St. Clairsville School Board Grateful For Supporters | News, Sports, Jobs

Photo by CARRI GRAHAM
St. Clairsville-Richland City School District Superintendent Walter Skaggs, left, gives his superintendent’s report during the school board’s Wednesday morning meeting. Also pictured are board President Mike Jacobs and Treasurer Amy Porter.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — During the month of February, St. Clairsville-Richland City School District received more than $23,000 in donations, and board members are grateful for the support.

The board of education accepted $23,692 in donations from different organizations and companies during Wednesday’s morning meeting.

Of those donations, the Saints Club gave $10,000 to the high school athletic department; the Red Devil Club donated $20,892 to the high school athletic department for its track/cross country, tennis uniforms, softball uniforms and equipment and for a new pitching machine; Chick-fil-A donated $250 to the high school band; the Ziegenfelder Co. donated 600 twin pops for Twin Day at the elementary school; and an anonymous person donated $100 toward the the elementary principal fund.

Board President Mike Jacobs took a moment to recognize the month’s donors.

“With everything we’ve been through with COVID the last couple years, when you look at this donation list — what our booster groups have been able to do and continue to do — we can’t thank them enough.

“We wouldn’t be able to function without them. We just want to spread the word and tell them that they’ve done a fantastic job,” he said.

In another matter, Assistant Superintendent Christina Laudermilt said the district has partnered with the East Central Ohio Educational Service Center, which was awarded a $1.1 million grant, for its Tier II Dyslexia Certification.

“They are partnering with all of their county schools in order to get this Tier II Dyslexia Certification. They are providing us with two spaces. … This is part of House Bill 436, which is the right to read bill, it’s the dyslexia bill. Every district is going to be required to have a Tier II intervention specialist that is for this, and that is an 18-month process for any individual that has to go through that,” she said.

Laudermilt said the school district will be able to certify two people through the grant funding. Superintendent Walter Skaggs added that they will pay for a third person to complete the certification, which will cost around $1,200.

“It would be well worth it to have a third individual, if possible,” he said. “It’s a huge commitment. Once they start the certification process, they have to complete it.”

Laudermilt said at least one person per district must be certified in the program per the state. Beginning next year, all students in kindergarten through third grade will be screened for dyslexia.

“If they get what they call flagged, it’s four to six weeks of intensive intervention and then if that intervention doesn’t work, then you have to do a Tier II screener. So if they do the Tier II screener and they are flagged again, this Tier II person would have to be providing them intensive remediation to see if we can work with them on their reading strategies. It would be nice if we had that at the elementary and then at the middle school,” she said.

The district is unsure how many children will fall into the category since next year will be the first time the screening is done; however, Laudermilt said research indicates 15-20 percent of the population has the tendency for some kind of dyslexia.

Also, Skaggs gave his superintendent’s report during the meeting. He said the district’s COVID numbers have “dropped tremendously.” There is currently only one positive case in the district — a student in the elementary school.

“The numbers have really improved over the last couple weeks, almost to the point where it is non-existent in our district,” he said.

The board next meets at 7 a.m. April 13 at the board of education office, located at 108 Woodrow Ave.