On behalf of the Cleveland City School Board – Welcome Back! As last year, we will utilize this forum called the “Director’s Moment” to share information of important news that has occurred or will be occurring in the near future. Also we will share information about our students, faculty and staff members throughout our school system. If you have something you would like to share on the Director’s Moment, simply send it to me via e-mail at mringstaff@clevelandschools.org and we will get it on…

This week, we have our beginning of the year Convocation (previously referred to as in-service) Tuesday Morning at 8:00 AM at the North Cleveland Church of God. Please arrive early if you want some pretty cool door prizes. Also, we welcome back over 5,000 students to our classrooms and hallways across the city Wednesday. I would like to thank every single person in our school system as I know the hard work and sweat you have put into getting ready for this year. From every principal’s office to every classroom we saw action from teachers, maintenance workers, painters, the IT department, and many others as we prepared for this great school year, and great it will be. We are putting strategies in place that will move us forward and take us to the next level. We are Cleveland City Schools, and we do believe in Every Child, Every Day.

Why do we start school with a half day? The school calendar is decided annually by the School Board. A calendar committee made up of teachers and administrators makes a recommendation to the Board based on parameters given to the committee by the School Board.

Many factors are weighed and debated by the committee and the School Board before a calendar is set. One goal is to make sure the semesters have the same amount of days, if at all possible. Also, in the CCS community, parents, students and teachers have strongly expressed the need for semester exams to take place prior to Winter Break. This year, the Board has adopted a week break at Thanksgiving, a two day fall break (for the students), a one week break in the spring and two weeks for a winter break.

Other factors considered are the number of professional development days to include during the school year, other holidays and election days, parent teacher meeting time, inclement weather days and time for state mandated testing.

Half days are also included in the calendar as allowed by the State. Half days typically occur in most school systems at the beginning or end of a semester or during the year to allow for a half day of professional development for teachers. One key benefit of a half day at the beginning of the school year is to give teachers and administrators an afternoon to accommodate new enrollees and adjust student schedules and class rosters. This allows for a productive first full day of school.

DIRECTOR’S RECOGNITION

Welcome to our new Faculty and Staff Members! They are:

Teen Learning Center

Anthony Burgess

Stuart Elementary

Beth Fallin

Administrative Office Building (AOB)

Danielle Reeves

Arnold Memorial Elementary

Tracy Lenz
Ashley McAlister
Kathy McCraw

E.L. Ross Elementary School

Holly Dunn
Krista Morgan
Dana Storey

Yates Elementary

Caitlyn Fuller
Molly Jackson
Karen Jones
Ashley Painter

Blythe-Bower Elementary

James Baird
Diane Crawford
Amora Guy
McKenzie Inman
Angeleea Varner
Jesse Wood

Mayfield Elementary

Shasta Adams
Elisabeth Botta
Yolanda Edwards
Margaret Moore
Mary Ann Poplin
Anita Renshaw
Ponzetta Williams

Cleveland Middle School

Brian Ball
Lynn Byrd
Kelly Hampton
Melissa Morris
Kerry O’Conner
Robert Pritchard
Emily Raper
Christy Ritzhaupt
Eric Stiles

Cleveland High School

Sarah Brown
Colin Campbell
Ron Crawford
Brian DeLoach
Alex Denton
Melissa Johnson
Kim Noelle
Erika Ray
Adam Renshaw
Kelli Varnell
JP Westfield

Our CTE Department hosted a Business/Industry/Postsecondary Panel on July 31, 2012. Attending the forum was numerous CHS and CMS teachers as well as representatives from TVA, Volkswagen, Wacker, Chattanooga State, Whirlpool, Cormetech, Alstom, and Propex. Mr. Shaw and Mr. Meacham from our Cleveland City School Board were in attendance as well. This forum provided a great discussion as to where we need to go to support our local industries and how our students can benefit with the partnering of Chattanooga State and these companies. Great job to Mr. Whittenbarger and his staff for sponsoring this event.

National Recognition on the CHS Lip Dub: The May 31, 2012 edition of the Huffington Post did a story on High School Lip-Dub and ranked Cleveland High School’s Lip Dub “We Go Pop 2012” as the third best in the country. Not too bad! Great job to the students and Mr. Souders of our Broadcasting Classes. Here is the link to their story.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/30/lip-dub-videos-8-amazing-_n_1556872.html#slide=1037231

CMS-CHS Summer Bridge Program: Below is a link to a video created by David Stone capturing some great moments from our Summer Bridge. Please copy and paste this into your browser to watch education in action. This is a group of 8th grade students that were not going to be promoted to CHS without attending this program. They are our most at-risk group of incoming 9th graders. As you can see, the faculty did an outstanding job with this group of young people. You will notice at-risk students smiling, laughing, having fun, working as a team, and learning. This is all happening as they are forming positive relationships with their future teachers.

http://www.schooltube.com/video/b3064d06029f4628b9e3

Job Security/Births

Congratulations to Zelda Dotson on the birth of her son, Marquis DeLafayette Dotson IV, which weighed 7 lbs., 7 oz. on June 14, 2012.

Name Change!/Marriages

Congratulations to Ms. Tiffany Palmer, Second Grade teacher at Stuart Elementary, as she became Mrs. Tiffany Brocato on July 7, 2012. Her husband, Matt, is the son of Vivian Brocato (School Nurse for Cleveland Middle/High School).