Blog

James A. Willis, author of Weird Ohio: Your Travel Guide to Ohio's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets, arrived at Frank Elementary yesterday full of interesting and weird facts to share with the students in honor of Right to Read Week. He conducted two assemblies, which involved the entire student body of the school with much laughter and awe from the children.

Mrs. Amy Boros' fifth grade class was privileged to have an intensive writing workshop with Mr. Willis after the assemblies. Using grant funds from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, Mrs. Boros provided each student in her class with a copy of Mr. Willis' book, Weird Ohio, and the special hour-long workshop. The students were captivated by Mr. Willis' enthusiasm for the topic and his insight in how to grow as a writer.

More information on James Willis may be found at:

http://www.amazon.com/James-A.-Willis/e/B005TOYFUI/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Mr. Willis encourages Mrs. Amy Boros' fifth grade class to grow as writers




Mrs. Amy Boros and her fifth grade class with James A. Willis

Alexander Fedak-Lengel, Harrison Graber, Katie Gagle, and Alex Sedlak anxiously await autographs from James A. Willis

This past Friday, the 7th and 8th grade band and orchestra participated in the OMEA District 1 Large Group Adjudicated Event. The groups received the following ratings:

7th Grade Jacket Band - I II II (II Excellent Rating)

7th Grade Gold Band - I I II (I Superior Rating)

7th Grade Orchestra - I I I (I Superior Rating)

8th Grade Band - I I I (Superior Rating)

8th Grade Orchestra - I I I (Superior Rating)

Perrysburg Junior High received the most Superior Ratings out of any school in District 1 (NW Ohio)! Our students made us proud by setting the bar for all of District 1, not only for their playing but also for their behavior at this important event.

Jason Jordan hosted this event through Perrysburg at Owens Community College. All of the directors in District 1 were grateful for the hard work he put into making this a well run and organized event!

Thanks for your continued support!

Betsy Lawrence, Phil Smith, Kraig Bentley and Jason Jordan

William Sponsler (3rd Grade) and Claire Kiefer (2nd Grade) were the proud winners of the Meijer Books for Bikes program. All students had the opportunity to participate by reading. The more they read, the better their chances to get their name drawn. Congratulations William and Claire! Thank you Meijer Stores for generously donating the bikes. Good job reading, students!

At the Perrysburg Junior High Spring Spirit Assembly held on May 4, staff and students duct taped Assistant Principal Robin Laird to the wall as a student council fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Mrs. Laird was also turning 50 over the weekend so they honored her with balloons/funny glasses and the student body sang "Happy Birthday." Student Council raised $223 by selling passes for students to wear hats during the school day. Money was also raised selling duct tape to tape Mrs. Laird to the wall during the pep assembly.

Mia Schultz, Grade 5 at Toth Elementary School has been named the winner of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Department of Recycling and Litter Prevention Billboard Drawing Contest for the Wood County Solid Waste District! There were 800 entries from Wood County and Mia is one of the two winners selected this year. Her winning picture is on a billboard on Route 25 near Levis. This is the second year in a row that a Toth student was selected for this honor. The other student winner this year was from Eastwood. Lucky the Lady Bug came to Toth on May 7th to present Mia her award.

A group of gifted language arts students from Perrysburg Jr. High recently visited the Toledo Museum of Art to tour the gallery and learn about Ekphrastic poetry, which is poetry inspired by the visual arts. The students had a great time and many of them submitted poems for the museum's Ekphrastic writing contest.

The district was thrilled to learn that we have six honorees from PJHS!

Finalists:
Catherine King
Melena Purvis
Olivia Thornberry
Hannah Pauley

Honorable Mention:
Katherine Swartzbeck

3rd Place:
Alex Gallerno

They were all honored by having their poems printed and displayed next to their chosen work of art throughout the summer season at the museum. Katherine Swartzbeck and Alex Gallerno also recieved a one-year membership to TMA and Alex Gallerno was awarded a cash prize.

Link to the TMA website's announcement of the contest winners: http://www.toledomuseum.org/learn/ekphrastic2012/

From left to right: Katherine Swartzbeck, Olivia Thornberry, Stephanie Tanner, Melena Purvis (not pictured Hannah Pauley, Catherine King, Alex Gallerno)

Finalist Hannah Pauley next to her poem on display in the impressionist gallery

Alex Gallerno's poem about Rodin's The Thinker

The students of Fort Meigs recently participated in the American Heart Association's Jump Rope and Hoops for Heart program. This annual fundraiser is tied into the student's Physical Education classes.

According to Fort Meigs PE Teacher Doug Kollman: "This is a great program that involves individual and team skill development, personal fitness and nutrition. Plus, the fundraising work the students do makes a huge difference in people's lives. It's a great cause."

This year's fundraiser lasted ten days, and brought in an amazing $14,367.17, bringing Fort Meigs' nine-year total to $90,343.66.

The Perrysburg Junior High Chess Team finished the year strong, taking the First, Second and Fourth place in the 6-8th grade division of the 4th Springfield/ESC of Lake Erie West K-8 Chess Tournament and winning the Team trophy. The team consisted of David Morris taking 1st Place, Lang Liang (the current Ohio Middle School Chess Champion) 2nd place, Alisha Ohanian 4th place and Justin St. John.

Perrysburg was also represented by Stephen Morris from Woodland Elementary winning 2nd place in the 3rd-5th graders.

The gym floor at Perrysburg Schools’ Commodore Building was refinished free of charge by the Kellermeyer Company, a janitorial, paper, packaging, equipment and other facility and industrial supply company. Mike Rachuba of the Kellermeyer Company contacted the district when he needed a place for Betco, a manufacturer of cleaning chemicals and floor care equipment, to demonstrate a product.

According to Rachuba, if the district were to pay to have this work done, it would be spending $1,200 to $1,800. Terry Scott of Betco supplied the material and labor to refinish the gym floor, which included 10-12 man-hours of work.

“We are very grateful to Kellermeyer and Betco for thinking of us,” stated Norm Drogmiller, Custodial/Maintenance Supervisor, Perrysburg Schools. “This was a win-win situation for all involved.”

"A game of inches." Anytime Maumee and Perrysburg compete against each other, winning and losing is often separated by an inch. The First Annual Maumee vs. Perrysburg River Battle Fishing Tournament was won by an inch. After four hours of fishing, the Perrysburg team won the day by besting Maumee's fishing totals by one inch. The individual team honors went to Maumee students Brandon Foreman and Jared Birt. The runner up team of Perrysburg's Justine Metroff and Bret Queen was a quarter of an inch shy of the winning tandem. Just over 30 anglers participated who were either students, alumni, staff or friends of the school.

Video of Some of the Participants on YouTube!

Some of the anglers after the contest

Maumee's Brandon Foreman and Jared Birt

The victorious Perrysburg team poses with the traveling trophy

Perrysburg's Mike McCarthy and Eamon Kennedy

PHS alumus Dr. Bob Falkenstien

Evan Appold participated in the 2012 Toledo High School Design Competition. He received an honorable mention award for the ASLA Landscape Architecture Competition. A big thanks to Rick Butera, a designer and architect, who volunteers his time to come to PHS and offer his expertise to better prepare students for the architecture competition.

Students in Mrs. Kris Martz's accelerated math class created life-size models of the Ft. Meigs physical education teacher this week. As an extension of a unit on ratios, students created life-size models of Mr. Doug Kollman from a photograph. Using their knowledge of ratios and careful measuring, they put together a character with cardboard, newspapers and duct tape. Their models are on display in the lobby of Ft. Meigs Elementary School.

Perrysburg Schools is joining thousands of communities across the country in celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week from May 7–11. This is part of a national effort to call attention to the outstanding contributions teachers make to individuals and communities.

“Our teachers are dedicated and they always go the extra mile for students,” stated Thomas Hosler, Superintendent. “In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, our thoughts turn gratefully to them. We appreciate their passion and expertise and would like to recognize them for all of their hard work.”

“Perrysburg Schools’ teachers strive every day to ensure all students achieve their greatest potential,” stated Kadee Anstadt, Director of Teaching & Learning. “From our gains in AP access and student performance to the ever-increasing use of technology in our classrooms, our teaching staff works hard every day to create lifelong learners with 21st century skills.”

Student success in school is based on a number of factors. Quality classroom instruction, proper nutrition and safe transport are just some of the elements that provide Ohio students a meaningful school day. Monday, May 7, 2012, is School Bus Driver Appreciation Day in Ohio.

“Our drivers play a key role in starting and concluding the school day for students,” stated Thomas L. Hosler, Superintendent. “We value their focus on safety and for the bonds they forge with students, parents, staff and other community members.”

“Perrysburg Schools is fortunate to have a highly professional transportation staff who are dedicated to safety,” stated Ellen Moser, Transportation Supervisor. “We have a great team here.”

Ohio school bus drivers transport over 900,000 students daily, travelling 1 million miles per day to accomplish that task. At the same time, the school bus safety record is unsurpassed, greatly exceeding that of automobiles, commercial buses and even passenger trains.

To qualify to become a school bus driver in Ohio, an applicant must complete pre-service training and certified on-bus training, pass a driving evaluation and obtain a commercial driver's license. In addition, drivers must pass pre-employment background and drug screenings. Drivers are required to be recertified every six years.

The Ohio Legislature designated the first Monday in May as School Bus Driver Appreciation Day to "increase public recognition of the important function that school bus drivers serve in safely transporting children to and from school."

Four Perrysburg Schools bus drivers will be participating as a team in the Annual Northwest Regional School Bus Road-e-o on Saturday, May 5, at Archbold High School.

The team includes (left to right) Walt Piotrowski, Mike Claus, Taleaitha Schmitt and Bob Laipply. Each driver will take a written test on general knowledge and school bus law as well as a driving assessment through a designated course. All areas are challenging and are scored by a group of judges. The top five individuals/teams in the competition will move to the State Road-e-o held in Columbus on May 19.

These four drivers volunteered to participate and have been working hard on the driving course built by Mike Claus at transportation. Each driver will receive a certificate recognizing their efforts. Go Team Perrysburg!!!

Michael Henrich, a morning anchor from WNWO, came to speak to the Perrysburg Junior High WPJH staff members on April 26 after school in the WPJH studio at the junior high. Mr. Henrich talked to the students about how he chose the path of journalism, and his past jobs in journalism before coming to the Toledo area. He also told them about a typical work day for him (which starts by getting up at 1:30 A.M. for work) and how a news show is produced in the real world. He finished his visit by answering questions that the students had about television production and how to prepare for a possible future career in journalism. The students enjoyed talking with a professional anchor and will possibly be going to the WNWO studio for a tour in early June.

This morning, French Club members arrived early to school to place a Gerber daisy in each of the faculty mailboxes. In France it is May Day (their Labor Day). Usually the French buy bouquets of lilies of the valley but those are not ready here at this time. French Club wanted to show their appreciation for the faculty!

On April 26, French Club held a Top Chef competition after school. Participants formed teams and cooked mousse and crêpes. The teams had to bring in a surprise ingredient to incorporate in their desserts. A team of high school teachers judged the entries. It was a lot of fun!

Perrysburg School District is planning its yearend recycling efforts in partnership with The City of Bowling Green, Community Employment Services of Wood Lane and Bowling Green Recycling Center. The City of Bowling Green is loaning the district forty 64-gallon rolling curbside-style bins for the large amount of recyclable paper the district amasses during student locker cleanout and teacher room cleanouts at the end of the year. Community Employment Services of Wood Lane is providing drop-off and pick-up services for the bins and Bowling Green Recycling Center will be the processing center for all collected materials.

The district’s recycling team has worked closely with Community Employment Services of Wood Lane and Bowling Green Recycling Center as well as the City of Perrysburg since 2008, when Perrysburg Schools renewed its commitment to recycling throughout the district. Wood Lane has a regular route where they stop at each of the district’s buildings and pick up plastic, cans and paper. The district also utilizes Allied Waste Services for paper and cardboard recycling.

Vic Gable, Employment Services Coordinator, Wood County Board of DD, has been the guiding voice in helping the district coordinate its recycling efforts with Wood Lane and Bowling Green Recycling.

“We are so happy with the support we’ve received from Vic and Community Employment Services of Wood Lane,” explained Thomas L. Hosler, Superintendent. “The knowledge he has brought to the table has made this process very seamless as we’ve continued to ramp up our recycling efforts these past few years. He’s generously given of his time as we’ve added to our recycling program and needed advice on the best way to proceed.”