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March 10, 2011

Second meeting on bullying scheduled By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers Grandview Heights School Superintendent Ed O’Reilly will hold a second community dialogue regarding the district’s bullying/anti-harassment policy at 7 p.m. Monday, March 14. The meeting will take place in the Brotherhood of the Rooks media center in the high school. “It will be a follow-up to our last

meeting and an opportunity to share with parents some of the things we’ve been doing since that last session,” O’Reilly said. Grandview Heights Ed O’Reilly Board of Education voted in November to revise the district’s bullying policy to include a new state-mandated component covering

dating violence. At the time, parents raised concerns about the effectiveness of the current policy. “A number of community members were concerned, as am I, that students who are being bullied may not know how to handle that situation” and the process for reporting such incidents, O’Reilly said. “We have a policy in place, but it’s hard for us to administer that policy if

students and parents believe bullying is occurring but don’t know how to get help,” he said. The input he has received from parents and students is that the district’s bullying policy is fine, O’Reilly said. The problem lies in making sure students and parents feel comfortable reporting bullying incidents. Since the last community dialogue, he said, he has spoken with students at the middle school and high school to

get their input on the bullying policy. “What they’ve said is that they feel that when adults get involved, they tend to mess things up,” O’Reilly said. The bullying complaint form on the district’s website (www.grandviewschools.org ) can now be submitted online, he said. The district has received as many bullying complaints in the last month See BULLYING, page A3

Block Watch getting off to a good start in Marble Cliff

TAKING A SHOT

By ALAN FROMAN

“We had a resident on Cam-

ThisWeek Community Newspapers bridge who had a car stolen and

By Paul Vernon/ThisWeek

Sheaman Schofield, a second-grader at Stevenson Elementary School, tries a game during the Grandview Fun Fair at Edison Intermediate Middle School on March 5.

Chamber offers special programs By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers The Grandview Area Chamber of Commerce will present its next Coffee and Coaching program on March 22. That same day, the chamber will also partner with the Columbus and Upper Arlington chambers and the Ohio Environmental Council to present an expanded business after hours program. Coffee and Coaching is a morning program offered usually on the last Tuesday of the month.

“It’s an opportunity for our businesses who may not be able to attend our regular luncheons to attend a program and gain some educational nuggets,” chamber executive director Michelle Wilson said. “For so many small businesses, the lunch hour is their busy time and they can’t get away for our luncheon,” Wilson said. “Or they may be the only person at their businesses, so if they aren’t there, they can’t stay open.” The March 22 Coffee and Coaching program will be held from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at Marshall’s Restaurant, 1105 W. First Ave. Anne Kuntz of Zusman Community Hos-

pice will discuss and answer questions about hospice programs. The program is free for chamber members and costs $10 for nonmembers. Registration can be made online at the chamber’s website, www.grandviewchamber.org. The expanded business after hours marks the first time the Grandview chamber is partnering with the Columbus and Upper Arlington organizations for such an event, Wilson said. “It’s part of our mission this year to proSee CHAMBER, page A3

Crooks may want to think twice before heading into the village of Marble Cliff to commit a crime. More than two dozen village residents attended a meeting last month to kick off an effort to create a neighborhood watch program. “It was quite a turnout,” said Marble Cliff Village Council member Kendy Troiano, who is helping to coordinate the effort. “We were thrilled with how many people attended,” she said. “It’s great to know so many people are interested in being part of a neighborhood watch program,” said Grandview police detective Carol Harper. Harper spoke at the meeting, providing an overview of what a neighborhood watch is and tips on protecting yourself from being a crime victim. “Basically, a neighborhood watch involves people watching out for their neighbors,” Harper said. Participants in a watch program learn what is suspicious activity and how to observe and recognize when such activity may be occurring in their neighborhood, she said. The idea of starting a neighborhood watch in Marble Cliff came after a number of incidents last year in which cars and garages in the village were broken into or disturbed, Troiano said.

her house broken into and her purse and laptop stolen,” she said. “Very few people knew that had happened.” The resident had asked council if something could be done and Troiano volunteered to help coordinate a neighborhood watch for the village. “I thought if people knew what to look for, they could let the police know if something unusual was happening in the village,” Troiano said. “I distributed fliers about the meeting to houses in the village, but I wasn’t sure what kind of a response we would get.” The police department encourages the formation of neighborhood watch groups, Harper said. “We can’t be everywhere 24/7,” she said. “Although our officers patrol the area as often as they can, they can’t be everywhere all the time. “Residents can be our eyes and ears when we’re not there,” Harper said. “They might be able to notice when something’s not right and call us to let us know.” Participants in a neighborhood watch should not confront a suspicious person themselves, but call the police, she said. It may be easier for residents in a small community like Marble Cliff to recognize when suspicious activity is occurring, beSee WATCH, page A3

FIRST team headed to regional event in Pittsburgh team had only six weeks to de-

By ALAN FROMAN

This year, teams can earn also

ThisWeek Community Newspapers sign and build a robot to partic- extra points by deploying mini-

The Grandview Heights High School Botcats team will be putting its robot to the test this weekend at Pittsburgh regional FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology) tournament. The team is hoping to qualify for the national tournament that will be held April 27-30 in St. Louis. “I think we’ve got a good robot this year,” team adviser Sue Godez said. The GHHS squad has worked well as a team, despite its lack of FIRST experience, she said. “We only have three seniors this year, and that’s an unusually low number,” Godez said. Starting in early January, the

ipate in this year’s “Logo Motion” game. “It’s quite a challenge to come up with a design and build the robot in such a short amount of time,” Godez said. In the Logo Motion game, teams earn points by how many plastic triangle, circle and square shapes their robot can hang on poles set up on the game field. The game begins with a short “autonomous period” in which the robots must operate independently of driver inputs and hang “Ubertubes” to earn extra points. “That’s a difficult challenge because you have to program the robot to do it on its own. You can’t control it yourself,” Godez said.

bots to climb the poles. Junior Gen Ritz is participating on the FIRST team for the third year. “I like to build things and create things,” she said. “It’s just fun to hang out with the other people on the team and work together to build a robot and solve the problems that come up.” Sophomore Kyle Modlich said its a pretty amazing experience to build a robot from scratch. “It’s both fun and very difficult,” he said. “It’s not easy to build a robot and get it to run the way you want. I can’t wait to see it run at the competition.” The Grandview Heights High School Botcats team and their robot compete in the FIRST tournament More than 20 students partic- this weekend in Pittsburgh. Team members include, front row from left, Alex York, Kelsey Senter, ipate on the FIRST team and Leila Marirochana and Gen Ritz; row two from left, Kyle Modlich, Mary Kate Dempsey, Rachel Lewis, Maggie Clemens, Chase Douglass and Stephanie Lepsik; row three from left, Zach Clemens, Luke

See ROBOT page A2 Snider, John Menke, Sean Oberschlake, Andy McCauley, Alex Cochran and Adam Cincione.