October 10, 2017
Welcome
Welcome to FRONTRUNNER, Groveport Madison Schools' monthly community 
e-Newsletter. Our goal is to provide parents and community members with news, accomplishments and updates associated with our students, schools, staff and school district.
District Sees Achievement Growth on State Report Card
For the second year in row, Groveport Madison achieved student academic growth that outpaced the majority of its peer districts in Franklin County. In fact, of the 16 area school districts, only five districts (Bexley, Gahanna-Jefferson, New Albany-Plain Local, Whitehall, and Worthington) had a Value Added grade higher than Groveport Madison's.
 
The Value Added grade represents the amount of learning that a student accomplishes during a single academic year. Groveport Madison Schools earned a "B" on the Value Added grade this year, meaning that students achieved more than a year's-worth of academic growth over the course of the year. In addition, the District received an "A" grade for the academic growth of our students who have struggled the most (the lowest 20% of achievers), an "A" Value Added grade for students with disabilities, and a "B" Value Added grade for students who are receiving gifted services.

GMHS Senior Lauren Barnes Named National Merit Semifinalist
Lauren Barnes
Lauren Barnes was one of about 16,000 high school seniors nationwide to be named a National Merit Semifinalist last month. Students are selected based on their performance on the PSAT exam, a precursor to the SAT college admissions test. About 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools took the test and entered the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program.
 
Lauren will find out in February if she has made it to the Finalist stage of the award, and in May, the College Board will announce the names of the 7,500 National Merit Scholars. Lauren will be eligible for a variety of college scholarships, with some colleges even offering "full ride" academic scholarships to National Merit students.
 
Click to read more.
Dobbins Moves from MSC to Fill Assistant Principal Role at GMHS
As a new assistant principal at Groveport Madison High School, Amon Dobbins' primary responsibility is ensuring a positive and respectful environment and handling student discipline issues, but the job is not all about telling kids what they can't do.
 
He's working to educate the students about how they are expected to behave, how to treat one another and how to appropriately interact with the staff. Sharing the expectations gives kids the opportunity to meet them and feel good about doing it, he said. "It's going really well," said Dobbins, who spent the last two years as a school improvement coordinator at Middle School Central. "Students have really responded to the structure and expectations we've put in place."

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New GMHS Assistant Principal Focusing on Student's Career Pathways
As an assistant principal at Groveport Madison High School, Craig Lomonico is already focused on developing programs designed to help students get started on their career pathways. His particular interest is helping students identify possible career paths and for them to begin taking classes designed to help them achieve their goals. Some classes they take will lead to certifications that will allow them to be career-ready when they graduate, he said. Others will better prepare them for success in college.

Click to read more.
GMHS Students Earn Place in 2017 AP Hall of Fame
Several current students and recent GMHS graduates were recognized by the College Board's Advanced Placement (AP) Program for their performance on AP tests. The program allows high school students to earn college credit by taking classes offering university-level curricula and passing a test at the end of the course. Students who earn a 3, 4 or 5 on the test can receive college credit at no cost to the student or their parents.

The AP program recognized the following students as AP scholars -meaning they received scores of 3 or higher on three or more AP exams.
 
Afomia Ayele

Delicia Magana-Gonzales
Dalton Blake

Madison Meier
Jonathan Blankenship

Kyle Nester
Casey Curtis

Christopher Wagner
Cheyenne Evans



District Implements Post Activity 30-Minute Pick-Up Rule to Keep Kids Safe
Ensuring the safety of our students and guests attending school-sponsored events and activities is among our highest priorities. There have been many occasions in which students and/or event participants have waited at a school for an hour or more to be picked up following a school activity. This creates a potentially unsafe situation because there may not be adult supervision on hand.
  
As of October 1, students and event participants must be picked up within 30 minutes of the conclusion of a school event or activity (including practices, rehearsals, etc.). Rides and pick-up times should be arranged beforehand to ensure the student is picked up in a timely manner.
 
Coaches and staff members overseeing other extracurricular activities have been informed to adhere to published schedules so that students are dismissed on time. The school and athletic fields will be secured 30 minutes after the event or activity has concluded, and students will not be permitted to reenter the building/venue. 
City of Groveport Hosts Accessible Trick-or-Treat on Oct. 24
The 2nd Annual Accessible Trick-or-Treat will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 24, from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. This exciting event is open to people with mental or physical disabilities and their families. Participants will enjoy trick-or-treating in the Groveport Recreation Center gymnasium, eating dinner (pizza and pop), and playing games. Prizes will be awarded for the best costumes! The Groveport Recreation Center is located at 7370 Groveport Rd. Cost is $3 per person. Register by Oct. 17 by calling 614-836-1000, ext. 1005.
GM Students and Staff Helping with Hurricane Relief Efforts
Students and staff members from several schools in the District jumped into action to support families in Texas and Florida who were impacted by the recent hurricanes. They came up with a variety of approaches to collect money and much-needed supplies to aid those in desperate need of help. Some of those efforts included:
  • Madison Elementary School collected 663 food and toiletry items.
  • Middle School South raised $112.50 for the Red Cross from the school's "PJ and Hat Day" promotion.
  • Sedalia Elementary School collected $900 for the Hurricane Harley Relief Fund.
  • Middle School Central collected $100 for the Red Cross through donations made to participate in the school's "PJ and Hat Day."
  • Asbury Elementary School collected $950 in their "Hugs for Harley" fundraising effort. They purchased school supplies to send to a school in Houston, Texas.
More efforts are underway to assist families who have been devastated by the hurricane that hit Puerto Rico. If you would like to make a donation to help those impacted by these recent weather events, please contact your school's principal or school counselor.
MSC Teacher Receives Grant to Stock Classroom Library
Stacy Gunsel
Students in Stacy Gunsel's ELA class at Middle School Central will soon have plenty of reading options courtesy of Scholastic Book Club and best-selling author James Patterson. Gunsel applied for a grant last spring requesting funds to help make "high-interest" books available to her students. In her application, she said she wanted to create a more expansive library that would serve "learners with very diverse ability levels."
 
Last month, she learned that she was one 3,500 teachers who would receive $500 to purchase books through Scholastic and Patterson's $1.75 Million Giveaway in support of classroom libraries. More than 82,000 teachers applied for the program. Congratulations, Ms. Gunsel.
District Hosts First Wellness Day
The District's first Wellness Day brought together Groveport Madison families and local organizations that offer services designed to help area residents. Representatives from Buckeye Health Plan, the Columbus Metropolitan Library, Groveport Madison Human Needs and many others shared information about the family-oriented programs they offer.
 
The event offered a wonderful opportunity for the Franklin County Public Health department to share information about its health and immunization programs, as well as its rabies clinics for cats and dogs, said Ashton Grigley, a health educator with the department. "It's nice to meet people in the community and meet other vendors and people in the schools," she said. "It's a great way to just get our name out in there."

Important Dates to Remember

DATE
EVENT
Oct 11
Two-hour Late Start
Oct 19
Teacher Release Day -  No School
Oct 20
COTA Release Day - No School
Nov 7
Waiver Day - No School
Newsletters Provide Useful Tips for Parents


The October issue of Early Years includes ideas for getting your child to develop empathy for others. Also included are tips on showing youngsters that a library is a great place to read and have fun. The Q & A section deals with taming your child's interruptions.


In this Middle Years issue, parents will find strategies to handle tween's struggles with pushing away from parents and needing them at the same time. Also, tips are provided on motivating students when schoolwork isn't easy, study techniques, and financial sense.



This month's issue of Home & School Connection offers parents tips on appropriate consequences for misbehavior. Also available are activity suggestions using pumpkins to improve math, writing and science skills.

Share Good News About Groveport Madison Schools!
We know that great news occurs every day. We invite you to share positive news items with us via our social media outlets as well. News and information can be shared via personal messaging on Facebook (Groveport Madison Schools). You can also email us at  [email protected], or call us at (614) 492-2520.

Thank you,
Office of Marketing, Communications & Community Relations
Groveport Madison Schools   |   (614) 492-2520   |    gocruisers.org
Office of Marketing, Communications & Community Relations
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