Bee Informed

The Bee Informed is a newsletter for Medina City Schools' parents, students and community members in an effort to keep the District informed of important information and events.

During the organizational meeting of the Board of Education on Monday, January 11, 2020, the Board of Education elected its new officers for 2021. Robert Skidmore will serve as president and Rebecca Parkhurst will serve as vice president.

Incoming president Rob Skidmore stated, “As president for 2020, Valerie has worked hard over this past year to continue a great relationship between the Board and administration. She has been a tireless advocate in her efforts to research matters before the Board helping us to take a broader look at issues. Valerie has always been an advocate for students. She has demonstrated her leadership by personally attending the virtual graduation ceremony this past year welcoming students and their families. Valerie always has a positive attitude and always sees the good in others. She is the first Board president that has had to preside over meetings virtually during this unprecedented time-a first in the District. We very much appreciate all of her hard work and efforts over the course of this past year.”

Outgoing president Valerie Pavlik added, “I would like to personally congratulate Mr. Skidmore on his appointment to Board president. Working closely with Rob this year, I witnessed endless times his unwavering commitment and dedication to the District. He has a gift to be able to look at situations from many different angles and he respects and values the differences of opinions in every conversation. This past year has been one of the most challenging years of my life as it has been for everyone in the community. The District faced many challenges and unknowns these past 10 months and I am grateful to have had Rob serving as VP working alongside Aaron, Dave, and the rest of the Board and the administrators to navigate through these turbulent times. It’s a good team and I look forward to continuing to serve the community making Medina City Schools the best in the state. Thank you Rob for sharing your wisdom and guidance this past year.”

The current Board of Education members are Brian Hilberg, Rebecca Parkhurst, Valerie Pavlik, Ron Ross, and Robert Skidmore. In addition to their service on the Board, members serve on a number of state, local, Board of Education, and District committees. At the state level, they serve as delegates at the Ohio School Board Association’s Annual Meeting. Local committees include the Recreation Center Advisory Board and the Advisory Commission on Communication Enhancement Support Services (A.C.C.E.S.S.). Board members serve as appointees on the Curriculum and Instruction Committee, Facilities Committee, Finance Committee, Policy Committee, and Business Advisory Committee. Valerie Pavlik will serve as a representative of the Medina County Career Center Board effective 2021 through 2023 due to the resignation of Rob Skidmore.

January is Board of Education Appreciation Month. Thank you to our Board of Education for all you do for our students, staff, and community.

Thanks to the efforts of the Medina City Schools Food Service/Child Nutrition Department and their staff, food distribution will continue through the 2020-2021 school year. Meals are free to all children ages 1-18 and include one breakfast and one lunch per day. Click here for ordering information and pick-up times and locations. In the event of a calamity day on meal distribution day, it will be canceled for that day.

The Medina High School Varsity Girls Basketball team recently had the opportunity to compete at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse topping Toldeo Christian 54-46.

Monday, February 1, 2021

Board of Education Work Session

6:00 PM

Monday, February 16, 2021

Board of Education Regular Meeting

6:00 PM

The District and the Board of Education feels it is important to continue holding meetings of the Board. During this time, upcoming meetings will be held virtually for the public via Medina City Schools' YouTube Channel, and on Armstrong Channel 201. Currently, public comments can be made through Zoom. A link will be provided during the meeting with comments taken during the public comment portion of the meeting.

Replays of the meeting will then be available on Medina City Schools' YouTube Channel and Armstrong Channel 201.

The District requires that you confirm your contact information and sign off on all of the necessary paperwork each school year for each student enrolled. All parents or guardians must complete the Registration Gateway Back-to-School update. To complete your student's update, please click on this link.

Peer tutoring will once again be available this school year through the Joyce B. Ebner Tutoring Center (located at Medina High School) for all high school students. This program is made possible thanks to the continued support of the Medina City Schools Foundation. As in the past, tutoring will be available in all subject matters. In addition, preparation for the ACT and SAT is also available.

Students will be paired with National Honor Society students and other honors students. They will meet one to two times per week depending on their schedules. In addition, optional virtual tutoring will be available.

Tutoring applications are available online or at Medina High School in the Tutoring Center. All tutoring sessions will be coordinated through Carolyn Grenfell, Tutoring Center Director. Interested students and/or parent/guardians should contact Carolyn Grenfell at grenfellc@medinabees.org.

A crucial part of our students’ social and emotional health is relationships. We want to do all we can to maintain healthy relationships with our students and also to facilitate these connections with peers when in the virtual learning environment. The counselors at Medina High School developed the idea for their students. The elementary counselors decided to carry on the idea to engage all elementary students.

While students were attending online, daily “Counselor Connect” sessions were offered to all elementary students via a Google Meet link. Each Elementary counselor developed and hosted various interactive activities.

Mrs. Eick, a counselor at Heritage and Blake hosted a variety of activities to engage students.

• A virtual hike at Hinckley metro park (Mrs. Eick was really there): She provided a PowerPoint with information on the rock carvings that students could follow while they virtually hiked with her.
• Breakfast foods: Mrs. Eick invited students into her kitchen and taught them how to make yummy breakfast sandwiches.
• Drawing: Students followed as Mrs. Eick led them in drawing various objects and sharing their creations.
• Teach: Mrs. Eick worked with the students on Minecraft and Roblox.

Ms. Copley, a counselor at Waite hosted two weekly Google Meets.

• Music challenge, singing, and sharing: Students challenged Ms. Copley to play their favorite songs on the piano. Students were invited to sing along and/or play along on their instruments at home. Some students were brave enough to sing solos and play songs by themselves.
• Meet the horses: Ms. Copley took students on a virtual field trip introducing them to her family horses. Students learned facts about horses, interacted virtually giving them treats, and grooming them all while connecting with each other through their own stories and/or love of horses.

Mrs. Beshire, a counselor at Canavan and Fenn.

• Pictionary With Mrs. Beshire: Students had several opportunities to participate in an interactive game of Pictionary with Mrs. Beshire.
• Trivia: Students challenged themselves and each other with trivia facts

Mrs. Weiglus, a counselor at Garfield and Northrop

• Netflix: Students logged on to share and discuss what they are watching for fun.
• Holiday Movies: Students had fun sharing their favorite holiday movie moments

To date, almost 400 elementary students from across the District, including MODA students, have joined in the counselor connects.

As of Wednesday, 12/16, the Medina High School Debate Team has competed in eight virtual debate tournaments; a truly unique experience for both the students and their coach. This approach does lack some of the excitement of in-person participation, but it has provided some notable opportunities. Without any travel considerations, teams around the country have had the flexibility to participate in tournaments beyond their typical reach, which has improved the level and variety of competition.

So far, the team has done quite well, with several first and second-place finishes in tournaments with as many as forty schools competing. Medina High School Debate has also enjoyed its standing as one of the largest debate programs in the country. While many programs are seeing a reduction in participation, Medina has maintained the roughly 40 student membership that it has enjoyed for many years.

"We have approximately ten tournaments left in our season and look forward to the possibility of an 18th consecutive “trip” to the state finals and perhaps a 12th “trip” to the national championship. That will all be determined in the qualifying tournaments in the spring, but it’s looking good so far," stated Debate Coach Scott Quade.

On a couple of very snowy nights in December, Medina High School Student Council members made phone calls from the North Pole posing as Santa’s elves to check in on some very excited elementary students from Fenn Elementary. Parents had filled out a Google Form with lots of useful information so the StuCo kids could have a meaningful conversation with the students and get them excited about the season.

Senior Lucy O’Cull loved making her calls and thought it was a great way to get involved with the community, especially given the circumstances this year. Senior Kiley Ehlers said, ‘The kids’ parents texted me afterward and said the kids loved it and even “blushed” when I told them I was one of Santa’s elves.’’ Freshman Lacie Haffner reported, ‘’One of them was so excited to tell me how she won all her soccer games and was happy when I said I would tell Santa!” Junior Kaitlyn Pierce said parents texted her after to say the kids were bouncing off the walls; they were so excited to have talked to one of Santa’s elves. Sophomore Paul Ceccoli thinks that, without a doubt, StuCo should do this again next year. They hope to expand the pilot program to more elementary schools next year since it was such a success.

The Senior Scholarship Application will be available on the Medina High School website under Our School, School Counselors, then under Scholarships/Opportunities beginning February 1, 2021. There are more than 50 scholarships from various Medina Community and Medina High School organizations, from the Medina City Schools Foundation and from the elementary and middle school Parent Teacher Organizations. The Senior Scholarship Application is divided up into eight sections. All students must fill out the Basic Information application. Each section has similar/like category application requirements, ie played sports, pursuing a medical career. Students can complete the application sections that apply to them. Each section of the application must be completed in one sitting; it cannot be saved. The application window is February 1 through February 24, 2021. All supplemental information must be received in the White Guidance office by the end of the school day February 25, 2021, unless otherwise stated. There is a preview/criteria sheet on the website available now for students to prepare application responses.

The Medina High School Drama Club has been busy even under current circumstances. They just completed two months rehearsing for and then recording She Kills Monsters Virtual Realms, a fully online version of the popular high school play, She Kills Monsters, an adventurous tale set against the backdrop of Dungeons & Dragons about friendship, loss, and acceptance. The show will be shown free of cost online from January 29-31. A link to the show will be provided on the Performing Arts Center website. Performers are Anna Fletcher, Madison Reed, Chris Smith, Elizabeth Barrett, Colin Barberic, Liberty Hooper, Gretchen Catherwood, Stevie Joseph, Owen Newman, Belle Oehler, Allison Custer, Liv Douglas, and Sam Tripi.

The Club also just completed recording S.P.I.C.E., the annual high school talent show. The 17-act show is planned to make its 2021 debut on February 5th on the Medina High School Youtube Channel and tentatively on Medina TV around the same time. Look for information on the Performing Arts Center website closer to February 5.

The Medina High School Drama Club will also be holding auditions on February 2nd for the Spring Musical, the Tony Award Winning 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. A link to sign up for an audition is located on the Performing Arts Center website. For more information, please email Ron Douglas at douglasr@medinabees.org.

To top off all of their work, the Club is participating in The Playhouse Square Dazzle Awards Program. About 30 high schools in Northeast Ohio participate every year. This year it is a scaled-down and virtual version, but in a typical year, each school’s musical is adjudicated and judges select nominees in a variety of categories. This is followed by an awards show at Playhouse Square where selected students get to perform. The winner of best actor/actress moves on to New York City to participate in the National High School Musical Theater Awards (The Jimmy’s), which this year is also virtual, to compete against winners from other states.

Through Dazzles, Medina students have also had the opportunity to participate in a series of Master Class workshops in acting, dancing, and voice with Broadway performers. These are typically done at Playhouse Square but are being done virtually this year.

Medina United Church of Christ recently hosted a reverse Advent Calendar food donation collection for Claggett Middle School; a great example of amazing generosity. The response so impressive school counselor Kevin Miller from Claggett took three full loads in an SUV packed with the donations from their Welcome Area. These donations enabled him to deliver needed items to some of the students' families while they have been virtually learning.

Senior Yearbook Portrait Pictures

Seniors should have their portrait pictures taken through Lifetouch. This is a free session and can be scheduled by calling 330-225-7666. The deadline for senior pictures has been extended to March 1, 2021.

Grades 9-11 Yearbook Portrait Pictures

If you would like your portrait picture in the yearbook this year, please upload your own portrait using Josten’s yearbook portrait tool by following this link https://www.ybkplus.com/auth. Enter your email address and you will be sent a code to continue on to the site and upload your picture. Grades 9-11 portrait pictures are due by March 1, 2021. If you have questions or need help, please email hascherh@medinabees.org.

Yearbooks

The yearbook staff is working hard on this year's book. Everything we typically include will be in this year’s edition with the exception of the events that have been canceled. Please consider purchasing at www. jostens.com. The cost is $70.00.

If you have any questions or concerns please email hascherh@medinabees.org.

Want Medina City Schools information right at your finger tips? Download the mobile app available on the Apple Store and Google Play.

The Medina High School After Prom Committee is once again selling Senior Yard Signs for the Class of 2021. This is the largest fundraiser for After Prom and although we are in uncertain times, the committee is still going forward with planning and fundraising for this safe, drug & alcohol-free event. The cost of each sign is $15. For complete details and to place an order, please click on this link.

Be sure to check Flyer Central to see what's happening around our community from youth sports programs to other community events.

The Medina Athletic Boosters will be publishing the Winter Sports Program and need your submissions for everyone's favorite section, “Before They Were Bees.” Please send your senior basketball, wrestling, gymnastics, swimming, bowling, or cheerleading pictures to be included in this section by January 31st. Send all pictures to

boosters@medinabees.org.

The Winter Sports Program is currently under construction and will be available in February. Follow the Medina Boosters on Twitter at @medinaboosters for information on the release date and when to check with your parent representative for your Winter Sports Program.

We would all like to be at a game, match, or meet this winter to see our Battling Bees in action. With the current safety protocols in place, things are a little different this season. Never fear, you can still catch the Bees in action when they’re playing at Medina High School. Follow the Medina City Schools YouTube page for LIVE coverage of many freshmen, JV, and varsity contests. Additionally, MedinaTV provides LIVE coverage on selected boys and girls basketball games on Facebook LIVE.

Twitter: @MedinaBoosters

Email: busbya@medinabees.org
Website: www.medinabees.org
Location: 739 Weymouth Road, Medina, OH, USA
Phone: 330.725.8831
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MedinaCitySchools
Twitter: @MCScomm1