Superintendent

Superintendent

Monday, September 24, 2012

Too Many Good Things . . .

It's September 24 already, and my last post was September 6. Not doing too well keeping up with my "weekly" blog--it's a good thing I knew not to make it a daily blog! Today's title, "Too many good things. . ." is what I have been thinking for the past several days as I have watched our students and staff milling about our new school. Our new facility is brightly lit and wonderfully designed--and who doesn't enjoy being surrounded by new walls, paint, flooring, and best of all, sufficient air conditioning? Lately we are grateful most of the new heat pumps are working and taking the chill off. 

I found out last week that our new building is 34.2% more energy efficient than the baseline ASHRAE standard for the building. If that weren't enough, there is a slim chance that we may also meet Platinum status for the LEED portion of our construction project! A few things have to fall into place before Platinum can be achieved, but right now it looks like anything is possible. I look forward to writing the innovative design component for the LEED review later this winter. Our solar project has certainly helped to increase our LEED status, but we also have significant achievements in innovative design, water efficiency, energy efficiency, and indoor environmental quality. 

Vantage also received kudos at last Thursday evening's Van Wert County Economic Development annual dinner by Commissioner Thad Lichtensteiger and Mayor Don Farmer. The staff and I appreciate being an integral part of our community. 

More good things to come. . .running out of time to write them all. . . Until next time, Today Matters--as I read somewhere recently, "What you do today is important, because you are exchanging a day of your life for it."




Thursday, September 6, 2012

First Day of School!

Finally, we had our first day of school at Vantage! New juniors, as well as returning seniors, started their day together this morning. Yesterday's fog closure was definitely not the way any of us wanted to start the new school year. Hopefully it isn't a sign of numerous calamity days yet to come.

The Vantage staff recognizes that coming to a new school district as a junior or senior can be scary and at the very least, make you feel like a fish out of water. Our "staggered start" (which didn't work out due to fog), is intended to help our juniors get oriented a bit more easily, without the added influx of returning seniors. This year not only did Vantage students enter a new school, all of them literally entered a new school building, much of which didn't exist last year. Even our seniors were asking for directions, but all seemed to be enjoying their new school. Again, thank you to our voters for supporting our bond levy in 2009! You helped to make this much needed renovation and expansion project possible.

A bit of Vantage trivia--long-time social studies teacher Ms. Peg Bollenbacher remembers that closing school on the first day has only happened one other time in our 36 year history! Ms. Bollenbacher is completing her 35th year of teaching this year, all of them at Vantage.

Best wishes to all for an excellent school year ahead!


Saturday, September 1, 2012

September1, 2012

This is Van Wert County fair week, one of my favorite weeks of the year. I love spending time at the fair, rain or shine. It reminds me of my youth, when the highlights of summer were Defiance County fair week and 4-H camp week at Camp Palmer in Fayette. Stop by the Vantage Career Center booth when you are at the fair, and pick up a reminder for Statewide Ford's "Drive One for Your School" event at Vantage on September 22, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For every test drive, Vantage will receive $20 for our scholarship funds. We    want to see 50 drivers every hour!

It's also just a few days until the 2012-13 school year starts at Vantage. The new building was packed with students and parents last Monday and Tuesday evenings for orientation. The teaching staff is ready to go with a full day of moving in to new classrooms and labs on Tuesday, while they figure out how to get from place to place in new surroundings. Our seniors won't have any advantage over the juniors, since the majority of pathways they used to take are now replaced with new hallways and brand new classrooms which didn't exist last May.

We are excited to begin a new year-- one that brings the end of 18-months of construction and renovation! We will have our Grand Open House! on Monday, February 25, 2013, from 5 to 8 p.m. Stop by that evening for a tour and have a celebration cupcake and coffee!