Cuyahoga Falls City School District: Looking Back and to the Future! As mentioned in the last edition, Cuyahoga Falls City School District is in the second year of a five-year strategic plan called CF Vision 20/20. Over a year ago, we engaged interested citizens in a process of revising what was previously known as the Plan for the 21st century (Pt21). Elements from Pt21 remained such as the vision statement, mission statement, and district beliefs. Also remaining was the foundation of the four focus areas used to generate the five-year goals in each area. Each year the administration identifies action plans associated with each of the goals and focus areas. Last year, the board of education engaged in a process to revise the district vision statement to its current form:

CFCSD the hub of our community; committed to a culture of caring! We innovate. We create. We personalize education for all!

Following, we will share the four focus areas and the 2015-2016 action plans associated with each:

College and Career Readiness

• Each K-12 student will be engaged in at least one interdisciplinary, project-based authentic learning experience.

• Three blended or online courses will be developed for incorporation in the 2016-2017 course selection guide.

• Specific technology skills and competencies will be incorporated into all K-8 pacing guides.

Culture of Excellence

• A minimum of one parent/community survey will be developed and implemented per quarter.

• The percentage of students with 15+ days of absence will be reduced to 10% or less.

• Levels of communication will be dramatically increased by way of district and building websites, teacher webpages, multiple Twitter feeds, and Facebook posts; the conversation #BlackTigerPride will be utilized consistently.

Community Engagement

• Meet with Ward leaders in Cuyahoga Falls and Silver Lake to design a series of engagement events.

• Expand the use of websites, Facebook, Twitter, all call system, video messaging with Right Brain Design Group and Falls News Press to expand reach and encourage two-way communication.

• Explore possibility of a joint meeting of Cuyahoga Falls Board of Education, Silver Lake Board of Directors, Cuyahoga Falls City Council, and Silver Lake Village Council to problem solve, brain storm and strategize.

• At least 300 households with one or more Black Tiger signs in their yard.

• At least one survey of CFCSD residents will be conducted each semester.

• Each building will host at least one community engagement event in their building per semester.

Facilities and Resource Leveraging

• Passage of Segment One of the Master Facilities Plan.

• Develop a comprehensive capital improvement plan for existing buildings with

timelines based upon the results of the Bond Issue.

• Develop an operational improvement program to include safety, transportation, food service, maintenance and custodial operations.

Each area of our CF Vision 20/20 is being developed in accordance with our mission statement:

Every student, Every day, Every Opportunity!

Mark Your Calendars!Spaghetti Dinner and State of the SchoolsYou are invited to a spaghetti dinner and state of the schools address February 18. Spaghetti dinners will be served from 4:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. in the CFHS cafeteria at a cost of $6/adults, $4/students, under 5 years/Free. There will be a 45-minute state of the schools presentation beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the CFHS auditorium.

Everyone Can Make A Difference Pennies for a Purpose at Preston ElementaryPreston students are working to make a difference in the community. collected pennies before the winter break and $250.00 went to the Cuyahoga Falls Police Toys for Tots program and $250.00 for the Ronald McDonald House! Students are now going to bring in items from the wish list for the Ronald McDonald House to build a wall of love for Valentines Day. The classes will all bring in different items and then

Friday, February 12 we will build our wall. After, Principal Brown will get to deliver the items to Ronald McDonald House.

“It is important to me that our students learn to give back and to help others so this is one way to enable them to do that.” said Brown. “By building the wall, they will be able to see that when they bring one thing and add it to one thing from someone else, what a difference we can make.”

There’s never been a better time to become involved in your local schools. Go to cfalls.org and learn how you can help. Go Black Tigers!

A Special Section Dedicated to Black Tiger Headlines & Achievements Early February 2016

RECOGNIZING OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC RESULTS

CFSD Dates To Remember:Feb. 15 President’s Day

All Schools ClosedFeb. 18 State of the Schools/

Spaghetti Dinner, 4:30pm - 6:30pm, CFHS

Need more info? Check out cfalls.org

The Ohio House of Representatives currently has art displayed at the state house by one of our own! The artwork of CFHS Senior Jessica Labut was selected. Rep. Anthony DeVitis who resides over

the 36th Ohio House District is sending her a congratulatory letter and commendation to recognize her for her accomplishment.

This is not the only great news! Jessica has also been accepted to the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) and has received a scholarship through the Gund Family Scholarship from CIA where she will pursue a Degree in Animation.

Mrs. Jennifer Schulman, Art Educator and Art Department Coordinator at CFHS says, “Jessica is an amazing success story and has an incredible future ahead of her. This is all due to her fantastic work ethic, great attitude, persistence and focus on future goals.”

Jessica says, “she has been drawing all of her life” and is inspired by other cartoons she has grown up watching. “I am excited about having my artwork selected to be displayed and I am very excited about continuing my education at CIA!”

We are excited to see what is next for you too!

Congratulations Jessica!

Lincoln 5th Graders Replicate Rube Goldberg Designs

Fifth graders in Mrs. Schlabaugh’s Science class at Lincoln Elementary School replicated Rube Goldberg designs studying force and motion. Rube Goldberg was an engineer, cartoonist and inventor. He created unique and interesting ways to complete simple tasks. Some of his designs include a contraption to turn off lights, turn pages of a book, and pour water into a cup. In class, fifth graders watched videos and researched his inventions. Using the design process, students created replicas of his machines and experimented with different actions.

In one design by a team comprised of Riley Riddle, Riley Marquette, Gabriella Sims, Julia Bentley and Travis Haskins, they came up with a creative way to turn off the lights! The team made a hot wheel car run down a track, then hit a ball which caused a stack of cups to fall. Those cups then hit an identical stack of cups which caused a set of dominoes to smash into two wooden blocks. The wooden blocks fell off the desk triggering the light switch turning them off. “I liked when we were experimenting with his (Rube Goldberg) designs. It was great to

work as a group to make a simple task more fun”, said Julia.

In a second design by the team of Madigan Clum, Mackenzie Kramer, Annalise Moore, Ella Lawrence, Ellie Brustoski and Joselynn Baker, they developed a unique way to mix water and soap in a bucket. These students used books as dominoes and water bottles to knock over a bottle of water and a cup of soap causing them to fall into a bucket. Once the water and soap hit the bucket, a fan started and blew confetti everywhere. Ellie Brustoski said, “It was interesting to replicate the designs of Rube Goldberg.”

The third design team of Ava Smith and Ana Reichert, smashed a cupcake using a hot wheel car. The car raced down the track colliding with a plastic cup as it knocked into one of the two cupcakes. The car continued down a track hitting a ball which crashed into a book. The book in turn smashed the second cupcake.

Several of Mrs. Schlabaugh’s other students commented on the excitement day. Ava Smith stated, “I thought it was pretty fun to work with other people and to create a machine.” Riley Riddle added, “I thought it was very creative.”

Above is one of the Rube Goldberg replication designs modeled by Lincoln 5th graders.

Before getting his students started on a unit on space, 4th and 5th grade Science Teacher Keith Nelman gave his 5th graders a Design Challenge.

Intended for High School and Middle School students, through IAT (It’s About Time, Your Partner in STEM Education), the design challenge was a parody of Star Wars called STEM Wars. “I thought it would be a great project to do before we jumped into Earth and Space science.” said Nelman. The students had to define the knowns and unknowns and come up with a solution after testing their ideas. Because it was a project for the upper grades the 5th grade students did the challenge as a class. The challenge was to get the Millennium Falcon out of swamp that it crashed into using some of the given clues. Based on the known

information, students developed theories about how they can successfully free the Millenium Falcon from the swamp. The students explained their solution through a math solution, determined

the science topics involved, developed a materials list for their testing and wrote a conclusion.

The class then had to turn in a report and make a video of some kind. “It

was hard but the kids loved it”, Nelman said. “I incorporated 5th

grade science standards about space in the two week project.”

The most exciting thing about this project? The Preston 5th graders took 3rd place! in a competion designed for Middle and High Schoolers

This project introduced the students to topics such as gravity and the size of planets. This also gave the students great opportunities to problem solve, and work as a team in coming up with possible solutions. “We really enjoyed getting to bring the world of Star Wars to the classroom!” Nelman concluded.

To view the video presentation of this amazing group of students working on their project, go to: www.superluke.iat.com/stem-wars-episode-two and click on the 3rd Place button. Don’t forget to hit the like button!

“Using the Force!” Preston 5th Grade Science Class Saves STEM

Student Profile:Jessica LaBut

There’s never been a better time to become involved in your local schools. Go to cfalls.org and learn how you can help. Go Black Tigers!