9/20/2012 - South Side Leader
     

Director of Curriculum and Instruction Sharon Herchik brought the Norton City Schools Board of Education up to speed about the state’s new Third Grade Reading Guarantee at the Sept. 17 meeting.

“This is a topic that is part of S.B. [Senate Bill] 316,” Herchik said. “This is something that we are currently working on. It’s law now, but we are all waiting as ODE [Ohio Department of Education] rolls out the interpretations. ... To summarize, the Third Grade Guarantee in 2013-2014 means a third-grade student [scoring] not proficient on the Ohio achievement assessment will not be promoted to grade four.”

She said this does not apply to this school year because the third-grade students haven’t received kindergarten through second grade assessments.

“A reading diagnostic must be administered to all kindergarten to grade three students prior to Sept. 30 to identify all students reading below the grade level,” Herchik said. “Parents must receive a notice if their child is reading below level and an explanation of intervention services.”

Herchik said a reading grant will be awarded in April 2013 to fund the program.

Board member Jim Bennett asked if the district was prepared to meet the Sept. 30 deadline this year.

“We’ll meet it,” Herchik said. “We currently do a reading assessment.”

With school in session for almost a month, the board restarted its student of the month designation.

Second-grader Alliya Pickett was Grill Elementary’s student of the month.

“She’s shown great habits in class and can be counted on to do the right thing,” said Grill Elementary Principal Brady Sackett.

While Norton Middle School Principal Joyce Gerber introduced eighth-grader McKenna Abernathy as student of the month, Norton High School Principal Ryan Shanor did the same with Amber Goodwin. The former aspires to one day attend Julliard, while the latter was described as being a student who “works so hard.”

The next Norton school board meeting is set for Oct. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Norton Primary School, 3163 Greenwich Road. At 6 p.m., an information meeting regarding the district’s 1.9-mill levy is planned.

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