Dear CH-UH Families,

Happy Friday! As we conclude this year’s Teacher Appreciation Week, I want to once again thank our educators and school staff for their dedication to student success; dedication that never wavered despite all of the challenges. We were able to raffle off a total of 150 gift cards to MOJO world eats & drink and Tommy's Restaurant thanks to Feeding Our Frontline Educators and Ohio Savings Bank. We also received donations from Jack’s Deli, Stone Oven, The Cleveland Orchestra, Eye Love by Camille Janei, Hair Allures, massage therapist Eileen Barrett, and Stems Fleur Florist. I thank them for their support of our amazing educators.

Take a look at this video with special messages from students saying why they love their Tiger Nation teachers.

On Wednesday, I attended the National Technical Honor Society induction ceremony at Bedford High School, one of our Heights Career Tech consortium partner schools. A total of 18 students were inducted into the honor society for CTE students. Kudos to pharmacy technician instructor and NTHS advisor Anna Kiss for doing a fantastic job with the students and making the night special.

House Bill 110 & EdChoice funding
I spent Monday afternoon in Columbus, testifying in front of the Ohio Senate Primary and Secondary Education Committee regarding House Bill 110. The bill contains a provision that would shift funding for EdChoice scholarship vouchers from the current district-deduct model (i.e. we pay for EdChoice scholarships directly) to a model in which the state funds the scholarships. This would bode well for the District and I am grateful that it’s being considered by lawmakers. Thank you for your calls and letters to legislators on behalf of HB110 (which includes the Fair School Funding language). We will keep you abreast of developments and continue to share information on advocacy.

Kindergarten Readiness Task Force
The District is forming a new Kindergarten Readiness Task Force and applications are now being accepted. The mission of the task force is to explore researched and evidenced based practices that support Kindergarten Readiness with a focus on early literacy and social emotional learning. The task force will meet once a month beginning in May 2021. More details can be found here.

Lay Finance Committee Seeking New Members
The District is accepting applications for stakeholders to join its Lay Finance Committee. The LFC acts as the designated audit committee for the District, receiving the annual report from the Auditor of State. The committee also works as a liaison to the community, assisting in identifying finance and budget information to be communicated to our residents. More details about the application process can be found here.

COVID-19 case summary for the week of May 3
Since Monday, May 3, we have received reports of 1 staff member and zero students testing positive for COVID-19. Positive cases are reflected on the District’s case reporting dashboard. The county remains in Level 3 “red” alert level status in the Ohio Public Health Advisory System. The data released by the Ohio Department of Health on Thursday show that two of the seven indicators are currently met.

When staff and students who have been in District buildings test positive for COVID-19, we send notices to the families whose children attend the affected schools and to the staff members of those schools. We also post the notices on chuh.org and our District app, available for Android and iPhone. This document contains the process following a staff or student testing positive for COVID-19.

Have a great weekend, and Happy Mothers’ Day to all of our moms! You play an infinite number of roles in your children’s lives, and over this past year “co-teacher” has often been a major one. Know that your children treasure you and all you do to make their lives better.

Sincerely,
Superintendent Kirby