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A Word from the Superintendent


Tuesday, July 27, 2010

New Item Added to Website - SMF District Calendar for 2010-11

The Stow-Munroe Falls City School District calendar which is received in the Stow Sentry is now available online!  The calendar details school events, Board of Education meetings, holidays, PTA information, testing schedules and many other dates you may find important. 

Please visit the Main page to download and view the 2010-2011 SMF calendar.

Posted by Diane Shaheen at: 2:46 PM   0 COMMENTS
 

Monday, July 19, 2010

Update on Budget Changes for the 2010-2011 School Year

Hello to everyone and I hope you are enjoying the summer and spending some quality time with your family!

As the 2010-2011 school year approaches, we will continue to keep you updated on the latest news. Many of you are already aware the Board of Education has implemented changes due to the impending budget crisis the school district faces.

The major changes which will be implemented beginning next month include the elimination of high school busing and increased pay to participate fees. The elimination of busing for high school students will reduce expenditures by an approximate $245,000 annually.

Pay to participate fees have increased by $50 per sport to a current fee of $150 and $25 per activity with the current fee of $100. The yearly family cap will be $450. The savings for increasing pay to participate will reduce expenditures by an additional estimated $30,000.

Although these decisions were difficult, we continue to do the best that we can to stretch the resources that the community has so generously given us to provide a school district rated “Excellent with Distinction”. We will be providing further information as the summer unfolds regarding the new pay to participate schedule and the reduction of high school busing.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at 330.689.5412.
 

Posted by Diane Shaheen at: 2:50 PM   0 COMMENTS
 

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Two-Hour Delay In Effect for 2010-11 School Year

House Bill 1 passed by the state legislature reduces the number of calamity days commonly referred to as “snow days,” from five to three beginning with the 2010-11 school year. Any calamity days beyond three must be made up by the school district. The make up schedule we have on our calendar is for any such days to be added to the end of the school year. Due to the reduction in the number of calamity days permissible by the State of Ohio, we will be implementing a “two-hour delay” when appropriate beginning with the 2010-11 school year. This option will be selected when the weather conditions are such that an additional two hours of work by road crews would make roadways safe for travel. By using the “two- hour delay” we will be able to have school and avoid using as many calamity days.

Two-Hour Delay Procedures

  • The Stow-Munroe Falls City School District plans to use a two-hour school opening delay in the event of inclement weather.
  • Under a two-hour delay scenario all schools will begin the day two hours later than the normal starting time. For example, under a two-hour delay the high school will start at 9:30 a.m. rather than 7:30 a.m. All other buildings will begin the school day two hours after their regular start time.
  • All morning pick-up times from our transportation department will be two hours later than normal.
  • Transportation WILL NOT be provided for the Six District Educational Compact career programs.
  • All-day kindergarten students will be picked up two hours later than normal.
  • PM kindergarten and PM preschool students will be picked up at normal times.
  • There will be no AM kindergarten and no AM preschool.

 

As with school closings, the two-hour delay to the start of the school day will be announced through the local media and our telephone message system to parents.

 

Posted by Diane Shaheen at: 10:14 AM   1 COMMENTS
 

Friday, June 4, 2010

June 3rd Community Engagement Meeting

On June 3rd, the Stow-Munroe Falls Board of Education held a meeting at Kimpton Middle School to share the next cost reduction proposal based on the feedback obtained from the community engagement process.

The Board met on May 18th to review all of the feedback received and discussed the advantages and disadvantages of each of the nine cost reductions on the table. After careful consideration, the Board is proposing to eliminate high school bussing for next school year and increase the cost of pay to participate. While the board understands that both of these measures will cause numerous issues for a significant number of people, they are also keenly aware of the difficult financial situation that the district is facing and with no additional money coming into the district, must continue to reduce costs. The specific increase in pay to participate is not known at this time. The Board will continue to have discussions about this topic and will announce the new rates once they have been determined.

Click Here to View the June 3 Community Engagement Meeting Presentation

Posted by Diane Shaheen at: 9:08 AM   0 COMMENTS
 

Friday, May 28, 2010

Community Meeting Scheduled for June 3

A Community Meeting has been scheduled by the Stow-Munroe Falls City Schools Board of Education for Thursday, June 3rd, at Kimpton Middle School beginning at 7:00 p.m. The purpose of the meeting is to share with the community the results of the Board’s May 18th meeting in which the nine areas of potential cost savings were discussed. The Board is considering eliminating high school bussing and increasing the costs of Pay to Participate for next school year.

At the meeting, we will review the year and one-half Community Engagement process that included 43 meetings in the community. We will also share the results of the survey that was a part of the Community Engagement process and was seriously contemplated in the decision making. In addition, we will update the community on the status of the other seven items that were under consideration but will not be implemented immediately. These items do, however, remain as potential cost savings measures for the future.

Please consider attending the important informational meeting. A question and answer session will follow the presentation.
 

Posted by Diane Shaheen at: 8:45 AM   0 COMMENTS
 

Friday, April 30, 2010

STAFF APPRECIATION WEEK

May 3 - 7

Please join me in saying a big Thank You to all of our faculty and staff members next week during “Staff Appreciation Week!"

I would like to publicly thank all of our teachers, tutors, aides, monitors, cafeteria staff, secretaries, bus drivers, custodians, maintenance workers, support staff and administrators for what you do for our children EVERY SINGLE DAY!

We sincerely appreciate all that you do!
 

Posted by Diane Shaheen at: 8:52 AM   0 COMMENTS
 

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Community Engagement Update April 15

The Community Engagement process is going very well and I wanted to provide an update on our progress. Here are a few items of interest:

  1. We have held 19 community engagement meetings since December. We have several more scheduled in the coming weeks.
  2. At the community engagement meetings, we have been collecting “cost reduction” surveys in an effort to obtain feedback on the nine possible areas of reduction from the community. We have also posted the survey on the district’s website. As of today, we have collected 404 surveys from the community.
  3. The on-line portion of the survey will end on Friday, April 23rd.
  4. The Board plans to meet in May to review all of the data we have collected and make a decision about our next steps. Those plans will be announced shortly after we meet in May.

 

Thank you for your support of our school district!
 

Posted by Diane Shaheen at: 1:50 PM   0 COMMENTS
 

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