The Talk at Teays - Teays Valley Local School District

N E W S F R O M T H E T E A Y S V A L L E Y L O C A L S C H O O L D I S T R I C T
November-December 2010
2010-2011 2011 Issue 3
The Talk at Teays
Important
Dates
November
22 Board of Education
Meeting, 6:30 pm
24 No School
25 No School
26 No School
December
19 Board of Education
Meeting, 6:30 pm
21 End of 2 nd 9 Weeks
22 Winter Break Begins:
Dec 22-Jan 4
January
3 Teacher Work Day
4 Classes Resume for
Students
17 No School
February
8 Parent/Teacher
Conferences @ MS,
4-7 pm
9 Parent/Teacher
Conferences @
Elementaries, 5-8 pm
10 Parent/Teacher
Conferences @ HS,
4-7 pm
15 Parent/Teacher
Conferences @
Elementaries, 5-8 pm
16 Parent/Teacher
Conferences @ HS,
4-7 pm
Board of Education
Charlie Morrison, Pres.
Kevin Archer, V.P.
Daniel M. Litzinger
William McGowan
Peg Perrill
Preparing for another Ohio Winter
As we head into November, it is inevitable that we will soon be experiencing a change in weather. It is
important that you make child care arrangements in case we have a two hour delay or cancellation. It is
also crucial that you prepare for possible early dismissals from school. I will always try to use our School
Messenger system to inform you of school day decisions by 5:30 am, and will attempt to notify you of
early dismissals two hours before the dismissal occurs. Unfortunately, I have learned that my daily
decisions relating to delays and cancellations are seldom met with a 100% approval rating, but they are
always done with the students’ safety in mind.
I work with other district staff members, local law enforcement and road crews to try to gather as
much information as possible relating to possible cancellations. I will always err on the side of safety for
our students.
It is important that you realize that the Ohio Department of Education is only giving us three calamity
days this year. Therefore, any cancelled school days beyond the three allowed will be made up during
spring break (March 28-April 1), then at the end of the year, if necessary. Keep in mind that next year the
state will require us to make up all calamity days. Again, my decisions will relate to student safety and
not be affected by the number of days that the state allows us to miss without making them up.
Since we use the School Messenger system to inform you of delays and closings, be sure that your
child’s contact information is up to date. If you would like to change or add a phone number in the
system, contact your child’s school.
Focusing on District Finances
Go Vikings!
Jeff Sheets, Superintendent
The past few years have created a number financial challenges for many of us. These challenging
times have also been a burden on our district and districts across the state. Although we are always
diligent with our finances, there are a number of unavoidable expenses that continue to climb, such as
our utilities, gas purchases, classroom supplies and textbooks, among others. We have also had the
added challenge of opening three new buildings. Although we have added buildings to our district, we
have staffed them according to the present enrollment, not based on the number of rooms in each of
them, as a way to be conscientious about our finances. Another financial obstacle has been an increase
in our enrollment by nearly 250 students during the past three years. While historically we have received
additional state funding relating to increased enrollment, the state legislature has not increased our
funding over the past two years. There are concerns that this lack of funding relating to increased
enrollment will continue over the next biennial budget.
Fortunately, the district had established the stability to weather the financial storm to this point.
However, prospects for a quick economic recovery do not appear good. Therefore, stagnate revenue is
expected to remain the norm for the foreseeable future. These challenges are similar for all school
districts as they seek to find ways to maintain programs and opportunities that have taken years to
build. Our challenges are complicated by the fact that our district has performed very well academically
the past few years. Therefore, the obvious concern is cutting spending further could jeopardize some of
the very programs that have led to our success.
As always, you may view the district’s 5 year financial forecast and significant assumption document
on the district’s Web site under the Treasurer link. The superintendent and I will be working very closely
with the district’s Board of Education to determine how we must adapt to today’s financial challenges.
Stacy Overly, Treasurer

FROM THE NURSES
INFLUENZA is a serious respiratory illness spread person to person through coughing and sneezing. Flu season will be here
soon and the best time to receive the vaccine is now before flu activity peaks. The Center for Disease Control recommends that
all individuals from 6 months through adult get the influenza vaccine. This year, the H1N1 strain is included in the vaccine as
one of the three components. Please check with your physician or the Pickaway County Health Department about the flu vaccine
for your family members. The health department has the adult vaccine and the pediatric vaccine or the nasal mist available for
children. We recommend calling ahead at 740.477.9667 ext. 240 for more information.
Tips to stay healthy… Get your flu vaccine, cover your nose and mouth with a tissue or cough/sneeze into your sleeve or elbow,
wash your hands often or use a hand sanitizer, avoid the spread of germs by not touching your eyes, nose or mouth and try to
avoid close contact with sick people.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IF YOUR CHILD GETS HEAD LICE? Head lice are a nuisance, but they do not cause disease. They are
passed from direct personal contact and they cannot fly, hop or jump. Lice can live on any person's head regardless of age,
income, social status or cleanliness.
Prevention... Inspect your child's head frequently. Regular inspection is the best prevention! Encourage your child to keep his/her
head away from other heads, as head to head transmission can occur quickly and frequently. Don't share combs, brushes, hair
accessories or hats. Watch your child. Itching of the scalp may be the first sign of head lice.
For additional information, please contact your school nurse or the local health department. Also, check out the head lice
educational section on the From the Nurse link of the TV Web site for helpful facts, prevention and treatment information.
Pickaway County Bicentennial Parade
Teays Valley Schools Give Back
A number of staff members and
students from all of the Teays
Valley schools came together to
participate in the Pickaway
County Bicentennial Parade on
October 19 in Circleville.
Staff, students and alumni of
the four elementary schools
marched through the parade
with banners commemorating
their past and present, while the
staff and students of the middle
schools and high school spent
the weeks leading up to the
parade building floats, each of
which had a unique theme.
East’s theme was “Education:
The Past, Present and Future of
Pickaway County,” while West’s
theme was “Continuing the
Excellent Tradition in Northern Pickaway County.” West gathered pictures dating back to 1888, the old Scioto High School, the
new Scioto Elementary School and the new Teays Valley West Middle School. The high school chose “RACE into the Bicentennial”
as its theme, which went along with its building theme, RACE. RACE stands for Respect, Achievement, Citizenship and Expanding
~Continued on Page 4
Veterans’ Day Assembly—South Bloomfield Elementary is having its first Veterans’ Day assembly on November 10, at 1:45 pm. All
veterans and community members are invited to attend this special event to honor our local heroes.
OPERATION: Care Package—Once again, Walnut will be collecting items for our troops spending the holidays overseas. Walnut
students and staff have made this a huge success over the past several years. A list of items being requested will be available on
the Walnut Web site. Walnut will have a ‘hat day’ on Veterans’ Day, November 11. On this day, students and staff will be allowed to
wear any hat if they bring in an item for the troops’ packages. They will also be encouraged to wear red, white and blue that day.
Items will be collected from November 1–19. If community members would like to make a contribution, please drop it off at the
Walnut office during that time.
Food Drive—The TVEMS 6 th grade students have planned a food drive for November. If you would like to make a donation to the
food drive, please drop your items off at the East office or contact Brian Wolfe at bwolfe@tvsd.us or 740.983.5000 ext. 2109 if you
would like someone to pick up your donation. All donations will be given to the Ashville Food Pantry.

Scioto “Purple Day”
Scioto celebrated “Purple Day” in honor of its
“Excellent with Distinction” rating for the
2009-2010 school year, during which
Principal Robin Halley dyed his hair purple
and the students and staff dressed in purple.
Prior to the 2009-2010 Ohio Achievement
Assessment testing week, the students asked
Halley if he would dye his hair purple and sit
on the roof if they received an “Excellent”
rating, but Halley upped the ante and
responded that he would only do this if they
received an “Excellent with Distinction” rating for the third consecutive year.
“After setting such a high standard the previous two school years, I wanted the students to
set their sights just as high for this school year,” Halley said.
The students agreed and responded by making a poster with his picture and purple hair
prior to testing and hung them in the hallways, then anxiously awaited for the scores to be
released in August.
Since Scioto was once again rated “Excellent with Distinction,” Halley paid up in September
and greeted students from the roof with purple hair as they got off the bus, then sat up
there again during their recess period. The staff and students also participated by wearing
purple, as well as buttons with a cartoon face with purple hair that said “Scioto Elementary,
Excellent with Distinction.”
According to Halley, many of the students are already making plans for next year and he
looks forward what challenge might be in store for him the next round of testing.
Principal Robin Halley is pictured with some students on “Purple Day.”
TVWMS “Excellent” Pep Rally
On September 24, West held its first pep rally of
the year to celebrate its state report card results
and “Excellent” rating from the Ohio Department of
Education. The school also held a spirit week
leading up to the pep rally, and “How the West was
Won” was introduced as this year's theme.
“Our students and staff have a tremendous amount
of pride for their school and their accomplishments.
Mr. Kovack and I were honored to celebrate our
achievements with the students, teachers and staff.
This is truly a team effort,” principal Mike Kauffeld
said.
The cheerleaders are pictured during the pep rally.
TVHS Winter Drama
The Teays Valley Drama Club will be presenting the play Shooting Stars by Molly Newman
on December 3, at 7:30 pm and December 4, at 2:30 and 7:30 pm. The play is about a
girls’ basketball team being on the road at Christmas time. Admission to the play will be
either a blanket, canned goods or cash donation. The blankets will be donated to a
homeless shelter, so all sizes are welcome, with emphasis on ones for children. The Drama
Club has teamed up with the German Club, who is sponsoring the canned goods drive.
“We hope you will join us to share the success of these very special performances with the
thought that giving is the heart of the holiday season,” Drama Club advisor Rae Williams
said.
Circleville Herald Art Winner
Congratulations to TVHS senior Jesse Passen. She had the winning entry for the Circleville
Herald Pumpkin Show cover contest for the newspaper. Her painting was featured in the
Circleville Herald’s Pumpkin Show Edition of the paper.
Important Dates
from Each School:
Ashville Elementary:
Nov 12—Family Movie Night, 7 pm
Nov 18—Grades 3-5 Music Program @
TVHS, 7 pm
Nov 19—Grade 5 Field Trip to see the
OSU Marching Band
Nov 23—Market Day Pick Up, 6-7 pm
Dec 3—Interims Sent Home & Family
Holiday Celebration, 6 pm
Scioto Elementary:
Nov 8—PTO Meeting, 7 pm
Nov 9—Picture Retakes & Grade 3 Music
Program
Nov 12—PTO Family Movie Night
Dec 6—Fire Prevention Assembly
Dec 11—PTO Christmas Breakfast
Dec 13—Grade 4 Music Program
Dec 13-17—Secret Santa
South Bloomfield Elementary:
Nov 9—Picture Retakes & PTO
Meeting, 7 pm
Nov 10—Veterans’ Day Assembly,
1:45 pm
Nov 11—Veterans’ Day Concert, 7 pm
Nov 22—PTO Science Show, 9:30 am
Dec 3—Grades 1-2 Winter Concert, 7 pm
Dec 14—PTO Meeting, 7 pm
Dec 21—Winter Parties, 2:30-3:15 pm
Walnut Elementary:
Nov 1-19—Operation: Care Package
Nov 9 & 30—Bookmobile
Nov 11—PTO Meeting, 7 pm & Hat Day
Nov 17-Dec 1—Entertainment Book Sale
Dec 20—Grades 1-2 Music Program, 7 pm
Dec 21—Holiday Parties, 2-3 pm
TVEMS:
Nov 18—Rennaissance Festival, 12-2 pm
Nov 23—Career Day
Dec 14—Holiday Choir Concert, 7 pm
TVWMS:
Nov 19—Dance, 2:45-4:45 pm
Dec 14—Holiday Choir Concert, 7 pm
Dec 17—Dance, 2:45-4:45 pm
TVHS:
Nov 12—Night of Harmony, 7 pm
Nov 16—ASVAB Test
Dec 3—TVHS Drama, 7 pm
Dec 4—TVHS Drama, 2:30 & 7 pm
Dec 11—Prominent Rendition Kids’
Camp-Grades 1-8
Dec 20—Holiday Choir Concert, 7 pm

* Check us out online @ http://www.tvsd.us/*
Teays Valley introduces new Mentoring Program at Elementary Schools
An exciting new reading mentoring program was just
launched at three Teays Valley elementary schools this school
year. Project MORE, which is a one-on-one structured
volunteer reading mentoring program, was recently
introduced at Ashville, Scioto and Walnut Elementaries, and
will mainly serve first and second grade students.
The program is designed to raise academic outcomes for
students with identified disabilities in the area of reading. It
will also be used in the district with at-risk students that are
reading below grade level. Students in the program will be
mentored four times per week for thirty minutes each day,
and it will involve phonics, alphabet recognition,
comprehension and fluency.
Each school has a coordinator who is in charge of
structuring the entire program, and their responsibilities
include finding volunteers, scheduling, training, recognizing
volunteers through appreciation events, copying and
organizing materials, creating lessons and educating the
staff, students, parents and community about the program.
The program is entirely run by volunteer mentors. Teays
Valley High School students mentor at Walnut Elementary,
East Middle School students at Ashville Elementary and West
Middle School students at Scioto Elementary, along with
parents and community volunteers in each building. All of the
volunteers completed training with a program coordinator
before working with the students.
According to Teays Valley curriculum director Jenniffer
VonIns, the program is successful because of collaboration
between the school staff, volunteers, parents and students.
“Project
MORE is truly a
school, family,
community
partnership
that helps our
students in
preventing and
overcoming
reading
difficulties, as
well as
promotes
effective reading development,” VonIns said.
“I personally believe Teays Valley wants to be a district that
has solutions for its students, not excuses. Instead of
responding to a student that is struggling after the fact, we
now have a program that can prevent our students from
struggling from the beginning,” Ashville coordinator Amy
Urban said.
“Implementing this into our district has been very labor
intensive, but the passion our staff has toward improving
reading skills with students at an early stage has been well
worth the effort,” VonIns said.
The coordinators continue to look for additional volunteers.
Interested community members are encouraged to contact
Jenniffer VonIns at 740.983.5010 or jvonins@tvsd.us.
East and Ashville students are pictured working together
during a mentoring session.
Pickaway County Bicentennial Parade continued...
Opportunities. The float was a Viking ship in honor of the traditions of Teays Valley. Students also made shields to represent
each extra-curricular group at the high school and walked with them next to the float.
“While some teachers supervised the project, the students truly took over and created much more than a float. I am very proud
of their vision, teamwork and commitment to representing our school in such a positive way. It was a school-wide success,”
TVHS principal John Keel said.
In addition to the floats, Teays Valley was represented in the parade by the TVHS marching band.
“It was great to have all of the schools represented in the parade and to see all of the hard work they did to get ready for it,”
superintendent Jeff Sheets said.
TVHS art teacher Cheryl Cherry is pictured on page 2 with some of the art students who helped design and create the float.
~If you have questions about “The Talk at Teays” or if you would like to submit information for the next edition,
contact Julie Lazzara, Director of Communications, at 740.983.5048 or at jlazzara@tvsd.us.
Teays Valley Local Schools Non-Profit Org
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Ashville, Ohio 43103 Ashville, Ohio 43103
740.983.5000 Permit No. 18
740.983.5035 (fax)
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