October 16, 2020
 
Dear North Royalton City Schools' Community,

I hope that you find this monthly newsletter informative and a good way to keep you up to date on the happenings of our schools and the Board of Education.  I welcome any thoughts and comments that you have in regards to this or anything dealing with the North Royalton City Schools.  Please call me at 440-582-9030 or email me at greg.gurka@northroyaltonsd.org.   
 
Sincerely,

Greg Gurka
Superintendent
North Royalton City Schools
 
  
Graph 1 compares our monthly operating receipts to the prior year actual for the first three months of our fiscal year (July 2020 through June 2021). It further estimates our collection through our fiscal year end. You will notice two large collection points in our fiscal year. These two months are considerably higher due to real estate collection representing over 70% of our revenues.    
Graph 2 compares our monthly operating expenditures to the prior year actual for the first three months of our fiscal year (July 2020 through June 2021). It further estimates our expenditures through our fiscal year end. You will notice a consistent expenditure pattern throughout our fiscal year due to salaries and wages evenly distributed throughout our fiscal year.

Graph 3 illustrates the current actual accumulative monthly operating revenues and expenditures for the first three months of our fiscal year (July 2020 through June 2021). It further estimates our accumulative revenues and expenditures through our fiscal year end. You will notice a gradual increase in both revenues and expenditures as we approach our fiscal year end where revenues falls short of expenditures.
Graph 4 illustrates our fiscal year to date operating expenditures by category for the first three months of our fiscal year (July 2020 through June 2021). Salary and Wages represent approximately 59%, Fringe Benefits 26%, Purchased Services 10%, Materials Supplies, Textbooks, Capital Outlay and Operational Fees 5%. 

LINKS to District Financials
Interested in reading more?  District financial information such as our annual financial reports, forecasts, tax rates, etc., can be found by clicking here.

Biagio Sidoti, Treasurer
North Royalton City Schools

Welcome Dr. John Deuber, Interim Assistant Principal, North Royalton High School

Dr. John Deuber was introduced to the Board of Education and community as the interim assistant principal of North Royalton High School.   Dr. Deuber will be with the District through the end of the school year as Julie Cole is on maternity leave.

Dr. Deuber received his Masters Degree in Education Administration from the University of Akron and his Doctoral Degree in Education Leadership from Nova Southeastern University.  He is a retired administrator who comes to the District with a plethora of experience.  Most recently, he has worked with the Highland Local School District as a middle school principal, high school assistant principal, athletic director and administrative consultant.  He is currently retired and working as a senior lecturer for the University of Akron supervising and mentoring student teachers.  In total, Dr. Deuber has worked in education for a total of 34 years, 26 of those years as an administrator.  "His overall knowledge and experience will truly be an asset to the high school administrative team," said Director of Personnel Pat Farrell, North Royalton City Schools.

State Report Card Presentation 

Director of Curriculum and Instruction Melissa Vojta shared a presentation to the Board of Education on the Local Report Card.  The purpose of the Ohio Department of Education's District Report Cards is to provide parents, communities, educators and policymakers information about the performance of districts and schools, as well as celebrate success and identify areas for improvement. The information provides transparent reporting on student performance, drives local conversations on continuous improvement and identifies schools to receive intensive support. The goal is to ensure high expectations and equitable outcomes for all Ohio's students.

The District uses this information regularly to focus conversations and planning on academic areas in need of attention and identify where more or less support is needed. 

Vojta explained that due to ordered school building closures last spring, limited data exists, as Ohio State Tests and End of Course Exams were canceled for the year.  Areas reported on the 2019-20 Report Cards that encompass data that lags one year behind include Graduation Rates (for Classes of 2018 and 2019); Prepare for Success Data (based on 2019 graduates); and Improving At-Risk K-3 Readers (progress from 2018-19).  Because of this, there are areas reported but no letter grades were given. 

CLICK HERE for the State Report Card presentation.

Vojta also shared that state testing has not been suspended for this school year.  The District will be administering the fall Grade 3 English Language Arts assessment on October 27-28 (in-person students) and October 20-21 (remote students).  The District has already conducted its required fall reading diagnostic assessments and are in the process of determining Reading Improvement Plans for children who need them.  "As of right now, we do not know if the state legislature will consider the instructional delivery difficulties that districts have faced because of the pandemic when issuing report cards next year."

"We continue to work hard to meet the needs of our learners, and especially to find ways to close the gaps with our at-risk students who are definitely showing more difficulties this year than in years past," said Vojta.

North Royalton Elementary Schools

Bear Huddle Videos Become a Favorite To Elementary Students

The North Royalton Elementary Schools' Principals' weekly Bear Huddle, features administrators from Royal View, Valley Vista, Albion and the Lil' Bears Preschool in North Royalton.  These video announcements started in the 2019-20 school year when students were learning remotely and the school buildings were closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.  These videos were a way to bring all of the elementary students together in anticipation of schools reopening this school year and also August 2021 when everyone will be under one roof at the new North Royalton Elementary School.

The administrators have been quite creative in their videos over the last eight months with a variety of themes. In one video, the principals dressed as their favorite superheroes to celebrate National SuperHero Day.  For Star Wars Day, the principals dressed as their favorite character.   The administrators also took a field trip to the new elementary building so students can see the construction progress.  Another favorite video was the tribute to the Cleveland Indians where all the staff dressed in team spiritwear and waved hello at one time via Zoom.   Albion Elementary Principal Vince Ketterer even created his own lyrics and song to welcome students back to the buildings after six months inspired by the Broadway musical "Hamilton."  The Bear Huddle videos also have been featured on local television stations.

Examples of the Bear Huddle videos can be found here:


North Royalton Middle School

WEB Leaders Make Transition to Middle School a Positive Experience

Principal Jeff Cicerchi, North Royalton Middle School, recognized the eighth-grade WEB (Where Everyone Belongs) leaders who committed a lot of time and energy to make sure the transition to NRMS for new fifth-grade students went smoothly.  The goal is for these new NRMS students to have a mentor in an eighth-grade student throughout the entire school year.  Cicerchi also recognized the teacher advisors, Jessica Connelly, Megan Kusmirek, Deanna Paolino and Heidi Balicki.   While the WEB leaders could not conduct their traditional in-person events at the beginning of the year, they facilitated a small group in person transition program and produced outstanding videos that welcomed the new students.  They will continue to produce videos and share with the fifth-grade students throughout the school year.  "I can't say enough positive comments about these WEB leaders and their advisors," said Cicerchi.  "They have been responsive to whatever the needs are and really made the start of fifth grade special for these students."

Eighth-grade students who are NRMS Web Leaders are Oliva Audino, Ben Baracz, John Bauer, Evan Bennett, Ella Bitterman, Abigail Black, Penelope Bly, Macee Burns, Joey Calarco, Charley Carmichael, Gianna Cimino, Jason Crowe, Ryan Cutright, Mahini Dabhi, Skyler Davis, Abbey Deal, Kylie Deamon, Alyssa DeAngelis, Addison Erickson, Tess Falcioni, Charlotte Finnecy, Sara Fox, Olivia Franko, Lilyanna Frantz, Julia Fronee, Juliana Gallagher, Shreya Ganapathi, Gurucharan Ganapathi, Haris Giannakidis, Jaycee Greer, Kaitlyn Hajek, Sam Haley, Samantha Hastings, Sofia Iafelice, Momina Jaffery, Rishit Kapoor, Laina Kelley, Joseph Kinney, Sara Kling, Brooke Kostyack, Evan Lakatos, Dylan Lakatos, Abigail Lekan, Sommer Leonti, Samantha Macek, Marissa Mahoney, Grace Maimone, Ethan Malic, McKayla McGee, Arin Mehta, Isabelle Miezin, Valentina Milanovic, Sarah Modrak, Alison Morales, Maria Mostafiz, Ethan Popa, Lily Postma, Maddie Putnam, Kacie Radwanski, Brielle Raus, Mahreen Sandhu, Akshaj Satyawada, Eshaan Satyawada, Henry Schuld, Anastasiya Shalamay, Emma Siegel, Irena Steffas, Daniel Steinlage, Jessica Summers, Liliana Valenti, Cailey Vranic and Essence Whitmore.




North Royalton High School

Three North Royalton High School Students Named National Merit Semifinalists
Principal Sean Osborne, North Royalton High School recognized five students who were recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Program.  Dylan Bellomy, Jake Bulkowski and Christopher Linne have been named National Merit Semifinalists and Riley Gagliano and Andrew Osborne have been named National Merit Commended Students.
 
"These five students represent some of the finest, academic, high performing students at North Royalton High School," said Osborne.  "Each of these students is involved in many extracurricular activities, in addition to being academic scholars, and are great young adults.  We can see that their parents took advantage of all that the North Royalton City Schools offers and their children have become engaged, well rounded, active learners that are now recognized among the nation's brightest students."
 
Osborne shared some statistics about these five students:
 
Average grade point average: 4.15
Average ACT score: 33
Average Absence Per School Year: 1.2 days
Average Studied World Language: 3.2 Years
Average AP Courses: 7
Average College Credit Plus Courses: 1.5
   (Half of those are in-house programs)
Average Number of Years Educated at North Royalton City Schools: 13.2
Performed in Musical Arts Program: 4
Multi-Sport Athletes: 3



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Be sure to visit #NRInspireGreat as well as our  
District Facebook page
for pictures and stories from all of our 
buildings.

Know! To Positively Connect with Your Teen
The desire to connect with others is universal, which is why social media has exploded over the years among people of all ages. When it comes to teens, just about everyone has at least one social media account to be able to connect with their "friends" at any given moment. A child's virtual and in-person connections are important and highly influential in their lives, however, it cannot compare to the importance and influence of the parent-child connection-for better or worse. It's the relationship between the parent or other caregiver and the child that serves as the backdrop of present and future interactions with others and highly impacts how young people make decisions. The parent-child relationship must be fostered and strengthened for healthy adolescent development. 

 CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.

USEFUL LINKS
to read the District's Quality Profile. 

to read the latest edition of the The Bear Way

 
Click here
for the NR Board of Education meeting minutes and agendas. Click here for meeting dates for 2020.