• School illness absences are slowly returning to something closer to what we might consider normal for this time of year. Thanks to parents who were so conscientious about keeping students home until fevers and illness had passed. We have noticed that students who are out with influenza-like-illness may often think they are OK to return to school, but find themselves too fatigued to keep up with the school pace.
• H1N1 Vaccine Clinics:
  • Thanks to parents for returning “Plan to Participate” forms. We have received over 1600 consents to vaccinate in school and approximately 700 consents for evening vaccination. We also recognize and respect the preferences of some parents who have declined to have their children vaccinated for H1N1.
  • We still do not know the date of the in-school or evening vaccine clinics. The Stark County Health Department is working hard to coordinate all of the Stark County schools to get our Tier One Priority population vaccinated as soon as possible.
  • Parents will be notified by a phone message when the clinic dates are announced.
  • There will be at least one elementary evening clinic, perhaps two.
    
    • Evening elementary clinics will be open to serve preschoolers, kindergarteners, and any other school-aged (K-12) children with parents present. Pregnant moms may also receive the vaccine at the evening clinic.
  • There will also be a Saturday community clinic for the Tier One Priority* population in North Canton at a date and time to be announced after the in-school clinics are scheduled.
  • If you did not get your consent turned in to school prior to the deadline you will still be able to bring your child to an evening or community clinic. Please do not turn in any additional forms to the school buildings!
  • *Tier One Priority Qualifications are:
    • Pregnant women
    • Household contacts and caregivers of children under 6 months of age
    • All people 6months to 24 years of age
    • Persons aged 25 through 64 years who have health conditions associated with a higher risk of medical complications from influenza.
• Thank you for continuing to reinforce healthy habits at home, school and in the community. Although attendance is improving, we can’t let our guard down when it comes to fighting illness. We surely have a long winter flu season ahead of us yet.

Be Healthy!

Lynette Rice, RN, BSN
Barbara Berner, RN, BSN

Below is a quick update concerning H1N1 information provided by our school nurse, Lynette Rice:

• We continue to see over 10% of our student population absent from school due to influenza-like-illness.
• We are following the CDC school guidelines, as encouraged by CDC, Ohio Dept of Health and the Stark County Health Dept.
• Our maintenance staff has inspected all rooms to guarantee availability of alcohol-based hand sanitizer, tissues, paper towels, and a non-toxic spray cleaner which can be used to augment regular surface cleaning.
• School nurses have made presentations at all staff meetings to review procedures, precautions, classroom education, etc.
• Teachers have made accommodations to homework make-up and procedures for parent pick-up of homework.
• We are working diligently with the Stark County Health Dept and the school nurses and administrators of all Stark County schools to make arrangements to provide school-based H1N1 vaccination clinics and community clinics. All parents will be receiving this information within the next day. As you no doubt know from all the media, the vaccine is coming in via the Ohio Dept of Health and we in Stark County do not know when we will have our supply. Soon, we hope. Therefore, we will send permission forms home, ask for them back as soon as possible, then see how many parents choose to take advantage of this opportunity. Once we know HOW MANY students we will be vaccinating at school, we will be ready with plans to roll out the vaccine clinics as soon as it arrives.

The illness absences seem to be leveling off and parents are being very responsible in keeping their students home when they are ill. I have been very impressed with student and staff's illness etiquette (coughing in sleeves, using tissues, utilizing the alcohol-based hand sanitizer, and hand-washing). Everyone is doing their part to get through this difficult time.

Lynette Rice, RN, BSN, School Nurse
North Canton City Schools

For all our forms and documents related to H1N1, including Vaccine Consent Forms, click the link below:
http://www.northcantonschools.org/nccs/forms.html?task=viewcategory&catid=25

The North Canton Alumni Association recently held the 2009 Hall of Distinction Banquet.  Inductees into the Hall of Distinction this year are Cynthia McDowell Lazor, David Lindower, Dr. Robert Roden, The North Canton Chamber of Commerce, and the late, Paul A. Weber.

Superintendent Mike Gallina presented the awards and the program was planned by Alumni members Lisa Gregory, Suzi VanVranken, and Bob Berrodin.

This year marks the eighteenth anniversary of the North Canton Alumni Association.  The mission of the association is to enhance education in North Canton and promote a sense of pride for the school system including athletic achievement, academic excellence and to further the memories of all alumni.

The North Canton City Schools grading scale has been adjusted and will be used district-wide during the 2009-2010 school year.  The adjustment to the grading scale is a culmination of an extensive study of similar excellent districts as well as post-secondary trends in grading and documentation.  The change will benefit our students and level the playing field for college entrance and scholarship opportunities.

The change in the district grading scale is retroactive to the students’ freshman year or beginning high school transcript (students who took Algebra 1 or a world language in their eighth grade year).   Minor adjustments to a student’s grade point average and subsequent class rank may occur.  If a student previously earned a failing grade in high school, this grade will remain an “F” and the course will need to be retaken for credit.

Academic performance expectations have not been lowered; teachers will still demand high levels of achievement.  By aligning the grading scale, students from the North Canton City Schools will be even more competitive in their post-secondary endeavors.

Please call or email Peggy Savage, Director of Curriculum, if you have any questions or concerns – 330-497-5600, Ext. 304 or  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

As you may know, flu can be easily spread from person to person. Therefore, we are taking steps to reduce the spread of flu in North Canton City Schools.  We want to keep the school open to students and functioning in a normal manner during the flu season. But, we need your help to do this.

We are working closely with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Ohio Department of Health and the Stark County Health Department to monitor flu conditions and make decisions about the best steps to take concerning schools. We will keep you updated with new information as it becomes available.

The greeting, “Welcome back!”, has been shared extensively the last couple of weeks as our students and staff have returned to the 2009-2010 school year.  The energy, anticipation, and focused efforts have already begun as the “personality” of each course, classroom, and school building is taking shape.  It is truly an exciting time in the lives of our students, their families, our staff, and the overall community of North Canton.  While this immediate period of time is taking shape, the district is also setting its sights on the future, as well.  In the short term, much activity will occur to ready our students and the district for life in the 21st Century.  But beyond this current period of time, there is also a need for planning that impacts our more distant future, as well.

Michael R. Gallina has just received the Ohio Superintendent Outstanding Performance Award for 2009 from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation of Cleveland. The statewide award was presented July 30 at the Marriott Cleveland East Hotel in Warrensville Heights.

Accompanying the award was a $20,000 stipend, which the superintendent is giving to the district's Project MOSAIC program, to reach out to North Canton Middle School students as well as those at Hoover High, where the program was originated.

In the meantime, please feel free to send us feedback including:

• What do you like about the new site?
• What don't you like about the new site?
• What other features and/or information would you like to have on the district web site?

You can anonymously send in your comments by filling in the "Website Feedback" box on the far left column below the "Featured Information" section.  Just click the "Submit" button to send in your ideas.

We are excited to share that North Canton City Schools has met all 30 indicators on the Ohio School District Report Card for the 2008-2009 school year!  This means that we are rated Excellent for a 9th consecutive year.  Additionally, we have met the criteria for Annual Yearly Progress (AYP).  This is an additional point of pride, as this area on the report card is even harder to achieve.  We are extremely proud of the efforts of all our staff, students, and parents who work together to make this possible.

For additional information about Local Report Cards, including frequently asked questions, a breakdown of the data, and access to the Local Report Card itself, you can go to the Ohio Department of Education website at:

http://ilrc.ode.state.oh.us/Districts/District_Questions.asp?sel=044503,North Canton City,Stark County