Dear Conneaut School District Community,

Welcome back to the 2010-2011 school year in the Conneaut School District. With the summer months quickly coming to an end, it is my privilege to welcome you back to a new school year!

The mission of the Conneaut School District is to provide a safe and supportive environment in which all students acquire the skills necessary to become productive members of a global society. Our Board of School Directors, administrators, supervisors, teachers and support staff are committed to providing a quality education to all students.

A great deal of effort precedes the opening of a successful school year in preparation for the arrival of 2500 students on the first day of school, September 1, 2010.

A variety of professional development activities or trainings were offered during the summer months of June, July and August.

The trainings included:

• 4 BLOCK (a language arts instructional delivery approach)
• WILSON READING (a language arts remedial reading program)
• DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION and INCLUSIONARY PRACTICES overview
• NEW CURRICULUM MATERIAL trainings
  *provided to family and consumer science and business education teachers
• MEASURING UP (a secondary math remediation/PSSA related training)
• LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling training)
  *provided to grades 3 through 6 elementary teachers and middle and secondary level teachers in grades 7 through 12.
• HALT (bullying prevention training)
  *District bus drivers
• SCANTRON (on-going electronic PSSA diagnostic testing training)
  *provided to grades 7th through 12th grade teachers
• READ 180 (reading remediation program training)
  *provided to kindergarten through 12th grade learning support teachers and 9th grade through 12th grade English teachers

Conneaut School District was very fortunate to have received a grant that covers all expenses related to the implementation of the Olweus/HALT Bully Prevention Programs. The Olweus Program (pronounced Ol-EY-us; the E sounds like a long A) is a comprehensive, school-wide program designed and evaluated for use in elementary and secondary schools. The program's goals are to reduce and prevent bullying problems among school children and to improve peer relations at school. The program has been found to reduce bullying among children, improve the social climate of classrooms, and reduce related antisocial behaviors, such as vandalism and truancy. Olweus works in partnership with HALT: A component of the Highmark Healthy High 5 Initiative.

• 2009-2010 school year Olweus/HALT training and implementation took place for staff at:
  *Conneaut Valley Elementary School
  *Conneaut Lake Elementary School
  *Conneaut Lake High School
• 2010-2011 school year Olweus/ HALT training and implementation took place for staff at:
  *Alice Schafer Elementary School
  *Conneaut Valley High School
  *Linesville High School

Curriculum has been revised and updated in several academic areas. The revised curricula is posted on the District web site. The course syllabi will be of particular interest to parents wanting to examine course content. The course maps are also available and provide the teaching staff with a guide to instructional delivery. All new/revised curricula are tied to the Pennsylvania Academic Standards. The addition of new/revised curriculum, in most cases, is tied to the purchase of new text books, teaching materials and supplies. It also brings new technology for utilization within each curriculum area. This school year, most classrooms throughout the District will have SMART or Poly-Vision Boards (interactive white boards) for use in the delivery of instruction.

New curricula for the 2010-2011 school year:

• FAMILY and CONSUMER SCIENCE in grades 7 through 12
• MATH
  *curricula in kindergarten through grade 12 reviewed and updated
  *MEASURING UP PROGRAM (math remediation program) in grades 9 through 12
• BUSINESS EDUCATION in grades 7 through 12
• LANGUAGE ARTS
  *READ 180 (reading remediation program) in grades 1 through 12
  *LANGUAGE ARTS in grades 7 through 12 will be finalized this school year for implementation at the start of the 2011-2012 school year.
  *LANGUAGE ARTS in kindergarten through grade 6 will be started this school year and finalized during the 2011-2012 school year for implementation at the start of the 2012-2013 school year.

The Districts technology team and maintenance department have been very busy installing, wiring, and updating our District's technology. Students have new high performance computers in the District's CAD(Computer Assisted Drawing) labs this school year. Over 80 interactive white boards with projectors have been installed in the schools. Laptop computers have been added to the schools for use by students, and over 30 "Ruckus" units were installed that allow computers to operate wirelessly throughout the District.

During the summer months the administration and the Conneaut Board of School Directors have hired a number of new employees. Personnel changes include welcoming 13 new teachers, 5 of which are long term substitutes, 10 instructional aides, 6 EAP Tutors and Ms. Kara Onorato, as Assistant Business Manager through January 20, 2011 and then Business Manager, after the retirement of Norman (Joe) Yeager at the end of the first semester of this school year to the staff.

This upcoming school year will be critically important for the Conneaut School District. The school district is facing uncertain and fiscally challenging times. Our ability to work in partnership with our parents and community members will be the key in continuing to uphold the mission of the Conneaut School District. It is my hope you feel welcome in our schools and that you take advantage of the opportunities to become involved, to learn more about your school district and be a part of the many activities that are taking place each day.

Again, welcome back!

Wendy V. Szallay
Superintendent