WestChesterBuzz.com

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.

MetroParks breaks ground on VOA athletic complex – The Butler County Visitors Bureau and MetroParks of Butler County held an official ground breaking ceremony last Wednesday for their $3 million project that will add 22 multipurpose natural grass athletic fields on 100 acres of Voice of America Park in West Chester Township. The fields, which border Butler-Warren and Tylersville roads, are expected to be available for use by September of 2014.

Lakota Local Schools maintains rating – Michael D. Clark reported on the annual Ohio Report Cards – Southwest Ohio’s second-largest school system maintained its top state ranking while the area’s longest financially embattled district finally dropped a category, according to the annual Ohio Report Cards, released last Wednesday. Butler County’s Lakota Schools earned an Excellent with Distinction rating despite historically deep budget cuts in recent years.

BAE to sell commercial armored vehicles business – In a $10 million deal, defense contractor BAE Systems announced it is selling off its locally based commercial armored vehicles business that employs 134 workers, Alexander Coolidge of The Cincinnati Enquirer reported last Tuesday.

Zoning Commission approves ‘high end’ apartments in West Chester – Last week, the West Chester Zoning Commission approved two proposed apartment developments that could possibly feature rents greater than $1,200 per month. One of those developments, currently called The Cascades, will have its zoning change go before the West Chester Township Board of Trustees on Nov. 13.

White House Inn becomes Casa Bianca – The owner of Symmes Tavern in Fairfield has bought the venerable White House Inn in West Chester and has turned it into an Italian restaurant, Polly Campbell of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported last week. The name is simply a translation: Casa Bianca. The restaurant will have traditional Italian and traditional American on the menu.

Colerain defeats Lakota West in battle of unbeatens – In a battle of the top two teams in The Cincinnati Enquirer coaches’ poll, senior quarterback Alfred “L.A.” Ramsby carried Colerain from an early 17-0 deficit to a 57-44 win against Lakota West at Cardinal Stadium on a wet and chilly night in Colerain Township.

Supreme Court OK’s Ohio early voting – The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Ohioans to cast early in-person absentee ballots on the final three days before the Nov. 6 election, Barry M. Horstman of The Cincinnati Enquirer reported last Tuesday.

Bridge replacement on Rialto Road is complete – The Butler County Engineer’s Office announced last Tuesday that Rialto Road in West Chester Township is now open. A portion of the road had been closed since early July as the Rialto Road bridge over Mill Creek was replaced.

Lakota teen’s been to Barrackville and Romney – Matthew King, a 17-year-old Lakota East High school senior, recently created a Youtube Video highlighting two small towns in America, that just so happened to be named Romney and Barrackville. In the video, King talks to people on the street, through car windows, and people putting groceries in their cars about their views on the towns name, asking questions with only slight political implications.

Phoenix will phase out West Chester, Florence campuses – The University of Phoenix will phase out classes in West Chester and Florence, impacting 236 students, Cliff Peale of The Cincinnati Enquirer reported last week. The sites have stopped accepting applications, and current students will have the choice of finishing their programs in traditional classrooms or converting to online classes.

Posted in: Business, News, Schools, Sports |

Tags: Tags: athletic complex, BAE Systems, Casa Bianca, Casa Bianca West Chester Ohio, Excellent, Excellent with Distinction, Lakota, Lakota Excellent with Distinction, Lakota schools, Liberty Township business news, MetroParks, MetroParks of Butler County, Voice of America, Voice of America Park, Voice of America Park athletic complex, West Chester business, West Chester business news, West Chester Development Council, West Chester jobs, West Chester restaurants, West Chester Township Zoning Commission, White House Inn, White House Inn West Chester Ohio

Trouble reading this? Click on this link: Lakota Schools state ratings

Michael D. Clark reports:

Southwest Ohio’s second-largest school system maintained its top state ranking while the area’s longest financially embattled district finally dropped a category, according to the annual Ohio Report Cards, released Wednesday.

Butler County’s Lakota Schools earned an Excellent with Distinction rating despite historically deep budget cuts in recent years.

And Warren County’s state-controlled Little Miami Schools dropped one category, from Excellent to Effective, after three previous school years of the higher rating. Those excellent rankings came during a stretch from 2008 through 2011 when the state-designated “fiscal emergency” district was cutting millions in personnel and programs while losing eight consecutive tax levies at the ballot.

Being forced by the state into academic minimums as part of Little Miami’s financial recovery plan, which was bolstered by voters’ levy passage in fall 2011, finally took its toll on the district’s rating, said Superintendent Greg Power. In 2010 the district was ordered by the state into fiscal emergency.

Power said the lack of staff and dollars to commit to on-going, high-quality curriculum revision and professional development all played into the rating decline.

Little Miami met 25 out of 26 indicators on student data, but did not meet its “Adequate Yearly Progress” target number for the second year in a row, resulting in the downgrade.

Officials at Lakota – the eighth-largest district in Ohio – said their streak of 11 years of earning the state’s highest ranking may also be brought down by financial woes and deep budget cuts that are now in place for the 2012-2013 school year.

“When someone says we cut the budget by millions and the results are still just as good, we need to remember these (state) results are from last (school) year. We had many teachers who helped our kids learn this material who are not here anymore,” said Lakota Superintendent Karen Mantia.

Mason Schools, the largest district in Warren County, dropped from Excellent with Distinction to Excellent but district officials months ago announced that they were joining nine other districts in Hamilton and Clermont counties in creating their own annual report cards. Officials from the highly rated districts say the locally generated grade cards – when combined with annual state grading – will provide a more comprehensive and detailed measure of their annual performance than that provided by the annual state rankings.

Mason officials, however, touted their continued ranking among the top-10 of Ohio’s 613 districts, according to their performance index rating – 110.3 – and said that mark was achieved while spending $2,444 less per pupil than the other top-10 districts.

The 9,700-student Fairfield Schools in Butler County met all 26 indicators on last school year’s report card and raised its rating from Effective to Excellent.

“We are very excited about the excellent rating,” said Superintendent Paul Otten. “We also realize that there is still work to be done.”

The only other district in Southwest Ohio to fall into fiscal emergency and state control – Monroe Schools in Butler County – maintained its Excellent rating despite coming under state governorship earlier this year.

Posted in: Board of Education, Levy news, News, Schools |

Tags: Tags: Excellent, Excellent with Distinction, Lakota East, Lakota High School, Lakota schools, Lakota Superintendent Dr. Karen Mantia, Lakota West, Lakota West High School, Superintendent Dr. Karen Mantia, superintendent Karen Mantia

The Enquirer:

Despite historically deep budget cuts and the layoffs of dozens of teachers, Lakota Local Schools continued its streak of earning the state’s top academic rating of Excellent with Distinction when the Ohio Department of Education released the 2011-12 preliminary report card ratings Wednesday for schools and districts.

Lakota is the second largest district in Southwest Ohio and the seventh biggest in the state.

“When someone says we cut the budget by millions and the results are still just as good, we need to remember these results are from last year. We had many teachers who helped our kids learn this material who are not here anymore,” said Lakota Superintendent Karen Mantia.

More information coming to WestChesterBuzz.com as it comes available.

Posted in: Board of Education, Levy news, News, Schools |

Tags: Tags: Excellent, Excellent with Distinction, Lakota schools, Lakota Superintendent Dr. Karen Mantia, Superintendent Dr. Karen Mantia, superintendent Karen Mantia

Sue Kieswetter reports:

Parents and residents in the Lakota Local Schools have one more week to help guide the district as it plans for its digital future.

A survey to gather ideas as educators prepare a district-wide plan for technology use will remain open through Oct. 8.

School officials are assessing the progress of instructional technology across the district. It includes computers and other computing devices along with the networks they are connected to and tools used.

Separate surveys are available for members of the community and parents. The parental survey includes questions specific to their child’s school experience. Both surveys should take five to 10 minutes to complete and can be found online at www.lakotaonline.com.

Information: 513-874-5505

Posted in: Schools |

Tags: Tags: digital, Lakota schools, survey, technology

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.

Beckett Park opens its west side after $2 million upgrade – The west side portion of Beckett Park officially reopened June 29 after a $2.09 million upgrade that included the construction of a new shelter, a “natural” playground, a small pond that can used as an ice skating rink in the winter and a 1.25-mile trail that loops around two newly enlarged lakes. Beckett Park is 150 acres and straddles Beckett Road near the Union Centre Boulevard intersection. WestChesterBuzz.com got its first look at the upgrade to the park last week.

Brad Lovell. Photo provided.

Lakota names four new principals- Lakota officials recently announced that the school district will be adding new principals to four different schools following approval by the board of education. New principals include Brad Lovell (Creekside Early Childhood), Christina French (Hopewell Elementary), Stacy Millburg (Lakota East Freshman – associate principal) and Jason Jackson (Lakota West Freshman – associate principal).

AK Steel to cut 2013 pension contribution – Bloomberg News reported last week that West Chester-based AK Steel Holding Corp., will cut its estimated 2013 pension expense by one-third, or $100 million, after passage of a transportation bill extension lowered some required contributions. The bill stabilizes the minimum annual contributions to fund defined-benefit pension plans, while raising premiums paid to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., AK said.

Brennan Ryan. Photo provided.

Lakota West hires Brennan Ryan to lead wrestling program- The Lakota school district’s high school athletic department announced last Monday that it hired Brennan Ryan as its new head coach of the Lakota West wrestling program. Ryan, who has experience as a wrestling head coach at Roger Bacon and Madeira high schools, was hired to replace Tim Kessler.

Battelle for Kids honors 18 Lakota teachers – A total of 18 Lakota educators were recognized in late June for teaching excellence at the Ohio Educators Connect for Success Conference in Columbus, Lakota officials announced last Wednesday. Battelle for Kids honored the local educators as part of its “Celebrate Teaching” initiative that is used to find out what makes a teacher highly effective and how to best learn from their practices.

VOA Museum. Tony Jones/photo.

National VOA Museum gears up for tours – With the recent completion of some significant construction work, the National VOA Museum of Broadcasting announced that it will open for tours on the third Saturday of each month from 1 to 4 p.m. starting July 21.

West Chester Library breaks checkout record – The West Chester location of the MidPointe Library System broke its previous record for checkouts in a month this past June. The local library announced last week that it had 136,512 items checked out last month, trumping its old record set in July of 2008 by more than 4,000 checkouts.

List: Reach Out Lakota back-to-school supply needs – Reach Out Lakota released its supply list for its annual Back to School program last Wednesday. Currently, only a small percent of the needed supplies have been donated for the more than 450 registered children in the Lakota school district.

Jay Bruce. Adam Kiefaber/photo.

Photos: Jay Bruce signing in West Chester – Less than a week from the Major League All-Star game, Cincinnati Reds outfielder Jay Bruce took time for an autograph session at the Sports Gallery in West Chester Sunday. Hundreds of fans packed the local sports memorabilia shop to get a glimpse and have their photo taken with the two-time MLB All-Star.

Photos: Crazy Cardboard Boat Regatta in West Chester – Tony Jones of The Cincinnati Enquirer photographed one of West Chester Township’s largest outdoor events this past weekend. Additional photos from the community will be posted on WestChesterBuzz.com later this week.

Posted in: Board of Education, Business, Events, Government, News, Schools, Sports, Winter Sports |

Tags: Tags: AK Steel, AK Steel West Chester, Beckett Park, Beckett Park project, Beckett Park West Chester, Brad Lovell, Brennan Ryan, Christina French, Cincinnati Reds player signings, Crazy Cardboard Regatta, Crazy Cardboard Regatta photos, Crazy Cardboard Regatta West Chester, Creekside Early Childhood School, Hopewell Elementary School, Jason Jackson, Jay Bruce, Jay Bruce Cincinnati Reds, Jay Bruce photos, Jay Bruce signing, Lakota, Lakota East Freshman Campus, Lakota Local Schools, Lakota schools, Lakota West, Lakota West Brennan Ryan, Lakota West Freshman Campus, Lakota West sports, Lakota West wrestling, National VOA Museum of Broadcasting, National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting, Stacy Millburg, VOA Museum, VOA Museum of Broadcasting, Voice of America Museum, West Chester business news, West Chester photos

Brad Lovell. Photo provided.

Sue Kiesewetter reports

Four Lakota schools will be getting new principals following approval by the board of education.

Lakota High School graduate Brad Lovell is leaving his principal job at Smith Elementary School in the Milford Schools to become principal of Creekside Early Childhood School. He replaces Todd Petrey, who resigned to become superintendent of the Springboro Community Schools in Warren County.

• Lakota losing principals at high rate

Christina French. Photo provided.

A West Chester Township resident, Lovell also was an assistant principal in the Forest Hills Schools, and taught in the Wyoming Schools before going to Milford. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Miami University and a master’s from Wright State University.

Christina French is leaving Shawnee Early Childhood School to become principal at Hopewell Elementary School. She replaces Denise Hayes who resigned to become principal of Fairfield Intermediate School.

• Suzanna Davis named principal at Lakota East High School
• Elgin Card named principal at Lakota West High School

Stacy Millburg. Photo provided.

Before coming to Lakota a year ago, French was a teacher and then assistant principal at Fairfield East Elementary School. The Liberty Township resident holds a bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University and a master’s from Xavier University.

Both Lovell and French were given two-year contracts, effective Aug. 1, and will earn a base salary of $89,500 annually.

Lakota East assistant principal Stacy Millburg is moving to the school’s freshman campus as its associate principal. She replaces Suzanna Davis, who was named Lakota East principal following the resignation of Keith Kline. He was named assistant superintendent of the West Clermont Schools.

Jason Jackson. Photo provided.

Lakota West assistant principal Jason Jackson is moving to the school’s freshman campus as its associate principal. The move follows the appointment of associate principal Elgin Card to principal. He replaces Richard Hamilton, who is retiring after 13 years as principal.

Both Millburg and Jackson received two-year contracts, effective Aug. 1. Each will earn an annual base salary of $87,000.

Follow Lakota news on WestChesterBuzz.com

Posted in: Board of Education, Schools |

Tags: Tags: Brad Lovell, Christina French, Creekside Early Childhood School, Hopewell Elementary School, Jason Jackson, Lakota, Lakota East Freshman Campus, Lakota Local Schools, Lakota schools, Lakota West Freshman Campus, Stacy Millburg

Sue Kiesewetter reports:

Three Lakota schools will have new principals when students return to school after summer break.

Two are familiar faces in the district.

Melissa Alexander moves from assistant principal at VanGorden and Heritage elementary schools to the principal’s office at Heritage. She has been serving as interim principal since March when longtime principal Marco Pangallo retired.

Alexander has been with the Lakota Schools since 1999 when she was hired to teach at Liberty Elementary. Since 2004 she has been an assistant principal at Shawnee, Heritage and VanGorden. Prior to that, she was a middle school teacher for the Middletown schools.

Benjamin Brown will replace Union Elementary School Principal Robert Winterberger, who is retiring Jan. 31. Brown is currently serving as the assistant principal for both Union and Independence elementary schools.

Since coming to Lakota in 2005, Brown has been an assistant principal at Adena, Union, and Independence elementary schools. He previously worked in the Princeton schools as an elementary school teacher and assistant to the principal.

North College Hill Middle School principal Joanna Sears was named principal of Endeavor Elementary School, effective Aug. 1. She is replacing Timothy Weber who is leaving the district to become principal of Madeira Elementary School.

For the past 10 years Sears worked in the North College Hill district where she taught at two elementary schools before becoming principal of two elementary schools and then the middle school.

Sears also coached at several schools including varsity basketball at North College Hill and Wyoming high schools.

All three principals received two-year contracts with a base salary of $89,500 annually.

Posted in: Board of Education, Schools |

Tags: Tags: benjamin brown, Endeavor Elementary, Heritage, joanna sears, Lakota schools, Liberty Elementary, marca pangallo, melissa alexander, principals, robert winterberger, timothy weber, Union Elementary, vangorden

Michael D. Clark reports:

When it comes to asking for a school tax hike, timing can be everything, Lakota school officials said Monday evening.

They explained why they are backing away from the November ballot, which they had considered but now view as the wrong time frame.

“The decision is one of practicality,” said Lakota Superintendent Karen Mantia. “We need to spend time with our residents and we need to find out what people are willing to support.”

Last week, board president Ben Dibble revealed that the board’s consensus was to avoid a third consecutive year of placing a proposed school tax increase on the ballot.

Voters in the district, which is the second largest in Southwest Ohio, have rejected three levies in the last two years.

Under Ohio regulations the governing boards of districts are not required to vote to abstain from placing a levy on the ballot.

Mantia said, “we know we are going to have to come back but we want to be on better footing.”

Two main reasons are prompting officials at the academically top-rated district to step back from previous consideration of the last ballot available in 2012.

State biennium budget negotiations don’t begin until early 2013 and given that legislative process’ unpredictability in recent years it would be prudent for school officials to first learn what funding is coming and then determine the level of local funding needed through a new local tax levy.

Moreover, pending academic core standards imposed by the state will entail more undetermined costs for all of Ohio’s 613 public school systems.

Lakota is the largest school system to earn the state’s highest academic rating of “excellent with distinction.”

Because of budget cuts in recent years totaling more than $25 million, thousands of Lakota students lost busing services this school year and learned in more crowded classes.

The recent slicing of another $10.5 million from the upcoming school year, including 141 teaching, classroom aide and staff positions and the loss of some elective classes, will mean even more changes starting in August.

Posted in: Board of Education, Schools |

Tags: Tags: ballot, Ben Dibble, budget, Karen Mantia, Lakota schools, levy, school board, taxes

The Sunshine Review, a nonprofit organization that claims to be dedicated to state and local government transparency, has honored Lakota Local Schools by concluding that it has “one of the most transparent” government websites in the nation, according to a release from the school district.

According to that release, Lakota won a Sunny Award for transparency and only 214 government websites – out of 6,000 studied – earned the award.

“The Lakota Local School District belongs to the community. That’s why we’ve worked hard to make it as easy as possible for the public to obtain district information,” said Treasurer Jenni Logan. “And we intend to find ways to make it even easier for the community to learn what’s happening in Lakota.”

The Sunshine Review gave Lakota’s website, Lakotaonline.com, an A- grade when compared to others in the state. In its evaluation, it concluded that it should have more information online in only one category – public records and forms.

Since that evaluation, Lakotaonline.com has added a button on its home page that allows visitors to request public records.

According to the school district, the website attracts 12 million page views annually.

Posted in: News, Schools |

Tags: Tags: Lakota, Lakota schools, Lakota website, lakotaonline.com, Sunshine review

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