Springfield High School merger leads to 'great strides,’ but still 'a lot to do’

Merger leads to ‘great strides,’ but ‘a lot to do’

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By Megan Gildow, Staff Writer Updated 9:09 PM Saturday, June 6, 2009

SPRINGFIELD — A couple of months into Springfield High School’s first year, small schools Principal Kathy Lee saw one of her students taking a photo of herself next to a poster proclaiming her student of the month status.

She wasn’t a straight “A” student but she was a student who had made progress during that month, progress noted by the teachers in the school of Problem-Based Learning.

“That was, for us, very cool,” Lee said. “Our main goal was student recognition, trying to create an environment where the kids are tied to our hallways, to our school. We wanted kids that maybe went the month without being written up.”

Problem-Based Learning’s teal walls are the home of monthly student recognitions, poster boards filled with articles featuring its students and giant cutouts of the letters “P,” “B” and “L,” with photos of each of the 500 students who call the school home.

Springfield City Schools’ plan to merge North and South high schools into one mega-school of more than 1,700 students hinged on the small schools — divisions that would create a more intimate environment to allow students to forge relationships with the staff and classmates sharing the color-coded halls.

The four small schools — Problem Based-Learning, Humanities, Leadership and Global Perspectives — started with loosely-defined identities but were shaped throughout the year with input from students.

“In conjunction with Knowledge Works and the district’s initiative to let us have some really good planning time, we have really gotten a lot accomplished,” said science teacher Mike Willets.

But school leadership says there’s still miles to go, as the school gets its first campus director, Christopher Shaffer, next year and eliminates the staggered start times that officials say caused problems with discipline, morale and extracurricular and athletic development this year.

“For the first year, we’ve made some great strides,” Willets said. “We’ve really got a lot to do.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0373 or mgildow@coxohio.com.

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