Fostoria principal talks school success

FOSTORIA — Fostoria Jr./Sr. High School Principal Michael Daring delivered a presentation during the Fostoria City Schools Board of Education meeting Monday evening. During his report, Daring talked about the successes the school has seen throughout the first semester. "Our two-building goals that we've established over the course of the school year are first and foremost, we want at least 85% of our students to be on track to earn credit and or pass classes," Daring said. "And our second goal is we're going to increase and we're going to demonstrate growth on all of our spring and OST in course assessments." Daring also announced that "in semester one, we had roughly 70% of our students not only pass some of their classes, but 70% passed all their classes in the first semester." "I think that's notable," he said. "Last year we had our lowest semester failure rate in five years, and this year we've reduced that amount by an additional 13.5%. I think that's contributed to the hard work of our staff and students, and zeroing in and focusing on our two building goals." Daring discussed the schools' after-school intervention program, where he said they saw continuous growth throughout the first semester. "It's continuing to grow, and we're going to continue to encourage students to take advantage of those additional learning opportunities," he said. Daring noted that the school has also implemented individualized graduation plans for each student. "It's a plan that not only tracks their credits toward graduation but their competency score during these course assessments," Daring explained that it helps with goal setting for the students. "These plans are highly instrumental in finding out what goals students have so we can put out a schedule that will accommodate those goals." He then announced that the school reduced unexcused student absences by 33%. "Discipline overall is down 33%," Daring added, as well as discipline referrals being down by 58%. Bullying, intimidation and harassment reports have been down by 16% compared to last school year, along with general insubordination down by 37%. "I think a lot of that is a testament to the Lead In Action Team," Daring said. "Their dedication and attention to students, building relationships and their willingness to try new research-base strategies and implement them in the classroom is the linchpin to reducing the frequencies of these unwanted behaviors that we see. We're going to continue to support that team moving forward and actually try to expand that into the academic realm as well." In other news, the board approved a resolution to accept the amounts and rates to authorize the necessary tax levies and certify them to the county auditor. The board also approved all personnel items presented on the agenda as well as the 2023-2024 FJSHS Course Selection Guide and school calendar as submitted. Next, the board went on to approve the school district's continued membership with the Ohio High School Athletic Association for the 2023-2024 school year, and a College Credit Plus agreement among Fostoria City Schools and Terra State Community College, and Owens Community College. Finally, the board approved the following donations: Fraternal Order of Police, FP Culp Lodge 22 to the Fostoria Academy The Rotary Club of Fostoria to Amy Stultz-HOBY Coordinator The board then entered into an executive session to discuss the consideration of employment or compensation of an employee and to investigate charges or complaints against a public employee, with no further business to announce afterward.