November 21, 2008

TGIF November 21, 2008


Good frigid Friday to all of you! I hope you’ve all been able to dig out your winter coats, gloves, hats, etc. I always seem to have a hard time finding that stuff when the cold weather hits. But it’s like finding old friends to help get through these winter months.

If I had to give this week a theme, I’d have to say it’s been a “week of validation” for Ohio Hi-Point and the value we provide to our region. Monday I attended a luncheon at Clark State Community College (along with Sharon Halter, ABLE Coordinator, and Amy Main, Adult Education Health Occupations Coordinator) to meet with Clark State’s accreditation team. This team of representatives from all over the country wanted to hear how Clark State has partnered with us to serve students. We were able to share how we’ve worked with Clark State in our Tech Prep programs to give many students a head-start toward college, how they’ve been leaders in facilitating dual enrollment classes for us, how they have co-located on our campus to bring higher education to Logan County, how our Adult Education Practical Nursing Program is pioneering a blended-curriculum program in Marysville with Clark State, and how we are partnering with them to bring public safety services training to Logan Co. Afterward, I received a personal thank-you from David Devier, VP of Academic and Student Affairs at Clark State, for sharing and for the tremendous cooperation he has received from my staff on all these initiatives—he couldn’t say enough about the professionalism of all of you in the high-school, adult education, and even facilities and grounds for making them feel so at home here. Thanks to all of you for living up to the high bar we’ve set!

On Wednesday, Darlene Chiles, Adult Education Director, attended a meeting with the Logan County Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development as a member of a stakeholder team convened to position Logan County competitively as businesses look to locate here. Prior to the meeting, she had given the visiting consultants a tour of our facilities. She shared with me and our Board on Wednesday evening that the visiting team just couldn’t say enough at the stakeholders meeting about what an asset Ohio Hi-Point is to Logan County; as a matter of fact, they cited us as the number one asset to the County in attracting new businesses. How about that!! (Darlene said it was actually a little embarrassing that they kept raving about us at the meeting, but of course she didn’t stop them!) I think it’s important for all of you to hear examples such as this when outside sources come to our region and recognize the quality educational opportunities we provide. We expect a lot of ourselves, we deliver, and people are noticing!


Thursday evening I had the opportunity to present to the Logan-Union-Champaign Regional Planning Commission at their annual meeting. This group included about 140 county commissioners, county engineers, elected officials, and other leaders from this three-county region. Jack Reser, Logan County Commissioner, had asked me to speak because we serve this same region. I agreed because I thought it was a perfect fit! Jack also shared with the group as he introduced me how very impressed the visiting consulting team for the Chamber had been with our facility. The theme of my presentation was the history of our site in Bellefontaine, the establishment of the Ohio Hi-Point Joint Vocational School District, and our impact on the region. I have to say I had a lot of fun digging through some old records to learn more about how our District was established. Did you know the initial 3-mill, 5-year levy to establish the District, initially placed on the ballot in November of 1970, failed twice before it was finally passed in May of 1972? I didn’t! Reading through those old leather-bound board minutes from the meetings of our original Board of Education helped me to understand that it took a very dedicated group of persistent pioneers to make our school a reality. We all owe them a tremendous debt, and I’m sure they would all be proud (or are proud if they’re still with us) of how far we’ve come in our first 35 years! Many thanks to Robert Walker and Shane Haggerty for their assistance in helping me put this presentation together.

I understand there’s some big football game going on this weekend? Have a great weekend and stay warm!

November 14, 2008

I’m back to blogging after a brief absence! It’s been a crazy couple of weeks—some planned activity, some unplanned. And from what I’ve seen and heard, you’ve all been very busy as well!

Early in November I had the opportunity to attend the American Association of School Administrators Women in Leadership Conference. The overall theme was having the courage to affect change, and I think we at OHP have all learned through our many changes over the past several years that change does indeed take courage! Featured speakers were the Superintendents of Atlanta, Georgia and Huntsville, Alabama Public Schools. Both of these districts have come from being low-performing schools to showing tremendous improvement over the past five years in spite of difficult conditions. The superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, Beverly Hall, described the strategic plan her district enacted through decentralized building leadership teams focused on standards. She also shared that financial restrictions required her to cut over 1,000 employees from their central office (makes me wonder how many they had to begin with!) It’s hard for me to fathom an organization that large and complex. But I think this district is an excellent example that schools can achieve success even in tough times by staying focused and working together.

Once again our GRADS Department (Deb Baker, Nancy Decker, Francie Ross) worked with the March of Dimes on the “Light a Little Star” event which raises funds to help prevent birth defects. At Ohio Hi-Point Career Center, the GRADS Department had a brownie day and a teacher Soup Luncheon for donations (and we all got some great soup recipes as a result!) In addition, students sponsored a Harvest Dance on November 7 with proceeds going to the “Light A Little Star” Event. Ohio Hi-Point’s total donation to March of Dimes was $350, which was presented at the “Light a Little Star” community event on November 8 at Northeastern Elementary school in Bellefontaine.

Many thank to our GRADS instructors and the following students who worked very hard to organize the Harvest Dance:

Alison Godfrey, Cosmetology I from Bellefontaine
Michael Overfield, Cosmetology I from Bellefontaine
Alyson Mowery, Cosmetology II from Marysville
Emma Barrett, Cosmetology II from West Liberty-Salem
Mary Rose Sanders, Culinary II from Urbana
Ashley Kuch, Cosmetology I from Ben Logan

A photo of the “Light a Little Star” Committee is pictured at right. Absent from the photo is Nancy Decker, GRADS Instructor.

This past Monday and Tuesday I attended the Ohio School Boards Association Capital Conference in Columbus. We heard from both Governor Strickland and our new State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Deborah Delisle. Governor Strickland vowed that school funding reform will be his first priority in 2009 and will be reflected in his proposed state budget. We’ll have to wait for the details on that! Mrs. Delisle spoke enthusiastically about her goal to make the Ohio Department of Education a service and support organization for Ohio’s public schools. I have to say it is refreshing to have a State Superintendent who has superintendent experience in an Ohio public school (Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District) and who has been “in the trenches” with us in enacting federal and state mandates. I look forward to the perspective she brings to the position.

During the Capital Conference, the Ohio Association of Career-Tech Superintendents met and heard from Tom Ash, Legislative Specialist with Buckeye Association of School Administrators (Ohio has no shortage of “Associations,” does it?!) Tom cautioned us to expect another round of cuts to the education budget from the Governor’s office yet this school year, most likely in February/March. We’re fortunate at Ohio Hi-Point not to have to worry about the possibility of a negative cash balance with news of such cuts, but we certainly need to work very carefully to watch our resources and plan to spend even less than what was appropriated by the Board in September. The Administrative Team and I will work together to assure we can operate even within a reduced budget, and I want to thank all of you for your efforts to use our resources wisely.

Speaking of budgets, a new State Biennium Budget will be enacted in the first half of 2009. This is likely to be one of the “leanest” budgets we’ve seen in quite some time; and Shane Haggerty, the Administrative Team, and I will be setting up appointments to talk with our legislators in January during the Ohio ACTE Legislative Conference. It’s critical that we keep the importance of career-technical education at the forefront as they begin the budgeting process.

OK, enough with the gloomy news! Let me share some of the great things our students are doing! During the Capital Conference, I attended a session on Satellite Programs presented by Sharon Maurice, Supply Chain Management Instructor at Urbana, two of her current students, and one graduate of the program. They were just great! The two current students, Victoria Noble and Wade Nichols, are juniors in the program; and their presentation was as professional as you would expect from any business person. The former student, Chris Rittenhouse, talked about his experience both in the program and at his current job with the Defense Acquisition University at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Wow—the experiences he’s having! And, of course, it takes an enthusiastic teacher to get kids this excited about a program, and Sharon certainly fits the bill. Thanks to all of you for representing us so well at a state-wide conference!

Last evening I attended the annual Union County Chamber of Commerce “Salute to Leaders” Dinner. The Chamber holds this dinner because they strongly believe in growing and recognizing local leadership. Leaders are recognized in several areas; and the gentleman recognized for his contributions in Culture/Arts, Larry Ohnsman, stated he was a former career-technical construction trades teacher. I spoke with Larry afterward and asked him where he taught, and it was right here at OHP! Some of you may remember him. He talked for quite some time about how much he enjoyed his teaching here.

JoEtta Spain, who advises our Student Ambassadors, has been very busy out and about with this group of students beginning our recruiting efforts for next year at our partner schools. I was able to see a very brief portion of their presentation at West Liberty-Salem (next year I’ll schedule better and stay for the whole thing!) But even in the short portion that I saw, the enthusiasm of both the students and Joetta was tremendous. JoEtta shared:

I really wanted to tell you how proud I have been of the work the Lead Ambassadors have done this year on our visits to the partner schools. The information the students are able to share with them is so powerful for our recruitment efforts. We have such wonderful students and they really give 100% to do a great job for OHP. I always look forward to each year and the new group of students we have as Lead Ambassadors. I enjoy the time I spend with them also.

JoEtta also shared about this year’s first student incentive activity for grades/attendance:

This Thursday, November 6, was our first student incentive activity. We went to T.P. Lanes for 2 games of bowling and pizza and drinks. We had 175 students make the TAD list (tardy-attendance-discipline). Out of the 175 we took 112 to the bowling lanes and had such an exciting time. The students were so good even the staff at the bowling lanes said what a good bunch they were. I had great help with the group from Eric Harman, Tammy Troyer, Judy Gratz, Carol Siebeneck, and Ryan Mulholland. I really appreciate all their help. Thanks so much for allowing us to give the students such a fun activity.

Thanks to all of the staff members who assisted with this well-deserved activity for the students!

I often say that I run into good news about OHP just about everywhere I go. My husband Scott spent last weekend in Union Memorial Hospital in Marysville with a pulmonary embolism. (He’s doing fine now—just has to keep his blood thinner than water!) When we got to the emergency room at 2:30 Friday morning, I of course had to fill out all the necessary paperwork for insurance. When the lady helping me saw that I worked at Ohio Hi-Point, she asked what I do here. (I was almost embarrassed to admit I was superintendent, because I definitely had my “just-rolled-out-of-bed” look going on!) She said, “Oh, we have your students here all the time! We really enjoy them.” I thanked her for the clinical experiences the hospital makes available to our students. I also found it interesting that Scott had two male nurses in the ER, and his physician was female. Those gender roles are clearly being redefined in the health care field!

Finally, I’d like to wish all of our staff members who are veterans a belated Happy Veterans Day! I hope we never take for granted the freedoms we enjoy because of your dedication to our country.

Have a great weekend!