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Mason freshmen vow to continue acts of kindness

Posted by rrichardson April 19th, 2013, 3:27 pm Post a Comment

Sue Kiesewetter reports:

The 10 dozen small, white rubber ducks with green wings and ribbons may not stay at Mason High School for long.

Some of the ducks – a gift from the 26 Acts of Kindness group – are headed to a state conference next week for student government leaders.

Some will be offered to residents at Tender Mercies – a shelter for those with mental health issues. Others might go to those who are ill, children at the district’s early childhood center or elsewhere.

Photos: Ducks at Mason High
At Mason High, kindness not a random act

“It isn’t about us keeping the ducks. It’s about giving,’’ said history teacher Jerry Schrock, whose freshman homeroom planned the school’s Week of Kindness last month. “This is a good way to keep the kindness going.”

A group of freshmen, their senior sibs and a few adults are working together to make sure Mason High School lives up to its designation as the Kindest School in America by the 26 Acts of Kindness. They want the acts to continue indefinitely.

The organization was launched last December after NBC’s Ann Curry tweeted the idea of being kind to one another in memory of the 20 students and six adults killed in the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Conn.

It was the inspiration for the school’s Week of Kindness, the last week of March. Administrators at 26 Acts of Kindness began a 26-month campaign encouraging kindness by naming Mason High the first of 26 honorees – one per month – in appreciation of the freshman class’ Week of Kindness.

Together with Newtown, the 26 Acts of Kindness group sent Mason High School 10 dozen rubber ducks as part of the Newtown community’s Ducks of Sandy Hook Campaign.

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Posted in: Schools |

Tags: Tags: 26 acts of kindness, acts of kindness, ann curry, charity, kind, kindness, mason, mason high, mason high school, sandy hook, students

Students bare arms – and all – in Nerf Wars

Posted by rrichardson April 11th, 2013, 10:20 am Post a Comment

Adam Kiefaber reports:

A spring tradition is under way as Lakota high school students, some clothed and some not, do battle in Nerf Wars on their neighborhood streets.

The annual event involves students pairing up in groups and chasing each other with Nerf guns. If shot, the student and his group is in jeopardy of being eliminated and therefore ineligible to win the cash prize or pot collected from the entrants.

Lakota is not the only district that participates in Nerf Wars. Tracey Carson, public information officer of the Mason School District, said Nerf Wars have taken place in that school district for about 10 years.

At first glance, the game appears to be harmless, but Lakota administrators sent out an email to parents of both East and West high schools this week stressing that their child’s safety could be at risk.

According to the email, which was written together by Lakota West principal Elgin Card and Lakota East principal Suzanna Davis, students have been known to shoot each other from vehicles and participate in car chases during Nerf Wars.

Davis, who has been a Lakota administrator for eight years, said Nerf Wars has been around since she started working in the district. Both principals stressed that “Nerf Wars is not a school-sanctioned or organized event.”

“Any time your attention is not on the road, there is a possibility that something could happen.” Card said. “We don’t want any of our young people injured and we don’t want them injuring anybody else.”

(more…)

Posted in: Community, News |

Tags: Tags: lakota, mason, naked, nerf, nerf wars, nude, police, schools, students

Ohio schools’ budget squeeze means fewer teachers

Posted by rrichardson December 26th, 2012, 11:35 am Post a Comment

The Associated Press

Fewer dollars for Ohio schools has meant fewer teachers in classrooms in many districts across the state.

State records show the number of full-time teachers in public schools fell by nearly 6 percent over a decade ending in the 2010-11 school year, and surveys by education associations and The Associated Press indicate the downward trend has continued the last two school years. There’s little expectation of immediate improvement as districts grapple with reduced state funding, declines in property tax revenues and voter reluctance in many districts to approve new levies as households slowly recover from the Great Recession.

“There’s no bright light on the horizon,” said Damon Asbury, legislative services director for the Ohio School Boards Association. “Schools will continue to do more with less.”

The results of cuts for many schools: more students per teacher, fewer electives in areas such as foreign languages and arts classes, reduced support staff.

Gov. John Kasich and his administration have urged schools to focus their dollars on classroom instruction, raise standards such as lower-elementary reading proficiency, and to stretch their budgets by pooling resources in such areas as technology, office functions and transportation.

“We do need to manage our schools better financially,” the Republican governor said in June while signing an education reform package including a “guarantee” that third-graders will be able to read before being passed ahead. “And in addition to that, what are we teaching kids in kindergarten, first and second grade if we’re not teaching them to read?”

Ohio voters last year turned back a Republican-led effort to restrict collective bargaining rights for teachers and other public employees amid criticism of teacher unions for making it difficult to target ineffective teachers for cuts.

Personnel costs are usually the major portion of a district’s budget, so any significant budget cuts usually mean job losses. The state School Boards Association surveyed districts this year and, with 268 of the state’s 613 districts responding, found they have reduced staff by an average of 13 full-time employees each since 2008, with some big city districts cutting hundreds of employees. Cleveland Municipal Schools slashed 658 jobs, to 3,311 total, according to the survey. Lakota Local Schools, a major northern Cincinnati suburban district, says it is down to 915 full-time teachers, 236 fewer than the 2007-’08 school year.

Ohio Department of Education statistics show full-time public school teachers totaled 115,453 statewide in 2001-2002, then were at 108,888 by 2010-11 after falling to 107,924 in 2007-08 amid the national financial meltdown. Enrollment fell slightly between ‘01 and 2010-’11, by about 6,000 students, to nearly 1.75 million statewide. And recent AP sampling of 30 school districts across the state found that 24 reported fewer teachers compared to the last academic year, with four districts increasing teaching staff numbers and two staying the same.

It’s not just Ohio.

(more…)

Posted in: News |

Tags: Tags: damon asbury, John Kasich, ohio, ohio department of education, ohio school boards association, recession, revenue, schools, students, survey, taxes, teachers

Ex-Mason teacher’s hearing pushed back

Posted by rrichardson November 8th, 2012, 2:18 pm Post a Comment

Stacy Schuler is led from the courtroom after being sentenced to four years in jail. The Enquirer/Gary Landers

Former Mason teacher Stacy Schuler will have to wait a few more days to see if a Warren County judge will grant her petition for early release from prison.

A hearing on the motion scheduled for Friday has been pushed back to 11 a.m. Tuesday in Warren County Common Pleas Court.

Schuler, 34, was convicted last October on 16 felony counts of sexual battery and three misdemeanor counts of providing alcohol to minors. The encounters occurred in 2010 at her Springboro home.

Schuler convicted of sex crimes
Photos: Stacy Schuler trial

Schuler’s attorney argued she suffered from a host of medical and psychological problems exacerbated by her use of Zoloft and copious amounts of alcohol.

Warren County Common Pleas Judge Robert Peeler said he believes Schuler suffers from mental health and substance abuse issues, but sentenced her to four years, with the possibility of early release after serving only six months.

Schuler’s six months were up April 27, but her attorney, Charlie H. Rittgers, didn’t apply for early release until May 31.

“When somebody requests early release, they have one shot at it. If the court denies it, the person has to serve out their sentence,” he explained.

Peeler held an in-chambers pre-trial hearing on the petition in July and ordered additional psychological testing before he would consider Schuler’s request for early release.

Rittgers said his client is a model prisoner at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville.

The former health and physical education teacher leads yoga and general education classes for her fellow prisoners, is undergoing mental health treatment for bipolar disorder and participates in a group for sex offenders.

Schuler and 62 other people wrote letters that Schuler’s attorney filed in support of her motion for judicial release in July.

Mark Krumbein, a Cincinnati attorney who’s been following the case, said that it’s uncommon for a judge to indicate when a person would be eligible for judicial release.

“You usually can’t count on it unless a judge gives you some indication. It sounds like he at least has an open mind to that,” he said. “In Stacy Schuler’s case, she’s got a lot of good mitigating circumstances in her life that would be big factors for Judge Peeler.”

However, he said that a similar case out of Warren County, that of Kings Junior High School teacher Lisa Karabinus, might set a precedent on what a judge considers sufficient penalty.

Karabinus, who was convicted in 2000 of having sexual relations with a 13-year-old student and sentenced to four years, was also eligible for release after six months. She served two years of that sentence.

Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell said he would continue to fight to keep Schuler locked up.

“To release her after only one year demeans the seriousness of the offenses, and would send a bad message to others who might commit similar offenses,” he said. “Ms. Schuler was already given a break when she was sentenced to only four years. The public interest is best served by requiring her to fully serve the sentence that was imposed.”

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Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: charlie h. rittgers, convicted, early release, judge robert peeler, judicial release, lisa karabinus, mark krumbein, mason, mason high school, sex, sex crimes, stacy schuler, students, warren county common pleas court

Use of ‘seclusion rooms’ divides educators

Posted by rrichardson August 9th, 2012, 4:02 pm Post a Comment

Some Ohio school systems – including a few in Greater Cincinnati – use small rooms similar to this one at Endeavor Elementary in West Chester, to occasionally isolate disruptive special needs students. The Enquirer/Cara Owsley

Michael D. Clark reports:

Little-known “seclusion rooms” in Ohio schools are a vital tool for helping special needs students, say parents and educators at local districts that use the rooms, including Lakota, Mason and Fairfield.

Some advocates for special needs youth argue that the practice can be traumatic and potentially harmful to students and school staffers.

In Ohio, seclusion is banned in some mental health institutions. Rules also put strict limits on the use of seclusion in children’s residential facilities. But in public schools, seclusion is not only acceptable, it’s unregulated.

“The use of the break room has never been anything other than helpful,” said Amy Schinner, mother of Ben, who will be a freshman at Lakota West Freshman School.

A report released by a group of Ohio National Public Radio stations and the Columbus Dispatch showed that 39 of 100 public and private charter schools surveyed in Ohio – including several in Greater Cincinnati – use seclusion rooms.

Special needs students, especially those with emotional disabilities that can cause them to be disruptive or physically harmful to themselves or others, are periodically placed in monitored, small rooms. The idea is that the reduced sensory stimuli of the rooms help calm students and refocus them toward learning.

Small sampling reveals some allegations of misuse

But the statewide sampling of a fraction of Ohio’s 613 public school districts and hundreds of charter schools revealed some allegations of misuse of the rooms that included unsupervised isolation of students in almost cell-like spaces.

“Would I like to send my 6-year-old to school and find out they’ve been locked in a dark room by themselves for five hours?’’ asked Barb Trader, the executive director of TASH told the Columbus Dispatch. “Would we find that acceptable? Absolutely not. There would be national outrage if this was happening to kids without disabilities.”

TASH is a Washington, D.C.-based group that pushes to end seclusion.

Ohio’s lack of a statewide policy regarding such rooms – also known as “sensory rooms,” “break rooms” and “time-out rooms” – has come to the forefront.

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Posted in: Schools |

Tags: Tags: break rooms, education, mason, mason schools, seclusion, seclusion rooms, sensory rooms, special needs, students, tash, thomas knestrict, time out rooms, west chester

Photos: Olympic Games at the Compass School

Posted by rrichardson July 30th, 2012, 11:45 am Post a Comment

(l to r) Grant Macura, James Dempsey and Caleb Halderman run in a race during Olympic Games at the Compass School in Deerfield Township on Friday, July 27, 2012. Every class got a chance to do the long jump, throw a beanbag shot-put, and run a race. The Enquirer/Leigh Taylor

The Olympic Games came to Deerfield Township last week. Children at the Compass School celebrated their own Olympic festivities at the school on Friday. The Enquirer’s Leigh Taylor was there to catch the action. Click on an image below to see a larger-resolution version.

Posted in: Schools |

Tags: Tags: children, compass school, deerfield township, games, olympics, students

Photos: Cool Critters at Endeavor Learning Center

Posted by rrichardson July 20th, 2012, 12:31 pm Post a Comment

Kids check out an African sulcata tortoise during a visit from Cool Critters Outreach to Endeavor Learning Center in Mason on Tuesday, July 17, 2012. The Enquirer/Leigh Taylor

Children at the Endeavor Learning Center in Mason got an up close look at some exotic critters this week. Representatives from Cool Critters Outreach visited the center and brought with them exotics like an African sulcata tortoise, a baby alligator, snakes and other reptiles. The Enquirer’s Leigh Taylor captured these shots. Click on an image below for a larger-resolution version.

Posted in: Schools |

Tags: Tags: alligator, children, cool critters outreach, endeavor learning center, photos, reptiles, snakes, students

Mason company offering 4 tech and business internships

Posted by rrichardson July 19th, 2012, 4:32 pm Post a Comment

Apex Supply Chain Technologies, a developer of inventory tracking and control software and point-of-use industrial vending systems, is offering four internship positions this fall at its Mason headquarters.

The paid positions, listed below, are open to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as recent graduates.

Web Developer Intern
Supply Chain Intern
Business Research/Analyst Intern
Market Research/Data Entry Intern (part-time)

Founded in 2006, Apex counts more than 180 Fortune 1000 companies amongst its clientele. The company opened its European headquarters in the United Kingdom last year.

This is the fourth consecutive year that Apex has offered paid internships. To apply, email a resume and cover letter to internship@apexsupplychain.com with the subject line “Fall Intern.” For more information, go to www.apexsupplychain.com.

Posted in: Business, News |

Tags: Tags: apex supply chain technologies, business, graduates, intern, internship, mason, paid, students, tech, vending systems

Photos: St. Susanna Field Day

Posted by rrichardson June 5th, 2012, 1:05 pm Post a Comment

Students at St. Susanna School in Mason ended the school year on a high note with a Field Day last week. The Enquirer’s Leigh Taylor was there to catch the fun. Click on each image to see a larger-resolution version.

Posted in: Schools |

Tags: Tags: children, field day, mason, photos, school, st. susanna, students

Photos: Right to Read Week at St. Susanna

Posted by rrichardson May 7th, 2012, 12:45 pm Post a Comment

Fifth-grader Claire Toomb listens as first-grader Lori Ryan reads a book during Right to Read week at St. Susanna School in Mason on Wednesday, May 2, 2012. The Enquirer/Leigh Taylor

Students at St. Susanna celebrated Right to Read Week last week. Activities included shared reading day in which students shared books and bookmarks and read together and an author visit. Children were also encouraged to read at home. The Enquirer’s Leigh Taylor captured some of the week’s highlights. Click on each image below to see a larger resolution version.