Spring 2021
SPECIAL STATE OF THE SCHOOLS EDITION
Scan the QR Code to watch the 2021 State of the Schools Address
Watch the 2021 State of the Schools Address here and read inside to learn more.
Work Smart. Create Experience. Embrace Growth.
A Note from the Superintendent This school year has obviously been very different. Just like everything else in the world, we were challenged to find a new way to present the State of the Schools to you this year, and I am excited to share this special edition of The Experience: Official Newsmagazine of Mariemont City Schools with you! Inside you will find accompanying information for all of the topics covered in the State of the Schools video. I encourage you to first watch the video before diving into the seven themes of the year: A Focused Vision, A Pandemic Education, Student Successes, BEyond Academics, High School Pride, Dollars and Cents and Creating the Experience. You can access the State of the Schools video through the QR code on the cover of this newsletter, or by visiting the district’s website and YouTube page. Last spring and summer, our district team worked tirelessly to develop a comprehensive plan to safely educate our students in the middle of a global pandemic while maintaining as much academic continuity as possible during the 2020-2021 school year. If it sounds daunting, it’s because it was. But it was a challenge that Mariemont City Schools was ready to tackle. Our first priority was always the health and safety of our students and staff. We listened to the guidance and recommendations from local and state health officials. We monitored data across the region and within our own communities. And we re-designed our classrooms and learning spaces to allow for maximum spacing and social distancing. And then, with new protocols in place, we focused our attention on educating students. At a time when so many districts across the country were staying home and learning remotely, Mariemont City Schools was committed to having our students in classrooms with teachers. Yes, it looked different with new health safety policies and protocols in place, but we have been teaching and learning in our buildings since August – and I am so proud of that. The truth of the matter is that academic continuity has continued seamlessly throughout this unprecedented school year, and our students are benefitting tremendously because of it. There are many reasons why our district was set up for success to continue teaching and learning through a pandemic, none being bigger than the outstanding staff we have working at every level. Throughout the past seven or eight months, our staff has stopped at nothing to create as ‘normal’ a school year as possible for our students. Teachers and aides took on extra responsibilities of simultaneously teaching and working with students in person and online. District maintenance staff worked long hours to create plexiglass barriers, deep clean and put other safety measures in place. Counselors and therapists saw increased workloads to help students combat the heightened anxiety and uncertainty of the pandemic. But every sacrifice and every long work day by our staff was all for the benefit of our students. I always knew we had incredible people working in our district, but the challenge of COVID-19 has put their skill and adaptability on full display. We are lucky to have them working on behalf of our community’s children! Another reason for our success despite the circumstances is the strong technology infrastructure we have been building for several years. As a One-to-One district, each student is equipped with a personal device to use at home and in the classroom, which has been beneficial with the ever-changing landscape of today’s education. We also were able to provide wi-fi hotspots to our families without internet to ensure connectivity to the classroom. Because of the commitment to technology that our community and district have made over the last several years, our students did not miss a beat when the pandemic turned everything on its head. Many years from now, when our staff and students look back at the 2020-21 school year, I know they will remember many things. They will certainly remember the masks, the spaced-out desks and the morning temperature checks. But I also hope they remember that, despite these challenges, the teaching and learning never stopped. That is the story of their pandemic education in Mariemont City Schools.
Steven Estepp Superintendent 2
Guiding our Work to 2026 and BEyond You’ve likely heard about Destination 2026, the instructional blueprint for Mariemont City Schools. Back in 2013, a diverse group of administrators, teachers, staff and Board of Education members began the important work of laying out the shared goals and objectives of our district. Because of it, we have a common vision of success and we understand what it will take to make our vision a reality. This strategic plan was created in response to the ever-changing needs and demands for today’s students. Its goal is to explore the knowledge, skills and experiences students will need to compete globally and succeed consistently in tomorrow’s world. The Destination 2026 strategic plan has guided all of the instructional programming decisions the district has made, and will continue to make, as it relates to our students’ education. It was the impetus that led the district to the One-to-One technology initiative, providing a personal device for each of our students to use in the classroom and at home. And it motivated the conception of the Global and Cultural Perspectives Committee that guides the district’s work to increase knowledge and understanding of global competency and culturally proficient practices in the world and within our own schools and community. And while it has already transformed so much of the district’s pedagogy and programming, it will continue to serve as a tool to navigate our path towards the future. Recently, Mariemont City Schools expanded upon this strategic plan with a more day-to-day focus in the form of a simple, yet powerful aligned narrative: Work Smart. Create Experience. Embrace Growth. This phrase serves as the framework for all that we do in our district. Every decision, every new program, every piece of technology – it all is designed to help us work smart, create experience or embrace growth. Below you will find the key objectives for Mariemont City Schools to accomplish its instructional vision. These objectives have been our focus since the Destination 2026 strategic plan was created in 2013 and will remain our focus as we make our way towards 2026 and beyond.
WORK SMART
CREATE EXPERIENCE
EMBRACE GROWTH
• Learning spaces that foster collaboration and creativity. • A rigorous K-12 digital literacy curriculum. • Teacher collaboration teams that support data-based decision making and instructional best practices. • A quality assessment system and student-led conferences to showcase learning. • An intervention warehouse and tracking system that assists teachers in providing targeted, personalized instruction. • Instructional models that support and encourage co-teaching and cross-curricular collaboration. • Quality, up-to-date technology resources, curriculum and tools that enhance learning.
• Diverse learning experiences that expand understanding and appreciation of world cultures, perspectives and languages. • Quality enrichment opportunities in a variety of content areas and interests. • Academic courses that meet today’s learning needs and interests. • Digital personal learning portfolios and individual student learning plans to set learning goals and record progress/growth. • Choice, flexibility and ownership in student learning options. • Capstone projects and Intersession periods that give students opportunities for career and interest exploration.
• Global competencies and cultural proficiencies to meet the needs of students from diverse backgrounds. • A comprehensive K-12 instructional coaching model for staff. • Professional learning opportunities for staff to grow expertise and highlight outstanding instruction. • Purposeful use of artificial intelligence to enhance instruction and assessment. • Mental health support and training for students and staff. • Meaningful homework assignments and projects to enhance learning.
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Mariemont City Schools is known for academic excellence. We recognize and understand that the cornerstone of any great school district is the quality of education its students receive. We believe in rigorous curriculum design, instructional best practices, meaningful programming and purposeful environments to maximize each student’s learning and capacity to thrive. Below, read about the various student successes from the past year and see how the Mariemont Experience is setting our students up for success after high school.
Nationally Recognized
Ready for Tomorrow
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation released its list of National Merit Semifinalists and Commended Students in the fall, naming four Mariemont High School students as National Merit Scholars. Grace Bohl, Jonathan Cooper and Jackson Hacias were named semifinalists for the prestigious award and Jackson House received Commended honors.
87% of 2020 graduates continued their education at a two or four-year college or university. The class of 2020 earned a combined $6.1 million in scholarship dollars.
The four MHS students placed among the top 50,000 scorers from the over 1.5 million high school juniors who entered the 2020 competition by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).
College Credit
As semifinalists, Bohl, Cooper and Hacias will continue in the 2020-21 competition in the hopes of earning one of 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million to be offered this spring. The nation-wide pool of semifinalists represents less than one percent of US high school seniors.
Mariemont High School offers 20 different Advanced Placement courses, developed by the College Board to give high school students an introduction to college-level classes and also gain college credit before even graduating high school. In 2020, 82% of MHS students taking an AP exam earned college credit by scoring a 3 or higher. 94 MHS students were named AP Scholars by the College Board for earning a 3 or higher on three or more AP exams.
Best in Class The Mariemont City School District has consistently scored much higher on the ACT than the state and national averages.
Jackson House
Grace Bohl
Jonathan Cooper
Jackson Hacias
30 25 20
25.5
25.0 20.3
20.8
24.8 20.0
20.7
19.9
20.6
MCSD Average Ohio Average
15 10
National Average
5 0
2018
2019 4
2020
International Acclaim A Mariemont Junior High School seventh grade student has earned international acclaim for her 3D Design contest entry in a world-wide competition with Polar 3D and the Caterpillar Company. Lily Billups earned the runner-up title in a competition to design a prototype of a piece of Caterpillar equipment or create a model of a caterpillar. She was the runner-up in the equipment category with the other three winners hailing from England, Canada and the Czech Republic. The competition was part of a first-quarter project in the MJHS 3D Design course with Ms. Saxton. Students used the 3D design website Tinkercad to create their prototypes.
Who Creates the #MariemontExperience? Welcome to Creating the Experience, a new video series to give you an inside look at the Mariemont Experience in action. We have incredible staff members in Mariemont City Schools who work tirelessly to enrich the lives of their students and their colleagues. In this series we will introduce you to some of these individuals and learn firsthand the impact they have in creating the Mariemont Experience. Scan the QR code or visit the district’s website and/or YouTube page to catch the periodic release of a new Creating the Experience video throughout the second semester of the 2020-2021 school year.
Scan the QR Code to watch the Creating the Experience Videos
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s
Lily Billup
steady stewardship during challenging times
Locally, we are doing our part to live within our means and stay on track to keep our commitment to make the 2018 levy last for at least four years. This means tightening our belt because there are some financial unknowns on the horizon, and we want to place Mariemont City Schools in the best position to weather those unknowns.
Mariemont City Schools continues to put funds where they are needed the most: the classroom. Other
The district implemented $175,000 in savings last year and expects to implement an additional $450,000 in savings over the next three years. This will result in a spending reduction of $1.8 million between 2020 and 2023.
2% Extracurricular
3%
Transportation
4%
Maintenance & Facilities
10%
Instruction
70%
Support Services
$175,000
$450,000
2020
2021-2023
11%
*Fiscal Year 2020
Doing this now helps to make sure our Mariemont schools are best positioned for the future. While the new state budget is still months away from being finalized, we have already seen an 11% reduction in state funding since 2019, resulting in over $500,000 of lost revenue, and could see more cuts in the future.
State Funding to MCSD
-11%
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Adding to the financial unknowns is the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the unforeseen financial challenges it has brought. Needs ranging from personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies, additional health safety staffing to online programming all have brought unexpected expenditures. One-time federal CARES (COVID-19) funding has helped keep schools safely open and offset district COVID-19 expenses. But it is important to understand that the CARES dollars received cannot backfill what we have already lost from the state and the additional dollars we will likely lose in the future. These are separate one-time finds with strict limitations on how we can spend them in our schools.
Village of Terrace Park CARES Grant
+
Hamilton County CARES Grant
+
Ohio Broadband Connectivity Grant
=
$178,000
To stretch our dollars even further, Mariemont City Schools has actively worked to bring grant dollars to our district totaling $178,000 this fiscal year. These one-time funds, much like the CARES dollars, have helped offset staffing expenses and expand technology infrastructure on school campuses. We will continue to seek additional funding opportunities as they become available.
For property owners, their support for schools and their community helps translate to strong property values. One sign of our community’s strength is the recent property triennial reevaluation conducted by the Hamilton County Auditor. On average, homes in the district increased in value by 13% While this is good news for a homeowner, it is important to note that our schools do not receive the corresponding increase. Instead, the auditor makes adjustments, making sure that schools do not receive inflationary increases on voted millage. Only a modest amount can increase, called inside millage.
This is part of the normal cycle of operations for the county and for us. Mariemont City Schools is committed to fiscal responsibility and mindful of the important investment our community makes in our schools. We will continue to share updates on our district’s finances, including our five-year forecast, with you on our website. 7
The Show Must Go On
Warriors Win on the Field and Court While the fall of 2020 was an unprecedented time for all of Mariemont City Schools, our high school athletes used the uncertainty as motivation. With the threat of a potential COVID-19-related team pause or cancellation at any point, the Warriors athletics teams persisted and experienced unparalleled success on the field and court. “I am so proud of all of our athletes and coaches for not only persevering through this season of uncertainty but for thriving in it” said Mariemont Athletics Director Tom Nerl. “They didn’t take one second of playing for granted and were completely aware that their seasons could have been taken away from them at any moment. To experience so much success in the middle of that chaos is what I think is the true Warrior spirit. We will always remember these teams for their grit and their determination.” Many of the fall athletic teams saw success on the highest stage, including the boys soccer team which won the program’s first state championship title to cap off a perfect 23-0-0 season. Additionally, the girls soccer team was the regional runner-up, the football team was a regional semi-finalist, the boys and girls cross country teams were both crowned district champions, the boys golf team was the sectional champion and the girls tennis team advanced all seven team members to the district tournament. Mariemont City Schools looks forward to seeing the athletics success continue with the winter and spring sports teams and athletes.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to subdue social gatherings and programs throughout the world, it seems one of the hardest hit industries is that of the arts. In New York City, Broadway theaters have gone dark and concert halls across the country continue to sit empty. But as part of its commitment to protecting the Mariemont Experience, the district has found a way to keep the arts alive. While many school districts were forced to cancel fall plays and winter concerts, Mariemont City Schools found a way. The high school stage production of Antisocial was performed live to an abbreviated audience with proper social distancing guidelines in effect. The annual Mariemont High School and Mariemont Junior High School winter music concerts were also a success. While the shows could not be performed live, each school’s concert was recorded and produced into a video concert that was able to be shared and viewed across the country. “To be able to offer our students a concert experience amidst all that is going on is truly incredible” said district band director Jimmy Galloway. “I could not be more proud of our music team for putting their heads together and being creative on how to pull it off. And the students were amazing and so happy to work towards a goal that felt so normal.” Both the MHS and MJHS winter concert videos are live on the district’s YouTube page for viewing at any time. Families and community members can also expect to see digital productions of upcoming shows including the Mariemont Elementary School and Terrace Park Elementary School sixth grade plays, the Mariemont Junior High School play and the Mariemont High School musical. The district is proud to partner with talented and dedicated students and staff members who are making the best of these challenging times. Because as they say in show business, the show must go on!
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Warriors BEyond Continues to Enhance the Mariemont Experience Warriors BEyond is the comprehensive, award-winning K-12 initiative that allows the students of Mariemont City Schools the opportunity to expand their learning beyond the four walls of the classroom. Warriors BEyond seeks to foster passion exploration through hands-on, interest-based courses that encourage students to investigate new ideas, subjects and activities as an extension to the traditional curriculum. Every student in the district gets to experience Warriors BEyond is some way in a typical school year. The purpose of Warriors BEyond is to grow passion exploration, build curiosity and teach students new ways of learning. While a lot of the Warriors BEyond program had to be paused for most of the 2020-2021 school year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, students at both elementary schools have had the opportunity to participate in virtual after school enrichment classes such as ukulele lessons, Better Babysitter and Kidz Home Alone courses. At the high school, 23 Master Class students continued their individual curriculum programs and over 40 students participated in the Broadcasting program to live stream sporting events. And while we are proud to have had these opportunities available, we are thrilled to bring back even more Warriors BEyond programming for the final quarter of the school year including elementary Explorations, junior high Expeditions and the high school Intersession. While these programs will look different than they have in years past to adhere to health and safety guidelines, we are confident they will continue to enhance student learning through diverse curricular options and enriching experiences, just as we have all come to expect from our Warriors BEyond program.
The Benefits of Warriors BEwell are More Important Now than Ever In the spring of 2020 Mariemont City Schools launched Warriors BEwell, a comprehensive initiative to ensure well-researched and robust mental health programming and services for our students and families. This initiative was launched to make the mental health of our students an even greater point of emphasis in our schools.
social isolation. We all recognize the importance of predictability and routine for children and adolescents, and very suddenly, last spring those routines were turned upside down. In what was (and still is) a very stressful and chaotic time for the entire world, it became imperative to check in on the health and wellbeing of our youth.
At its start, Warriors BEwell was an important tool to have in our schools – but little did we know that, mere weeks after its launch, its importance would increase exponentially.
All of the district’s Warriors BEwell programming is up and running for the 2020-21 school year, including the Signs of Suicide screening, done each year for students in grades 8, 10 and 12.
With the COVID-19 pandemic came an onslaught of disruptors for our students, including uncertainty and
Signs of Suicide, along with the multitude of other mental health prevention and advocacy 9
programs in our district, are important tools for the health and safety of our students and staff. Mariemont City Schools is proud to partner with 1-N-5, a local non-profit that serves to increase awareness and education about mental health in teens and adults, to assist in the funding of these programs. The annual 1-N5 Warrior Run, held each fall in Mariemont, is a big fundraiser for the district and its mental health programming.
Mariemont High School Facility Project: Then and Now Groundbreaking in 2019 brought much anticipation for the new Mariemont High School academic wing and the environment it would provide for students and staff. And when its doors opened in the fall of 2020, the new building did not disappoint.
The new academic wing is equipped with:
27 spacious classrooms
Nine modern science and technology labs
Four collaboration areas
An open, multi-purpose community commons
In only seven months, the new Mariemont High School has created academic experiences that the old building could never do. Staff and students have places to meet, gather and collaborate. Students no longer have to travel to a neighboring high school to take advanced placement chemistry because new science labs are appropriately equipped. Technology is abound for presentations and performances. And students can explore career and scholarship opportunities with state-of-the-art broadcast and eSports suites, visual arts studios and an engineering lab.
2 visual arts studios
State of the art safety and technology features
new, spacious Mariemont High School academic wing allowed the district to continue welcoming students and staff to school each day in a safe and healthy manner, something that would have been very difficult to do in the old building. “We were very lucky to be able to open our brand-new high school when we did” said MHS principal Dr. Jim Renner. “I have seen our staff really broaden the horizons of what is possible within a classroom this year. They are using the building’s new features and spaces to challenge the students and I cannot wait to see how they continue to do so in the future.”
And when the COVID-19 pandemic forced students to stay socially distanced from one another, the 10
While academic programming is already reaping the benefits of the new wing, the MHS construction project rolls on with renovations in the arts and athletic portions of the building. The project is scheduled to come to a close in the summer of 2021 after two years of construction. The renovated auditorium, dedicated music spaces, individual practice rooms, back of house and a scene shop/STEAM lab will be finished in mid-April. A new east entry, inviting activity forum, concession stand, spirit shop and updated locker rooms will close out the MHS facility project in the middle of August. “It is hard to believe that we are nearing the end of the Mariemont High School facility project” said Mariemont superintendent Steven Estepp. “This has been a labor of love with over four years of planning and construction, and it has already paid tremendous dividends in the educational experience for our students. I know we are all excited to wrap up the final phase of this project and continue to build upon the excellence that Mariemont High School is known for.”
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Mariemont City Schools District Logo Mariemont City Schools is in the process of updating its district and athletics logo. Following a period of careful consideration and research, and after soliciting community feedback, the Board of Education unanimously voted to phaseout the “Warrior Head” logo in the fall of 2020. Moving forward, the district has selected community resident and longtime district parent Tom Gilmore to lead the work in the creation of a new logo. Tom is a graphic designer with a strong background in brand strategy, design and implementation. In December, Tom led a co-creation session with participation of 15 community members to develop inspiration concepts for the new logo and additional community feedback has narrowed down the inspiration for the new design. As the process continues, check the District Logo page of the Mariemont City Schools website for further opportunities to provide input. Following the logo development timeline (available on the website), the district will seek final approval of a new district logo from the Board of Education in June of 2021.
2 Warrior Way | Cincinnati, Ohio 45227 www.mariemontschools.org
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