On March 26,
2013, the Southern Ohio Educational Center hosted its annual Four County Board Meeting. At this meeting, school districts from Clinton, Highland, Adams, and Fayette Counties were honored for their individual building and district accomplishments as reflected by the annual State Report Cards.
Blanchester Local School District received many awards for both the district and individual buildings. All four buildings in the district were recognized as Schools of Promise. Schools of Promise are identified as schools who are improving student achievement across all demographic groups. No other district in the region had more than one school given this designation. The district was one of three in the region to be recognized as Excellent with Distinction, and Blanchester Middle School was one of five schools from the four county area to be designated as Excellent with Distinction. Blanchester High School, Intermediate School, and Putman Elementary all received plaques as well, for achieving Excellent status.
To put this in perspective, Blanchester was one of 138 districts out of the 610 districts in Ohio identified as Excellent with Distinction. From the 3371 total buildings in Ohio, the Middle School was one of 468 recognized as Excellent with Distinction. The districts’ performance index placed it in the top 16% of the states’ total districts, with Putman in the top 8% of all buildings. The Value Added Above Expected Growth rating placed the district in the top 27% of all Ohio districts.
These honors do not happen by accident. It requires a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication of a great number of people. It takes administrators who organize, direct, and constantly encourage others to strive toward excellence. It takes a highly trained and motivated staff of teachers who are willing to go above and beyond the call of duty, in addition to a support staff whose efforts assist in providing a healthy, safe, and enriched learning environment. Most importantly, it takes students who value their education and are willing to work hard to excel. Finally, it takes parents, family, and the community to provide the encouragement and support that is necessary for students to find success in their total educational experience. It takes teamwork, and that’s what can be found at the root of Blanchester Local Schools’ success.
We have been entrusted with the education of your most valuable possession, a task that is taken very seriously. We are proud of this district’s accomplishments and wanted to share this success with you. We will continue to strive to be educationally sound, fiscally prudent, and driven to provide the highest possible quality education we can for every child.
Blanchester Board of Education Members,
Keith Gibson, John Panetta, Joe Falgner, Jack Fisher, Claire Ledford
Superintendent
Brian R. Ruckel
