CFSD Upcoming Events:
Mar. 12Kindergarten Registration
Begins
Mar. 24-28Spring Break!
Apr. 9Strategic Planning Meeting
Large Group Sessions
RECOGNIZING OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC RESULTS
A Special Section Dedicated to Black Tiger Headlines & Achievements
Huge Hearts Hallow Halls
Talk throughout the district forever focuses on
the idea(l) of “Cultural Excellence”. Yes, it’s a
difficult term to define. But, truth is, you know
it when you see it.
Case in point: Preston Elementary School last
month. Students there posted a heart along a
hallway banner for every “Random Act of
Kindness” they could muster. To the delight of
School Counselor Michelle Perrow, the hallway
was hallowed with hundreds of hearts.
Kind hearts at Preston Elementary School include, from left to
right, Abby Hunnel, Isaiah Bass, Nyla Watkins, Jacob Newell,
and Brooklyn Roderick
“Students were asked to help brighten someone
else’s day,” Perrow said. “Acts of kindness ranged
from writing thank you notes to creating bracelets
for an entire class.” Part of a “100 Random Acts of
Kindness Challenge”, hearts lined Preston hallways
from mid-January up until Valentine’s Day.
Superintendent Dr. Todd Nichols said his heart
was touched by the idea. “Mark Twain once said
kindness is the language which the deaf can hear
and the blind can see. It is great to see and hear
such wonderful stories about kindness on the part
of Falls students.”
Extra!
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Falls Stage Production To Get National Press!!
Adam Vincent, owners of the business. They loved
the sponsorship idea, too, and weeks later, the
story went viral.
February 21 – 23, CFHS staged Grease! to packed
houses at each performance. An estimated 3,000
people saw the show. $15,000 in ticket sales were
booked. Guys Pizza sold out of its intermission
refreshments. And one very impressed reporter
took special note.
Cuyahoga Falls High School drama students go through a dress
rehearsal prior to opening night.
At The Wall Street Journal, writer Sarah Nassauer
had been looking for small town stories about
unique partnerships between schools and
businesses. When she got word about Grease!, she
was hooked, too. Nassauer attended the
production, and interviewed panels of students,
sponsors, and teachers. Her feature on school/
business partnerships of the future is scheduled to
print later this spring in The Wall Street Journal.
When Jona Sikora, General Manager at the Bailey
Road Guys Pizza Company shop, took a phone call
from senior Nicole Rosza in January, he had no
idea it would lead to national press. But that’s just
what happened.
“In 15 years, I’ve never seen the kind of
community support for a musical that we
achieved in this instance,” said Jenny Culver, a
Music Teacher and Producer of Grease! “It’s a story
about win-win.”
Sikora listened to Nicole’s cordial pitch asking if
Guys Pizza would sponsor a stage production of
Grease! It sounded good, he thought. “Then, Falls
students eagerly followed up with even more
information about the show and I was hooked,”
he laughed. Sikora took the pitch to Paul and
Culver and Director Renee Mihalyov originally
planned the show as a means of re-energizing the
music and drama programs at CFHS. They began
by working with CFSD administration to draw in
help from around the district. That led to a
partnership with CFHS marketing students
Need more info? Check out cfalls.org
Early March 2014
Students Get
Down to Business
The quest to pinpoint that perfect career is
every high school student’s biggest challenge.
That’s why the February 6 Career Night
proved such a great advantage. That night,
more than 50 representatives from all kinds of
industries—from healthcare to manufacturing
to military service—gave students first-hand
advice and tips.
Many of the students commented that they loved
the variety of the businesses that were there. One
student actually applied for a Summer job at Rita’s!
Such insider advice, according to Cathy
Nicholson, is a big benefit to students.
“Presenters share with students one-to-one in a
way that they are otherwise unable to do. As a
result, students take home inspiration and
insight that can be very influential in making
strong career choices.”
Many of the business leaders represented stated
that they felt a lot more of the students seemed
to be well prepared and interested in hearing
about what the businesses were all about.
Nicholson said plans are already underway for
the next Career Night where colleges and trade
schools will take a more prominent role.
For more information on upcoming Career
Nights, contact Cathy Nicholson at
[email protected].
taught by Emily Knight and Craig Wargowsky.
“Students sold sponsorships, sent out press
releases, and much more,” Culver said. “They even
held Grease! coloring contests in all of our
elementary schools to publicize the show.
Winning entries at each grade level received free
tickets to a performance!”
Given such success, hopes have been reignited for the
high school’s theater offerings, Culver said. “Now
we’re asking ourselves, how can we repeat this
success? How can we do we do so in a creative way
that’s meaningful for small businesses in the
community? Where else within the district can we
spawn new relationships between students and
departments for mutual benefit?” she said.
At Guys Pizza, Jona Sikora is thrilled. “We sold
every piece of pizza we brought with us,” he said.
“I can’t wait for the sequel!”
There’s never been a better time to become involved in your local schools. Go to cfalls.org and learn how you can help us deliver educational excellence in a changing world.
Vision 20/20: Reflections and Next Steps
Thank you to the more than 100 individuals who
were in attendance at our initial planning meeting
held February 26, 2014. These individuals were
exposed to the history of strategic planning in the
district over the last decade. CFCSD used the Continuous Improvement Plan,
the Plan for Excellence, the Curtailment Plan, and
the Plan for the 21st Century (Pt21) to guide the
work and the progress of the district. Now, we are
building a new five-year plan, Cuyahoga Falls:
Vision 20/20. The participants then self-selected
the focus area for which they had the most
passion. The focus areas included:
• Teaching and Learning, Assessment and Professional Development
• School Culture and Student Services
• Family, Business and Community Involvement
• Facilities/Environments, Organization and Resource Leveraging
In the small group meetings, concepts and
challenges were defined as they related to our
ability to achieve our mission: Every Student,
Every Day, Every Opportunity and our vision:
Educational Excellence in a Changing World. The
concepts and challenges were prioritized and
brought back to the large group for consensus.
Our next steps will include the organization of at
least two focus area group meetings internally by
our Cabinet members prior to April 9, 2014 at
6 p.m., the next meeting with our external
facilitators. The purpose of these meetings will be
to begin the development of specific strategies to
address the prioritized concepts and challenges.
If you are interested in participating but could
not make the meeting on February 26, please
contact the individual listed next to the focus
area for which you have the most passion:
• Teaching and Learning, Assessment and Professional Development:
Mark Gleichauf, Deputy Superintendent [email protected]
• School Culture and Student Services:
Melvin Brown, Director of Human Resources
[email protected]
• Family, Business and Community Involvement:
Dr. T. M. Nichols
[email protected]
• Facilities/Environments, Organization and Resource Leveraging:
Jerry Zelenka, Director of Business and Operations
[email protected]
We truly want the Vision 20/20 Plan to be one
that represents the community’s hopes, wishes
and dreams for our school system. We also want
to develop a plan that will guide the work over the
next five years. Thus, as we continue along this
path, we want you to dream and dream big! We
have enormous potential in Cuyahoga Falls and
we are blessed with staff, students, and community
members who can deliver on our dreams. Imagine
the very best for our community, we deserve it!
We Black Tigers Are Legendary
Did you know that there is meaning in our
mascot. “Black Tiger Pride”, we say. What
exactly do we mean by it?
Black Tigers are, perhaps, one of the rarest
creatures on earth. Photographed only recently,
such tigers are revered by legends going back
thousands of years.
Throughout history, tigers of all kinds have incited
a sense of awe and admiration for their prowess,
ferocity, and beauty. Tiger stripes, too, suggest a
harmony of opposites.
But black tigers are different and special. With
black tigers—tigers whose coats feature stripes of
blacks and grays—striped opposites are brought
into the closest harmony of all.
Think of your stripes as different aspects of you,
the person. You have an everyday life, and you
have dreams of tomorrow. As a Black Tiger, your
goal is to make every today a step toward the
tomorrow of your dreams. In perfect harmony.
Famous Dog Makes Forever Friends at Bolich
Man’s best friend now has many more friends thanks to an innovative
distance learning project just unveiled at Bolich Middle School. Sixth graders
there got to know Balto—the real Balto—to whom Disney much later paid
movie tribute.
the lead sled dog on the team that finally reached Nome.
The story that students heard goes like this: In 1925, a diphtheria outbreak
in Nome, Alaska, broke out and claimed kids’ lives. Though there was a
vaccine, it could be shipped only so far, as snow and ice of the season isolated
the small town. And so, men on sleds led by teams of dogs traversed almost
700 miles of treacherous Arctic tundra to save the town’s children. Balto was
After completing the trek, Balto became world famous and then came
home to Cleveland for the rest of his happy dog years. The Cleveland
Museum of Natural History now houses a permanent exhibit in Balto’s
honor. Bolich sixth graders were schooled in the story, inventively, by
partnering with the museum. Here’s how.
Today, the Iditarod—Alaska’s famous annual dogsled race—pays homage
to Balto and his canine friends. The 42nd running of the race began March
3rd in Anchorage.
Last month, the Museum shipped a crate to Bolich filled with dogsled gear
and artifacts. Students interacted by teleconference (using a cool software
called Zoom) with Lee Gambol, a Distance Learning Specialist at the
Museum. Gambol told the true tale of Balto while students modeled dog
harnesses and protective gear they unpacked from the crate.
“I learned about Balto and how the mushers brought diphtheria serum across
Alaska in 1925 before there were any other ways to get it there,” said
Braunavan Arsenault, one of the students involved in the conference.
Braunavan also learned about the science behind vaccinations from
Gambol, who taught the class virtually using Zoom.
Bolich Middle School sixth graders participate by teleconference in a Distance Learning project with
the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
According to Cindy Murphy, Media Specialist at Bolich, Zoom software is
easy to use and could be adapted to any of the classrooms in the building,
making opportunities like this one a valuable and engaging reality in
today’s technology-driven classrooms.
There’s never been a better time to become involved in your local schools. Go to cfalls.org and learn how you can help us deliver educational excellence in a changing world.