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Xenia enrollment continues to rise

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Our student enrollment as of last Friday was up 196 students over projections.

This is terrific news.

We recently added two additional elementary teachers. We have many families who in the past have had their children participate in open enrollment, charter schools, on-line schools, and home schooling who are now sending them back to our school district.

5K Run/Walk: a 5K Fun Run/Walk is planned for 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 31. Proceeds from the run will go to the Xenia Community School Foundation to help support teacher grants. Please save the date and plan to participate in this, a major fundraiser of the year, for the foundation.

Shoes for the shoeless: The Church of the Nazarene took up donations to raise money for shoes for our students in need. Families from Shawnee and from Cox recently went to the community center where — for two nights — they were fitted for free tennis shoes. Both nights combined, 168 pairs of shoes were given away. Thanks to Pastor Mark Atherton, and to Christy Fielding, Charlene Landis, and Jenni Arnett for helping our kids get a new pair of shoes. Three more evenings are planned for our other elementary schools.

Yard signs/decals: We are purchasing yard signs and car window decals which we will give to the parents of our preschool students. This is one way we are going to begin to publicize our preschool program. We are the only 5 Star preschool program in Xenia. Our student numbers to start the school year are the highest they have ever been. At this time we have 208 preschool students enrolled and attending, while 13 more are waiting to be screened so they can enter. And as soon as they are potty trained, 16 more are are ready to be enrolled. We also have 35 more students in the “Help Me Grow” program who will be enrolling in our program when they reach their third birthday. Our preschool program is doing amazing things for youngsters. The preschool will celebrate the kickoff of the new library this coming Tuesday.

Arrowood update: A special thanks to Mrs. Cravens, Ms. Babb, Mrs. Cronin, Mrs. Paxson, and Mrs. Espedal for giving our kindergarten students and their families a great first impression.

Shawnee news: Shawnee Elementary will be partnering with Mount Zion Church to bring the Kids Hope Mentoring Program to the school. Kids Hope is the catalyst for an expanding network of church and school partnerships. These partnerships take on the enormous challenge of kids at risk through one-on-one mentoring relationships. Paula Linsenbigler has brought this wonderful partnership to Shawnee and she will be program director.

Good things happening at Warner: Students in Emily Anders’ science class have been using laptops to complete background research for their science proposals. Next week they will be working to develop hypothesis and identify variables in order to conduct experiments. Students in eighth grade English language arts have been reading “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens.” Teachers Ronna Couser, Pam Graetz, and Elysa Berndt have been facilitating discussions on good and bad habits and how to incorporate good habits into the lives of the students. Students in the leadership classes have been working to launch a Box Tops for Education, Coke Rewards, and Labels for Education Drive. Students also finalized plans for Spirit Week and a pep rally. Leaders also have been working on designing a leadership T-shirt as well as this year’s school T-shirt. T-shirts are expected to be on sale in mid-September. Students in Barry Claus’ eighth grade social studies class recently learned about European explorers. They will also be using Chromebooks to research the 13 colonies to make a foldable project.

Ryan Homes: We have learned that Ryan Homes will be building some new homes in Xenia. No new homes have been built in Xenia since 2007. We are told 28 homes will be built on vacant lots in the Sterling Green sub-division and another 162 single-family homes will be built on a 56-acre tract of land. They plan to start the first phase (36 homes) later this year or early next year. Ryan Homes has announced that it plans to submit 8-10 new home permits per month. This is exciting news for the City of Xenia and for our school district. Adding 190 new single-family homes will also increase our student enrollment numbers as we begin to make plans for possible new secondary school buildings.

Foundation awards: At a recent foundation meeting, five additional grants totaling $5,160 were approved. Successful grants were submitted by Barb Moorman on creating lifelong learners and readers, from Tim Carey on LEGO Robotics, from Jennifer Burgess on learning through play with grammar and vocabulary games, from Jamie Sweet to get Xenia students to take action today, and from Kay Gerspacher and Lynn Engle to purchase pop-up or novelty books to help improve listening skills and to get young students ready to read. Congratulations to all of our grant recipients.

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By Denny Morrison

Denny Morrison is superintendent of Xenia Community Schools.