A school report card geared for the community may be in the works for Jon-athan Alder Local Schools following information submitted to the school board by Superintendent Doug Carpenter at the board’s April 14 meeting.
Carpenter said his conception of a community school report card was based on a former annual report to the school district community circulated by the schools years ago.
“Parents get report cards. Students get report cards, but most of the community doesn’t see a report card to know what we are doing here,’’ Carpenter said as he further explained a community report card could include academic and extracurricular statistics that show the district’s growth and/or downfalls in areas that affect the local community.
The state publishes its own school rating system, comparing academic statistics based on scores from the state’s mandatory tests. The state’s report does not focus on other areas of students’ education such as extracurriculars.
Jonathan Alder’s education philosophy combines an emphasis on “high tech’’ with the idea of “high touch,” the encouragement of students to take part in extracurriculars to help build their life opportunities outside the classroom. Carpenter said the district should come up with its own report card of accomplishments with this philosophy in mind.
“On the ‘high touch’ side, the number of students involved in extracurricular activities is very important to us. On the ‘high tech’ side, we are involved in the Battelle project, SOAR (Schools Online Assessment Program),” Carpenter said.
“I’m just throwing this out to you right now as something to consider,’’ he said in addressing the board.
In other business, Jamie Pund, the district’s curriculum and instruction director, reported that four new areas of instruction will be added to the seventh- and eighth-grade curriculum to incor-porate design and media courses, including classes on live broadcast.
Board member John Adams volunteered to be the board’s representative to a district selection committee to look over the 10 applications received by the district for future building expansion and building plans as the district looks to renovate existing buildings and build a new Plain City Elementary.
Commendations
The board applauded the efforts of several staff members and students, as follows:
• The cast, crew, directors and support staff of Jonathan Alder Junior High’s “Murder at the Goon Show” production, including Dianne Bennett for clerical support, Tom McCulloch as sound effects coordinator, Harriet Merriman as teacher-leader and thespian coach, Tim Pennington as set coordinator and Amber Vanderhoof as drama club advisor.
• Nick Beachy for making it to the second round of the National Geography Bee’s state competition.
• Alycia Brehm for organizing a science fair at the high school.
• Director Anne Gorman, the cast and crew of Jonathan Alder High School’s production of “Guys and Dolls.”
• Rick Kitchen for assisting the athletic department with spring and summer physicals and the fall and winter sports seasons.
• Boys’ basketball team members: Scott Hilbert, second-team all-district; Mychal Hill and Ryan Huff, honorable mention all-district.
• National Honor Society inductees: Max Adler, Brooke Beachy, Ame Blan-kenship, Erin Branam, Samantha Brown, Laurel Hughes-Buckley, Andrew Farrand, Jeanette Gingerich, Eliza Graber, Clay Headings, Stephanie Huebner, Jared Kuhlwein, Stephen Lamb, Charles Lanum, Hayley McSurley, Brittany Miller, Sarah Needham, Gina Palmer, Jason Parker, Margaret Robinson, Brandon Rohrig, Kendalyn Schrock, Jessica Shank, Betsy Stahl, Jennifer Sullivan, Sierra Sullivan, Lauren Thobe, Kirsten Williams, Jaclyn Yutzy and Joshua Zornes.
Next Meeting
The next board meeting will be held at 7 p.m. May 12 in the board’s meeting room at Jonathan Alder High School.
