GM schools to get computers

At the Groveport Madison Board of Education’s June 11 meeting, Superintendent Scott McKenzie said money was scraped together from the general fund to come up with $150,000 for the replacement computers. The computers will be built from parts by the district’s technology staff.

McKenzie said the computers will replace the district’s non-working and outdated computers in classrooms and school libraries. The distribution of the replacement computers by school is as follows:

•Asbury – 24 for classrooms, 15 for the library;

•Dunloe – 15 for classrooms, 26 for the library;

•Glendening – 19 for classrooms, 3 for the library;

•Groveport – 42 for classrooms, 11 for library;

•Madison – 26 for classrooms, 7 for library;

•Sedalia – 8 for classrooms, 9 for library;

•Middle School South – 27 for classrooms;

•Middle School North – 28 for classrooms;

•Junior High – 3 for classrooms, 8 for library; and

•High School – 76 for classrooms.

"Working computers in our classrooms can personalize learning environments, provide learning spaces for collaboration, enhance project based learning, store formative assessments for immediate feedback, and differentiate instruction to adjust learning activities to varied learning styles for maximum student learning," said Aimee Marburger, gifted teacher at Middle School North, about the value of computers in the schools.

McKenzie added that AT&T is installing a fiber optic network for all the buildings that should be in place by this fall.

Madison Elementary roof  

Madison Elementary will be getting a new roof this summer as the board approved contracting with Simon Roofing and Metal at a cost of $333,602 to do the work. The new roof will have a 30 year warranty.

"The existing roof is almost non-existent in providing protection from the elements," said Groveport Madison Treasurer Anthony Swartz. "We have no choice but to replace it."

"I’ve been over there (Madison) and have seen the buckets used to catch the water," added Board President Dr. Naomi Sealey. "Buckets everywhere."

Swartz said the money to fix the roof comes from the district’s capital improvement budget and the income tax revenue sharing agreement the district has with the village of Groveport.

Over the years, Simon Roofing and Metal has put new roofs on eight of the district’s 10 buildings. The work at Madison Elementary is expected to be completed before school starts in August.

School improvement

Director of School Improvement Susan Briggs reported that Groveport Madison was one of only 41 schools within central Ohio’s Metropolitan Education Council to successfully complete and file its Education Management Information System reports for the Ohio Achievement Test.

"It’s very important to verify our reports," said Briggs. "The state can take money away if the requirements are not met."

Briggs also reported that 135 high school students signed up for Ohio Graduation Test tutoring in June. She said this figure is up from last year when only 40 students out of the many more who needed tutoring took the time to seek help.

New principals

The district will welcome two new principals this fall. Curt Brogan, a former Groveport Madison teacher, will be principal at Glendening Elementary and Jim Sullivan, who previously worked in Canal Winchester, will become principal at Asbury Elementary.