By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Students not only need to conjugate sentences and calculate math equations, but they also have to wash cars, serve up pancakes and peddle candy bars.
Schools have used student fundraisers for years to help support extra curriculars, but Bowling Green City Schools may be relying on them a bit much, according to Superintendent Francis Scruci.
“It seems like everybody is trying to fundraise,” he said during Tuesday’s board of education meeting. “And I think it’s becoming a problem.”
Scruci reported on two fundraisers going on this coming weekend, when the athletic boosters will raise money from people test driving new cars, and when the band boosters hold a couple pancake breakfasts. It’s not that the ingenuity or the volunteer efforts aren’t admirable. It’s just that people get tired of being hit up for school fundraisers he said.
“In a community this size, we’re tapping into the same people all the time,” Scruci said.
Just this week, the superintendent said he got a phone call from a citizen complaining that after one day of school there was already a student at her door trying to sell something to raise funds for a school related activity.
It appeared to this person that the focus on the first day of school was to get the kids out hawking for support.
“That’s not what’s going on,” Scruci said.
Scruci praised the efforts of school booster groups and other community organizations that try to raise funds for children.
“Different groups and organizations are trying to help kids,” he said. “We can’t close our eyes to the fact that not every kid can pay for what they need.”
But it may be time to streamline the efforts and curtail some of the many fundraisers, Scruci said to the board. After the meeting, Scruci said the Bowling Green district has many more fundraising efforts than his last school district in Gahanna, which is much larger.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the board of education heard about a new curriculum writing effort being used in the district.
Dr. Ann McCarty, Jodi Anderson and Zeb Kellough introduced “Understanding by Design,” a “thoughtful way of writing curriculum.” The process requires teachers to use “backward design” to meet goals. And the goal is not to get good in school, but to give them skills that they can use.
The process focuses on making students aware of why they are doing things – rather than thinking it’s just because their teacher said so.
Understanding by Design is not new, McCarty said. “It is not the lastest, greatest or hottest” new program. It works with teachers to make them think through each step of their curriculum. “The planning always begins with the end in mind.”
“We’re not teaching to a test. We’re not teaching to an idea,” McCarty said. They are teaching students to think creatively and have skills they can use for the rest of their lives.
The process helps students learn to “connect the dots” and makes them “lifelong learners,” Kellough said.
Anderson explained that the process spurred some “Zen” moments for the teachers training on it this past summer.
“It was awesome watching our teachers work together this summer,” McCarty said. “They are giving up their summer to come work on it.”
“They were excited enough and proud enough that they wanted to do it,” Anderson said.
Ultimately the process should make big changes in classrooms, the three said.
“The piece that empowers academic achievement is a good teacher in the classroom,” McCarty said.
Scruci complimented the teachers and curriculum team for their work.
“Our teachers are some of the best I’ve ever been around, but they didn’t have the tools,” he said.
In other business at the meeting, the board approved merit pay raises for Scruci and district treasurer Rhonda Melchi. Scruci was given 3 percent which comes to $4,320, and Melchi was given 2 percent which amounts to $2,435. Those amounts will be rolled into their salaries.
“We’re very impressed” with their work, board president Paul Walker said.
Board member Ginny Stewart said she recently spent some time at school in preparation for the new year. “There was not a student or a teacher who he did not know by their name,” she said of Scruci. That reminded her “we’ve got the right guy.”
Scruci said knowing the names of staff and students isn’t that unusual considering the quality of both.
“It’s also your leadership,” board member Jill Carr said to the superintendent.
Also at the meeting, the school board:
- Heard Spanish teacher and parent Dallas Black talk about the need for the middle school and high school to be on the same schedule. His classes include students from both levels. “As a parent, I think we can do better. As a teacher, I know we can do better,” he said.
- Approved the strategic plan, which can be viewed on the district’s website. A roadmap for the district, “this document is always going to be in motion,” Walker said.
- Learned that Carlton Schooley was retiring as transportation director.
- Authorized a renewal of the five-year contract with Buehrer Group to serve as the board architect.
- Was told the district has 30 new staff, with 24 being graduates of Bowling Green State University, showing the strong partnership with BGSU, Scruci said.
- Was reminded the Bobcat Fan Fair will be held Saturday from 4 to 6 p.m.
- Learned Scruci had scheduled “coffee chats” on the first Thursdays of each month, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., at Biggby Coffee; on the second Tuesdays from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Grounds for Thought; on the third Fridays from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at Grounds for Thought; and on the fourth Wednesdays from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at Biggby Coffee.
