Obion County Schools October 2019 Newsletter

October 2019 Official Newsletter of Obion County Schools A MESSAGE FROM MR WATKINS Congratulations to the Middle School Cross County teams from Obion County Obion County completed the sweep of the TMSAA West Tennessee Sectional Black Oak Boys and Hillcrest Boys were 1st and 2nd respectively as well as Lake Road Girls and Ridgemont Girls were also 1st and 2nd respectively We also had individual qualifiers Livee Seals, Landon Temple, Ethan Caldwell, and Anna Beth Correa I want to wish all these student-athletes the best of luck as they represent Obion County at the state meet I want to thank everyone at each of the schools for the hospitality shown to me as I visited the schools over the last few weeks The opportunity to sit down and talk with staff members was informative and enjoyable I shared with the Board of Education, that conversations were positive, and I am more convinced that we have teachers that want Obion County Schools to be the best system in the state I plan on making these types of visits a regular part of my schedule I will make sure the next visit is at a different time of the day than the previous one so I can see teachers that possibly weren’t free during last visit A MESSAGE FROM MR WATKINS NEWS FROM CENTRAL OFFICE NEWS FROM THE SCHOOLS Thank you for all you to make Obion County the special place that it is and thank you for all you for the students of Obion County Schools Tim Watkins, Director of Schools Upcoming events  National Bullying Prevention Month  Fall Break October 14-18  National School Lunch Week October 21-25  Red Ribbon Week October 23-31 [ S i d e b a r T i t l e ] [ S i d e b a r s a r e g r e a t f o r c a Mr Greg Barclay Special Education [ S i d e b a r T i t l e ] [ S i d e b a r s a r e g r e a t f o r Obion County Schools has three teachers who are “new-ish” to Special Education for the 2019-2020 school year Clockwise from the top of the picture are Casey Wade at Lake Road, Casey Webb at Obion County Central, and Ali Daniel at Hillcrest Casey Wade is the new CDC teacher at Lake Road Elementary She is from Water Valley, Kentucky, and she attended college at Bethel University where she received her teaching degree in Special Education in May of 2019 While there she played softball for Bethel in the positions of pitcher and first baseman, and she also received the Student Teacher of the Year award for Special Education Casey enjoys teaching and working with children, spending time with family and being outdoors hunting and fishing She said, “I’m looking forward to a great year at Lake Road! LRS is the best!” Casey Webb started at Obion County Central High School in 2007 teaching various levels of mathematics Her favorite math class to teach is Geometry Casey earned her Master’s degree in Special Education in February 2019 She is married to Jason Webb, and they have two children, Elly and Eli, who both attend Hillcrest Ali Daniel joined Obion County during the Spring semester of the 2018-2019 school year and believes that Obion County has the best students and faculty around but also claims to be a little partial, since she is an OCCHS alumnus She graduated from the University of Tennessee at Martin in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology with an emphasis in child brain development and behavior Currently, she is in her last semester of her Master’s program with its focus in Special Education When she finishes her Master’s, she has a goal to work towards a Doctoral degree in Applied Behavior Analysis Ali is also a full-time wife and mother Her husband, Travis, is a carpenter for his own carpentry business, and they have two children, McCoy (3) and Margo (2 months), as well as two dogs, Teal and Charlie, and seventeen chickens Let her know if you ever need any eggs! In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her children and running When asked to provide some information about herself, Ali stated, “I would like to start by saying how grateful and happy I am to be a part of the Obion County School System I absolutely adore my students and my job.” The Obion County Special Education Department is excited to have these three ladies in our school system! Mr Adam Stephens RTI As many of you know, last spring our district began transitioning to Aimsweb PLUS as the new and upgraded screening tool for RTI We learned several things through the pilot program, but the RTI teacher leaders and school administrators have worked hard since the beginning of school to complete the transition We have now finished the fall benchmark process, established new groups, and progress monitoring is scheduled within the new program There are many advantages to using this version of Aimsweb Scoring is all digital and reporting is instant When a student finishes a test, the results are calculated and changes to instructional practices during intervention can happen much faster This version also has skills-based and standards-based measures; therefore, it can be used much more effectively as a predictor of future success on state tests It will help us pinpoint students that are having issues Although we have worked through many issues associated with starting any new program, there are still questions we are working through daily As a group, we are using the program with much more proficiency The overall goal is to help students be successful, and I feel that this transition will help us identify and help students at all levels Data c a We received our achievement and growth data much earlier this year, and I have either sent data by request or met with most every teacher of a tested subject in grades 3-11 If there is anything you would like to discuss or revisit, I am available to meet with anyone during planning times, after school, or answer questions through email correspondence – astephens@ocboe.com Mrs Judy Denman Mr Dale Hollowell Food Service School Safety Last year the decision was made to discontinue the break after first period at Obion Central, beginning in January This meant that there would be no “second chance” for the students to go to the cafeteria for breakfast About half of our students who had previously eaten breakfast no longer took advantage of being able to eat breakfast at school Knowing that breakfast is very important to learning, Mr Barclay and Mr Kendall began working on a plan to take breakfast to the students A Mini Breakfast Grant was available, and the cafeteria was awarded $5,000 near the end of school last year Two mobile food carts were purchased as well as two laptops to record the sales Our students can enjoy breakfast again without having to rush to get to the cafeteria before first period September 18, 2019 was a red-letter day for Obion County Schools It marked the first day that every school in the system had a full-time SRO The staffing of SROs in our five elementary schools was made possible by a $175,000 grant from the state of Tennessee as well as a financial commitment of about the same amount from the Obion County Commission [ S i d e b a r Obion County Schools is indebted to Sheriff Karl Jackson who worked tirelessly to make this initiative a reality In addition to persuading the county commission to help fund the project, Sheriff Jackson was responsible for hiring the additional personnel and providing each officer with the equipment and training needed to work in our schools T i t l e ] After testing a few locations, the carts have both been placed in the front lobby since many students pass that way before first period Students and staff love the convenience of not having to go all the way to the cafeteria to get breakfast The quick and easy access saves time for those who may not enter the building near the cafeteria Everything that is available in the cafeteria for breakfast is also available from the breakfast carts except cereal and coffee Items include a hot biscuit or roll with sausage, chicken, or ham and cheese They can also select from Pop Tarts, fruit, milk, and juice Other available items may include pancakes, flavored crescent rolls, breakfast rounds, or muffins Our supportive faculty is allowing the students to bring breakfast with them to their first period class This gives them time to eat if they only have time to grab breakfast off the cart and go to class Breakfast is also still available in the cafeteria, and the ladies have just added coffee that can be purchased a la carte The cafeteria manager, Sharon Brewer, says she is very thankful for the support given by Mr Kendall, as well as some of the Culinary Arts students who have used their artistic ability to make signs advertising the new breakfast carts Everyone is hopeful that the availability of breakfast will encourage the students to take advantage of breakfast once they get to school The cost is very reasonable… if they select a “meal”, it is FREE!!! The new officers and their assignments are: Black Oak School: David Callens Hillcrest School: Justin Hobbs Lake Road School: Ben Hudson Ridgemont School: Harold Banks South Fulton Elementary: Ben Burnett Obion County Schools is excited to partner with the Sheriff’s Department in this endeavor to increase the safety and security of our schools as well as to enhance the relationships between law enforcement and our students [ S i d e b a r s a r e g r e a t f o r c a [ S i d e b a r T i t l e ] [ S i d e b a r s a r e g r e a t f o r c a Mr George Leake Mrs Lesa Scillion High School Highlights In The Middle Did you know that OCCHS and SFHS graduates can enter college with a full semester -or more- already completed by taking advantage of Dual Credit, Dual Enrollment, and Advanced Placement classes? DC, DE, and AP courses are taught by Obion County faculty, and give students a high school credit as well as postsecondary credit at most Tennessee colleges and universities and many out of state institutions A recent Obion County graduate earned 27 hours of college credit while in high school With many colleges charging $300 or more per credit-hour, the financial impact of Early Post Secondary Opportunities (EPSOs) is tremendous Couple this with Tennessee Promise, a program that allows students to attend a technical school or community college tuition-free and the recently announced UT Promise that allows students meeting certain criteria to attend a University of Tennessee campus tuition free, and its easy to see that Obion County Schools is setting students up for success School counselors Mrs Kendall and Mrs Mitchell at OCCHS and Ms Pope at SFHS a wonderful job guiding students to post-secondary opportunities that prepare them for life after high school Our partners at the CORE office, Stacey Ussery and Ashley Kelley, have led instructional coaches, building administrators and supervisors in the work we began last year learning to utilize the Literacy Learning Walk tool and Math Learning Walk tool Both tools are designed to determine trends regarding the alignment to standards, depth of instructional practices, and student engagement in reading and math across schools Thank you to all the teachers and students whose regular classes were interrupted by our team visits, which is out of the normal routine All students continued their tasks and interacted with the team members as we asked questions and viewed their work Great job! Please continue to incorporate the OC Instructional Strategies, which include the 12 Powerful Words (and their synonyms) and UNRA(A)VEL strategies, in your classroom instruction The UNRA(A)VEL strategies can be used in math, reading, social studies, and science These strategies will help students in every subject from now until they graduate from high school Mrs Vikki Hayslett Early Literacy Buster the Bus Safety Program Bryan Nash, of Crossgate Services, presented the Buster the Bus Safety Program at each of the elementary schools Students in pre-k through second grade attended the program Buster the Bus is a miniature, remote controlled three-foot-tall replica of a full-size yellow school bus, which is equipped with working stop sign, crossing gate, and flashing red lights Buster the Bus is a remote-controlled robot that uses an interactive approach to teach the important lessons of school bus safety Buster moves, speaks, listens, and activates his lights all by remote control With his STOP-arm, he has all the warning devices of a real bus He can wink, blink, and move his eyes, and with his smiling mouth he presents a positive and friendly image to young and old alike In addition to Buster’s safety program, Mr Tim Maynard returned to each school each afternoon to allow students to load a school bus and practice an emergency evacuation drill The program includes messages about how to cross safely, staying out of the “Danger Zone,” riding the bus safely, how to safely wait for the bus, how to cross in front of the bus, how to climb the steps, how to ride a school bus to and from school or on a field trip, and how to evacuate the school bus Buster makes learning about bus safety a lot of fun! He grabs the students’ attention long enough to help them understand the importance of making good choices that lead to personal safety and good bus riding habits Shown below are a few pictures of Buster at three of the schools [ S i d e b a r T i t l e ] [ S i d e b a r s We have had a great month at Ridgemont We had our annual book fair this month Our students love visiting the library and finding new books Coach Sarah had a book mark contest Students in each grade submitted book marks and different staff members voted on the winners The top three book marks are going to be made into book marks for our students to use throughout the year September 21st was a big birthday for our book keeper Mrs Sarah Hobbs The students, teachers, and staff showered her with love during her birthday week Ms Sarah has been an employee of Obion County Schools for fifty years and she is still going strong Our Cross Country team have been doing great this season They qualified on September 20th to go to state on Saturday Oct 5th We are very proud of these student athletes a r e g r e a t f o r c a We want to give a big Cougar welcome to Officer Justin Hobbs, our new School Resource Officer! As S.R.O., he will work to provide a safer environment for our students and faculty We are so thankful to have the opportunity to have added protection for our Cougars! The Hornbeak United Methodist Church has donated $500 to our school's backpack program South Fulton CTE students and sponsors created an amazing float that they used to participate in the Banana Festival Parade We also had students that participated in the Banana 5k and helped serve some of the ton Banana Pudding We love that our students are so community minded T i t l e ] Mr Breneman took our band to the elementary school to perform for the elementary students Everyone was super excited to have the band perform Ms Mary Jane’s science class had an amazing week learning about DNA! They made several types of models! From Mrs Angie in the Eagle Café I'm sure you have all seen our growing system by now, it is a grant I applied for back in May The students check it out every day, I have a one student who sings to our plants, they get lots of TLC and if you haven't noticed lately we are proud parents to baby Pac Choi! I just put this together Monday and we already have babies! I take pictures, keep a diary (this is required with any grant) and I email the group I am in The Eagle Café has gained fans on this adventure! The company is enjoying our pictures very much and the enthusiasm behind it A winning season for cross country teams The boys team and Livee Seals will be competing at the State Championship Meet this weekend [ S i d e b a r [ S i d e b a r s a r e From imagination to completion, these students from Mrs Cantrell's Graphic Design class had a great time creating designs for their "be kind" rocks They learned lettering, how to mix colors, and letter placement! (Centering really is a thing.) Proud of these students and their awesomely creative selves!! g r e a t Mr Strode's classes have been working on building "Lasagna Gardens" for compost f o r c a [ S i d e b a r Lake Road is proud to welcome Officer Ben Hudson as our new security officer Officer Hudson was born and raised in Obion County, TN He has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and 20 years of experience in law enforcement HIs wife, Lauren Hudson, teaches at Obion County Central High School They have a one-and-a-half-year-old son Welcome aboard Officer Hudson! T i t l e ] [ S i d e b a r s a r e g r e a t f o r c a  Williams Sausage and Sonic have partnered with LRS in an effort to award each six weeks students, with Perfect Attendance  The AR Reading rewards was celebrated Friday September 27 with "Make Your Own Ice-Cream Sundae”  The Lake Road Band sponsored a County Wide "Glow Dance" on Friday 13th Everyone had a great time!  Students collected items and made cards to support Jeffrey Sensing at South Fulton and support St Jude, and also supporting the Target House Sarah Nailling is a fifth grade math, science, and social studies teacher at Lake Road Elementary She recently was able to attend WestTeach which is a five-day development program for teachers in the 21 counties of West Tennessee In addition regular program sessions, the class will hold an Educational Summit for legislators, district and school administration in February of 2020 Throughout the program, teachers will gain insight into the economic needs and opportunities in West Tennessee, build links with industry and community leaders and get an out-ofthe-classroom view of students' lives from community child resource agents The WestTeach mission is to engage and equip West Tennessee teachers with tools and leadership skills for success in and outside of the classroom Applicants must be k-12 teachers who aspire to stay in the classroom but want to be leaders in their schools Applicants must be nominated by their Principal and the Director of Schools Selection is also based on leadership achievements and potential to contribute to the region's educational system Ms Nailing serves on the board for the Masquerade Theatre in Union City and is a member of the UT Martin Advisory Council for the Department of Education She is an Obion County Leadership graduate She is a recipient of the Obion County Teacher of the Year Award (2005) She hope that participating in WestTeach will help her meet and understand the needs of business and community leaders LRS girls team placed first in the sectional race and therefore earned the right to advance to compete in the state race in Clarksville on Oct 5th Ethan Caldwell placed 2nd in the race and therefore earned the right to advance to state as an individual representing LRS SFE is super excited about our SRO, Deputy Ben Burnett He is doing a wonderful job! One of our students, Jeffrey Sensing, is in St Jude fighting leukemia Our Beta Club students started a donation drive for the Target House where Jeffrey stays at St Jude We were able to send a trailer with lots of items to St Jude thanks to local businesses and schools Ridgemont, Lake Road, and South Fulton Middle/High School are some of the schools who made awesome donations Simmons Bank also set up for community members to stop by and donate We are so thankful for everyone who contributed  Students who made their Accelerated Reader goals participated in the reward of “Redneck Waterslide” at the People’s Place Church The church partners with SFE to host this event each year which is always a favorite with our students  On Friday, September 20th, we celebrated our Reward School status We started the day with a recognition ceremony in the gym where students received a certificate, a McDonalds coupon for an ice cream cone, and Wendy’s sent the Wendy’s Frosty to give out Frosty certificates to our winners Each student who met his/her goal on the state test received this recognition AirEvac sent a helicopter, South Fulton Fire Department sent their trucks, H & R sent a tractor as did Tennessee Tractor and Hutson John Deere dealerships for our students to explore We had music, sidewalk chalk, and other games as well The South Fulton Middle and High School band performed as well It was a great day These are some of the students who have participated in TN College App Week! Students enjoyed applying for free to UT Martin and Bethel University as well as other schools of their choice [ S i d e b a r T i t l e ] [ S i d e b a r s a r e g r e a t We had a students in each grade who participated in the Banana Festival Art Contest Each winner will have their drawing exhibited in a storefront downtown The winners were Jase Long, Rayne Sills, Parker Wilson, Lilly Haynes, Ciera Jennings, and Shelby Stevens Way to go! f o r c a ... the Obion County Commission [ S i d e b a r Obion County Schools is indebted to Sheriff Karl Jackson who worked tirelessly to make this initiative a reality In addition to persuading the county. .. September 18, 2019 was a red-letter day for Obion County Schools It marked the first day that every school in the system had a full-time SRO The staffing of SROs in our five elementary schools was... Obion County Schools has three teachers who are “new-ish” to Special Education for the 2019- 2020 school year Clockwise from the top of the picture are Casey Wade at Lake Road, Casey Webb at Obion