School begins in less than one month. In the life of educators, as well as parents, June crawls slowly like a turtle crossing the road. July, on the other hand, races like a hare. August is just around the corner. Didn’t we just celebrate the 4th of July?!
There are many changes coming to school in the upcoming year, all positive. The joy of starting a new school year is we continue to tweak, to evolve, to try to improve what we offer to the students who will be coming to our building on August 19.
We welcome new teachers to our building. Mr. Alex Goodlive will be joining our faculty as our middle school ELA teacher. Alex is a product of St. Bridgid of Kildare Elementary School, Bishop Watterson High School and the University of Dayton. For the last two years he has taught at Dunbar High School in Dayton. He wanted to return to Columbus and he wanted to teach in a Catholic School, so we are delighted that he has joined our staff.
Ms. Leesa Crimmel will be working with some of our middle school students on alternative curriculum and assessment. Leesa went to St. Michael Elementary School and Bishop Watterson High School. She had a long career as a reading teacher in Dublin City Schools and will be a great addition to helping our students improve.
Ms. Beth Turk has a lot of experience in Cleveland working in intervention with an undergraduate degree from Ohio University and a master’s from Phoenix. She will be working with our second graders assisting our second-grade teacher, Ms. Christina Marks.
Ms. Debbie Duke is returning to us as our Title I Reading tutor and we are thrilled that she will be working with our students five days a week! She works for Columbus Public Schools and her position is funded by federal flow through dollars.
Ms. Maggie Bender will be working as our lead Intervention Specialist on a consultant basis. Maggie owns Ohio Special Education Consulting and will help us get our maximum dollars from the State of Ohio for Jon Peterson scholarships.
Our current enrollment is 238 students, which is slightly up from last year and puts us at full capacity in 6 out of our 9 grades. We welcome a number of new families to the Our Lady of Peace family from kindergarten through eighth grade. Please introduce yourselves when you can and encourage your children to make them feel at home.
Building projects this summer include taking the previously unused girls locker area and turning it into a tutoring classroom. For the time being, the only entrance to the upstairs girls’ restroom is in the gym, but we will be creating a door from the main hallway to the room shortly.
Our long-awaited new sound and projection system with a giant pull down screen should be completed by the time school begins. This will enable both the school and parish to have assemblies and events and use computer technology when needed. No more ordering old microphones from Canada through Ebay!
Educationally, we have revamped our sixth-grade curriculum somewhat to reflect the important transition from fifth grade to middle school. We have adopted a new math curriculum that encourages skill development. We will be taking a hard look at more efficient use of student computers and how they are used in our classrooms. While this technology has been a wonderful addition to education, like anything else it is a tool and we will be maximizing its effectiveness and minimizing its overuse and abuse.
We will be preparing both the fourth and eighth grades for the Sacrament of Confirmation this year. Although a date has not been set, we have asked the Bishop for this to take place in the spring.
Although I am thoroughly enjoying my summer and having some extra time to bicycle, read, write and spend time with family, I am as excited for the upcoming school year as if I were a first-year teacher. This anticipation is what keeps me young and fresh. I look forward to seeing all our students on August 19!