Greenfield Elementary teacher Bobbie Hurtt is pictured with students Bailey and Brooklyn Raike.
Members of the Fifth Grade Tiger Kindness Club are pictured during Monday’s school board meeting with school board members (l-r) board member Eric Zint, student Silas Soards, board member Eric Wise, student Urijah Arrington, board member Sandy Free, student Aubree Potts, board member Marilyn Mitchell, student Aaliyah Ford, and board member Rachel Fraley. The board members are holding the plaques made for them by fifth grade students in their art classes.
Students at Greenfield Elementary are making strides with a new reading program, and fifth graders have started a kindness club, according to reports at this week’s school board meeting.
A reading program called Really Great Reading is being used in the district elementaries to teach students to read and to help younger readers become strong, confident readers. It is also used in higher grades to help reading be less challenging for students who have struggled with it.
It’s a systematic, structured program and based on the science of reading that sort of flips the script on how reading has been taught until recent years.
Tia Barham, an intervention specialist at the elementary, presented the information to the school board. She covered the basics of what the program is, how it works and what the structure of each week looks like. She included comments from teachers and videos from students who all talked about what they were learning and what they liked about the program.
The teachers’ comments, which came from all grade levels, pointed out how the program is helping students’ engagement and confidence in reading.
Elsewhere in Greenfield Elementary some fifth graders have joined together for a kindness club. Members of the Fifth Grade Tiger Kindness Club told the board of education what they were all about and how they have been spreading kindness.
They exist, they said, because kindness is important and spreading that throughout the school and the community is important, too. Some of their efforts have included kicking off the school year by welcoming new teachers with a bag of candy. They have made cards for former and present staff members, for the marching band and athletes, and veterans, too. They have organized gifts for those struggling, put together care packages, and sang Christmas songs during the holiday season all around town.
At the end of their presentation, the students handed a special gift to each board member. They were plaques specifically made for each member, and on each plaque is a mosaic of colorful tiles, each unique and crafted by fifth-graders in their art classes.
According to superintendent Quincey Gray, who spoke on behalf of art teacher Bill Roller who was unable to attend the meeting, each fifth grade student in his classes made a textured clay tile using their shoe to imprint the clay. After the tiles were fired, the students painted them. The tiles were then pieced together on wooden plaques to form one-of-a-kind gifts for each of the board members.
In other matters, Greenfield Elementary Assistant Principal Bob Schumm introduced teacher Bobbie Hurtt, who was recognized as one of the Ohio Lottery’s Partners in Education Teachers of the Month in November. According to Schumm, Hurtt was nominated by a parent of two of her students. Those students accompanied Hurtt to the meeting.
Senior and student advisory council representative Abby Wise reported that the upcoming spring musical will be “The Little Mermaid.” Wise said tryouts were open to all students and that casting went very smoothly as no call backs were needed for any of the parts, something she said is not usual. Practices for the musical have already begun and the musical is set to be performed for the public on March 22-23.
In other meeting business, consent agenda items that were approved included the resignations of bus driver Judy Earley, cook Michele Miller, and aide Ella Kolle. Also approved was the McClain FFA trip to the National Land and Range Soils Competition in El Reno, Oklahoma this spring.
Board members accepted the resignation of middle school teacher Tatiana Weaks, effective next month.
Employment recommendations approved by board members were: Susan Maynard, transportation aide; Judy Earley, bus driver; Winter Moon, aide; Matthew Bryant, bus driver; Danielle Buhrman, cafeteria, secretary; Jacob Catrone, junior high track; David Weaks, boys track assistant; Ethan Hurtt, girls track assistant; Katie Cook, transportation office; Robbie Wise, custodian/maintenance; Austin Booth, baseball assistant; Iva Easter, junior high track; Eric Stegbauer, softball assistant; Spring Roberts, softball assistant; and certified substitutes Charles Newland, Natalie Rolfe, Amy Kline and Cathy Rivas.
The Greenfield Exempted Village School District Board of Education meets next in regular session on Feb. 27, 2024 at 7 p.m. in the Greenfield Middle School gymnasium.
Angela Shepherd is a correspondent for the Greenfield Exempted Village Schools.
