Rootstown Communicator

Page 1 THE STANDARD IS EXCELLENCE HOME HE UMMER OF T The S S ROVER Rootstown 2019 Communicator Rootstown Local Schools • 4140 State Route 44 • Rootstown, Ohio 44272 • (330) 325-9911 News From Around the District What’s Trending? Parent Conference on Hot Topics By Terri Hrina-Treharn Rootstown Local Schools welcomed guests on May 22nd for this inaugural parent conference. The conference was also replicated at James A Garfield High School on May 14th. Attendees had the option of attending four of the seven presentations throughout the evening as well as visit with various vendors and school district personnel across the county. Presentations consisted of Vaping (Portage County Sheriff’s Dept and Streetsboro Police Dept), Suicide (Coleman Professional Services), Teen Dating/Violence (Townhall II), Anxiety (Children’s Advantage), Trauma Informed Care (Summit County Trauma Informed Care Coalition), Positive Parenting Techniques (Children’s Advantage), and Positive Presence on Social Media (Kent Police Dept). Vendors includ- ed: Portage County Sheriff’s Dept, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Sequoia Wellness Center, Alcoholics Anonymous, Ravenna Parks and Recreation, United Way, Portage County Health District, Mental Health & Recovery Board, Kent Social Services, Center of Hope, Ohio Means Jobs, Fields Playground Group, Akron Children’s Hospital, and UH Portage Medical Center. Representatives were also present from the following school districts to answer questions and hand out information: Rootstown, Kent, Streetsboro, Field, Aurora, and James A Garfield. Special thanks goes out to United Way for providing the pizza and drinks as well as distributing books from their Big Red Bookshelf Program. Thanks also to the Portage County Health District who distributed safe, disposable drug deactivation pouches courtesy of the Deterra Project. Hopefully all who attended found the evening informational, were educated on some of the hot topics districts are facing in schools and learned of valuable resources they can reach out to across the county. Last but not least, we had some lucky winners leave with a family themed basket! Thank you to all who donated the baskets and made this possible: Sequoia Wellness Center, Ravenna Parks and Rec, Ohio Means Jobs, Rootstown Local Schools, Maplewood Career Center, Southeast Local Schools, Kent City Schools, Field Local Schools, Streetsboro City Schools, James A Garfield Local Schools, Waterloo Local Schools, Crestwood Local Schools, the National Museum of the Great Lakes, and Kent State Starbucks. Superintendent’s Message As I reflect upon the 2018-19 school year, I am extremely proud of the progress that our students have made. The students have made some impressive accomplishments both inside and outside of the classroom. I want to congratulate our students for their hard work, and I would like to thank the faculty and staff for their dedication to improving each student’s academic growth and for making a difference in their lives. Also, I would like to thank the parents and community for your continued support of the Rootstown Local School District and for voting to renew our permanent improvement levy on May 7th. We will be utilizing our permanent improvement Andrew Hawkins funds to make some necessary improvements such as technology upgrades, building repairs, bus purchases, and increasing Superintendent the safety throughout the district. The Rootstown Board of Education has been working with Hasenstab Architects, the Ohio Facilities Construction Com- mission, and Hammond Construction to find a plan to address our aging facilities. A decision on that plan will be announced within the next month. Please visit our district website at http://www.rootstown.sparcc.org for updates. Finally, I also would like to congratulate the Class of 2019 and wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors, and welcome our incoming Kindergarteners, the Class of 2032! If you have any questions regarding our school district, feel free to contact me. Have a great summer! Page 2 News From the Treasurer’s Office Here in the Treasurer’s office we are in the process of data migration to new accounting software. We currently use state software, which was originally created in 1979. The new product called eFinance Plus is Windows based with SQL capabili- ties. Below is a screenshot of the old system for entering purchase requisitions: Beginning July 1, the new system will allow us to create purchase requests completely online, elimi- nating paper copies. Ad- ministrators will be able to approve the requests Connie Baldwin electronically instead of Treasurer passing paper from office to office for signatures. Once approved and converted into purchase orders, the teachers will receive their copies by email. Once fully implemented, the system will send orders directly to vendors electronically instead of staff faxing or scanning paper copies. Beginning in January 2020, the district will complete the migration by processing payroll in the eFinance Human Resources module. This is a huge undertaking, but it is our goal to bring the Treasurer’s office processes and procedures into the modern era, increasing speed and efficiency and improving customer service. Assistant Superintendent’s Message Terri Hrina-Treharn - Assistant Superintendent, (330)325-2014 Parent Text Tips Sign up for Parent Text Tips through the Ohio De- partment of Education. Note: Messaging and data rates may apply. Retreived from http://educa- Terri Hrina-Treharn tion.ohio.gov/Media/Sign- Assistant up-for-Text-Alerts, April 29, Superintendent 2019. R-Stars!!! Hopefully you have seen our postings on social media or have been a parent lucky enough to get a phone call to hear your child has been chosen! This is an incentive we are doing again this school year. Once a month I “pop” into a classroom in each building and ask the teacher if they have any “R-Stars.” The teacher lets me know which student has been chosen as the R-Star as well as why that student was chosen. Students then get their picture taken with the R-Star, receive an R-Star t-shirt, choose a prize, and I call their parent/guardian right then and there to share the good news. Please check out our R-Stars for the second half of the school year! Page 3 From the Office of Special Education Marcy Spence - Director of Special Education, (330)325-4144 Child Find It’s that time of year again - the end of another school year and the start of a much deserved summer break for students, families and staff! As we reported last year at this time, the special education department has had another busy and productive year identifying, intervening, guiding and supporting our families and students with disabilities. Again, similar to May of 2018, as we continue the process of planning for the upcoming school year, it is an important time to remind our families and the Rootstown community at large of the district’s responsibility to identify, locate and evaluate all children who may have, or be suspected of having, a disability. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a federal law that assures children and youth with disabilities a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE). There are six guiding principles of IDEA, one of which, Zero Reject, addresses the Child Find issue. This tenant stipulates that a student must be determined Marcy Spence to have a disability that is covered under the IDEA and, because of that disability, the child is in need of specially designed Director of Special instruction (special education) and related services. Child Find is the name given to the process required by the Ohio Depart- Education ment of Education, Office for Exceptional Children, through which Ohio schools engage in this process – that is, we identify, locate and evaluate all children from three years of age through twenty-one with disabilities. Additionally, through the Child Find process, our schools work hand-in-hand with the state’s early intervention program, Bright Beginnings (formerly, Help Me Grow) to identify, locate and evaluate all children birth up to their third birthday, who have or are suspected of having, a disability. The district’s responsibility extends to all children, including those who are in school, advancing from grade to grade, homeless, migrant, wards of the state or enrolled in a private school. Once the district has located and identified a child with a suspected disability, the district commences an extensive multi-factored evaluation process. In the state of Ohio, a child may be found disabled and eligible for special education and related services under one of fourteen catego- ries. These include: Autism, Deaf-Blindness, Emotional Disturbance, Multiple Disabilities, Deafness, Hearing Impairment, Intellectual Disabil- ity, Orthopedically Impaired, Other Health Impaired, Specific Learning Disability, Speech-Language Impairment, Traumatic Brain Injury, Visual Impairment (including Blindness) and one preschool disability category, Developmental Delay. Rootstown Local Schools takes its Child Find responsibility very seriously. We are committed to the premise that every child can learn if given appropriate instruction and the right supports. We ask for the community’s help in “finding” any child who may have a disability in order that our district may uphold this essential component of IDEA. During the summer, and, as the new school year begins, any parent, relative, concerned citizen or public/private agency staff member who has a concern about a child’s need for special education and related services is asked to contact our department at 330-325-4144. Have a restful and enjoyable summer! Rootstown District News Rootstown Travel Club By Cara Craig This summer, Señora Craig is taking a group of students to Spain, France and England. We are very excited to use our language skills in Spain. Some of the highlights for us will be eating churros in the Puerta del Sol, standing in the exact center of Spain with the Oso and the Arbol, visiting the Prado Museum, and of course, seeing the Eiffel Tower lit up at night.

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