Fairview Fast 5
District News from the Fairview Park City Schools
A message from Superintendent Keith Ahearn
On September 15, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) released its 2021-2022 Ohio State Report Cards. The new state report card now includes a “5-Star Rating” in five component areas instead of letter grades or rankings. While an overall star rating for each district will not be issued until next year, we were excited to share that based on our results in the five component areas the Fairview Park City School District would have achieved an overall 4-Star rating, exceeding state standards.
These report card results are due to the incredibly hard work and perseverance of our students, teachers, administrators, staff, and families. As we celebrate these results, we will continue to build on our strengths while addressing opportunities for continuous improvement. These results are just one benchmark that we use to measure the quality and rigor that our students deserve and our community expects. It is also Homecoming week in Fairview Park City Schools. Students and staff throughout the district have been showing their “Warrior Pride” through various spirit activities this week. The festivities will culminate this Friday, October 14, with a Homecoming Parade through the streets of the city starting at 5:30 pm from the high school parking lot. Directly after the parade the Fairview Warriors football team will take on the Westlake Demons under the lights at the James B. Daley Stadium. The Homecoming dance will be in the FHS gym on Saturday night. Throughout this October installment of the “Fast Five Newsletter” you will see examples of how Fairview Park City Schools students and staff honor the long-standing tradition of Homecoming by striving for academic excellence and showing their pride for their schools and this community. Sincerely, Keith Ahearn
In early October, the Fairview Park City Schools Treasurer’s Office was again recognized for excellence.
For the 20th year in a row, the district received the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association. According to the GFOA release, the district’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, or ACFR, was judged by an impartial panel and demonstrated “a constructive spirit of full disclosure to clearly communicate its financial story and motivate potential users and user groups to read the report”.
The award is the culmination of a year’s worth of awards for the Treasurer’s office, specifically centered around the ACFR from the 2021 fiscal year. This most recent recognition adds to an already impressive list of independent auditing groups that have acknowledged the accuracy and quality of the district’s financial reporting.
Fourth grade students at Gilles-Sweet Elementary have a new way to experience music this school year.
To help students experience what it’s like to play a string instrument and learn music literacy, the school recently purchased 30 ukuleles with grant funding. Previously, fourth grade students played the recorder in music class, and learned how to sing.
“We do still use recorders, and that still is very successful,” Peter Cibulskas, music teacher at Gilles-Sweet explained. “We thought about starting ukuleles so that we can start developing finger dexterity for our string players as well. We’re trying to fill out the fourth-grade curriculum to get them ready for the next step.”
“Fine motor skills for this age group has been significantly decreasing over the years due to a variety of factors, technology being the main culprit,” Hillery Needham, director of orchestras for the district explained. “Getting ukuleles in students' hands will give students fine muscle training in their fingers that will not only help them get ready for a stringed instrument in fifth grade orchestra. It will help with penmanship and hand-eye coordination and fire all brain areas at one time.”
Recognizing students for their achievements is more than just giving good grades.
At Fairview High School and Mayer Middle School, a new recognition program aims to highlight students for their social and behavioral successes. Although both buildings have been highlighting students for various accomplishments throughout the years, Warrior PRIDE will focus on five specific areas to create a better school environment for everyone.
Students who make Positive choices, have Respect, Integrity, and Determination, and show Engagement with their learning will be recognized each month by the building.
“The previous highlighting of students was very limited,” Chris Vicha, Principal at Fairview High School and Mayer Middle School explained. “By reworking our Warrior of the Month system and promoting it to all the staff members as we have, our goal is to get every student in the building highlighted at least once throughout the year.”
Thanks to the generosity of the Fairview Park community, students throughout the district will continue to learn the joy of reading.
Books-A-Million, located at Westgate Mall, recently donated 262 books to the school district for student use, totaling $4,676.89. The donation resulted from the store’s recent Summer Book Drive, where community members purchased items supporting local students. This year, the Fairview Park City Schools was the lucky recipient.
According to Mary Jo Cooper, Library Media Specialist at Parkview Early Education Center and Gilles-Sweet Elementary, the district provided the store with a “healthy” wish list of books to consider for donation.
“Since I am mainly at the Early Education building and Gilles-Sweet, I know a lot of the book titles that are popular with the kids,” Cooper said. “Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Captain Underpants and Elephant and Piggy are super popular. Kids have them checked out all the time, so they’re getting worn out pretty quickly.”
