WILLOW WOOD – Meeting only nine of the 27 state standards on the school report card, Symmes Valley School District has a long way to go before it’s considered effective by the state board of education.

Thursday, March 02, 2000

WILLOW WOOD – Meeting only nine of the 27 state standards on the school report card, Symmes Valley School District has a long way to go before it’s considered effective by the state board of education.

Symmes Valley administrators and teaching staff are prepared for the battle ahead, said Tom Ben, superintendent.

"We’re advancing forward," Ben said. "As I’ve stated to our staff, we’re not satisfied, and our teachers aren’t satisfied. We won’t be satisfied until we meet all 27 criteria. I think that’s the goal of every district."

School officials are aligning their curriculum with proficiency tests and implementing many special activities, such as after school tutoring, summer intervention programs, peer tutoring and intervention classes that begin in the ninth grade.

Symmes Valley will not give up its individuality and educational style in the process, though, Ben added.

"If you meet all state requirements, you might look great as a district, but if you don’t provide the children with the information they need, you fail them," he said. "It’s our goal to review all the data and make sure our curriculum lines up with all the proficiency tests. But that’s only part of our responsibility as a district."

Symmes Valley would score higher on the report cards if state officials would look at the things that really matter, and not just at test results, Ben said.

"We feel the report card does not reflect the entire picture of a school district," he said. "There are other factors not presented. At Symmes Valley, we have few suspensions, hardly any expulsions and we have a good attitude about violence. There are people who enjoy bringing their children to Symmes Valley. We have a safe environment conducive to learning."

The district will continue to work to improve, however, Ben added.

Board of education officials began working on a continuous improvement plan last summer and it should be completed by this summer, he said.

"We also have been realigning our curriculum," Ben said. "We have hired Nelrose Coffman as the curriculum director. We are working diligently with the staff to develop a program that will touch upon the proficiency test. We will begin placing more emphasis on proficiency test materials to meet the mandates of the state."

Until schools across the state become equal as far as state spending is concerned, southern Ohio school districts cannot possibly compete against larger city schools in test scores and educational opportunities, Ben added.

"The state has required us to meet certain mandates and the state has taken away local board control of the educational process," he said. "They are mandating more items to the local districts. It’s all well and good if they mandate these requirements to the entire state, but they need to equally give monies to each of the districts.

"We won’t use that as a crutch, but those are issues."

Symmes Valley has received word that the district will receive a $50,000 grant from the state because of score improvement, Ben said.

"We improved from our 1999 year and 2000 year report cards and we have received a School Improvement Incentive Award," he said. "We are one of 31 high schools in the state to receive this $50,000 incentive award."

Ben has many ideas about how that money can be used to improve the district, but has not received information concerning state restrictions on its use as of yet.

Other districts in Lawrence County to receive this award are South Point and Rock Hill elementary schools, and Chesapeake Middle School.

Rock Hill School District also received a 9 on its school report card, which places the district in the academic watch category with Symmes Valley. Dawson Bryant and Ironton City Schools also are on academic watch, receiving only 11 of the 27 report card points. Chesapeake, South Point and Fairland school districts are in the continuous improvement categories. Chesapeake received 14 points; South Point, 15; and Fairland, 22.