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EAST LIVERPOOL - East Liverpool schools are off to a great start, according to the superintendent.
Superintendent Jonathan Ludwig told board members during their August meeting, noting the past month had been busy with tremendous amounts of preparations, collaborations and significant accomplishments taking place to make the first day of school possible.
Ludwig expressed his appreciation and gratitude to a number of district employees, including Joy Bock for her coordination of the summer meal program and improvements to the Westgate cafeteria; John Freeman and the building and grounds team who worked throughout the summer to ensure the buildings and grounds were ready; Megan Hernandez for coordinating the new staff orientation, the back to school bash, which he said was very successful, and establishing the partnership with the Cleveland Browns Stay in the Game Attendance Network; Ryan Willis for his work on streamlining professional development, procedures and instructional support for the staff; and Jason Duke for coordinating facilities, schedules, coaches and all the other details necessary for the start of fall athletics.
Ludwig also thanked the district's principals, secretaries and school counselors, noting the amount of work that they put into staffing, schedules, enrollment, family communications and preparing the district's buildings for students.
"Their work over the past several weeks has been greatly appreciated," Ludwig said.
Ludwig noted that one of the biggest accomplishments he can think of at this time is the Five-Star Career Technical Education Rating which was celebrated with a banner presentation.
"The recognition belongs to the students, instructors, administrators and business partners, and it highlights our outstanding career paths that we are very proud of; preparing students for college, careers, industry credentials and the workforce" Ludwig said. "It was a pleasure to get to conduct in-service with that group of teachers and go through some of the highlights and changes that were coming but also take a moment to celebrate the hard work that they have already done."
Ludwig said the return to school was a success with the back-to-school bash, open houses, kindergarten orientation, staff in-service, professional development happening in the couple of weeks leading up to the first day of school which is what he said really mattered; getting the students back into school.
Ludwig said the back-to-school bash was an example of the schools and community working together, and the district is thankful for that.
There are 237 participating in either high school athletics or marching band this fall.
"We thank our board of education, employees, families and community partners for everything and our focus is very clear; student achievement, attendance, opportunities, a safe and orderly school, strong relationships and making sure every Potter has the support they need to be successful," Ludwig said.
Board members echoed Ludwig's enthusiasm for back to the school and the students having a successful first day of school.
Board member Tamar Cooper said she wanted to say welcome back to all the students and noted that her children were chomping at the bit to get back to school and her family had a wonderful time at the back-to-school bash. She expressed her thanks to Hernandez, board member Jennifer Davis and everyone else involved in setting up and working the back-to-school event.
"It was wonderful to have open houses, meet the teachers, see where desks were and see what friends are in classes and so forth," Cooper said. "All of that takes attention to detail and I am just proud of all our staff for that as well as all the hard work they did over the summer because it is a very clean and beautiful school."
Cooper also said that she thinks the athletics and music departments are off to a very strong start and she is very excited about that and appreciative of having a new band director which has the student in a very good place and improving every day.
Davis said that she also wanted to shout out to Hernandez for a flawless back to school bash and that she attended all the opening houses and even though she doesn't have children in the elementary schools, she popped into them just to say hello and check in. She also said that all the schools look fantastic and she was glad to hear a great report on the first day of school and its success.
Board President David Hamilton also expressed his thanks to Hernandez for the back-to-school bash and said he loved the bash being held downtown and having the community be a part of it. He noted that the amount of community organization participating was amazing and that students were able to receive free bike helmets and more pens, pencils and notebooks than one could imagine and it was a fantastic event.
Hamilton thanked and congratulated Career Tech on their five-star award, noting that it is a point of pride for the district, and he also congratulated the band and football team for a great start to the new school year.
The East Liverpool City Schools Board of Education meets the fourth Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. at the Westgate Administration Building. The next regular meeting will be held on Sept. 24.