Celtic Courier: Week of Oct. 27-31

Dear Staff,

"Vision to See, Faith to Believe, Courage to Do"

What a gorgeous fall weekend! We hope you have had the opportunity to pause and gaze upon nature's array of brilliant hues of golds and reds.  As we pulled the front drapes today, the morning sun sparkled on our maple tree while scarlet and mustard leaves took our breath away.  We cannot wait to bike ride to Glacier Ridge Metro Park this afternoon and enjoy nature's beautiful pallet for 12-14 miles in the warm sunshine.  I cannot help to think of Robert Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay" realizing that November is only a week away.

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day
Nothing gold can stay. 

What a gorgeous sight to have in our front yard!

Enjoy the day with your families!

Friday night our football team lost 48-46 in a game filled with scoring plays and action.  It was a special Senior night for the players, cheerleaders and band members made even more special with many football alums returning for Mark Hundley's last home game.  Saturday our Girls XC ran at Pick North.  Although the team did not qualify for States, Carly Davis finished 7th overall and will go on to States next weekend. Our Girls Soccer team lost in a heart-breaker to Davidson, losing after 10 Sudden Death Penalty Kicks after OT and the regular Penalty Kick OT.

That's Angie Saiter, XC Coach, taking their traditional Selfie with the team  just prior to the Regionals! Much thanks to Kenny Schuster and Angie for their dedicated coaching.

Important Exam Info: On our first Working Wednesday I spoke with as many chairs as possible on the topic of common exams and the discussion at our recent Principal Meeting.  Because high school teachers have not had embedded collaboration time until second quarter, here is the info for semester 1 exams:

All exams should be building or district common.  Please remember the goal is to work toward district common exams, but the district and we realize it is better to give a valid and reliable building common rather than a district common that has been developed without the necessary collaboration time.

If you have questions about your semester 1 exam, please speak to an administrator.

This Week--

This week is OGT Fall Administration Week.  Please remember we have a number of new students who are testing as well as students who failed one or more sections.  It is very difficult and stressful for them to miss class every day this week so please work with them to make-up only that work necessary.

Tuesday-- Parent Breakfast in Guidance at 7 AM.

Working Wednesday-- Based on your responses to the Google Doc, your teams utilized this time very well.  Please remember that this document should be completed each Working Wednesday and that your work should focus on PLC Work and the 4 Questions.  Two additional documents are due by the end of the week: Pyramid of Interventions for your team (sent earlier in the Google Doc by Mike Aurin) and your team's SMART goals if they are not completed (Google Doc sent by me).

Please also remember to review our building's norms as part of Working Wed.

1. All team members will come to meetings promptly, stay the entire meeting and positively contribute to achieve the goal of the meeting.

2. All team members will focus on improving instruction on an ongoing basis through PLC work.

3. All team members will respect all opinions and ideas and collaborate regularly with other team members.

It is very important that your same-subject team comes together interdependently and collaboratively to ensure the same learning targets are taught in the same scope and sequence, develop valid and reliable common assessments, analyze data collaboratively in order to inform your instruction, develop collaborative intervention strategies, and develop common enrichment.  

Please remember that your same-subject team should have the same Homework policies and the same test re-take and test-correction interventions. Otherwise, students are either unlucky or lucky to have extra time and support to learn, which should not and does not happen in PLC work. We recognize this is hard work and requires a great deal of collaboration time and extra time and support from us.  

If your team is struggling to have enough time to do this important work, as we have many new teachers or teachers with new preps or wide philosophical differences, please contact us to schedule PD days. Our job is to help and support you so that every student can learn at the highest possible levels.

Need PLC resources? This valuable resource has reproducibles for your team work and good PLC information for educators.

All of your teams are working hard and PLC work is not a destination, it is a journey. As long as your team is working to get better every day, then your team is on the PLC road. Some teams are farther along than other teams and that is OK. Our mantra on our PLC journey is the same as Joseph Saphier exhorted us to do as teachers in the classroom: "This is hard work. You can do it. We will help you."

Also on Wednesday, we are hosting a Social Media Information Meeting for parents from across the district 7-8 PM in our CPA. If you would like to learn more about social media such as Twitter, Instagram, Yik Yak, Vine, Kick and how our students are utilizing them please feel free to come, either as a staff member or as a parent yourself. Chuck Collier will present important legal info regarding social media, the admin team will present info regarding school policies that apply to social media usage, and Jerome students will present social media info from a student viewpoint.

Thursday-- Trick or Treat in Dublin and many surrounding communities, 6-8 PM.

Friday-- Halloween Dress-up Day for Jerome. Prizes for best staff costumes and best departmental theme and dress-up. Football at Westerville Central.

Have a terrific last week of October! Next week's Courier will certainly feature Halloween costumes. Have fun!

Cathy

Celtic Courier: Week of 10/20-10/24

"Vision to See, Faith to Believe, Courage to Do"

Dear Staff,

What a wonderful weekend to be a Celtic!! Starting on Thursday our Girls Volleyball Team upset Liberty in their first Tourney game, and Girls Soccer upset Watterson in their first Tourney game also.  Friday night our Football team won 42-6 over Canal, and Saturday our Boys Soccer game also won their first Tourney game. Girls XC advanced to the Regionals and Tennis Vickie Chang and Rhiannon James finished 4th in the Div I Girls Doubles State Tourney!

In addition, our Girls Golf Team made OHSAA history by winning their 4th straight Div I State Championship in tough conditions.  Congratulations to CD Butcher who has established the most elite Girls Golf program in Ohio history!  Wow! Also congrats to Fred Seely our JV coach.

Coaches and players hold up 4 fingers signifying 4 straight State Championships!!

Great to see Craig Zesiger and Bryan Arnold at the State Golf Tourney cheering on our Girls!

Carly Davis proudly displays her 2nd place District Overall finish trophy.  The Girls Team also finished 2nd overall and advances to the Regionals next weekend! Carly also set a new school record! Again!

Saturday was capped by our Marching Band serving us hosts with the Scioto and Coffman bands for the first Dublin Band Invitational!  Fabulous show!

Today our Girls Tennis Team is competing in the State Team Tennis Tourney Final 4.  We will let you know how we do.  What a weekend!!  We hope you enjoyed the long weekend with your families.

This Week--

Monday: Please remember all grades are due by the end of the day on Monday and they must be accurate as George will start printing grade cards on Tuesday.  Please remember that every grade change you do starting on Tuesday necessitates George to re-print a report card for each student and grade changed.  Please help George out by making sure your grades are in on time and accurate.  She so much appreciates your help.

Tuesday: Tuesday and Wed are our required Insurance Benefit required conferences.  Please make sure you have signed up for a conference or you will have to attend one at another building. Girls Soccer Tourney game at Pick Central at 7 AM.

Wednesday: Our first Working Wednesday from 7:15 - 8:10 AM.  This time is required for every certified staff member to meet.  If you do not have a counterpart in the building you may meet in another building or electronically.We will be sending out the norms and the required Google doc documentation form that each singleton and each same-subject team complete.  Only one form per team.

What is the work?  Answering as a same-subject team these questions COLLABORATIVELY on an ongoing basis.

1. What is it we want students to learn? (scope and sequence of standards and learning targets). (District goal- learning targets)

2. How do we know if they have learned it?  (common diagnostic, formative and summative assessments, rubrics, etc) If you have not completed your team's SMART goal, they are due by the end of October.  Each department received a Google Doc to complete.  (District goal of Assessment)

3. How do we respond if they do not learn it? (COLLABORATIVELY developing a team pyramid of interventions.) Mike Aurin previously sent you a Google Doc to be completed by the end of October on your team's pyramid of interventions.  The purpose of this pyramid is to provide EXTRA time and support for students to learn.  Come together on items such as re-takes, test corrections, homework policies and grading policies, all that affect student learning opportunities. (District goal feedback and differentiation).  This is the one question on which we are most different so please take time to come together.  Providing students extra time and support for learning is an integral part and function of every PLC.

4. How do we respond if they already know it? Collaboratively implement enrichment and differentiation for students who are advanced in your subject area. (District goal feedback and differentiation)

It is very important that our Working Wednesdays demonstrate a collective commitment by each member of the team to focus on this important student learning focus work.

Also Wednesday-- Boys Soccer game at home vs. Kilbourne.

Thursday: New Teachers to Jerome meeting on PLC Work, 7:15 AM in the main office conference room.

Also Volleyball Tourney game at Whitehall.

Friday: PTO will provide a staff luncheon instead of breakfast.  PAC meeting during all three lunches. A special Friday night-- Home football vs. Westerville South and Senior Night for band, cheerleaders and football.  Also Mark Hundley's last home game as the only football coach we have had at Jerome.  Come out and support the Celtics and Mark!

Looking ahead:

Oct. 27-31: OGT Fall administration Week.  Please work with these students and give extra time for them to make up work from their OGT testing.  Not only does this include students who failed one or more sections last spring, but it includes all of our new juniors or seniors who moved in from another state.  Please do what you can to support these students.

Oct. 29: Working Wednesday

Oct. 31: Halloween Dress-Up Day.  Prizes to individual staff members and to departments.  Will Math prevail?  Guidance? English?

Nov. 4: Election Day

Nov. 6: Department Chair Meeting 7:15 AM

Parent-Teacher Conferences 3-6:30 PM.

Have a terrific week!  Remember, as Jon Gordon reminds us, "Culture is dynamic, not static. Every person on your team and organization creates your culture by what they think, say and do each day."

Help our ride on our Energy Bus be a positive one every day by embodying positive thoughts, words and actions.

Cathy

Celtic Courier: Oct. 13-17

"Vision to See, Faith to Believe, Courage to Do"

Dear Staff,

What a beautiful fall weekend!   We hope you enjoyed the weekend with your families.  Our family ventured to the Africa Exhibit at the Zoo this weekend and each of us took a turn at feeding the giraffes.  How spectacular to come face-to-face with these beautiful animals and have them pluck a piece of lettuce from our hands with their 18-inch long black tongues that feel like fine sandpaper.  Amazing!

What a great weekend to be a Celtic!  Our football team defeated Scioto in a great comeback victory.  After being down 16-0, the Celtics won 36-31 with a great goal-line stand in the last minute of play as Scioto had 1st and goal and failed to score.  Congrats Mark Hundley and Kevin Jackson for a memorable win!

What are high school sports really about?  On Friday both the Scioto and Celtic football teams provided the true meaning of high school sports.  Both teams lined up at the South endzone in Pre-game and let Senior John Wagner, who is confined to a wheelchair, score a ceremonial touchdown!  John has rarely missed a practice or a game in his 4 years on the football team.  What a great moment! See the video below.

In addition, our Girls XC team took second in the OCC's with our own Carly Davis winning the OCC Tourney with a new school record time of 18:23!  Proud Mom, Lori!  Ellee Bullock won the Div 1 District singles tennis tourney!

I sent you via email Kim Miller's blog regarding our Working Wednesday.  As you communicate with your students regarding our first one on Oct. 22, please continue to state the collaborative value of professional time with colleagues as well as providing accurate information.  All students can continue to arrive at their regular time. All class periods except period 5 are only reduced by 4 minutes.  Students may choose to arrive by 8:15 AM.  Period 1 starts at 8:20 AM.

This Week-- School Lunch Week.  If you eat in our cafeteria and enjoy the job being done by Barb Weinberg and all of her cafeteria workers, please take time to let them know.  Great job, Barb!!

1. Monday-- The School Board meeting originally scheduled for Monday has been cancelled due to 3 board members being out of town.  Our National Merit Recognition will be re-scheduled.

2. Wednesday-- 2-hour late arrival for all seniors and non-testing freshmen and sophomores.  This is a required test for all Juniors and is high stakes as it is the National Merit Qualifying Test for juniors.  Mike Aurin sent out the PSAT bell schedule to be followed on this day.

3. Thursday-- End of first quarter.  Please remember all grades are due my the end of the day on Monday, Oct. 20.

On Thursday, Cheri Higgins, our US Army National Guard recruiter, is providing lunch for all staff in the teacher's lounge.

Many of our team's are in tourney play this week with our Girls Golf Team in the State Tourney Friday and Saturday!

Looking ahead--

Oct. 20, Monday-- Grades due by end of the school day.

Oct. 22: First Working Wednesday 7:15 - 8:10.  Tardy Bell 8:15.  First period 8:20 AM

Oct. 23: New Teachers Meeting in main office conference room 7:15 AM.  Topic: PLC Work

Oct. 24: Report Cards Home.  Last Home Football game for this year. PAC Meeting 5th period.

Oct. 31: Halloween All-School Dress-up Day-- Start planning your costumes.  Prizes for staff departments and individuals.

Nov. 6: Parent-Teacher Conference Day 3-6:30 PM.

Week in Review--

Thanks for your generosity on PINK and blue jean Friday, we were able to collect over $100 to give to Breast Cancer Research.  We combined our money with our Football Celtic Kick-off Club fundraiser and pink shirt sale.  Thanks so much!

Abby Erfurt sports her PINK!

Maureen Baker enjoys her poster of Love from fellow staff members!

Kelly Snyder and students are also joining the Pink-Out!

Did you know we had AP PE? :)  Neither did I until I saw Nate Maust and some of his students in PE Elective sport these shirts made by DBA on Thursday!  In case you haven't seen them, they are really a fun shirt and the kids love them (and so does Nate)!!  Love the humor Nate!  We are sure these will be collector's items!

Have a terrific week on the Jerome Energy Bus!  Remember-- Think Positive-- because thoughts are like the steering wheel that moves our bus in the right direction!  Growth Mindsets only!

Cathy

Celtic Courier: Week of Oct. 6-10

"Vision to See, Faith to Believe, Courage to Do"

Dear Staff,

It is hard to believe that a few days ago we were still in summer clothes and now the lows are in the 30s and 40s.  Wow!  Is is early October or November?  Hopefully we still have some more warm days ahead.  This weekend was an exciting one for the Celtics, with football winning in triple overtime 42-41 at Westerville North by blocking an extra point.  Our band competed in two OMEA band competitions on Saturday and brought home 2 Grand Championships, making an unheard of streak of 8 straight Grand Championships!! Wow!  What a great weekend to be a Celtic!

Much thanks to all of you for your professionalism and leadership on Parent-Teacher Conferences last week.  It was our largest parent turn-out on a conference night, reflective of our growing numbers and also to you focusing on learning by reaching out to our parents as partners in the learning process.  Parents mentioned your willingness to go above and beyond to assure student success, and we appreciate your work.

Please be sure that you plan your assessments and projects very carefully going into the end of the grading period; consider ending your grades for this quarter on Monday, Oct. 13 or Tuesday, Oct. 14.  Why? Oct. 15 is a two-hour delay with shortened classes due to the PSAT and the quarter ends Oct. 16 with no school on Oct. 17.  If you plan assessments or projects due on Oct. 16, students with extended time or who miss school will have little or no time for assessment re-takes or corrections as grades are due at the end of the day Oct. 20.  Please provide the optimal time for mastery learning for our students.

Chief Academic Officer Kim Miller has provided information to the school board regarding Working Wednesdays for tomorrow's board meeting and is a strong advocate for high school embedded collaboration time.  We will provide an update to you at this week's staff meeting at which Kim will attend on a proposed time line if we receive approval from the board and Dr. Hoadley.  We are grateful to her and Dusty Miller and to all three high schools administrations who also strongly advocate for this time as well as each of you for your input and feedback, especially our department chairs.

As you come together in your same-subject collaborative teams, please access allthingsplc as a great resource.

This week--

Monday: Please remember that during Homeroom we will conduct our first required Safety Drill.  There is no adjusted bell schedule and Officer Collier and Andy Wilkinson will facilitate this drill during our homeroom period.

During this week all admins will be collaborating with you on Pre-Conferences and in formal observations.  If you have any questions at all, please contact your respective administrator.

Wednesday: Staff meeting at 7:15 AM.  Please be on time as we have 2 guests, Kim Miller, our Chief Academic Officer, and a guest from the Dublin Education Foundation, as well as Eval and other PLC items to discuss.

Friday we play Scioto in football and are hoping to see many of you at this exciting contest!  It is a Tackle for the Cure game with proceeds from sales of pink Tackle for the Cure T-shirts and sweatshirts supporting breast cancer research.  Friday will be a pink-out and hopefully we will have raised a lot of money to support our staff members fighting this valiant fight.  Purchase a shirt and come out and cheer on the Celtics vs. Scioto at Jerome.

Looking ahead--

Oct. 15: Two-hour delay; PSAT for all juniors and testing sophomores and freshmen.  We are testing over 700 students in this important National Merit Qualifying Test for all juniors.

Oct. 16: End of first quarter.  Staff luncheon provided by the National Guard and our recruiter Cheri Higgins.

Oct. 17: No School; Conference Comp Day

Oct. 20: Grades due end of school day

Oct. 24: Grade Cards home

Highlights from last week:

Friday's Denim-Out was a huge success, with many blue jean jackets making a comeback.

Jackie Ahlfeld and Carol Jacobsen show off their blue jean jackets.

Matt Williams and student Catherine join the denim-out!

Friday was also a zoo at Jerome, with the Columbus Zoo bringing a baby penguin, an armadillo, and  baby cougar twins. Many students and staff enjoyed seeing the animals up close and on TV.  Much thanks to Jamie Pearson and Trevor Woods for providing Jerome this opportunity.

Carter Elsass conducted a great live interview while the animals pawed and crawled on the broadcast desk. Pictured is one of the baby cougars.

The student cast and crew really enjoyed having the animals on the set, pictured here with the baby penguin.

Have a terrific first full week of October!  Remember, no energy vampires allowed on our Energy Bus!  Stay positive and bring a Growth Mindset every day! #thedublindifference

Cathy

Celtic Courier: Week of Sept. 29- Oct. 3

"Vision to See, Faith to Believe, Courage to Do"

Dear Staff,

We hope you have been enjoying this unbelievable late September weather with your families!  Wow!  It is hard to believe that October arrives this week.  What a beautiful weekend!

Congrats to the Jerome band who got to perform Hang on Sloopy with the OSU Drumline at Darby Friday night! Our band also captured a Grand Championship at Westerville Central Saturday night!  Congrats Brian and Micah!

An update on Working Wednesday.  All three high schools have submitted their Working Wednesday plans that includes our PLC focus specific plans and our supervision plan.   Kim Miller, our new Chief Academic Officer, is continuing to work with the Board of Education to provide this much-needed collaboration time for our high school staffs.  Working Wednesday will not start this week; the next tentative date is Oct. 22 pending board approval. Kim will attend our staff meeting on Oct. 8, and we are so pleased to have her with us.

Please make sure that your same-subject time is still meeting minimum weekly and still devote this Wednesday, Oct. 1 as your same-subject team meeting time.  All team members must commit to meeting from 7:15 AM- 7:45 AM in order to focus collaboratively on assessment of and for learning and common learning targets, and intervention and differentiation, the 4 PLC questions.

We also received 79 PD days for our staff to use as in-school PD collaboration days. Some have already been utilized so please let Kay know if your team would like to collaborate during the school day.  Priority will be given to Math because of their curriculum demands this year and OTES staff.

Thanks to all of you for your input and feedback as we utilized a Google Doc spreadsheet to develop whole-school norms that will now guide all of our work and meetings here at Jerome.  Please add these norms to each agenda and start each same-subject team meeting, each departmental meeting and all other meetings reviewing these three collaboratively developed norms.  What does it mean to be a Celtic staff member?  Here are the norms that will define and guide our work:

1. All team members will come to meetings promptly, stay the entire
meeting and positively contribute to achieve the goal of the meeting.

2. All team members will focus on improving instruction on an ongoing
basis through PLC work.

3. All team members will respect all opinions and ideas and collaborate
regularly with other team members.

Two good resources for collaboration and assessment of and for learning are Assessment for Learning and 20 Collaborative Learning Tips and Strategies for Teachers.

The success of each of us and each of our same-subject teams depends on our mindset, just as it does with our students.  Do you have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset?

This Week:

Monday: #dubchat 7:30-8:30 PM Twitter.  A great way to dialogue with other Dublin educators.

Tuesday: Our first Parent Breakfast of this year will be 7 AM in Guidance.  Our Boys and Girls Golf Teams will both be competing in Sectionals, a big step on their quest to once again win State Championships.  Good luck Craig and CD!

Tuesday is also the deadline to complete your Public School Works training.  We have a lengthy list --as of today almost 40 staff members have not completed all or part of this district-required training.  Please be sure to complete it by the 9/30/14 deadline.  PSW can be accessed from the staff dashboard and is required for every certified and classified staff member.

Wednesday: PLC Same-subject team time 7:15 - 7:45 AM.  Please do not schedule club or organization meetings or review sessions with students during this important time.  It is essential that all teams meet regularly and employ our PLC best practices, adhering to our building norms.

Student Council meets 5th period.

Thursday: IEP/504 discussion facilitated by Mike Aurin 3-4 PM.  Please let Mike know if you are able to attend to gain important information and insights for your special education and 504 plan students.

Mike Aurin provides PD to teachers new to Jerome on 504's and IEP's last Friday morning.  Please try to come to the presentation for all Thursday at 3 PM.  Location TBA.

4- 7:30 PM: Our first Parent-Teacher Conference evening of this year.  PTO will provide dinner.  Please take the initiative to contact your parents for a conference, especially those who received Gold Cards and/or D's or F's at Interims.  Conferences are contractual.  Please contact an administrator if you are not able to attend conferences so that we can give you the guidelines to make-up this time.

Flu shots are also on Thursday.  Contact Barb Bailey for more information.

Looking ahead:

OTES pre-conferences will start this week.  Please be sure to have your self-assessment and professional growth plan completed before your pre-conference.

Oct. 8: Staff Meeting. 7:15 AM in Band Room.  If you have items for the agenda, please let me know.
Also pre-registration for the PSAT.

Oct. 15: PSAT. 2-Hour Delayed Schedule for all non-testing students.  We are testing over 700 students in this important National Merit Qualifying Test.

Oct. 16: Last day of First Quarter.

Oct. 17: No School; Conference Comp Day

Oct. 20: Grades due end of the day.  Please do not schedule tests or big projects late in the quarter so that your grades can be submitted on time and so that students have adequate time to make-up work, etc.

Our IB Juniors enjoyed a great TOK Day at Scioto last Wednesday! Much thanks to Marla and Karen for all of their hard work in planning and facilitating this day and to all of our IB teachers for their dedication and commitment to developing an excellent IB program!

Have a terrific week on our Energy Bus! Remember, as Jon Gordon writes, "Persistence moves you forward toward your destination."

Cathy

Celtic Courier: Week of Sept. 22-26

"Vision to See, Faith to Believe, Courage to Do"

We hope you have had a wonderful weekend!  Homecoming is always very exciting!  Much thanks to Michael and Diane for all of their hard work in organizing all of the Homecoming events, Carla and the Cheerleaders for the fabulous decorations and pep rally, Brian and Micah for having the band do the pep rally and the parade and all of you for making Spirit Week so much fun with your great outfits!

Here are some memories from Homecoming Week:

Fred Seely sports his letter jacket from Dublin High School!

Kyle "the tourist" Yaggi!

Trevor Woods shows off his Throwback look!

Our great Cafeteria "ladies" join in the Neon-Out!

King Tom Gao and Queen Cheyenne Roller are crowned at Pre-Game!

Drama Club is always one of the great student groups in our Parade! Best Float!

 

Even though Bradley HS prevailed in the football game, the student section was spirited all night!

Friday Night Lights and an amazing halftime show!

In the midst of Spirit Week, Katie Zwick stopped by the office to show us her new engagement ring!  Congrats, Katie!

This Week:

Monday-- Literacy Team meeting 7:15 AM in the media center.  Thanks to all of our staff members volunteering to lead our literacy initiative and to Mike Aurin for facilitating this work.  Also remember to join #DubChat on Twitter from 7:30 - 8:30 PM.  This is a great way to learn Twitter if you are not yet familiar with it and also connect with other Dublin educators.  If you would like to learn how to join it, just let us know.

Tuesday--  I will be meeting with the Governing Board at 7:20 AM in Guidance to plan our first PAC meeting this week.

Wednesday-- Please remember that all Juniors will be taken a released ACT test from 8- 11:30 in the Aux Gym.  We do NOT have a 2-hour late arrival this year; instead all juniors will not be in class.  Please remind your juniors to report directly to the Aux Gym Wed. morning.  Please also be flexible with your juniors who are missing class in making up work.

Thursday-- Special Department Chair meeting to discuss Working Wednesday Oct. 1.  Please note that this is change from the regular schedule and that we will not meet on Oct. 2. We apologize for this short notice but feel it is very important to get everyone on the same page for the 1st Working Wednesday.

Friday-- PTO-Sponsored first Staff Breakfast of the year in the teacher's lounge!  Also first New to Jerome Teacher Meeting!

5th Period Friday-- First PAC meeting of the year!  We always let students know that if they are taking a test, doing a Socratic Seminar or otherwise have to be in class that they can just attend during their lunch period.  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about specific students missing class.

Friday night football on the road at Darby!  For other athletic events, go to dublinschools.net/celtics.  Go Celtics!

As you know we had 2 car break-ins on Saturday morning so please be very vigilant about not leaving any valuables in view or any bookbags, etc in view that a car thief may belief have something of value in them.

Looking ahead--

Oct. 1:  First Working Wednesday.  Adjusted Bell Schedule for all 3 high schools.  As soon as the School Board approves our plans on Sept 22, we will be notifying parents in a common letter to district high school parents.  In addition, we will be letting you know the expectations for Working Wednesdays collaboratively developed by all 3 high schools and Central Office administrators.

We will be meeting with Department Chairs this week to review all of the information as well as sharing it with each of you.  What an exciting PD opportunity we now have: embedded same-subject team time to focus on PLC work and district and building goals.

Oct. 1: Working Wednesday
Oct. 8: Staff Meeting
Oct. 15: No Working Wednesday due to PSAT administration
Oct. 22: Working Wednesday
Oct. 29: Working Wednesday

Oct. 2: Parent-Teacher Conferences;  Please start contacting parents of D and F grade students and inviting them to this great communication and collaboration opportunity with our parents.

Have a wonderful week! What a wonderful year 2 of our Energy Bus ride! So glad you are all onboard!

Celtic Courier: Week of Sept. 15- 19

"Vision to See, Faith to Believe, Courage to Do"

Dear Staff,

We hope you have had a fun weekend with your families.  It certainly feels like Fall is here!  For us this weekend started with Friday night football vs. Liberty.  Although the Celts did not win, it was a spectacular USA-out with a huge crowd on a beautiful night.  For me, this is my 15th year of Friday night football as an administrator.  Brian Stevens secretly videoed one of my favorite things to do at Friday night football, dancing with the band, and texted me the video stating it should make the Celtic Courier.   Thanks, Brian (I think)! :)

We hope you had some special family moments this weekend.  Ours was once again watching Jennifer and Ryan marching down the ramp and Script Ohio with TBDBITL Alumni!  They also always come to our football section and serenade us!  A special time for our family!

Jennifer and Ryan bring the "band" to us on Saturday, mellophone and trumpet in hand!

This week Jerome earned academic accolades both national and state-wide.  This year we have 14 National Merit Semifinalists, the tops in Central Ohio and one of the highest in the State.  In addition, Newsweek named us #102 in the nation, our highest ranking and again, one of the tops in the State.  The State of Ohio released our State Report Card on Friday and our PI Score is 114.5.  Not only is it our highest and the highest ever for our district, it is the highest PI score of any high school in Ohio.  

We plan to look at these external indicators with you as a staff and see holistically what they mean to us, our data, and the external indicators each of these used to determine these rankings.   Certainly, we have much of which to be proud as our students continue to learn at high levels.  It certainly is a result of our PLC work and a systemic and ongoing focus on student learning with every student, every period, every day.  Thank you for your PLC collaboration and professional expertise that makes the difference for our students. Every single staff member, classified and certified, contributes to our students' academic success by helping us all to create a school culture and climate focused on learning.  Congratulations!

This week is Spirit Week and Homecoming Week, culminating in our Homecoming Parade and game on Friday and our Homecoming Dance on Saturday.

Monday-- College Day.  Sport your favorite college garb! 

Tuesday-- Tourist Day.  First Student Council meeting 5th period. I have our first Principal Academy meeting at Central Office, a meeting with PD for all building principals as the district strives to align all buildings on PLC and data-driven instruction to focus on the district goals.

Wednesday-- Comfy Day.  We will be meeting with PAC Governing Board members, Student Council officers and other interested students to develop dance norms collaboratively.  We have also included our PTO Executive Board and asked all parents for input and feedback.  All three high schools are focusing on dance norms and expectations to ensure school dances are safe and respectful for all.

Thursday-- Throwback Day.  We have a meeting with Central Office to discuss district plans for Jerome's growth.  We will have our Homecoming Court practice in the Stadium with the band 5th period.  Our undefeated Boys Soccer team takes on Coffman at Coffman at 7:15 PM in a Shoot for the Cure game.  Coffman is also undefeated and ranked second in the State so come out and support the Celtics!

Friday-- Neon Day.  Adjusted bell schedule for Fall Pep Rally with our pep rally in the afternoon.  Much thanks to Carla and the Cheerleaders for all of the terrific decorations in making our school spirit shine!  The huge Homecoming mural at the school front is unbelievable!  Thanks also to Brian Stevens and the band for their rally performance also! The parade starts at 5:30 from the corner of Brand and Avery Roads to the school.  We are looking forward to seeing many of you in the parade and as spectators.  Game time is 7:30 PM with the crowning of the King and Queen at Pre-Game!  The Celtics take on Hilliard Bradley so come out and support our student-athletes!

Saturday-- Homecoming Dance 8- 11PM.  Much thanks to Diane Murphy and Michael Cook for all of their hard work on Homecoming!

Looking ahead:

Sept. 24: Practice ACT.  All Juniors will be testing from about 8- 11:15 AM.  No 2-hr delay or adjusted bell schedule.  Plan on every junior missing class and testing.  Please work with them to make-up missed work.

Sept. 26: First PAC meeting 5th Period. Also PTO-sponsored Staff Breakfast and New to Jerome Teacher Meeting at 7:15 AM.

OCTOBER 1: First Working Wednesday Collaboration Time and adjusted bell schedule.   In a meeting on Friday, all three high school principals finalized requirements so that we can start on this date.  We will be collaborating with Dept Chairs to finalize plans as required and communicate those to the staff. 

It is important for all departments to complete their departmental prioritization of Norms work so that we have those Norms in place for our Wednesday work.  Please make sure that work is completed this week. 

Have a terrific week!  Enjoy this article on how to tell if an educator is truly passionate about teaching.  That is one of the reasons Jerome is successful-- passionate educators as yourselves.

Cathy