state assesments

Many of our parents received a letter recently from Mr. O'Brien, the Principal of the Warren Hills HS. The letter discussed how the HS had not met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in one out of 40 different sub-groups. The letter discussed a number of actions that the HS has taken to overcome this AYP setback. I wanted to let everyone know that we have been doing the activities mentioned in the letter for quite some time. Students at Oxford have enjoyed a double block of Language Arts for many years--longer then many can remember--and our recent curriculum mapping and revisions(in conjunction with the Warren Hills Cluster schools) have allowed us to ensure the highest quality of instruction and the most up-to-date curriculum. As part of our on-going professional development plan, we have been working with all of our students to improve their writing. We continue to do this by instituting the MyAccess writing program, developing our writing skills in the primary grades with 6 Plus 1 writing and through increased vigor to improve our writing!

Oxford students continue to demonstrate a high level of academic success as they enter either the Vo-Tech or Warren Hills High School. This is a true testament to our students, their parents, our staff and the programs we use here at OCS.

Till next time...

Fire Safety et al

et al... my shot at Latin! What a great day of presentations by our own members of the Oxford Volunteer Fire Department! Special thanks to Kevin, Mitch, Tim and Chelsea for their time and effort in bringing this important message of fire safety to our KG-4th grade students. Let me tell you... IT IS NOT AS SCARY IN THE TRAILER AS I THOUGHT!! The students did very well! They listened to directions and they learned many facts about protecting themselves in a dangerous situation. Kevin even let me sit in the driver's seat of the fire truck! Man, that was cool! Maybe next year I can take it around the block! Hey, a guy can dream....

The pre-schoolers were out at the pumpkin patch today, and they had a great time! I think the pumpkins were bigger than they are! Thanks to the parents and teachers for making this trip a successful outing!

Finally, our 5-8 grade enjoyed the Science Circus presented by the PTA and the Liberty Science center! The sight of Scott'S hair sticking straight out was priceless!

Thanks again to the Fire Department and the PTA for their help in bringing these assemblies to the school.

Till next time...

Safe School

I am proud to announce that the school district has been selected by the School Alliance Insurance Fund as a recipient of the Safety incentive Award for our efforts to provide a safe and secure school building! This award is given annually to a select group of schools and districts who work to improve the safely of the school. Ms. Decibus and I will be accepting the award next week at the School Alliance meeting held during the School Boards workshop.

Another positive result of our efforts to continually improve the district!


Till next time...

Science and the PTA

Tomorrow marks the first of a series of enrichment activities we are providing for the students. Of course we could not provide these high quality programs if it were not for the dedication of our PTA membership. The PTA does so many wonderful things for the community and I thought I would take this opportunity to reach out to everyone to ask that you support their membership drive and their fund-raising activities. They truly do make a difference in the lives of our students!

Over the next 30 days we will be hosting a "Dragons and Dreams" science-telling (October 15th)through the assembly presented by Piccirillo's Science Telling! I have seen them and they are great! I think our KG-grade 5 will truly enjoy the experience.

On October 23rd we are hosting the Liberty Science Center program, "Science Circus" They will provide a hands-on assembly for our 5-8 graders. Then on November 30th they will be back to host a full day of lab work with our 6-8 grade! Cow Eye Dissections! How cool is that! We will have a guest lecturer and the students will be able to participate for a full hour long science lab!

But, as I mentioned... we do not get to do these awesome things without our PTA! Special thanks to Mrs. Cupo for her efforts in helping us get these great programs.

A million dollars...

will NOT be given away at this Thursday's school board meeting. However, we would love to see you there anyway! The meeting starts at at 6:00pm and as always will be held in the cozy confines of the OCS Library.

Friday October 2, 2009

This past Friday marked a rather bizarre twist in our OCS history; we had a bomb scare. I will say a scare more than a threat. On the heels of the letter that went home last week and the pone call, I want everyone to know that we will be actively pursuing the information we have concerning the person responsible, until we have exhausted all leads. It is unfortunate that we had a student who felt that this type of scare was appropriate. Putting everyone in jeopardy is never appropriate and we will take this matter seriously until we have a resolution. Anyone with any information they may have concerning this event should feel free to contact me here at the school. As I said in my voice message, I hope this is the first and last time we have this type of event!

A New Addition of our OCS Family!

It has been a few days now since we added another future teacher to the OCS family! Mr. Penner and his wife, Mrs. Penner(who is a teacher in Washington Township) have added a future Social Studies Teacher--I hope-- to their family. Michael Joseph Penner was born on Monday September 28th at 1:19 pm, probably interrupting an episode of Judge Joe Brown! Michael weighed in at 7 pounds, 15 ounces!
Congratulations to the new parents.

Holy smokes--- Is it October already?

Since I needed a jacket this morning, I probably should not be surprised. There are many cool things happening here at OCS this month:

PTA meeting on October 6th in the library at 7:00 pm
There will be a county-wide in-service day on October 12th. Students will be off!
On October 15th the PTA will be sponsoring a "Sciencetelling program" for our pre-school through 5th grade students!

Our 6-8 grade will participate in a Science Circus presented by the Liberty Science Center and sponsored by the PTA! This will be held on October 23rd.

Ms. Dachisen and renowned special education attorney, Mrs. Nathanya Simon, will be here at OCS to discuss special education laws as they pertain to Section 504 of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). This informative program will be held in the OCS Library at 7:00pm.

The K-Kids will be sponsoring their first dance of the school year on Friday, October 30th. The dance is open to all of our 7th and 8th grade students. Only OCS students may attend and students who are absent from school on October 30th--MAY NOT attend.

As you can see, quite a full month....