SpringfieldNewsSun.com

Springfield, Ohio — Thomas Spurgin passed out breakfast food — cereal and granola bars. The idea was to get the attention of the Springfield City Schools' board of education, and it worked.

North and South high schools are closing down, and Springfield High School opens Sept. 8. That means new teachers, new friends, new classes and a new building.

Springfield will be divided into four small schools — Humanities, Leadership, Problem-Based Learning, and Global Perspectives. Each gave unique ideas to ease the transition to the new high school at its weekly meeting at the City Hall Forum Thursday, May 8 .

Spurgin will lead the Humanities wing as its principal. The breakfast food might be a small measure, but the message of starting strong was not.

"It's not what we're doing that's going to be so different," Spurgin said. "It's how we do it. ... We want our students engaged."

Leadership passed out sunglasses to go along with its theme, "My future is so bright, I've got to wear shades."

Problem-Based Learning presented a monthly newsletter and positive postcards.

Global Perspectives prepared a disk that will be passed out to students that showed the pictures of all the teachers in its wing.

"It really proves we've been working on this for four years, and even before that," Superintendent Jean Harper said. "We're just really looking forward to a fantastic opening, knowing that students will have rigorous and personalized curriculum."

In other business:

• North students Krishna Vellanki and Ben Yu were recognized as National Merit Finalists.

• High school construction is 85 percent complete, tracking in budget and close to schedule, construction manager Tom Drerup said.

• Value Added testing coordinator Crystal Aker said the district exceeded expectations in 2007. Value Added measures student growth in a one-year time span.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0366 or bplasters@coxohio.com.

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