001Good evening, Madame President, members of the board, Superintendent Proporus, Treasurer Mr. Hickley, families, and staff. I'm Dina Stinchcom, and I'm the principal of Chardan Hill STEM School. Alongside me is Bill Mayor, our assistant principal, and it is our privilege and great honor to stand before you today and share the accomplishments of our school. >> D, you might want to turn the microphone a little bit toward towards you >> toward my face. >> Yeah, a little bit. I think >> Can you hear me now? >> Okay. [laughter] Each year, our students and staff thoughtfully choose a schoolwide theme that reflects our mission and values. This year, we're proud to celebrate imagine, believe, and achieve. Our theme encourages students to believe in themselves and work hard to reach their goals. With this theme in mind, we'd like
002to highlight the key areas we'll focus on this evening. Our STEM initiatives will continue offering hands-on opportunities for students to explore and problem solve. In instruction, we'll emphasize math to strengthen foundation skills and confidence. Attendance will remain a priority given the essential role in student success. We'll also continue to foster parent engagement and celebrations to support strong homeschool connections and honor student achievements. Finally, we'll hear from our staff, students, and families as they share what Chardan Hills means to them and the impact our school has on their experience. Expanding our focus on STEM, we provide students with hands-on experiences that foster exploration, problem solving, and creativity. STEM engages students in interactive learning across science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, helping them to develop critical thinking, teamwork, and essential skills for lifelong success. During Encore, students build
003a strong foundation in hands-on STEM learning. One example is our kindergarten through 2 grade stained glass pumpkin project. Using tissue paper, clear contact film, and black frames, students explored transparency, experimented with color, and strengthened their fine motor skills while seeing how light passes through different materials. As we move into the next few slides, you're going to see more STEM projects from Encore. If you'd like to see any of these activities in action, we can share brief video clips at the end of the presentation. Our third grade students used the engineering design process to design a sail that uses wind energy to transport collectibles across a distance. They explored how the materials and placement of the sails affect performance. They also explored the force of wind and weather and their many applications in engineering. They tested
004their windmill designs by seeing if their propellers could rotate and how much weight it could lift. Our fourth graders explored electrical circuits, designing and building functional systems to understand how electricity flows. In the first picture, students build a circuit that turns on a buzzer with a switch. In the second picture, they created a circuit that lights a bulb using a switch. And in the final picture, they combined both, designing a circuit that turns on a light and activates a buzzer at the same time. Our fifth grade students explored the connection between force, balance, stability, and the design of bridges. Here you see testing stability and how many times out of two attempts can the students car cross without falling off the edge. Building on these STEM experiences, we have incorporated them into our best behavior
005bonus rewards this year. Students continue to explore engineering, physics, and problem solving through a variety of hands-on challenge activities that combine creativity, teamwork, and fun. Some of these fun activities were a cup stacking challenge where students tested their engineering and coordination skills by building and racing to stack cups in different patterns. They worked together to see who could create the tallest or fastest tower. The next activity you see is a twister in a bottle. This was a fast-paced relay where we had students racing to create a mini tornado in a bottle. Learning about vortex motion while competing for speed and precision. The next activity is ski ball. Using ramps and targets, students tested ways to roll and aim their balls to score points, mixing fun with physics. Finally, we saved the best for last. Students
006made ice cream from creamer pods. To end the day on a sweet note, students became mini scientists, shaking and mixing ingredients to create homemade ice cream using creamer pods and simple chemistry. Students love these activities and we plan to continue these engaging experiences for our best behavior bonus rewards for next semester. In art design class, the students are completing color mixing experience in different ways based on their grade level. Here you see our kindergarteners made Play-Doh color wheels. Our first graders mixed primary color liquids to create secondary colors. And our second graders explored color mixing using the non-Newtonian fluid, which means a fluid whose thickness changes when force or stress is applied to it. Our third graders created color mixing magic using milk, food coloring, and a drop of soap. Our fourth graders use Sharpie
007markers and the natural wicking properties of fabric to create unique color mixing designs. And our fifth graders used a spinning machine and liquid watercolors to create spin art designs, allowing students to explore rotational force and color mixing. In technology and robotics, students are using the IST standards, International Society for Technology and Education, to strengthen their technology skills through hands-on learning with Canva, Google programs, and other digital tools. As part of this work, students have created their own Frankensteines, shape cities, and dot patterns. They have also designed their own balloons digitally and participated in a Macy's Thanksgiving Day balloon parade, showcasing creativity and digital design skills. These experiences help students create, collaborate, and think critically while building confidence in using technology and meaningful learning. This month, students will build on these skills during the hour of
008code, exploring blockbased coding and solving challenges. They will then apply their learning with district purchased Sphero robots, the Indie for kindergarten through 2 grade, and Bolt for third through fifth, programming them to navigate mazes and complete tasks. These activities align with our digital initiatives and curriculum, reinforcing coding, problem solving, and critical thinking skills in an engaging and age appropriate way. As you can see, STEM provides exciting moments of discovery for our students. That same level of engagement is reflected in our instruction across all subjects where we use a variety of resources and tools to deepen learning and making meaningful connections for our students. To support highquality instruction, we use a variety of outside resources that align directly with our district initiatives and curriculum. These resources help strengthen core instruction, reinforce standards, and provide students with
009multiple entry points into their learning. For example, through the Zillow program, our students have been exploring different careers and learning about their interests and strengths with support from our school counselor, Mrs. Keane, who also specializes in college and career. She has arranged virtual field trips in career cafes with organizations such as the Cleveland Clinic, giving students interactive opportunities to learn from professionals and ask questions about various career paths. Some of the careers highlighted included physicians, neurosurgeons, speech language pathologists, and an MRI technician to name a few. Here you see a Cleveland Clinic registered nurse who spoke with their students about her career, her pathway, and her current role. Students were highly engaged, asking thoughtful questions, and her experiences helped them make real world connections to the work of the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Stevens and a
010few animal friends from the urban agricultural CTE program recently visited our kindergarteners studying farms and animals in CKLA. Students learned about each animal traits, had the chance to interact with them, and connected the the visit to Zello career lessons, getting an early look at careers in agriculture and animal science, and how science and problem solving are used in real world professions. Now in its fifth year, Chardan Hills, our Zen Works yoga partnership supports social emotional learning through weekly yoga and mindful lessons. Teachers volunteer to have their class participate for 30 minutes once a week. During these sessions, students build resilience, strengthen executive functioning, and practice self-regulation through movement, breathing exercises, meditation, and moments to pause, connect, and reset. During Red Ribbon Week, Officer Moore from the Uclid City Police Department visited our students to talk
011about making healthy choices and saying no to drugs. Students learned about the importance of staying safe, making positive decisions, and taking care of their bodies and minds. For the past eight years, fifth graders at Chardan Hills have participated in letters to a pre-scientist, a national program connecting students with STEM professionals through letter writing. Students exchange letters throughout the year to learn about different careers, broaden their understanding of STEM, and be inspired to explore future opportunities, all while connecting with pen pals from across the country and the world. Using district aligned resources, our math instruction emphasizes hands-on learning, discussion, and targeted strategies. Here, students explore patterns, shapes, data, and and early multiplication with arrays, pattern blocks, and graphs. Through problem- based learning and math talks, they apply concepts, explain their thinking, and build strong foundations, critical
012thinking, and confidence in their problem solving. In kindergarten, students engage with Bridg's math through hands-on activities that develop foundational skills. Through games, they practice counting and graphing. Through their workspaces, their counting, sorting, and pattern making. And through hands-on activities, they create shapes and explore designs. These activities build number sense, problem solving, and early math reasoning in a fun and interactive way. Our small group instruction is driven by what we see and hear from students each day. Through quick observations, checkpoints, and student responses, teachers adjust instruction in real time to meet students exactly where they are and move them forward. In English language arts, instruction often follows the I do, we do, you do with teachers modeling, guiding, and then releasing students to work independently. In math, we flip this approach. We do the you do,
013we do, I do where students first explore problems on their own, then collaborate, and then finally receive teacher modeling or clarification. This encourages productive struggle, reasoning, and discussion, helping students build independence and deepening their understanding. Equally important is consistent attendance, which ensures students don't miss out learning opportunities and can fully engage with meaningful hands-on instruction that we provide. I'm now going to turn the presentation over to Mr. mayor who will provide a closer look at our attendance initiatives. >> Good evening. Our third key tenant is attendance. Regular attendance is one of the strongest predictor predictors of both school and student success. When students are not in school, they miss valuable instruction, classroom discussions, and learning experience that simply cannot be replicated at home. That's why we work closely with our families to ensure students are
014present and on time each day. Strong partnerships between parents and schools are essential to ensure students arrive on time and attend the full instructional day. We deeply appreciate parents who advocate for their child's education and work alongside us to support consistent attendance. We are proud to announce that Chardan Hills is once again recognized by the Ohio PBIS Civil Award for the Ohio Department of Education. Less than 4% of schools in the entire state receive this distinction each year, making a remark remarkable achievement for our building and district. The award is a testament to the dedication of our entire staff in modeling and expecting the three Rs, respectful, responsible, and ready to learn every day. In our view, this recognition directly reflects on our strong attendance and positive culture. When a school celebrates achievements, fosters supportive
015climate, models high expectations, students and staff alike are motivated to be present and engaged. They simply don't want to miss out. Green lights, as shown by the graphic, we're excelling in all three areas. Tier one above 80%, tier two below 10%, tier three below 5%. A major factor in this growth is our tier is our new tier 2 strategy, our 2 by10 check-ins from our attendance team, which helped reduce our tier 2 and tier three percentage from over 20% last year to just under 13% this year. Our staff dedicated two minutes each morning for the first 10 days of school and again for the uh seven days before Thanksgiving break to intentionally connect with students and keep them motivated. Combined with zero suspensions over the first 80 days of school, we've maintained an attendance rate
016of over 95% for the first 16 weeks of school. We believe this is a direct connection between these check-ins, our PBIS check-in and checkouts system, our support of our behavior specialists, and the positive culture and climate that we have helped us sustain these zero suspensions so far this year. Here are some proud Panthers who have truly improved their attendance from last year with hard work, determination, and routines to be here on time each and every day so they don't miss out. We are thrilled to share that that 151 students achieved perfect attendance during the first six weeks of school. To celebrate their dedication, we randomly selected 25 students to attend the Brown Spectacular event at Huntington Bank Stadium. students and their parents had the exciting opportunity to walk through the stadium, step onto the field,
017enjoy some trick-or-treating along the way. We sincerely appreciate the partnership with the Brown Stay in the Stay in the Game program, which helps us recognize and reward students for their commitment to being present and engaged in school. Here's some more pictures of our students enjoying their field time on the field. We especially love seeing the mom and the daughter dressed up as matching cats right next to the dog pound. What a fun way to celebrate perfect attendance. Our fourth key tenant is parent engagement and celebrations. As we continue supporting strong attendance and celebrating that success, it's equally important to recognize the role of our families playing in strengthening our school community through engagement and shared celebrations. Research consistently shows that involved parents are one of the most important factors in a child's success. We love
018seeing parents, grandparents, and guardians in our building celebrating their child's achievements. The more engaged families are, the greater success we can achieve together for each student. We are deeply grateful for our to our PTA and our parents for their engagement, support, time, and dedication they give to our students and our school community. Another tren another tremendous father's walk in the books. We are grateful for the male role models who gave up their morning to partner in their child's success. Their involvement makes a lasting impact and truly strengthens our school community. Our 700 Club breakfast was a full house once again. We celebrated 149 students in grades three through five who earned proficient or higher on Ohio this in last year's Ohio States tests with a true breakfast of champions. Highlights include in grades three and
019four, we had 80 students scoring above 700 in math and ELA. And in grade five, we had 41 students scoring above 700 in math and ELA. 23 of which scored above that 700 score in all three subject matters, math, ELA, and science. The true hat-tick. We are incredibly proud of their hard work and grateful to celebrate their excellence with our school community. A highlight of the 700 Club breakfast is always the pancake flipping challenge where students and their guests try to catch their breakfast on their plates. The success rate of catching pancakes on plagues by both both the kids and the family members keeps improving each year. We're convinced they are practicing at home before their big morning. Another fun PTA event is the movie night where students and families en enjoyed watching Stitch together.
020Once again, several staff members generously gave up their evening to join the families and share in the fun. We truly appreciate the partnership with our PTA. They do an outstanding job providing these memorable opportunities for our students and their families. As you can see, look at those smiles and that turnout. It was a beautiful night to be a Chardan Hill STEM Panther. Celebrating success. Here are the pictures from our first quarter award ceremony for grades three through five. We love seeing such strong support from our parents and guardians. Each year, Mr. Kyle has to put out more and more chairs each time, which is exactly what we want to see. Our students work extremely hard and this ceremony is a wonderful opportunity to recognize their effort and dedication. One of the best parts of the
021ceremony is watching students and parents proudly take pictures in front of our media banner. Honoring our veterans, we had another special Veterans Day assembly at Chardan Hills. Our junior junior ROC from the high school presented the colors and each of our veterans shared a piece of advice with our students. It was incredibly inspiring to hear from them and it truly made for a memorable morning. Students had a blast our PTA harvest fall dance dancing to the tunes expertly DJed by Mr. Wallace. Our dedicated staff volunteers helped make the night a su success. And we're grateful to the parents who stayed to help supervise and keep the fun going safely. Just as our celebrations bring families together, our clubs help bring our students together, offering spaces where we can grow socially, emotionally, and academically. Here, here
022you see our girls group, which provides a welcoming and safe space for our girls to explore creativity through art through collaborative projects, personal artwork, and meaningful conversations. The group aims to support each member in discovering their unique voice while connecting with others who share similar interests. We also have a boys group that meets weekly during lunch and they discuss topics that focus on teaching skills to empower boys. Here are some pictures from our boys group collaborating on a STEM project building a solar house. In addition to STEM activities, our boys trend uh demonstrated their commitment to community by collecting canned food items for the food pantry at Memorial Options Center. We are proud of their hard work, creativity, and generosity. Chardan [clears throat] Hills offers a story makers after school club this year run by
023our instructional coach Miss Arizona for students in grades one through five. Students work together to brainstorm and write stories and older students support younger writers. Recent activities include creating Halloween stories using dice rolled story elements and writing Thanksgiving squiggle stories where students turned a squiggle line into a drawing and wrote a matching story. Younger students in grades one and two also wrote about their favorite Thanksgiving foods and what they were thankful for. We have partnered with the Southern Enterprise School of Arts and an organization dedicated to developing dancers by instilling character, integrity, discipline through the arts. Their program supports students both artistically and socially, helping them grow into independent, cooperative, responsible, and creative students with a lifelong appreciation for the arts. And something new at Chardan Hills. We're excited to launch a new youth wrestling
024program at Chardan Hills in partnership with the high school, the athletic department, and the wrestling team. Research shows that routines and extracurriculars support academic success and wrestling build on hard work and persistence help students build these strong habits. We're grateful to Coach Herbster, Mr. Marberry, and Mr. Fischer along with Mr. Proporus for allowing us and helping us get this program started. We have 27 boys and girls in grades three through five participating. And one of our favorite moments has been has been seeing the parents learning alongside their children on the wrestling mat. Now, Miss Titchcom will conclude our presentation as we reaffirm our commitment to the key areas highlighted tonight. STEM, highquality instruction, strong attendance, positive school climate, and parent engagement. We would like to end with a video showing the heart of Chardan Hills.
025The video is about 3 and 1/2 minutes long. I love Shardan Hills because of the challenging work my teachers give me. >> Because it's a fascinating school and it's not like others. It's fun and I love my teacher. >> We do lots of projects and we use our hands. >> Fun activities and great events that we have. >> I love the staff because they're dedicated and sincere. [music] >> It gives you a lot of opportunities to earn rewards for being good. The teachers care about us. >> I was struggling when I first came, but then I start getting good and getting a yeah, and I'm hoping this year I get on a roll. I love making many friends. >> Teachers give us time to catch on and they really care >> cuz the teachers are
026really nice and if somebody doesn't understand something, they try their best to help them understand it. >> Those are teachers push us push us to the next level. Teachers help me in math [music] and reading when I get stuck. >> The cute faces that I get to see every day coming in the door. It's inspiring to see STEM in action and to watch the amazement on our students faces, >> their willingness to take creative risks. >> I've been to a lot of schools and Shardan Hills is unique and special to me because the adults care. >> I believe Shardan Hills is different because we get to work hands-on with the STEM [music] projects. >> I enjoy being good and doing math. My favorite [music] thing is to do in Charlotte Hills is to learn. >>
027Charlotte Hills is more than just the [music] school. It's a community, a family. As a parent, I've seen just how much they care, [music] not just about education, but about our kids and about us. The heart [music] of every family that walks through those doors. One thing that I love about Chardan Hills is [music] that they truly show you that love is an action word and they are so committed to our children's [music] experience. I mean this is a place where a kid can be a kid. This is a hub for resources for parents. I mean from the advent team to our writer school family to mamba rally. I honestly [music] don't tell anyone. This might be the best school in the district. [music] >> It's like a family. I think that everybody knows everybody
028here. It's been very close-knit. Um I can't even walk into the cafeteria without at least 10 different kids trying to hug me or tell me a story or something like that. So, yeah, it's a very nice little community >> that [music] I've been here since the day the doors of Chardan Hills have opened and I've learned so much from the amazing leaders that I [music] have had here. I love being a part of it because everyone from the students to the faculty treats [music] everyone with respect and dignity. >> I think of STEM. >> I think of high expectations >> is commitment. Think of dedication [music] >> of family >> because of our strong sense of community. >> Friends and family. [music] >> I think of collaboration. Students collaborate with each other and so do
029teachers. is supportive of mentorship. >> Think of one word, family. [music] >> When I think about our Chardan Hills, I think about the teamwork, guidance, and support that we provide to our students. Nothing is ever too big or too small to help them achieve their academic success. >> [applause] >> We want to sincerely thank our staff and families for their dedication and commitment in guiding our students toward continued academic growth and success. Your support, collaboration, and encouragement make a real difference every day. We also appreciate all of you for your time and for listening to our presentation. And so now this concludes our presentation and we welcome any comments you may have. >> We'll start over here. >> Yes. So, first of all, just want to say thank you to both of you for the
030presentation and the effort that you guys put into it. It shows through. Um, and thank you to everybody involved at Chardan Hills for making it such a seemingly great place and a real family sort of environment. Um, I just wanted to comment just um kind of on that note. Uh it I really enjoy the level to which you empower the students to kind of take control and to guide themselves through like with the obviously with the STEM activities. It's very clear how much they are kind of learning themselves um and really navigating that. I think that's really in a basic way to put it very cool. I really enjoy seeing that. I took a tour of the of the school some time ago and it was very clear seeing it in person. It's just h
031it's awesome just to see. Um and then just kind of building on that, there's not there's not a pressure for them to grow up quicker at the same time. It's meeting them where they are and recognizing their full potential. And I I then enjoy the bringing in with the career day and kind of helping them start formulating what it is that they want to do and where they see themselves going forward. So I just I really enjoy the empowerment you guys give to the students and clearly it it has built a very strong community. So thank you both. Well, Shardan Hills is a very special place um for me as my kids um attend attended there and I was very involved as a parent. But um I do love some of the new things that
032I'm seeing which I'm excited to um congratulate you all on. So the afterchool programs um we know that those after school programs help kids get connected, feel a sense of belonging and ultimately helps with student achievement. So, thank you for um adding those extra opportunities for students to um learn some new skills and feel connected and find who they are. Um also, I want to say that I'm very um pleased with your suspension rate at 0% so far. So, thank you for providing um a safe and welcoming environment for those students to want to be in school and be able to make good decisions. So, thank you for that and your attendance rate. So, we know that they want to be there because it's such a magical place and um also appreciate the exposure to
033the careers um that you're doing and that also couples with community engagement. So, thank you for all the work that you're doing and I'm so proud of you all. >> My comments are quite similar to the ones that have been made already. I really enjoyed seeing how um some of the lessons that you shared went between the different age groups, similar concepts repeated so that they could gain deeper and more complex understanding of those and how um you it's really easy to see that how STEM is worked into everything. I I know how much work goes into creating an environment where parents feel empowered and belonging. Um, and so thank you to all the parents who are involved and um, I love all the after-school programs that Tia mentioned, the idea that that's what really
034completes a kid's school experience when they get to be a part of things outside of the classroom and be in community with with the other families and students. And but I know in leading a building and in teaching, um, that's a lot of extra work, but um, it's it's clearly worth it and it's paying off and thank you for that investment in our kids. Um, and I also really feel excited about that suspension um that suspension number because I really believe that's that's possible for all of our kids when we um put energy into ways that help them um make good choices and resolve situations in other ways. So, um life isn't going to be without problems, but if we give kids an environment and skills to do better, um we know that they can.
035And thank you guys evidence of that. So, thank you for putting it into practice. Hi guys. Um, wonderful presentation. Um, I consider myself honor a Shartan Hill staff member because I'm always there. So, um, I know that everything that everyone said in that video is absolutely true about the building and the environment. Um, I love getting to see it in action. Um, I was, uh, clapping for Mr. Bundy when he came up because I actually get to see him in action quite often. Um, he's amazing. Um, and I just love all the work that is happening in the building. Um, all of the engagement with the children, all of the fun things. There's always something fun going on at Shardan Hills. Um, my daughter absolutely loves it. Um, even in her grumpy moments, she loves
036her school. Um, and uh, it's been a pleasure being there for the last five years. I can't believe it's coming to an end. >> Thank you for the presentation. Everything you're doing seems to be working and building community. And I I'll just uh wrap things up here. Uh it was great to see how STEM is actually integrated and authentic. It's not an add-on. It's what happens there. And that's very evident. You can't present that way if it's not truly authentic in the way it's presented. Uh I liked how you tied in the stuff the board has supported in your presentation. I at least I noticed it several places. Uh and the connections to the careers in urban agriculture. You know, I'd rather have Dr. Stevens show up than what what's the guy? Jungle Terry. Is
037that his name? I don't I is or is that a different name? Out Outback Jack or whatever you call the guy now. But, you know, Dr. Stevens right here. He brings you know, I think that was just so cool. The resource officer coming in. Uh, you know, you're doing a lot of great stuff. I liked how you also remembered that math is an important part of STEM and you gave us a little taste of that. also uh as what the board said uh too about the zero suspensions is about the culture and about the staff both support staff uh as well as the teachers that make that happen. Uh so th those those relationships can't go understated to you and to all the teachers that are here uh at Chardan Hills. And then I could
038not not comment on wrestling is in our elementary schools. Uh h yeah yeah h having that background I know that and I know we both connect it really does teach every sport does but I have an affinity for a sport that has taught me so much and I it's good to see that our our kids will have an opportunity to learn it when they're younger so when they finally get to the high school we start getting kids down to the state tournament and we can compete with all the other uh schools at that level. So thank you. >> I think that's it. >> Thank you for your presentation. Applause. >> [applause]