Celina losing students through open enrollment

CELINA -Parents wanting their children to be in a smaller graduating class and closer to their childcare provider are two main reasons why they enrolled them in other districts, Celina school board members learned at Monday's meeting.

Last month, board members learned that 234 Celina students had enrolled elsewhere this year while only 40 outside students chose the Celina district. They asked superintendent Ken Schmiesing to investigate specifically the reason why parents enroll kindergartners elsewhere.

Twenty-two kindergartners have enrolled elsewhere and 17 parents responded to a survey Schmiesing had sent.

"The top reason certainly was the childcare provider lived in the other district," Schmiesing reported. "So on their way to work, it was easy for them to drop their kid off there and have that district's transportation transport the child to and from that childcare provider."

The other two main reasons given were smaller graduating class size and the parents had attended school in the other district.

When asked if the district could have done anything to change their decision, 16 respondents said "no" and one said "I don't know."

"So in other words, they really don't see anything that the Celina City School District is doing wrong. They just had other reasons for having their children attend the other schools," Schmiesing said.

Of the 22 kindergartners who enrolled elsewhere, nine went to Coldwater, four to Parkway, three to Marion Local and one each to Fort Recovery, New Knoxville, St. Henry, St. Marys, Van Wert and Wapakoneta.

"When I first heard about this, I thought 'well what can we do?' " board member Cindy Piper said. "But looking at (the survey), it wouldn't matter. It doesn't look to me like we're going to change their minds."

Schmiesing hopes the "Leader in Me" program will make the school district more attractive to parents looking to open enroll. The program is based on Stephen Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" and teaches leadership and life skills.

"I think that's going to be very attractive," Schmiesing said. "I think also businesses will be willing to buy into that piece. I know a lot are enthusiastic about the Tri Star 2.0 project, but this is another piece we're looking at for helping develop leaders and I think they're going to jump right on board with that as well."

He said the district is seeking a Straight-A grant to secure state funding for the program.

"We've begun the program but it takes around $150,000 per building to buy in completely," he said.

School board members also learned from curriculum coordinator Jason Luebke that the number of English Language Learners has risen from 45 in 2013 to 64 in 2015.

"While this is not something new in this area, it is something that has grown significantly in the last few years," he said. "This is a high number we know and we realize for our district but we are almost right on point with the state average."

According to Luebke, 13 languages are spoken in district households with Marshallese being the most common after English.

The ELL program helps students from non-English speaking households learn the language until they become proficient.

"Obviously if we continue to grow in numbers, we're going to be looking at expanding, looking at different options and programming and service need," Luebke said. "Currently we have a relatively small staff."

Some options Luebke gave were increasing staffing from the current four employees, expanding professional development for regular staff to work directly with ELL students and offering enrichment activities.

Board members also,

• approved paying $15,410 to Simplex Grinnell for fire equipment inspection.

• approved a contract for $81,042 with the Northwest Ohio Area Computer Services Cooperative for accounting software.

• approved a two-year contract with Amy Esser to be Head Start executive director.

• approved a new contract for treasurer Mick Davis. The contract runs through July 31, 2019. Davis was hired in 2013 with an annual salary of $75,000. Under the new contract, his annual salary in 2015 will be $77,250 with a 3 percent increase in 2016.

• approved a 3 percent per year increase to the Administrative Compensation Plan for 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 with the resumption of years of experience, as well as a 3 percent increase per year through 2017 for the Executive Secretary Compensation and Cafeteria Manager Compensation plans.

The increase matched the 3 percent increase the Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local No. 457 received in August.  

"That's to keep it consistent across the board," board president Connie Paulus said.

• accepted a $2,500 donation from the West Central Ohio Workforce Development initiative and $20,000 donation from the Mercer County Economic Development Office for the purchase of the Tri Star robot.

• approved updates to board policies and guidelines. The policy updates can be viewed on the Celina schools' website under board information.