November 4, 2020 THE OAKWOOD REGISTER www.oakwoodregister.com DistinctiveVol. 29, No. 34 Homes November 4, 2020 A Different Scare this Halloween Candy chutes, social distancing and masks for most everyone were the order of the day as youngsters and adults alike took to the streets of Oakwood on Saturday to cele- brate Halloween. There were fewer children on the street than in past years, presumably due to the ongoing corona- virus pandemic. Jills earn 2nd straight trip to Regional Semi-Finals By Matt Goeller minutes of a scheduled 15-minute Connelly. “It was an incredible, Bellefontaine — Preparation, exe- overtime period. OHSAA overtime incredible goal.” cution, persistence, teamwork and regulations include a “Golden Goal” Beam is the Jills’ poster child for two elegant individual efforts helped rule, which states that the first goal by persistence. She suffered a left ham- lift the Oakwood Jills into the Sweet either team ends the contest. string strain at midseason that kept 16 of the Ohio High School Athletic “There was a thrown on the left her out of the teams’ final six regular Association State Soccer Tournament. side,” Beam described. “It pinged season games. Senior Captain Riley Beams’ around after Dasha (Penas-Johnson) “I knew that with hamstring inju- left-footed volley of a waist-high ball sent it into the box. A defender hit it ries you just have to sit out and let found just enough space between the and another defender tried to clear it it do its thing,” said the four-year top of the goal and the outstretched out. But it came back into the box. varsity letter winner. “The hope from arms of the leaping Tippecanoe goal- That’s where I got to it. At first I was the beginning was to be back for the keeper to bring the Jills a 1-0 overtime just hitting it, putting it on goal, maybe tournament. I spent the next three- victory in Saturday night’s District getting it on frame so anybody could and-a-half weeks just supporting my Photo by Leon Chuck, Pressbox Photo Championship. Beam is a natural finish it. As I watched it, I knew it was teammates working with Katie (trainer Teammates rush senior Abby Fehrman to celebrate her goal as fourth-seed going in. It was exciting.” Katie LaRue-Martin) doing exercises. Oakwood girls soccer upset first-seed Alter 1-0 in third round of the Div II right-footer. Southwest 3 Region playoffs Oct. 27 at host Fairmont High School. The Jills The goal came after 80 minutes “Riley Beam just came up so My motivation came from it being went on to defeat Tippecanoe 1-0 in overtime in Bellfontaine to qualify for the of regulation play and just over 11 big,” said a proud Head Coach Ryan See Jills on page 18 u regional semi-finals. <28'5($0,7:(0$.(,7(;3(57&86720'(6,*1 )XOO\,QVXUHG_6WDWH2I7KH$UW(TXLSPHQW 7HFKQLTXHV 2YHU'HFDGHV&RPELQHG([SHULHQFH_5HVWRUDWLRQ2Q+HLUORRP3LHFHV ,QKRXVH([SHUW5HSDLUV_0DVWHU*ROGVPLWKV /RRNLQJIRUDFXVWRPGHVLJQ LQWLPHIRUWKHKROLGD\V" 0DNH\RXUSHUVRQDOL]HG DSSRLQWPHQWWRGD\ VKRSHGFFRP_ 2 THE OAKWOOD REGISTER November 4, 2020 APAC parents respond to School District’s statement on Student Evaluation System On Sunday, Nov. 1, [Oakwood Oakwood parents approached school sion and merit money. The grading with a cum laude system. There were so it will not impact merit money or Schools Superintendent] Dr. Kyle administrators and BOE members with scale at OHS had not been reviewed many factors that made the commit- admissions and it will only reward Ramey sent an update to Oakwood extensive research about the advantag- since 2004. tee process less effective than desir- students who achieve higher GPAs. families regarding the “OHS Student es of changing OHS’s current 8-point APAC, led by Dr. Paul Waller, able and unable to adequately fulfill On the other hand, the grading scale Evaluation System” recommendations grading scale to a 10-point grading Oakwood High School principal, met the mission of the APAC committee, change can positively impact each and being presented to the Oakwood Board scale. The research clearly shows that monthly for 60 to 90 minutes from including some of the following – not every OHS student. of Education later this month. We changing the grading scale would ben- August 2019 until February 2020 (less enough meeting time for the large So, why won’t the district consider wanted to take this opportunity to efit students in the admission and merit than 10 hours). The committee was number of topics to evaluate, little changing the grading scale from an address that email as well as our expe- scholarship processes, and that hun- charged with looking at an extensive time for discussion, too large a com- 8-point scale to a 10-point scale? How rience serving as parents and commu- dreds of districts in Ohio and around array of issues, including the grading mittee to work efficiently, inconsistent does the current 8-point scale demon- nity members on the Academic Profile the country have changed to 10-point scale, chromatic grading, weighting attendance and lack of understanding strably benefit our students to a great- Advisory Committee (APAC). scales to level the playing field and for honors classes, the zero effect and from some members about the college er degree than the proposed 10-point APAC was formed after a group of keep students competitive for admis- replacing valedictorian/salutatorian admission process. grading scale? We still don’t know. Knowing the importance of this How can adopting a grading sys- committee and the potential impact tem that over 90 percent of our peer to our students, we repeatedly asked high schools use harm our students? City Council okays measure to pay public safety for additional time to delve deeper Won’t that make it more straightfor- into the issues, including a possible ward for college admissions officers officers in Oakwood with coronavirus relief funds weekend work session for addition- to fairly evaluate our students versus al collaboration. In response to our Oakwood City Council on Monday Oakwood is eligible to receive pay the salaries of one Public Safety other students competing for admis- requests, meetings were extended from sion and merit awards? The district approved two emergency mea- $515,008.01 in two distinct Department paramedic and one emer- the initial 60 minutes to 90 minutes but sures to amend 2020 appropriations CARES Act fund disbursements gency medical technician per shift has not provided any research or a we were told that no additional time compelling argument explaining their to account for additional coronavi- of $192,992.60 and $322,015.41, during the period from March 1 to Dec. would be granted. There was little time rus relief funding available through plus an additional $500 in accrued 30, 2020, under Treasury Department decision to maintain the status quo of to delve into the issues and there was an 8-point scale. In fact, we shared the federal CARES Act and autho- interest. guidance which states that the wages little collaboration. rize CARES funding to pay the sala- of public health and public safety our research again and addressed the Meeting Monday, city lawmak- In addition, the guiding question committee inefficiencies in a board ries of some public safety officers in ers approved an ordinance authoriz- officers can be paid through CARES the city. Act funding. that Dr. Ramey stated in his email meeting last month and we never heard ing CARES Act funds be used to “Are OHS students currently at a anything back from any board member disadvantage with respect to college or administrator. admissions and merit awards?” was Lastly, perhaps it is worth noting, Oakwood Board of Education will consider set at the beginning of the committee. all of us have been very involved in After several meetings, a more encom- helping the school district in a variety phasing out valedictorian, salutatorian honors passing goal “Ensure OHS students’ of ways. We have served the district by GPAs accurately and precisely reflect being PTO president (multiple times), The Oakwood Board of Education rian are individual academic honors Dr. Paul Waller said the Latin hon- their efforts and capabilities and are chairing numerous PTO committees, on Nov. 16 will consider a propos- recognizing the two students with the ors system under consideration would readily comparable with their peers being a member of the Oakwood al by the district’s Academic Profile highest academic ranking in each grad- require a 4.0 grade point average to on a national basis” was presented and School Foundation Board, and work- Advisory Committee to phase out rec- uating class, under Latin honors all graduate summa cum laude, a 3.75 many on the committee agreed that ing on the levy committee. We are pro- ognizing a graduating class valedic- students would have an opportunity to 3.99 GPA to graduate magna cum this should be our guiding goal, but it fessionals with experience in college torian and salutatorian at Oakwood to graduate with cum laude, summa laude, and a 3.51 to 3.74 GPA to was not adopted. admissions, education, healthcare and High School, and instead institute a cum laude or magna cum laude honors graduate cum laude at OHS under the Finally, and perhaps most disap- business. We, like many other parents, so-called Latin honors system. based on defined grade point averages. proposal going before the school board pointing, the committee did not come work hard to support our school dis- While valedictorian and salutato- Oakwood High School Principal on Nov. 16. to a consensus for the final recom- trict and our schools.