Riley thanks retiring board members

0

FAIRBORN — Superintendent Terry Riley of the Fairborn City School District thanked retiring board president and member Tess Little and Michael Eucker, during its latest Nov. 12 meeting, and welcomed its newest members, Jerry Browning, Pat McCoart and Katie Mlod who will officially join the board in 2016.

A formal recognition for Little’s and Uecker’s service will follow in the coming weeks.

“I’ve only been here a short time, but I know their heads and hearts are with us and will continue to be with us as they move on to other ventures in their lives,” Riley said.

Fairborn City Council Member Donna Wilson highlighted a Fairborn Nature Quest Backpack Program during the meeting, which brought praise from both a Fairborn Primary School teacher and district leaders.

“They were loving it,” Second Grade Teacher Keatha Wilson of FPS said, adding that she incorporated the program two months ago. “Several kids read over five books … The thing I liked about it is that you didn’t have worry about what reading level the [student] was out. Your students, even the low-readers, could read it with their parents. It was nonfiction, which is an area our kids seem to have trouble with, so it fit in perfectly. I wish [Wilson] would have left that tub with me — I would have been okay with it.”

The program came to be after FPS volunteers bought used nonfiction nature-and-science-related books from a library sale, as well as backpacks that included a number of supplies students would use as they completed activities included within the front cover of the stories.

Students would select and read the books and complete the checklist, which included activities they would conduct outside, with the goal of getting the students to experience nature. They kept the books and backpacks for up to three weeks.

Items included small boxes, what Wilson called “treasure boxes,” to keep things found in nature inside, a shovel, binoculars, a 99 inch string, a net, tweezers, a bug box, flashlight, tape measure, magnifying glass, a map of Fairborn and an imagination bracelet.

“You put on the imagination bracelet, and pretend [for instance] that you’re a bear,” Wilson said. “So if they are asked to go to the forest, they can look around and see what they would eat if they were a bear, make a bear-home, a bed.”

Director Shannon Howard of the Fairborn Education Foundation and Alumni Association awarded the Andrew Wilson Performing Arts Endowment to Music Teacher Jennifer Gillespie of the Fairborn Intermediate School.

“FEFAA sent out a district-wide email asking the school employees to submit a proposal for use of funds for materials or resources that would enhance the education of our students in the classroom with the performing arts,” Howard said. “We received a well-thought out proposal from Mrs. Gillespie identifying the need for a lighting system at the Intermediate School that is portable.”

She worked with officials at Absolute Music on Main Street to finalize the proposal.

The next board of education meeting will take place 6:30 p.m. Dec. 10 within the Fairborn City Council Chambers.

Music Teacher Jennifer Gillespie of Fairborn Intermediate School was awared the Andrew Wilson Performing Arts Endowment, which will fund a portable lighting system within the school. Pictured is FEF and AA Director Shannon Howard, Councilwoman Donna Wilson, School Board Member Andrew Wilson, Gillespie and the store manager of Absolute Music on Main Street.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2015/11/web1_sb2.jpgMusic Teacher Jennifer Gillespie of Fairborn Intermediate School was awared the Andrew Wilson Performing Arts Endowment, which will fund a portable lighting system within the school. Pictured is FEF and AA Director Shannon Howard, Councilwoman Donna Wilson, School Board Member Andrew Wilson, Gillespie and the store manager of Absolute Music on Main Street.

Whitney Vickers | Greene County News Fairborn City School District Board of Education members during its latest Nov. 12 meeting.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2015/11/web1_sb1.jpgWhitney Vickers | Greene County News Fairborn City School District Board of Education members during its latest Nov. 12 meeting.

By Whitney Vickers

[email protected]

Whitney Vickers can be reached by calling her directly at 937-502-4532, or by following her on Twitter by searching for @wnvickers. For more content online, visit our website or like our Facebook page.

No posts to display