Roof replacement project explored
Riverside Board of Education members were offered a detailed look at their Tuesday evening meeting at the work and processes that were involved in district’s recent success on the K-3 Literacy standard on the state report card, where the district was one of 11 school districts in Ohio to receive an A letter grade on this measure.
District literacy coach Brenda Lowery offered an overview of this report card section, noting that Riverside’s 94 percent grade in this component involved moving 47 out of 50 students from off-track to on-track with their reading scores in 2018-19. The previous school year, the building had 54.8 percent of their third-graders score proficient on the Ohio Third Grade reading test.
As a result of the elementary students’ boost in reading scores, district representatives were invited to present to the Ohio Department of Education’s committee on Teaching Leading and Learning in Columbus during July, as previously reported in the Examiner. In addition, the ODE and other schools will be visiting the district from 9 to 11 a.m. Oct. 29 to take a look at the reading initiatives on site.
Lowery explained that two years ago, Riverside received an ODE’s Early Literacy Grant, and as a result, Margo Shipp, regional early literacy specialist for state support Region 6, has been working alongside district staff.
Since that time, all elementary classroom teachers, intervention specialists, paraprofessionals and Title I teachers have been extensively trained in several early literacy programs, including Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Curriculum and LETRS, which provides educators with the background, depth of knowledge and tools to teach language and literacy skills. The training looks at the science of how children learn to read.
“Through the detailed training that all of the staff have had, we’re able to look at the data from each student and diagnose where their specific issues are,” Lowery said. “Since we’ve all had the same training, all of the staff is speaking the same language as well.”
In addition to the high-quality training, Lowery and Shipp said the administrative support and teaching staff coming along board with the new literacy program meant all the difference in the students’ scores.
“Not many other schools who have received the Early Literacy Grant have seen this success, and I attribute Riverside’s success to the buy in that we’ve had from the teachers and the administration offering unwavering support,” Shipp said.
“The teachers feel confident in their training, and as a result, our kids feel confident as well. It has been the perfect storm, leading ultimately to the success of the students.”
Superintendent Scott Mann thanked his staff members and Shipp for their dedication during the last two years toward these goals of improving student literacy.
“We were lucky enough to get this grant and to have our staff support it,” Superintendent Scott Mann said. “And now we’re reaping the rewards.”
In buildings and grounds matters, Todd Poeppelmeier, a representative from The Garland Company Inc., presented preliminary information regarding a roof replacement for Riverside Schools. Among various options was a $1.628 million 30-year build up that he said would afford the best value because of the 30-year guarantee for that two-ply roofing system.
Members will consider roofing options in more detail at their next meeting, 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19, at the school library.
Superintendent Scott Mann said ideally, the board would vote on moving forward with this project next month so it could be sent out for bid, with the potential roof replacement project to take place in the summer of 2020.