Westerville City School District officials today announced details regarding how students will transition to a Blended Learning model of instruction beginning Monday, September 21, 2020, after approximately one month of fully remote instruction

The parents and students of Hawthorne Elementary lined up at the entrance of the Strawberry Farms subdivision, eager to welcome teachers and staff to their neighborhood as part of the school’s first-ever Back to School parade.

Several kids held signs with messages of love, support and excitement to return to school. Parents stood close by with their phones cued up to take pictures and videos. The parade hadn’t started and already Principal Ernest Clinkscale and Assistant Principal Kristen Millet were getting emotional.

“It was such a good reminder after having been away from kids for six months that they need us and we need them,” Millet said. “This is why we do what we do — to have those connections.”

With classes starting remotely this year, Genoa Middle School teacher Lee Smith was looking for ways to provide hands-on learning experiences for his engineering students from home.

His counterparts at the district’s other middle schools were doing the same. So they decided to work together, taking a cohesive approach to curriculum for all middle school engineering students for the first time.

“We can’t do what we’ve done before,” Smith said. 

These middle school engineering classes give students a foundation on the problem-solving and critical-  and creative-thinking skills needed to thrive in engineering programs in high school and beyond. By shifting from in-person to remote learning, the engineering teachers have had to put into practice what they preach: think outside of the box to find innovative solutions for real-world problems.

Dylan Woodruff is eager to meet the group of sixth-graders he’s been paired to support and mentor at Blendon Middle School this school year.

Woodruff, one of Blendon’s 40 eighth-grade student leaders in the Where Everybody Belongs (WEB) program, recalls how helpful his WEB leaders were when he first came to middle school.

“The WEB leaders were my inspiration and who I looked up to,” he said. “They said I would be perfect for it so I’ve been wanting to do this since sixth grade.”

The Westerville City School District’s Board of Education is seeking applicants for two open positions on the district’s audit committee, which serves as a professional link between the Board and external auditors.

A new broadband access pilot will provide refurbished computers and internet hotspots with a year’s worth of prepaid unlimited internet service, to low-income households with students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

The Westerville City School District launched a new dashboard in response to a state mandate requiring all Ohio school districts to report cases of COVID-19 among its school populations.

It wasn’t long into Principles of Biomedical Science at Westerville Central High School (WCHS) when Kendel Seabury knew she was all in on the district’s health pathway program. 

She was fascinated by lessons on how the body works and considered applying her interest in science to becoming a teacher. But the more classes she took — including Diana Arko’s Medical Interventions course — the more she realized that nursing better aligned with her interests in health care and working with people.

Westerville City Schools had previously announced Sep. 24, Nov. 12, Jan. 28, and March 11 as early release dates. Under traditional school year operations, students would be released from school one hour earlier than normal dismissal times to allow for staff professional development.

Many students at Hawthorne Elementary won’t have to wait until the district opens its doors to blended learning to connect with their school family. The teachers and staff will be coming to them.

Westerville South High School Troupe 513 is kicking off its 2020-21 season opener with “Ranked,” a musical set in a dystopian world where class rank — determined by grades and test scores — defines each students’ worth.

Seven Westerville seniors are semifinalists in the 66th annual National Merit Scholarship Program, according to a recent announcement by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC).