Thank You Nordonia Voters; What Comes Next – From Supt. Dr Joe Clark

As you know by now, Issue 3 passed on Tuesday. We will begin to collect new funds in January, 2020.

I’m writing for two reasons. First, I want to thank you for voting. If you voted yes, thanks for supporting us. If you voted no, thanks for participating in the democratic process too many people take for granted. I know that with a passing levy comes a huge responsibility to be fiscally responsible. Trust is a cathedral built a brick at a time, and we will continue to do all we can to be good stewards of resources you provide. I am always available for feedback either through phone call (330-908-6202) or email (joe.clark@nordoniaschools.org) if you have concerns with how the schools are running.

Also, we have already had one meeting to discuss which of the 38 positions we eliminated will be returned, and we have another meeting next week with the board to continue the discussion. We believe that ultimately most positions will be returned, but we want to make sure to give our due diligence before finalizing anything. Our goal is to have everything decided and employees informed within the next few weeks.

As you may remember reading in a past News Leader article, we have spent much of this year developing what’s called a Portrait of a Graduate. Nordonia’s Portrait will be a document outlining the skills the community believes are most vital for graduating seniors to have to be prepared for college, the military and the workforce. Once finalized, we will begin an audit of the courses we offer at NHS to see which we need to eliminate and which we need to add to support the Portrait.

To give you an idea, many school districts now offer courses in robotics, engineering, American Sign Language and orchestra, to name a few. The creation of the Portrait, combined with Issue 3 passing, allows us to investigate offering these and other courses to raise the level of rigor and increase opportunities for students to learn skills the future job market will demand.

And regarding facilities, the high school roof is our top priority, and work will begin on that almost immediately after school lets out for the summer. We also set a meeting with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission. This state agency will do a free assessment of our facilities and provide a report detailing where we should focus our repair efforts. We have an idea of what areas need the most work, but we want an unbiased look so we make sure we are as responsible as we can be with the resources you’ve provided.

As always, thanks for your support of the Nordonia Schools, and Go Knights!

Sincerely,

Joe Clark, Ph.D.

Superintendent