Maumee Schools Begin Year With High Marks On State Report Card
BY NANCY GAGNET — MIRROR REPORTER
It was great news for the Maumee City Schools when the Ohio Department of Education’s report card showed the district earned an excellent with distinction rating for the 2007-08 school year.
“We are very thrilled,” superintendent Dr. Greg Smith said.
Excellent with distinction is the state’s newest and highest rating – the equivalent of earning an A+ grade. Maumee was one of only three districts in Lucas County – along with Sylvania and Ottawa Hills – to rate excellent with distinction.
The ODE officially posted the information on August 26 at midnight.
“We really want to thank the community for providing all of the support necessary for Maumee to have a school district earning an A+,” Smith said.
This is the first year the ODE report cards include a value-added measurement, which reflects how much progress students have made from one year to the next.
Districts that achieve above expected growth for two consecutive years may increase their ratings by one category; districts rated excellent that have shown two years of above-expected growth are rated excellent with distinction.
“Value-added to me is probably a much better way to measure the effectiveness of a school district and the job you’re doing than a one-shot test during the school year,” Smith said.
It was welcome news for the district, which last year earned an effective rating, one step below excellent on the state’s scale.
According to Smith, the district raised its rating after school officials studied previous test data and saw that students had trouble explaining their answers in the extended response portion of the tests.
“We found anywhere from students leaving that blank to them not putting in a quality answer,” he said.
Smith said the teachers created strategies to help students better prepare in those areas and improve their scores.
The benchmarks set by the state in the areas of math and reading are built into the school curriculum, Smith said, and teachers continually monitor student progress. In addition, test-taking strategies are fostered to help not only with state achievement tests but others as well, such as college entrance tests.
“This year our ACT composite was the highest it’s ever been in the school district,” Smith said.
While Maumee earned the state’s highest rating, Smith said plans are already in place to address areas where the district still has room for improvement.
Among individual school buildings, each elementary and the high school earned excellent ratings, while Gateway Middle School was rated effective.
The district met 28 of the 30 standards set by the state, with eighth-grade science and social studies test scores short of the benchmark.
“We have already met with teachers to look at the data, and the teachers are already hard at work to try to determine what we could have done differently last year and making sure that we do what we need to do to better improve in all areas across the district,” he said.
Ultimately, he credits the hard work of students and teachers for the high marks for 2007-08.
“It highlights our outstanding teachers, administrators, parents and the students,” he said. “It’s very exciting and a wow for the community – and it definitely helps us start out right this school year.”
For more information, visit www.reportcard.ohio.gov.
Perfect Weather Sets The Stage
For 31st Annual Summer Fair
BY NANCY GAGNET– MIRROR REPORTER
Mother Nature cooperated on August 16 for the Maumee Summer Fair. Clear blue skies and perfect 80-degree temperatures set the stage for parade spectators who lined the streets Saturday morning to kick off the 31st annual event.
“This is great. I didn’t realize it was going to be so big,” said Julie Cubberly, who stood with her husband John and their two boys along River Road near the Wolcott House where the parade began.
“Next time, we’ll definitely bring bags with us,” she said as the boys quickly collected the candy tossed to them.
With the parade theme “A Night at the Movies,” 53 groups participated – many in costume – along the 2.7- mile route that traveled to East William Street then south on Conant Street, where it ended at Union School.
Marcia Guinan sat with a group of friends on the front lawn of her River Road home.
“It’s a nice family event and the kids get a charge out of it – but the adults do too,” she said.
Her neighbor Tom Metzger agreed.
“It works out perfect,” he said. “We get to sit back and watch all of their hard work.”
The first-place winner in the float competition was Union Elementary School and the Maumee Senior Center, which teamed up to create a Harry Potter float.
Second place went to Dance Expressions with a theme from the musical Annie.
In addition to parade festivities, more than 200 vendors set up booths to sell everything from handmade jewelry to T-shirts.
Political groups and community organizations were represented as well as local businesses.
“We were very encouraged by the turnout,” said Matt Norton of Edward Jones Financial Group. “It was a beautiful day and there were a lot of friendly people. It was a good time.”
Event organizer Brenda Clixby, of the Maumee Chamber of Commerce, said the festival was a huge success.
“I would say overall it’s one of the best we had – the weather, the attendance, the participation and the volunteers, they were all fabulous,” she said.
Although there was no official count, Clixby said approximately 20,000 people turned out.
“We never stopped,” she said. “There was never a lull.”
Mayor Tim Wagener also thought this year’s event topped other years.
“Summer Fair was spectacular – I’ve never seen that many people,” he said. “I think that was one of the best. A lot of vendors said they had higher sales numbers than in years past, in spite of the economy.”
The Kids’ Fun Zone kept children happy.
“It was nice to see that they had all of the kids’ stuff,” said Cindy Prybelski of Perrysburg, whose 13-year-old daughter Allie volunteered in the children’s area.
With bags in hand, she enjoyed shopping for jewelry, garden items and hair products.
“They had a nice variety of vendors,” she said.
She was particularly impressed with the Embellir Total Image Salon booth.
“The product I needed – they didn’t have at the booth so the owner went back to the store to get it for me,” she said.
As a result, Prybelski is now a loyal customer.
“I’ll come across the river from now on to purchase those products, and I wouldn’t have done it otherwise,” she said.
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