WestChesterBuzz.com

Sue Kiesewetter reports:

Bill Miller on Thursday was named superintendent of Butler Tech.

For the past two months, Miller has served as interim superintendent following the December resignation of Brett Smith. He was one of three finalists for the job.

Miller was given a two-year contract, which runs through July 31, 2015. His salary was set at $126,250 annually.

Butler Tech is Ohio’s second largest career-technical school district, serving nine school districts in Butler County and the Northwest Local Schools in Hamilton County. The district served 27,000 adult and high school students in the state.

A 32-year Butler County educator, Miller had been Butler Tech’s assistant director of curriculum since last August. Prior to that, he had been the Fairfield Schools’ curriculum director for grades 7-12 for several years.

Posted in: News, Schools |

Tags: Tags: Bill Miller, Bill Miller Butler Tech, Butler Tech, Butler Tech superintendent Bill Miller, Lakota schools, Lakota Schools Butler Tech, superintendent Bill Miller

Sue Kiesewetter reports:

A total of 18 students from D. Russel Lee Career Technology Center School are headed to Columbus next month to compete in the Business Professionals of America state competition after qualifying at regionals.

The students are members of Tom Newman’s Information Technology Tech Prep program. They will compete at the Ohio BPA State Leadership Conference March 14-15 in Columbus.

Each qualified for the state conference because of their competition score or because they earned the Diplomat Torch Award. To earn that, students had to accumulate 30 points in each of seven leadership or service categories.

The students who are going to the state conference, their year in school, home high schools, placement and competition were:

Derek Asher, senior, Lakota West, second, PC servicing and troubleshooting; Diplomat Torch Award; Ami Brewer, senior, Edgewood, second, global marketing team; Diplomat Torch Award; Jasmine Chapman, senior, Middletown, second, extemporaneous speech; Diplomat Torch Award; Ben Dysart, senior, Talawanda, first, fundamentals of web design; Diplomat Torch Award; Cori Flannagan, senior, Edgewood, second global marketing team; fourth, PC servicing and troubleshooting; Diplomat Torch Award. Josh Garrett, senior, Northwest, third computer network technology; Diplomat Torch Award; Ben Hickey, senior, Lakota West, third, computer security; first, information technology concepts; Diplomat Torch Award; Theodore Milburn, senior, Monroe, second, global marketing team; Diplomat Torch Award; Brian Pullliam, senior, Middletown, first C programming; Diplomat Torch Award; Jacob Abney, junior, Edgewood, third, PC servicing and troubleshooting; first, small business management team; Diplomat Torch Award; Jordan Combs, junior, Edgewood, first small business management team and PC servicing and troubleshooting; Diplomat Torch Award; Jacob Corris, junior, Monroe, first, small business management team; Diplomat Torch Award; Rowan Crum, junior, Edgewood, first, advanced interview skills; Diplomat Torch Award; Kaitlin Lager, junior, Colerain, fifth, computer security; Diplomat Torch Award; Andrew Meacham, junior, Monroe, first, small business management team; Diplomat Torch Award; Ty Strong, junior, Monroe, fifth, fundamentals of web design; first, website design team; Diplomat Torch Award; Bryan Weston, junior, Colerain, first, website design team; sixth, C programming; Diplomat Torch Award; Jacob Klappert, senior, Middletown, Diplomat Torch Award.

Other students who placed in the top 10 at the regional competition but did not qualify for the state conference, their year in school, home high schools, placement and competition were:

Marc Burden, senior, Edgewood, fifth, computer network technology; Nick DePew, senior, Madison, fourth, computer security; Jordan Fath, senior, Monroe, fifth, PC servicing and troubleshooting; Dustin Georgia, senior, Madison, 10th, PC servicing and troubleshooting; second, global marketing team; Jonathan James, senior, Middletown, fourth, fundamentals of web design; Ben Kimmel, senior, Lakota East, seventh, PC servicing and troubleshooting; Bryan London, senior, Middletown, eighth, computer security; Brandon Beuerlein, junior, Talawanda, third, network desighn team; 10th, fundamentals of web design; Armon Clark, junior, Northwest, seventh, java programming; Daniel Cust, junior, Monroe, sixth, PC serving and troubleshooting; Emily Dearwester, junior, Colerain, fifth, C programming; Brianna English, junior, Middletown, third website design team; eighth, PC servicing and troubleshooting; Darin Hale, junior, Edgewood, third network design team; Tyler Imfeld, junior, Edgewood, third, network design team; Rachel Lakes, junior, Middletown, third, website design team; Tyler Michael, junior, Talawanda, third network design team; seventh, computer security; Stephen Mills, junior, Fairfield, ninth, PC servicing and troubleshooting; third, website design team; Mathew Minor, junior, Monroe, seventh, fundamentals of web design; Brett Schnicker, junior, Fairfield, third, website design team.

D. Russel Lee students Tommy Kramer, Brian Frederickson, Rebecca Grieve, Brittany King, Steven Aker, Jacob McQueen and Courtney Anders – all from the school’s Criminal Justice Color Guard Team – presented at the regional conference.

Student Lizzay Hampton, from the Early Childhood Development Program, sang the national anthem and Bill Solazzo, director of marketing and communications, served as announcer at the regional competition.

Posted in: Schools |

Tags: Tags: Butler Tech, D. Russel Lee Career Technology Center School

Butler Tech’s adult education division will host an open house on Thursday.

The open house runs from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., and will be at the Public Safety Education complex, 5140 Princeton-Glendale Road in Liberty Township.

Representatives will be there from the school’s industry, healthcare, and public safety programs for adults who have graduated from high school or hold GED certificates.

Posted in: Events, School events |

Tags: Tags: Butler Tech, Butler Tech’s adult education division

To let West Chester and Liberty Township residents catch up with the news that they need to know, WestChesterBuzz.com will list and link to all of last week’s top local stories every Monday. (Stories are listed in order of date)

Lakota schools’ budget ax falls – The Lakota school board approved just more than $10.5 million in budget cuts for next school year at its meeting last Monday. Overall the school district will cut 141 teaching, classroom specialist, school nurse and school staff positions, in addition to nine school and central office administrators, according to The Enquirer.

Kay Rogers pleads to keep her savings – Former Butler County Auditor Kay Rogers’s attorney asked a federal judge to intervene last Monday to stop federal prosecutors from following through with the garnishment of about $250,000 in retirement savings, according to The Enquirer. According to her attorney, without her savings she will be “unable to support her family” upon her release.

Parents worry about Lakota’s future – The Enquirer’s education reporter Michael D. Clark wrote a story about the parents and their concerns after the Lakota school board made roughly $10.5 in cuts last Monday.

Lakota freshman visits spring training as MLB.com writer – An exceptionally gifted writer from Lakota West Freshman School in West Chester visited spring training sites last week and interviewed dozens of baseball players for MLB.com.

Lakota East students make video to stop cyber bullying – Lakota East and Butler Tech digital media arts students are participating in The Great American NO BULL Challenge in order to fight and bring awareness to cyber bullying. The NO BULL Challenge is a video contest where teens create a two-to-five minute video on how to combat cyber bullying. The local students’ solution is simple – “Post Positive.”

Lakota West grad Matt Klinker retires from pro baseball – After bouncing between the Cincinnati Reds’ AAA and AA minor league teams for the past three seasons, West Chester native Matt Klinker has decided to retire from the game of baseball and is currently training to become a salesman for Pipe Products.

NoLakota spokesman booted after controversial blog post – A blog posted by Rich Hoffman, who up until last week was the spokesman for the anti-school tax levy group NoLakota, went viral and offended many community members. In the post, Hoffman was very descriptive on his opinion of Lakota mothers, who he referred to as “prostitutes.” After The Enquirer featured the post’s content in a separate article, Hoffman was banned from further association with NoLakota. Hoffman has since responded to The Enquirer article on his blog Overmanwarrior’s Wisdom.

Local businesswoman Liz Rogers in the news again – Liberty Township resident Liz Rogers was in and out of the news this past week after she surrendered to authorities on a warrant related to a debt. Later in the week, she would pay off the debt and criticized the media. Rogers’ financial situation has become newsworthy after the city of Cincinnati decided to give her and her husband nearly $1 million in funds to open a soul food restaurant at The Banks.

Lakota West community mourns the loss of a student -A Lakota West junior died and four other students were injured in an automobile crash Friday night. Ezekiel “Zeke” Stepaniak of Liberty Township was the junior who died. Lakota West sophomore Ashley Stacy, 16, was treated for serious injuries at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton. According to the school district, her condition has improved. The school district is making counselors available this week at both Lakota West High School and Lakota West Freshman School.

Posted in: Board of Education, Crime, Levy news, News, Schools, Sports, Student achievements |

Tags: Tags: Ashley Stacy, Butler County Auditor, Butler County crime, Butler Tech, Cameron Winters, Cincinnati Reds, Cincinnati Reds baseball, Cincinnati Reds spring training, crime, Cyber Bullying, cyber bullying Butler Tech, cyber bullying Lakota East, Dynus, Jim Smith, Kay Rogers, Lakota, Lakota athletic cuts, Lakota cuts, Lakota East, Lakota elementary cuts, Lakota high school cuts, Lakota junior high cuts, Lakota Local Schools, Lakota preschool, Lakota preschool cuts, Lakota preschool program, Lakota reductions, Lakota school levy, Lakota West, Lakota West baseball, Lakota West sports, Lakota West student death, Liberty Township business news, Liberty Township crime, liz rogers, Liz Rogers Liberty Township, mahogany's bar and grill, mahogany's bar and grill banks, Matt Klinker, Matt Klinker Cincinnati Reds, Matt Klinker retires, Meggie Zahneis, Nathan Phu, NO BULL Challenge video contest, No Lakota, No Lakota levy, NoLakota, NoLakota Levy, Rich Hoffman, Sandra Beckwith, the banks, the banks Cincinnati, The Great American NO BULL Challenge, u.s. district judge sandra beckwith, West Chester crime, Zeke Stepaniak

Contest details

Lakota East and Butler Tech digital media arts students are participating in The Great American NO BULL Challenge in order to fight and bring awareness to cyber bullying.

The NO BULL Challenge is a video contest where teens create a two-to-five minute video on how to combat cyber bullying. The local students’ solution is simple – “Post Positive.”

Currently the video is one of more than 150 submitted in the challenge. Creators of the 15 top videos will be invited to the NO BULL Teen Video Awards in San Francisco.

People can vote for the local students’ video by visiting the “Post Positive” webpage on the NO BULL Challenge’s website. Voters can only vote for one video once a day. The voting period will begin April 1st.

Posted in: News, Schools, Student achievements |

Tags: Tags: Butler Tech, Cyber Bullying, cyber bullying Butler Tech, cyber bullying Lakota East, Lakota East, NO BULL Challenge video contest, The Great American NO BULL Challenge

Michael D. Clark reports:

For the second consecutive year, Lakota schools are looking to cut dozens of teaching jobs to reduce costs and avoid a projected budget shortfall.

Lakota officials Monday unveiled the latest round of proposed budget reductions at a public school board meeting at Lakota East High School. More than 300 parents, residents and school employees packed into its auditorium.

“We face a difficult balancing act and a series of tough choices,” said Lakota Superintendent Karen Mantia.

District officials called for slicing $4.3 million, including eliminating a total of 69 teaching positions at the junior high, freshman and high school buildings next school year. The latest round would raise class sizes in the eight affected schools from an average of 25 students per teacher to 28 starting at the beginning of the 2012-13 school year in August. The schools: Lakota East and West high schools, Lakota East and West freshman schools and four junior highs – Hopewell, Lakota Plains, Lakota Ridge and Liberty – would also have their class days shortened by 30-34 minutes and would start later in the morning.

Graduation credit requirements would drop from 21 to 20 for the class of 2013 and high school students’ choices of elective courses could shrink if not enough students enroll in some of the classes offered next school year. The district has 18,000 students.

Officials also announced expansion of a joint Butler Tech curricula to expose junior high students to science, technology, engineering, applied arts, math and medical fields.

Pending approval by Butler Tech officials, the program would be funded by the career technology school that serves students and adults in the county.

Voters in Lakota have rejected three proposed school tax hikes since 2010.

The sweeping cuts for grades 7-12 are the latest in a series of recommendations to slice costs by $9 million in Greater Cincinnati’s second largest school system.

Lakota’s annual operating budget is about $154 million, and the district faces a $14.1 million projected deficit in 2015 without voter approval of a new operating tax some time in 2012.

The ballot losing streak has prompted officials to cut more then $25 million from the operating budget in recent years. Last year busing for thousands of students was cut along with dozens of teaching positions.

“With three failed levies, we have to adjust.

“There is simply no choice,” said Mantia.

The board is expected to decide on the proposed reduction plan by mid-March.

Lakota has retained its state academic ranking of “Excellent With Distinction” and is the largest district in Ohio to earn that rating.

Largely untouched so far are Lakota’s popular high school band programs.

Marching bands at Lakota West and Lakota East have won national acclaim in recent years with performances at the Rose Parade in California and at Pearl Harbor memorial parade in Hawaii.

Details, as well as options for public comment regarding the proposed budget cuts, will be posted online, said school officials, at Lakota’s web site: www.lakotaonline.com/ budget.

Posted in: Schools |

Tags: Tags: budget, Butler Tech, jobs, Karen Mantia, Lakota East High School, Lakota schools, Lakota West High School, students, tax levy, taxes, teachers

Butler Tech will have its 5K Run/Walk, hosted by the Butler County United Way, around the lake at Voice of America Park tomorrow, April 9. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. under the gazebo. The actual race will begin at 9 a.m.

The 5K “chipped” race is $25 for adults and $20 for youth under the age of 18.

Butler Tech’s website provides information about its history:

Butler Tech has been helping Butler County youth and adults to achieve their dreams since 1975. Starting with the original high school building, D. Russel Lee Career-Technology Center, it was one of the first joint vocational school districts in the state of Ohio. The original program offerings emphasized mechanical, industrial, and office occupations, all housed at a single campus located south of Middletown on State Route 4.

For more information, call 513-863-0800.

After the race, Voice of America Park will be hosting one of the area’s biggest events of the year in KiteFest, which will take place April 9-10 from noon to 5 p.m. each day. This is the seventh year for the festival. Last year, approximately 15,000 people visited the event.

For more information about that event, visit AirWavesKiteFest.com.

Posted in: Events, News, Recreational events |

Tags: Tags: 5K, Butler County United Way, Butler Tech, Butler Tech 5K, Kite Fest, KiteFest, MetroParks, MetroParks of Butler County, VOA Park, Voice of America, Voice of America Park