Principal's Message

Hello Visitors to the Price  Principal Page of Pondering,

It is April, the sun is out, the temps are rising and our days at school are VERY full.  As I mentioned before, it is "dot the "i's" and cross the "t's" as we complete final preparations for the state's high stake tests, the OAAs ( Ohio Achievement Assessments).  While we are confident that the students have been taught the standards and concepts leading up to this time of the school year; we need them to do their best on  the test. All we really want from these 8, 9, 10 and 11 year old children is that they SHOW in written form, what they KNOW.  That is the difficult part.  They are kids.  Over time though, the concepts of tests has become less intimidating to many because we as educators now do so much assessment.  Some children are very calm and cool with "oh another assessment", while others still freeze.  This year and next school year will be the end of the OAAs as we know them as our state and 47 other states in the nation are moving to what is called the PARRC Assessments.  We know  and anticipate that unless our students are scoring at the advanced or accelerated level on the OAAs, we can expect a BIG drop in the scores of the 2015-2016 school year and beyond.  We will adjust to the higher expectations for the achievement of the students, but remember that you read it here first. 

As the building administrator, while Early Release Wednesdays are fast and possibly, still difficult for picking up your child/children; this block of time, weekly has provided much needed Professional Development for our teaching staff. I thank you so much for your patience and support.   What this amount of time has provided includes: understanding and utilizing the data that we have on each child to improve their opportunity to learn as well as bringing the teaching staff up to speed with the technology that the students are very much accustomed to utilizing.  Here is how ancient I am, I remember the first color TV that my parents ( and aunts and uncles) purchased for my grandparents in 1960 ( ish).  We would all gather there and watch Bonanza!  What is it that you remember about ancient technology?  How about having only ONE telephone with a coiled cord that went all of the way into the bathroom for "private" conversations?  The kids laugh with me as they can hardly believe what I tell them. 

So as we are in our last quarter of learning for this school year, please keep up the good work of having your children here, everyday, ready to learn.  Your good work is very much appreciated.  Think about it, only 9 more Wednesdays until this school year ends!

Come back  soon and read what we are doing and thinking.  In closing,  if you like the pictures of the students on the "header" of our website,  be sure to check the Photo Gallery for more pictures.   Until  next  time,. . you can always reach me at: cf_schoterman@cfalls.org  The Price Staff and I are committed to a 24 hour turn around of your messages to us!