Ranger News

Dear Ranger Families,

As we dive into the heart of February, I am delighted to share the excitement taking place in our district during this shortest month of the year. Conferences for NRHS, NRAC, and RHTA are scheduled to take place this month, providing valuable opportunities for you to engage with the educators shaping your child's educational journey. Please refer to the details below for dates and times. Additionally, we have a lineup of school dances, talent shows, and concerts on the horizon. Stay updated on all these happenings by checking our district calendar at NRCS.net.

Reflecting on January, we have some notable achievements to celebrate. The North Ridgeville Music Department successfully hosted the Ohio Music Education Association's District 4 Solo and Ensemble Contest on Saturday, January 27. The event showcased the exceptional talents of our students, and you can find more details on their outstanding performances below. Congratulations to our high school art department for the array of student artwork that was submitted to the 56th annual Lorain County Regional Scholastic Art Exhibition at LCCC. The American Vision award was earned by senior Faith Schneider, which indicates her work was one of the top five in the show. For athletics, the details of the achievements of the NRHS swimmers, gymnasts, bowlers and dance team can be found at RangersAthletics.com.

In the realm of infrastructure development, our efforts toward the construction of the new high school and maintenance/transportation facility are well underway. Members of our dedicated staff recently toured Eastlake North High School, Willoughby South High School, and Wickliffe's state-of-the-art K-12 building. This insightful experience allowed us to envision the possibilities for our future here in North Ridgeville. Since the tours, meetings have taken place with our architecture firm, ThenDesign Architecture, to begin discussing the features we would like to see in our future building.

Your input is invaluable in shaping the learning environment for our students, and we are eager to involve you in this process. Once the design and construction teams have been finalized, we will host a community event to begin gathering input from you. Your participation and insights will play a crucial role in moving forward, and we are excited for this collaborative journey ahead.

The future is undeniably bright for our Rangers, and we are grateful to have you as partners in our shared commitment to excellence in education. Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Roxann Ramsey-Caserio

Wednesday, February 7 - NRAC Conferences, 4:30 - 7:30 PM

Thursday, February 15 - NRHS Conferences, 5 - 8 PM

Thursday, February 15 - RHTA Learner Lead Conferences, 5 - 7 PM

Friday, February 16 - No School, Professional Development Day

Monday, February 19 - No School, Presidents' Day

Wednesday, February 21 - NRAC Conferences, 4:30 - 7:30 PM
Thursday, March 14 - ECLC Conferences, 4:45 - 7:45 PM

Friday, March 15 - No School, Professional Development Day

Wednesday, March 20 - Liberty Conferences 4:30 - 6:30 PM

Thursday, March 21 - State of North Ridgeville, 6 PM

Monday March 25 - Monday, April 1 - Spring Break

If you have a child that will be entering Kindergarten for the 2024-2025 school year, please considering attending the March Into Kindergarten event. It will take place on Monday, February 26 from 5 PM - 6:30 PM. Principal, Mrs. Andrea Vance will have a presentation to begin the event. The remainder of the time can be spent touring the building, meeting staff, and taking part in activities.

Kindergarten registration for the 2024-2025 school year opens on March 11, 2024. Click here to visit our website and see all the necessary documents for registration. As shared over the past few years, our space is limited at the Early Childhood Learning Community. To be eligible for the full-day lottery, you must register by April 1, 2024. All parents will register in Powerschool and indicate if they want to enroll in a full-day or half-day program. Parents will be notified in early April if their child is enrolled in a full-day classroom or if they will be placed on a waiting list.

On Saturday, January 27th, North Ridgeville High School hosted 27 local schools for the annual Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) District 4 Solo and Ensemble event. With this, there were over 595 events where the North Ridgeville Band students and families ran tasks such as guiding others in the hallway, checking in performers, greeting patrons, serving concessions and helping make this event a success in a variety of ways.

What is Solo and Ensemble? It is an annual event that takes place throughout the country in which students prepare their own music either as a solo or a group. Students pick out pieces of music from a required list that often can double as college audition pieces and classic standards of their instrument. These performances are then evaluated by a judge and scored on a rating system.

Students who perform in Solo and Ensemble greatly benefit as they work diligently on perfecting their piece and working with an accompanist if taking a solo or working with other students if in an ensemble. Students learn time management while working on a piece of music that may be out of their comfort zone.

The North Ridgeville High School Band Program sponsored 22 events.

1 event received ratings of good
3 events received ratings of excellent
18 events received the top rating of superior

The North Ridgeville High School Choral Program sponsored 19 events.
8 students earned Superior ratings for their solos
6 students earned Excellent ratings for their solos
4 ensembles earned Superior ratings

1 ensemble earned an Excellent rating

The North Ridgeville High School Band could not have done this without the help of the North Ridgeville Band Boosters, NRHS Staff, NRHS and NRAC Maintenance Department, NRCS Food Service Department and the NRCS Administration. Representatives from these groups deserve a special thank you for allowing the band program to run this large event.

On Sunday, January 28th the North Ridgeville High School Concert and Symphonic Bands performed at Severance Hall for the North Eastern Ohio Band Invitational (NEOBI). This event has been running for 25 years and this was the first time North Ridgeville has been invited to play at Severance Hall. Our students each played three works, and then perhaps for the first time played a combined piece that boasted over 100 students on stage. Thank you to the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony for the invitation and to our Band Boosters who made this happen.

On Saturday, Joseph Robson (senior) will be performing in the prestigious All-State Choir at the Ohio Music Education Association STATE Conference. Please wish Joseph well as he goes down to Columbus for the event. The performance is at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Columbus at 2:00pm on Saturday, February 3. Free admission. Please congratulate him and wish him well.

The STEM American Government class, taught by Ms. Kerilynn Daniels, is one out of ten classes across the country taking part in the Civic Life Project. This nationwide movement educates students on the importance of civic responsibility, engages students throughout the filmmaking process, and then amplifies their work through a showcase.

Our juniors in this class at NRHS have spent most of this academic year selecting a topic to research, use filmmaking techniques to highlight this topic, and it is now time to share their work with the community. Come and view their documentaries and be a part of a Q&A session on Friday, March 15 at 6:30 PM in the NRAC Cafetorium. These students are going to change the world!

Do not miss out on NRCS Night with the Cleveland Cavaliers. It will be the last home Friday night game of the season and we secured a primetime performance by the NRHS A Capella choir. You can purchase tickets to the game here: https://bit.ly/47waM7n or by scanning the QR code on the flyer. If your child would like the chance to be a part of the spirit tunnel or be an "anthem buddy", you must also submit this form: https://forms.gle/Z7wRvksqa2nNZDo69 Tickets must be purchased in order to be eligible to participate in these fan experiences.

Please contact Nikki Roth if you have any questions: nicoleroth@nrcs.net

We will be holding a friendly competition between the buildings to collect non-perishable items for North Ridgeville Community Care. To cast a "vote" for the winning team, students should either bring a meat, or non-meat, product and place it in the collection bin for the corresponding team. The school with the most points-per-student ratio will win bragging rights and the inaugural NRCS Soup'er Bowl trophy. This one-day drive will occur on Thursday, February 8. The winning building will be announced the following day via NRCS social media channels.

Grace Roussat is an honor roll student and since age seven swam with a Club team. She is a four year Varsity Swimmer and earned the Versatility Award because she was always willing and ready to support her team and would swim any and all events her coach asked of her. In the upcoming Sectional meet, Grace will be swimming the 500 and 400 free styles and the 100 back stroke.

For two years she has been a member of the Prom Committee, and this past fall was chosen by her peers to be on the Homecoming Senior Court.

For many years she has volunteered at our Rotary/Community events. One of which was when she disguised herself as an Easter bunny to the delight of many youngsters at the Easter Egg Hunt. For Safetyville she has cleaned the area and painted the buildings. She shopped for the items needed for the Shoebox project. Also, she has worked at the Senior Center’s Spaghetti Dinners.

This fall she will attend Cleveland State University and major in the Health Sciences.

Arden Dlugosz is a high honor roll student and a two year member of the National Honor Society. Last summer she went on volunteer service project to Costa Rica. Arden, along with other students, planted mangrove trees along the coastline and riverbeds to help with the country’s erosion problem.

She ran Cross Country for three years and lettered in the last two and was their Captain. For four years she has been a member of the Track team and has two Varsity letters and will be their Captain. For Four years, she has lettered in swimming and is their Captain. This year she has already broke four school records in the 200 breaststroke, 800 freestyle relay, 400 and 200 medley relays.

Her work experience has included giving private swim lessons to children ages one through ten years of age. She coaches at the YMCA and the Mills Creek Pool. She also lifeguards at the Red Tail Country Club.

Her college choices are John Carroll which has awarded her $27,000 or Ohio State. Arden will major in Biology and either Psychology or Chemistry. Her ultimate goal is to be a Pharmacist.

Each month the Board of Education recognizes two staff members who have shown extreme care, demonstrated excellence, and/or provided exemplary professionalism. These nominations may come from students, parents, colleagues or administration. Please take the time to nominate a staff member today. Complete this quick form to nominate a deserving staff member. Submissions are reviewed regularly. Thank you for taking the time to recognize our valuable staff members.

Lorain County is hosting strategic action plan focus groups to gain input from the community about the future of our county. Please consider attending one of these sessions. The times and topics can be found below. Register for a focus group by clicking here.

Check out the Baldwin Wallace Spring STEM brochure to see all the great happenings in our area!

The Connecting for Kids February Brochure is now available. It includes dates and times for all upcoming resource fairs and workshops. You can find it here.

The workshops cover topics like discipline, behavior concerns, and communication. They also offer support for parents and siblings, including an "Ask Us: 1 on 1" session that you can request by viewing the brochure and registering on their website.

All of their programs are free! If you're looking for support in a particular area, visit their webiste at ConnectingForKids.org.

The North Ridgeville City Schools are always looking for great candidates to fill our many full and part-time positions. Please check out our Employment information on our district website. Looking for something part-time? Looking to help out for limited hours during the school year? Please consider becoming an important part of our team.

Ohio Substitute Teacher Services serves as our district’s substitute management provider, responsible for the recruitment, training, and employment of substitute teachers. To begin the employment process as a valued substitute teacher for North Ridgeville City Schools, click here.

Requirements include, but are not limited to:

• Bachelor’s degree with official transcripts or a valid teaching and/or substitute license from the Ohio Department of Education.

• Valid BCI & FBI fingerprinting background check results in less than 12 months old and are on file with the Ohio Department of Education.

Please consider becoming a substitute teacher today!

Substitute support staff play a vital role in keeping our buildings and facilities open and running efficiently. Many diverse opportunities exist for your consideration. Please consider applying to become a substitute cleaner, custodian, food service worker, paraprofessional, media specialist, secretary, bus driver and aides, or health care associate.

Substitute cleaners, custodians, food service employees, paraprofessionals, media specialist and secretaries are employed by Rachel Wixey & Associates and utilize Frontline Absence Management. Applicants should apply here to start the application process.

NRCS hires substitute bus drivers, bus aides and health care associates. Please start an application here if interested in one of these positions.