By Greg Denecker, Bluffton school superintendent

Bluffton schools summer district newsletter was mailed to district residents eariler this week.  The following includes some of the information provided in the supertendent's column. The entire column is in the newsletter attached at the bottom.

On Monday, Aug. 29, we will welcome over 1,200 students into our district. This will be our largest enrollment since 2002-2003 school year. 

Due to the increased enrollment, we added another kindergarten position this summer, and Jeff Richards will be the teacher in this classroom. 

In addition to Jeff, we have four other new staff members for this school year.  Mason Roth will replace Kyle Cutnaw as our new middle school and high school Health and Physical Education teacher. 

Chris Wenger is our new custodian at the high school taking over for Daryl Shields, who retired. 

Nicki Moser will move to the high school cafeteria in place of Jane Moser, who also retired.

Rebekah Peralta will fill the opening for educational aide, replacing the retired Bev Simon. 

In the past, the fall newsletter included the 2015-2016 Local State Report Card results; however, these scores had not been released as the newsletter went to print.   

As you may know, there have been many changes to the testing requirements at various grade levels from grades 3-12 in Ohio.  Our staff has been working diligently to prepare our students for these various assessments over the course of the last six years. 

Likewise, our district, along with every district in the state, has had to adjust to new curriculum standards, new testing formats, and new achievement tests.

The latter went from Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) to the new state assessments from American Institutes for Research (AIR). 

It seems like the debate has been settled at the state level, and the AIR Ohio tests will be here for the foreseeable future.  Concurrent to the testing debate, the Ohio Department of Education has been establishing cut scores for the various assessments. These scores quantify if the student has passed the assessment or not. 

In recent years, our district has consistently scored in the top 5-8% of all school districts in the state in performance index.  As the 2015-16 results are released statewide, we are hopeful that our rankings will remain strong. 

Regardless, our staff will continue to work to bring the best possible education to every student in our district and to give the personal touch needed to help every child succeed. 

With that said, we recognize that our success as a district is not just about what occurs in the classroom; instead, that success is the result of the combined efforts of parents, students, staff, and the community. 

Carry-over balance
The financial report on this page shows our general fund carry-over balance of over $3.5 million for the 2016 fiscal year.  We have been able to achieve financial stability due to cost-saving measures and an increase in both the state and local revenue. 

Our district spends nearly $2,000 less than state average per pupil, yet continues to demonstrate achievement levels competitive with top districts in the state.  In the coming year, we will continue to look for ways to be fiscally responsible to you, our community, while still providing our students with an excellent education.

Prior to the start of classes, our staff will participate in professional development activities led by the Northwest Ohio Educational Technology Center of Bowling Green.

Presenters will offer 12 different sessions on a variety of topics, all with the goal of providing staff with techniques for utilizing technology as an instructional tool for engaging students and meeting student-learning needs.

Presentation topics include
•Google classroom,
 Advanced Google classroom,
• online resources for STEM,
• Google Power Boosts with Add-ons,
• InfoOhio K-5 and MS/HS,
• assessments with Google forms,
• what to do in the 1-to-1 classroom,
• Screencastify,
• and extensions to take Chrome “over the top.”

• An attachment at the bottom of this story provides financial information.

• A second attachment includes the entire district newsletter.