee,anditsrecommendation isforwardedtotheBoardofEducationfordiscussion andformalaction.Inthecomingyear,another committee will be reviewing needed changes in the texts used for the District’s social studies courses. The overall effort is to provide our students with the textbooks that will provide the greatest opportunity for 21st century learning. The second question came from a taxpayer who asked, “Are the maintenance programs that are being completed this summer all necessary.” All of the proposed summer projects were reviewed by the Support Services Committee and then by the BoardofEducation,whichviewedtheprojectsas necessary preventative maintenance that would help reduce future repair bills. Thefollowingisasummaryofwhatisbeing accomplished and provides the justification that was reviewedbytheBoardpriortoapproval: Roofing Lancaster High School –Theroofoverthegymhas hadsomeleakingissuesoverthepastcoupleofyears. A portion of the gym floor on the southeast side of thegymhadtobereplacedlastyearduetoaroofleak. The roof was last replaced in 1983. The roof had a 20 yearwarranty,andwereceived26yearsoutofthis roofing area. Medill – This roof has been leaking for some time. The ballasted roofing was actually pulling away from the structure of the building causing the roof to leak. West –Thisroofisoverthegymarea.Itwaslast replaced in 1985, and leaks were causing water to come into the building. Tallmadge –Theroofoverthegymareawaslast replaced in 1985. The roof was pulling away from the structure underneath. See ANSWERS, page 5
Lancaster City Schools: Roadway to a Strong Community 3 From the Treasurer A Look at Our Expenditures Per Pupil The Ohio Department of Education uses the Expenditure Flow Model (EFM) to report per-pupil spending for Ohio’s schools. The model uses the districts’ end-of-year financial records to organize expenditure data into meaningful and comparable categories at both the district and building level. Expendituresarebrokenupinthefollowing categories: Instructional: The cornerstones of education are teaching and learning, which generally occur in the building classroom. This function often includes teachers, teacher aides or paraprofessionals, as well as materials, computers, books and other consumable materials that are used with students in the classroom setting. Some preparation of materials for students may also occur in the central office. Building Support: Facilities and operations support includes facilities and operations at the building and central office levels. It is made up of multiple functions, which combine both capital goods (building, buses, heating equipment, etc.) and the resources necessary to operate, clean, repair and improve them. Purchasing for the Enterprise funds, thelargestofwhichistheLunchroomoperation,is also included. Administration: This category of expense denotes the functions of the building principal’s office costs incurred as the principal’s office sets the goals and directions and makes key decisions for the building. This office also motivates staff, makes recommendations for hiring of staff members, evaluates personnel, deals with crises, and concerns itself with the surrounding environment. Also included are central office costs incurred for the Board of Education, Superintendent’s Office, Fiscal Services, Business Manager and Support Services. These costs do not deal directly with the education of the students and encompass planning, research, information services, staff services, and data processing expenditures. Pupil Support: Students need support outside the classroom and beyond their academic instruction. They need guidance counseling, help in the media center or library, college advising, field trips and psychological testing. Pupil support may be operated outofthedistrictoffice,thoughthesefunctionsmust ultimately serve the child in the building. Staff Support: The adult employees in the district need support, staff development, training, retraining, additional college courses and advice. Teacher support may be handled in the Central Office, where planning for staff development activities goes on, or it may occur in the building, where direct support for teachers and other staff is primarily handled. The graph below depicts how Lancaster City Schools compared to similar districts and the statewide average in FY08. Preliminary FY09 information for the District is also presented. (Note: Similar district and statewide data for FY09 is not available at this time). This information and additional information regarding how the Lancaster City Schools compares to similar districts and the state average can be foundontheCUPPReportlocatedontheOhio Department of Education’s website at www.ode.state. oh.us. Lancaster City Schools Expenditures Per Pupil Compared to Other Districts Expenditure Category Lancaster Similar Districts Statewide Avg. Lancaster FY 2008 FY 2008 FY 2008 FY 2009 Instructional $4,876 $5,100 $5,534 $5,261 Building Support $1,535 $1,664 $1,973 $1,734 Administration $ 940 $1,065 $1,169 $1,000 Pupil Support $ 945 $ 996 $1,008 $ 864 Staff Support $ 363 $ 243 $ 307 $ 393 Total Per Pupil $8,659 $9,068 $9,991 $9.,252 CHILD CARE Register Now! • Creative Play Preschool • Creative Play Extended Care (new) • Before/After School Care (transportation Included) • Camp Discovery (summer camp) Robert K. Fox Family Y • 740-654-0616, Ext. 243 or 247 0000459877
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