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August 2016

Newsletters- Click on a building to view its newsletter from last month!

Kirkersville Pataskala Etna Watkins MS Watkins Memorial HS

Notes from the District

Now is the time that everyone finishes their preparations for back-to-school supplies and getting in that last little bit of sleep. At Southwest Licking Local Schools, we are excited to welcome in the 2016-2017 school year. The includes everyone from the Class of 2017 to our newest Class of 2029!!!

We are extremely excited about the coming year at SWL. This spring and summer, we have been busy hiring teachers to replace those retiring or who have left our district. These individuals possess the knowledge and understanding of how to help us continue our path moving forward. They join a dedicated teaching staff committed to helping each individual child achieve their maximum potential.

We have also reorganized staffing in our district to provide better services to our community. We now have a full- time gifted coordinator to specifically work with our teachers on improving gifted services and programming, a communication/community outreach director, an additional guidance counselor for the elementary school level, and finally a high school 21st century industrial technology class teacher. These are improvements we have heard our community ask for, and we are excited to deliver.

Our community was also instrumental in helping to purchase barricade safety devices for each of our classrooms, as recommended by law enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and the Attorney General's Office. As you know, sometimes laws do not match what is recommended, but with the help of the SWL SWAT group, school officials, and elected officials, a law has passed allowing schools to use the barricade devices in our buildings and we have received permission for ALL SWL schools to use them this year. Our staff will be trained on how to use these devices prior to the school year so that they will be in place on day one. I am extremely grateful and would like to publicly thank the individuals who have worked tirelessly to keep our kids safe.

While there is a great deal of information in this newsletter, please make sure to check out the transportation section. It contains information to help everyone have a great first day of school!

We will see most of you on August 22nd!!

GO WARRIORS!

Bob Jennell

Superintendent, Southwest Licking Schools

The Southwest Licking Local School District is an Equal Opportunity Employer and as such does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, age, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, veteran status, marital status, or any other status protected by law.

Transportation

Getting kids from A-Z safely

Our goal is to be able to clearly communicate with parents and students how transportation will operate and to get kids to and from school in a safe and timely manner. We take the job seriously, and we hope to be able to make your child's first experience with the school year a positive experience.

In addition to bus information, the following link also contains building specific information about how pick-up and drop-off situations will work at your child's school. There is a great deal of information in this newsletter, but please let us know if you have any questions.

Link to the Transportation Newsletter

Food Service

Serving healthy and affordable lunches!

Online applications can now be completed at

www.schoollunchapp.com. If you qualify for free or reduced meals, you will receive an email with a link to complete the fee waiver online. The fee waiver link is also on the website at www.swl.k12.oh.us. Online prepayments can be made online with a free account setup at www.myschoolbucks.com

Please make sure you have money on your child's account prior to the first day of school. For middle/high school, lunches are $2.75. The elementary lunches are $2.50. Ala carte items are available during lunch as well. Breakfast is free for all students.

If you need assistance with any of these items, please feel free to call the Food Service Office at 740-964-3448.

Gifted Education

Striving toward excellence

The Southwest Licking School District's parents group for gifted children, PACE (Parents and others for Academic Challenge and Excellence), will have its first meeting of the year on August 17th at 6:30 - 7:45 P.M. The meeting will be held at the Watkins Middle School library. The meeting will explain the expansion of gifted services for the 2016 - 2017 school year and other topics related to gifted students. All are welcome to attend. Light refreshments will be served. For more information, please email or call Paula Ball, Coordinator of Gifted Services, at [email protected] or 740-927-3941 ext. 7011.

At the July board meeting, new district coordinator of gifted services, Paula Ball, presented the district's service plan for gifted students for the 2016 - 2017 school year (see attached presentation below). The district is pleased to announce an increase in services that will seek to meet the needs of our identified gifted students. Based on each student's areas of identification and the amount of students identified gifted in each grade level, students will be served in an advanced class, enriched class, honors class, or a gifted cluster. If the letter you received regarding your child's areas of identification was not correct, please contact Paula Ball at [email protected] or 740-927-3941 ext. 7011. Please see individual building information for when your child's schedule will be available.

Link to Gifted Presentation

District Events

What's happening at SWL?!!!

This district newsletter is a new addition for our district moving forward. Since the goal of this is to provide parent/residents with more information in an easily accessible manner, we are looking for improvements that can be made. We would appreciate it if you could take a few seconds and complete a feedback survey on this new format once you have examined everything you wanted to read. You can complete the survey by clicking on the link at the end of this. This newsletter will also appear on the district website and on social media. Don't forget you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter by click the links at the top of the page.

Newsletter Feedback Survey

As a district, we are always reflecting upon our practices to see how we can continue to improve the education we provide to our students. As such, we invite you to complete a quick survey on how the school interacts with parents. We would appreciate it if you could fill out a survey for each student you had in school last year.

SWL Parent Survey

On August 18th, we will have a "Safety Day" training for our teachers on one of our waiver days. If you are interested in seeing some of what our teachers do to keep students safe, please email Ben Richards at [email protected] to get more details.

Important dates to know:

Friday, August 12th- Last day for busing registration.

Monday, August 22nd- First day of school for grades 1-5, 6, and 9.

Tuesday, August 23rd- First day of school for grade 7-8 and 10-12.

Friday, August 26th- First day of school for kindergarten.

Don't forget to visit our booth at the Street Fair August 17th-20th where you can check out transportation information.