BCSD News & Information
December 4, 2020
IMPORTANT DATES
December 7 - Board of Education Virtual Meeting
December 14-18 - Winter Spirit Week
December 15 - Coffee & Conversation with the Superintendent
December 21 - Board of Education Virtual Meeting
December 23 - January 3 - Winter Break
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Remote Learning Schedules through December 22nd
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BMHS Suspends Administering Semester Exams for the 2020-2021 School Year
It was proposed to the Berea Board of Education that Berea-Midpark High School does not administer 1st and 2nd semester exams for the 2020-2021 school year. BMHS Principal, Dr. Smithberger, presented the rationale to the Board that included the following reasons:
A loss of instructional time with students occurred due to COVID and delaying the start of the school year. This would allow us to recoup instructional time.
The exam schedule is set up for three school days. If we keep the current schedule, it would be six instructional days to complete exams this school year.
If we only test the students in person due to concerns regarding academic integrity, that would double the exam schedule to 12 days for the year.
Exams are largely inconsequential regarding the final grade due to the mathematical breakdown of each quarter being worth 40% of the grade and the exam being worth 20%. For example, if a student has a 75% for the first quarter, a 78% for the second quarter, the student would need to get a 94% on the exam to get a B for the course or a 44% on the exam to get a D for the course. The exam does not necessarily give us great data regarding what students actually know because they know how many points they need to get a specific grade.
Historically exams were used to support students in their transition to college exams and preparing them for large assessments. At this point, our students are well versed in large exams with state testing, PSAT, SAT, and ACT.
Education during a pandemic looks different. We would have to alter or change nearly all of our exams to accommodate the skills and materials that may not have been covered during the 1st semester or 2nd semester.
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Virtual Coffee and Conversation with the Superintendent
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Berea City Schools Athletics Update
Dear Southwestern Athletic Conference Athletes and Families,
As you know, we continue to experience considerable COVID-19 spread throughout the state and local region. At this time, Lorain County is designated as Level 4 (Purple) and Cuyahoga County is at a Level 3*. As previously stated, the goal of the SWC Conference is to allow our student-athletes to compete safely and fully against conference opponents during the winter athletic season. In consultation with local health officials, it is our intent to restart the winter sports season on December 14, 2020. We believe this temporary “pause” gives our student-athletes the best opportunity for a complete and successful season.
What is being paused and what is not being paused?
All SWC 7th through 12th grade athletics and all youth programs that are under the auspices of an SWC school district.
No school sponsored youth teams (pre-7th grade) should be travelling nor using SWC School District facilities for competition.
According to the Lorain County Health Commissioner, pausing all sports was the best course of action due to teams from all sports having to quarantine.
SWC School Districts acknowledge that youth teams associated with private organizations may still choose to hold competitions.
Families should be aware that there are teams from communities that reside in the SWC that are not officially affiliated with a school district that may choose to compete. While we believe those teams should also pause competition, districts do not have jurisdiction and decision making authority over them.
Why is this continued pause necessary?
Our conference priority is to play a full SWC schedule.
The SWC Conference has relied on the guidance and experience of the Lorain County Health Commissioner when it comes to decision making about athletics. He has advised local superintendents that the best course of action at this time is to continue to pause athletics until December 14, due to an increase in community spread in Lorain and Cuyahoga County.
An increase in community spread could lead to the mass quarantining of student-athletes due to the nature of contact tracing for them. Unlike a school building where structures like social distancing and facial coverings exist, student-athletes do not wear masks when competing. In addition, unlike fall sports, all winter sports occur indoors where the likelihood of spread is higher.
Pausing allows teams who are currently under quarantine the opportunity to participate in the league moving forward.
To date, 7 school SWC districts (Avon, Amherst, Avon Lake, Midview, North Olmsted, North Ridgeville & Olmsted Falls) have had to quarantine teams from multiple sports. Those sports include: hockey (2 teams), bowling (1 team), girls basketball (7 teams) , boys basketball (7 teams) gymnastics (2 teams), and wrestling (1 team).
What is the plan moving forward?
The SWC Athletic Directors have been asked to recalibrate the conference schedule in order to plan for as much of a full season as possible for the remainder of the regular season.
SWC competitions will be prioritized over any non-conference games that may be on schedules.
Please contact your local Athletic Department and team coaches for guidance on practice schedules and safety protocols.
In closing, parents and student-athletes should know that the goal of everyone is to have our student-athletes safely back in competition as soon as possible. We recognize that there is a considerable amount of time and effort put into the off-season and in many cases, athletes have been preparing for competition for quite some time. We remain optimistic and hopeful that we will have a Winter Sports season.
Sincerely,
MIchael McCarthy
Southwest Conference Commissioner
Southwest Conference Superintendents:
Steve Sayers - Amherst
Mike Laub, Avon
Bob Scott - Avon Lake
Tracy Wheeler - Berea
Dr. Bruce Willingham - Midview
Roxann Ramsey-Caserio - North Ridgeville
Dr. Mike Zalar - North Olmsted
Dr. Jim Lloyd - Olmsted Falls
Dr. Scott Goggin - Westlake
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Meal Distribution Week of 12/7/20
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BMHS Music Rooms and Performing Arts Center nearly complete!
Project Eagles Nest
Ian Taylor, a junior at BMHS has a big idea for his service project to become an Eagle Scout - the highest rank in Boy Scouts. His project involves repurposing a room in the 5th and 6th grade wing of BMMS into a student sensory room to help serve special education students in need of a break or may need to regain focus. Ian, alongside Director of Pupil Services Lori Bobinchek, 5th grade Assistant Principal Lynda MacQuarrie, and Occupational Therapist Kim O'Brien, is planning out what materials and resources are needed to make the room serve the students in the best way possible. According to Ian, this is a fairly large undertaking for an Eagle Scout Project and he estimates the cost will be around $3,000. Learn more about this project and ways you can get involved by following the project's Facebook page or watching Ian's video.
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STAY CONNECTED
Website: www.berea.k12.oh.us
Location: 390 Fair Street, Berea, Ohio 44017
Phone: 216-898-8300
Facebook: facebook.com/BereaCSD
Twitter: @BereaCSD