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Federal funds come attached with restrictions

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2:27 PM Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Many public entities have received Federal funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and Stimulus Funds.

The Mad River Local School District has received these funds — but will only receive these funds for two years. Also, there are restrictions, limiting the funds to specific uses.

The district’s Title I funds, approximately $475,000, will pay for Instructional Coaches during the two year period. These Instructional Coaches provide support for our students, teachers, and principals in student intervention, instructional improvement, and helping us meet the parameters of the required Ohio Improvement Process. We are also required to set aside $5,100 to assist with improving parental involvement.

We have received $30,000 in ARRA Early Childhood Special Education funds for our preschool for supplies, program development, and adaptive equipment.

We anticipate receiving a total of approximately $700,000 in Title 6B funds for Special Education teachers, the development of an Alternative School at Stebbins High School, professional development, support services, technology, and augmentative devices for special needs students. This will allow us to team with the city of Riverside to have a School Resource Officer at Stebbins. This program is a tremendous benefit to Stebbins, as Officer Wightman does an outstanding job with our students.

Early Childhood Center: A genuine pirate came to congratulate students for discovering a wealth of “Treasured Behaviors” in September. Lea, the Pirate Magician, led the students in a search for Picasso the Surfing, Pirate Turtle. The students found much of Lea’s pirate gear faulty, but hilariously funny as hooks sprang forth and a sword turned into a slinky. The students used their magic to make a parrot magically appear in his cage, color pirate flags, and fix umbrellas.

Beverly Gardens: Mrs. Kiesling’s first-grade class is excited about their uniqueness and worked on an identity project creating their own face. After looking in a mirror, each student picked out buttons (eyes), yarn (hair), and a crayon (skin color) to use for their face.

Fourth-grade students relaxed and enjoyed a healthy snack after learning about data landmarks. Before eating the treat, they recorded the maximum, minimum, mode and range for the class set of raisins.

Brantwood: On Oct. 5, Brantwood held its annual clap-out for their third grade students who took the OAT on Oct. 6.

Saville: On Sept. 22, third-graders went on a field trip to Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm. Among the reactions:

“The best part of Aullwood was getting to go on the long hike. In the middle, we stopped and got an experiment tube. We got better looks at strange bugs,” said Cameron Horn.

“My feet hurt really bad. I found a slug. Finally, we got to the farm. We saw three really pretty horses. After we saw the animals, we went to eat lunch. When we were eating lunch we saw chickens. The chickens ate somebody’s food. And one chicken climbed on me!”said Rebecca Hodge.

“Several kids got stung by bees, but everyone ended up having a great time,” said Kayla Stacy.

Stevenson: On Sept. 25, more than 200 students enjoyed breakfast with their dads, grandfathers, or uncles for the annual Donuts with Dads event.

Mad River Middle: Staff and students at MRMS joined together on Friday, Sept. 25 to officially congratulate Amy Holbrook for winning the honor of Mad River Local Schools Teacher of the Year. Mrs. Holbrook teaches eighth-grade social studies for team Spirit.

Mrs. Wagner and Mrs. Hinson’s seventh-grade language arts classes acted out short scenes from “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton.

In Mr. Cicora’s computer classes, the seventh-grade classes have just finished studying the history of the personal computer and the roles that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs played in its development. They will begin learning about computer viruses, hackers, and computer security software next. The eighth-grade classes are learning various computer skills.

The eighth-grade science classes have been learning about DNA, and made a candy DNA model out of Twizzlers (for the sugar and phosphate) and gum drops for the four nitrogen bases.

Stebbins: On Sept. 24, Stebbins students in Lynne Howell’s financial literacy class took a field trip to the Federal Reserve in Cincinnati. Students now understand the Federal Reserve conducts monetary policy, supervises and regulates banks, and provides financial services.

Mike Eaglowski is superintendent of Mad River Schools.

mad river schools

Mike Eaglowski

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