Nine Westfield Washington Schools’ elementary students have been selected to participate in the Sodexo - Westfield Washington Schools Future Chefs competition on February 20.

The school representatives are:

Natalie Cartmel, 3^rd grade, Oak Trace Elementary, Natalie’s Caribbean Black Bean & Fruit Salad

Madi Kerrigan, 3^rd grade, Maple Glen Elementary, Chicken Berry Salad

Cameron Lienhart, 4^th grade, Carey Ridge Elementary, Thai Sweet Chili Chicken Salad

Grace Mayan, 4^th grade, Oak Trace Elementary, Rainbow Salad

Syna Patel, 4^th grade, Shamrock Springs Elementary, Black Bean Corn Salsa

Will Peters, 3^rd grade, Shamrock Springs Elementary, Blue Chip Taco Salad

Lana Reinking, 3^rd grade, Maple Glen Elementary, Terrific Turkey Salad

Ethan Sanchez, 3^rd grade, Monon Trail Elementary, Fruit Dip Salad

Garrett Smith, 4^th grade, Washington Woods Elementary, Harvest Salad

Abigail Marie Turner-Brooks, 3^rd grade, Washington Woods Elementary, Egg-Cellent Asparagus Salad

Twenty-nine students from the district’s six elementary schools submitted salad recipes in hopes of being selected to compete in the district level competition.  The Sodexo staff selected up to two recipes from those submitted to represent each elementary.

These students will showcase their culinary talents at the competition and will be judged on originality, healthy attributes, ease of preparation, kid appeal, plate presentation and use of featured ingredients.

Judges for the competition are Keltie Domina, Sysco Foods; Michelle Plummer, American Dairy Association of Indiana; Chef Brian Swift, Sodexo; Chef Mike Szady, Sodexo; and Nick Verhoff, Westfield Washington Schools.

On February 17, 5-6 a.m., FirstMile Technologies will be performing a scheduled maintenance upgrade to its core routing infrastructure.  All district technology services will be offline for the duration of the maintenance window. This includes GroupWise, PowerSchool, Moodle, NetStorage, and Lunchtime.

The district’s six elementary schools and two teams from Westfield Intermediate School participated in the local M.A.T.H. Bowl competition hosted at Maple Glen Elementary.

In the Blue Class, Westfield Intermediate School Team 1 (score 27) and Team 2 (score 27) finished in first and second place after the tie-breaker.

Carey Ridge Elementary (score 24) took first place in the Yellow Class, while Washington Woods Elementary (score 20) finished in second place after a tie-breaker with third place finisher Maple Glen Elementary (score 20), followed by Monon Trail Elementary (score 19), Shamrock Springs Elementary (score 19), and Oak Trace Elementary (score 16).

Congratulations to all of our M.A.T.H. Bowl teams! Team photos are below:

Carey Ridge Elementary

Team members: Andrew Bennett, Kyle Byers, Sierra Cain, Alex Coulombe, Hunter Cook, Christian Emigh, Owen Hauber, Jon Hicks, Peighton Isley, Carson Kessler, Kyler Koning, Colin Nixon, Emily Rhodes, Spencer Seigworth, Hunter Sutake, Emma Tragesser, Ryan Wilkes, and Adam Witzman

Coaches: Margie Ramey and Christopher Otsu

Maple Glen Elementary

Team members: Gordon Bradley, Mia Cisija, Masey Coots, Gabe Del Greco, Owen Dossett, Simon Fields, Sammy Liggett, T.J. Linhart, Alex Matthews, Danny McClelland, Logan Moore, Nick Oldfather, Zach Pause, and Logan Reiff

Coaches: Rodney Wilson and Crissy Stephan

Monon Trail Elementary

Team members: Hanzel Adelbert, Rodrigo Belmonte, Linley Cassidy, Gavin Fisher, David Frey, Jonathan Frey, Adam Garretson, Trace Hagemeier, Wyatt Hall, Alex Hewitt, Caden Hopkins, Kirsten Kratz, Emily Robinson, J.D. Stanfield, and Kamden Tuggle

Coach: Denise Hanlin

Oak Trace Elementary

Team members: Natalee Brendel, Claire Davis, Max Degnan, Grace Denney, Gabby Fekete, Tyler Galyean, Larissa Krakora, Jonah Martinez, Mairin McAndrews, Reghan Oland, Matthew Penley, Jeneve Pilcher, Sophie Porter, Elayna Reynolds, Drew Scanlon, Grace Stewart, Brylee Stubbs, and Ben Wallace

Coaches: Jackie Hiatt and Levi Hiatt

Shamrock Springs Elementary

Team members: Robby Bogdajewicz, Sofia DePasquale, Casey Fanelli, Sam Foreman, Kevin Kingshill, Vinnie Lackey, Trinity Miller, Maya Raymond, Matthew Rops, Gabe Ryan, Tyler Smith, Lincoln Strong, Elijah Windle, Ava Zellers, and Kyle Zellers

Coaches: Jodi Dubovich and Emily Price

Washington Woods Elementary

Team members: Jackson Bieghler, Zach Davis, Keerah Deluca, Isabella Duray, Preston Hacker, Ava Hiatt, Henry Hoard, Emma Jobe, Jackson Neff, Vika Platonova, Micah Roberson, Garrett Smith, Ian Watson, Melanie Villegas-Coeto, Avery Wagner, and Deonisha Wright

Coach: Ann Joseph

Westfield Intermediate School Team 1

Team members: Daniel Adelfinsky, Kerry Effinger, Mia Herzog, Kylar Kavanaugh, Anja Kranich, Parker Lee, Jade LeTran, Anna Nguyen, Natalie Penry, Megan Reed, Josh Stegner, J.T. Waldron, and Jake Weikel

Coaches: Becky Molebash and Jan Brill

Westfield Intermediate School Team 2

Team members: Zikria Anwarzai, Katie Byers, WeiBin Cheah, Daniel Fitzgerald, Hannah Goergens, Noah Lancaster, Faith Macy, Matias Manzur, Jack Mick, Colby Morrison, Emma Nichols, Samuel Novak, Matthew Pierce, Maverick Tebbe, Krishi Thaker, and Gryphon Weintraut

Coaches: Becky Molebash and Jan Brill

Carey Ridge Elementary and WIS M.A.T.H. Bowl Teams finished in the Top 10 of State’s Indiana Association of School Principal’s Elementary contest.

Carey Ridge Elementary School’s team finished third out of over 60 teams that participated statewide in the Yellow Class.  Westfield Intermediate School Team 1 and Team 2 placed fifth and seventh respectively in the state’s Blue Class with over 100 teams.

The Carey Ridge Elementary team finished with a score of 24 and will receive a plaque recognizing their achievement.

WIS Team 1 and Team 2 both finished with a score of 27 and were in a five way tie for third place.  The final placement was determined using tie breaker scores.  Both teams will receive a certificate.

In the Yellow Class, Washington Woods Elementary placed 13^th, Maple Glen Elementary placed 14^th, Monon Trail Elementary was 18^th, followed by Shamrock Springs Elementary in 20^th and Oak Trace Elementary in 37^th.

More than 7,500 students on 486 teams competed across the state to correctly answer seven multiple-choice questions in four rounds of competition.

Congratulations to all of the Westfield Washington Schools’ teams who participated in the competition this year.

Remember to Spring Forward! Daylight Saving Time begins at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 10 and ends on November 3 at 2 a.m. Be sure to move your clocks ahead 1 hour.

Grade/Subject at what school: Fourth Grade, Shamrock Springs Elementary

Number of years teaching: 9

Background/Schooling (college & high school):

Sheridan High School, Sheridan, Ind.

B.S. Elementary Education, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.

M.A. Education, Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion, Ind.

Why did you become a teacher? It was very easy for me to choose a profession before I began college because I had always loved children and had a passion for helping people, so I put the two together and became a teacher!

What goals do you have for your students? Every year my goals for each of my students are to learn how to become well rounded citizens, to solve problems independently, and develop the enthusiasm for learning.

What do you encourage parents to do at home to help their children strengthen particular skills? I know that home life can be very hectic, especially with after school events and working parents. I always encourage parents to stop and take 15 minutes to read to their child or to have their child read to them. I think it is so important for children and parents to develop the love and appreciation of reading as a family unit.

Name your favorite movie. The Sound of Music.

Name your favorite musician or band. Kenney Chesney

What’s something your students might not know about you? I met Drew Brees while attending Purdue University.

The Westfield High School capital campaign – Build the Rock – has surpassed $3 million in donations and sponsorships to build a community stadium.

Sponsorships for naming rights, brick sales, and donations along with cash on hand total $3.03 million.  Key contributors are St. Vincent Health, Inc., Estridge Family Foundation, and Sodexo.

“We are very pleased with the willingness of our business community to discuss opportunities available to support this campaign” said Bill Davis, WHS Athletic Director and Co-Chair of the Build the Rock Steering Committee.  “We have met with several companies and their generosity and overall support of our schools has been overwhelming. We live in a great community and are confident that this campaign will be successful. We look forward to continuing the momentum and completing our overall goal.”

WHS launched the campaign in October 2012 with the goal of raising funds to build a community stadium.  In addition to donations, there are a variety of ways for individuals and businesses to contribute through sponsorship naming opportunities including purchasing a plaza entryway brick.

The new stadium would provide a venue for school games, but would be a community field and stadium and enhance community development.  In addition to other school events such as graduation, the stadium would be available for Westfield Youth Sports Inc.; various championship games in conjunction with Grand Park; community concerts; college showcases; national travel team tournaments; and much more.

The capital campaign is a fiscally responsible approach to addressing current safety, supervision and capacity concerns without raising the tax rate while being proactive since the current stadium sits on a prime piece of real estate.

Recently, WWS put the 14.1 acres at US 31 and SR 32 on the market.  Bids are being accepted through May 15.

The Capital Campaign is guided by a steering committee comprised of individuals from the community and school district.  Steering committee members are Dean Ballenger, Birch Dalton, Paul Estridge, Bob Horkay, Dr. Mark Keen, Nick Verhoff, Chris Baldwin, Doug Luce, Jake Gilbert, Dr. Stacy McGuire, Andy Tebbe and Bill Davis.

To learn more about Build the Rock capital campaign and to make a donation, click here.

The Build the Rock Capital Campaign has launched its Brick by Brick drive.  Be a part of the future of Westfield Athletics and leave your legacy by purchasing a Plaza Entryway Brick at our new Community Stadium.

A limited number of bricks are available in two sizes: 16" x 16" - $500 or 4" x 8" - $250.  Each can be engraved with your name and personal message and will be featured in the Stadium Plaza Entryway. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

For more information and to purchase a brick online with a credit card, click here.  You can also make unspecified donations of $10 or more online with a credit card.

Due to school being closed on March 25, the last day for students has moved to Friday, June 7.  The Staff Development day will be held on Monday, June 10.

The date of Westfield High School’s graduation exercises will remain the same – Saturday, June 8 at 10 a.m.

Westfield Washington Schools has been selected as one of The Indianapolis Star Top Workplaces in Central Indiana.

WWS is ranked fifth out of 15 companies in the large companies’ category and was featured in a special section of The Indianapolis Star.  Click here to read the article.

“An award like this is a reflection on the qualities of our building leadership and the emphasis on collaboration between all staff,” said Dr. Mark Keen, superintendent. “Quality principals, quality teachers and quality support staff lead to success for students.”

The Top Workplaces are determined based solely on employee feedback. The employee survey is conducted by WorkplaceDynamics, LLP, a leading research firm on organizational health and employee engagement.

Dr. Keen is quoted in The Indianapolis Star Top Workplaces article, “the key to any healthy organization is the fact that everyone works together and gets along and has the same outlook. We’ve never varied from that.”

The district’s five year strategic plan guides this philosophy and aligns with the district’s vision to be the world-class learning organization focused on continuous quality growth for all.

“While a structured hiring process allows for selecting the most talented and skilled employees, it’s the district’s commitment to supporting those top-notched employees that truly makes WWS a great place to work,” said Chris Baldwin, executive director of human resources. “Once a part of the WWS family, employees are supported through professional development, goal setting and collaboration within the individual buildings and across the district along with the strong relationships we have with our parents, partners and community.”

WorkplaceDynamics conducts regional Top Workplaces programs with 37 major publishing partners and recognizes a list of 150 National Top Workplaces.  Over the past year, more than 5,000 organizations and 1 in every 88 employees in the U.S. have turned to WorkplaceDynamics to better understand what’s on the minds of their employees.

This morning at Westfield Middle School a motor on the air handling system failed producing a small amount of smoke on the west side of the building.  The Westfield Fire Department was dispatched and all students and staff were safely evacuated.

The students and staff have reentered the building after receiving an all clear from the fire department.

Westfield Washington Schools announced today that Shamrock Springs Elementary and Washington Woods Elementary successfully crossed the finish line in EPA’s 2012 ENERGY STAR National Building Competition: Battle of the Buildings.

Shamrock Springs Elementary is recognized fourth overall among all 3,000 competitors nationally for its 42.1 percent energy use reduction.

Washington Woods Elementary, with a 21.1 percent reduction, is recognized for achieving an energy use reduction of 20 percent or greater.

Westfield High School was .1 percent away from recognition with 19.9 percent, followed by Carey Ridge Elementary with 18.4 percent.  To see the Battle of the Buildings EPA’s National Building Competition Wrap-Up Report, click here.

“Being recognized by the EPA for our focus on reducing energy costs and lessening the environmental footprint of the district’s 12 buildings is rewarding,” said Nick Verhoff, executive director of business and operations.

“Our staff’s commitment has resulted in WWS saving over $800,000 that has been diverted to better serve students in the classroom.  The entire staff deserves to be recognized for their efforts to improve the energy efficiency of our buildings across the district.”

Shamrock Springs Elementary and Washington Woods Elementary were the only Indiana schools recognized in the competition.  The winner of the competition was Demarest Elementary School in Bloomfield, New Jersey, which reduced its energy use by more than 52 percent.

In its third year, the competition featured teams from across the country racing to improve energy efficiency, lower utility costs and protect health and the environment. Together, competitors cut their energy costs by more than $50 million.

From improvements in operations and maintenance to upgrades in equipment and technology, the competitors together saved more than 3 billion kBtus of energy and more than $50 million on utility bills annually. The competitors also prevented greenhouse gas emissions equal to the electricity used by more than 43,000 homes per year.

Westfield High School (WHS) has been identified as one of the most outstanding high schools in the country.

U.S. News and World Report released its annual Best High Schools rankings after analyzing 21,035 public schools nationwide.  Out of 388 high schools in Indiana, only 105 met the student performance and college readiness criteria that enabled them to be included in the national rankings.

WHS, ranked ninth in the state and 786^th nationally, was awarded “Silver Medal” recognition, an honor reserved for only schools in the top 11 percent in the nation.  These rankings put WHS in the top 4 percent of all public schools nationwide.

To produce the 2013 U.S. News & World Report Best High School rankings, U.S. News teamed up with the Washington, D.C.-based American Institutes for Research, one of the largest behavioral and social science research organizations in the world.

The national rankings were based on a three-step process.  The first two steps ensured that the schools serve all of their students well, using performance on state proficiency tests as the benchmarks.   For those schools that made it past the first two steps, a third step assessed the degree to which schools prepare students for college-level work.

The full story can be found at http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools.

The Indiana Department of Education has awarded Four Star School status to seven Westfield Washington Schools:  Westfield High School, Westfield Middle School, Westfield Intermediate School, Carey Ridge Elementary, Maple Glen Elementary, Oak Trace Elementary, and Shamrock Springs Elementary.

"The fact that last year we had the highest number of schools ever (six) identified as Four Star and we exceeded that number this year is extremely gratifying,” said Dr. Mark Keen, WWS Superintendent.

“We know our two schools that did not earn the designation were extremely close. However, test scores, which make up this award, are only a single measure,” Dr. Keen explained. That fact that we continue to have outstanding NWEA growth scores, extremely high end-of-course assessment scores and increasing numbers of students taking and succeeding on Advanced Placement exams, give us multiple measures of students being better prepared to be successful after graduation. Part of our vision is continuous quality growth, and the Four Star accomplishment is only one example of how we are fulfilling that vision.”

The IDOE honored 313 schools for their 2011-2012 accomplishments. Each year, the IDOE recognizes schools that perform in the upper 25th percentile of schools in performance on ISTEP+ and ECA state exams, as well as their rating determined by the national No Child Left Behind statute's Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).

To view the methodology for calculating the rating, visit: http://www.doe.in.gov/sites/default/files/accreditation/methodologyforfourstar2011-20121.pdf

“I am honored to name these schools as our Four Star Schools for this year," said Glenda Ritz, Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction. “Winning this award required excellent work by teachers, administrators, students and parents throughout the year and on behalf of the entire Indiana Department of Education I send them my sincere congratulations.”

Name: Melissa Parman

Grade/Subject at what school: Second Grade, Shamrock Springs Elementary

Number of years teaching: 10

Background/Schooling (college & high school):

Noblesville High School, Noblesville, Ind.

B.S. Elementary Education, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.

M.A. Education, Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion, Ind.

Why did you become a teacher? Ever since I was in the first grade, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher. I had my own ‘classroom’ in my garage and I spent my allowance on school supplies! I had such wonderful teachers growing up and I knew that teaching was the career for me.

What goals do you have for your students? I want my students to believe in themselves and have confidence. One of the best parts of my job is helping to instill confidence in my students.

What do you encourage parents to do at home to help their children strengthen particular skills? I want parents to continue to review skills their child has learned in class. For example, when playing outside, have their child look for lines of symmetry, congruent shapes, even or odd numbers. Learning is not limited to the classroom; so much learning takes place at home.

Name your favorite movie. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

Name your favorite musician or band. I enjoy a variety of music, and music is even better when it is live!

What’s something your students might not know about you? I broke the Noblesville High School bowling record with a score of 176 when I was a sophomore.

With the end of the Third Trimester and while grades are being finalized, PowerSchool is unavailable to parents from today, June 7 at 3 p.m. until Wednesday, June 12 at 3 p.m.

Students are not the only ones receiving top grades at Westfield Washington Schools. For 17 consecutive years all of the district’s school buses passed the annual inspection conducted by the Indiana State Police (ISP).

The district’s 82 buses were “approved” by the ISP inspectors meeting all of the prescribed safety requirements and received a valid certificate of inspection.

The buses now proudly display the approved decal which indicates the bus passed inspection without any defects and is ready to transport children.

The inspectors examined every aspect of the bus, including steering mechanisms, brakes, exhaust systems, interior and exterior lighting as well as the cleanliness of the bus.

Transportation Director Jack Hart is extremely proud of his team of mechanics headed by Chuck Abel, head mechanic, and mechanics: Russell Bliss, James Hart and Jason Scherer. The mechanics are responsible for the year round maintenance of the fleet including 101 school owned vehicles and approximately another 100 vehicles belonging to the City of Westfield. The school and the city have an agreement for fuel and maintenance and it has proven to be a win-win situation for both entities, but more importantly for the taxpayers.

The Indiana University School of Education has named Jodi Dubovich, Shamrock Springs Elementary fourth grade teacher, a Martha Lea and Bill Armstrong Teacher Educator for the 2013-14 school year.

In earning the prestigious honor, she will have an opportunity over the next year to participate in professional development opportunities and work with IU faculty and students studying to be teachers.

In her sixth year of teaching, Dubovich is known for implementing technology into her daily classroom curriculum. She successfully implemented a schoolwide Lego Education "WeDo" robotics program for kindergarten through fourth-grade students and has served as a product tester for Lego for the past two years. She's received three grants from the Westfield Education Foundation to introduce multiple enhanced applications of technology into the classroom.

Dubovich's most recent grant helped fund the school's green screen room, where students learn editing skills using iMovie. She has presented her classroom technology approaches at the National STEMtech conference and the Indiana Computer Educators Conference.

She is one of eight Indiana public school teachers to be named an Armstrong Teacher Educator.  The fourth teacher in the district to be selected, she joins Armstrong alumni Marjorie Ramey, Carey Ridge Elementary - 2006-2007; Bev Staub, Washington Woods Elementary - 2008-2009; and Jan Brill, Westfield Intermediate School - 2009-2010.

L to R: Deb Williams, Shamrock Springs; Alison Schein, Westfield High School (WHS); Dwight King, Westfield Intermediate School; Carolyn Campbell, WHS; and Dick Parker, Westfield Middle School.

Westfield Washington Schools Board of School Trustees honored the district’s retirees for their years of dedicated and devoted service to the students and faculty.

Retirees are:

Westfield High School

Carolyn Campbell, Principal’s Secretary

Debra Rivard, English Teacher

Alison Schein, Art Teacher

Westfield Middle School

Dick Parker, Social Studies Teacher

Westfield Intermediate School

Dwight King, Exploration Teacher

Oak Trace Elementary

Gwen Jackson, Art Teacher

Barbara Kennedy, Special Education Teacher

Shamrock Springs Elementary

Deb Williams, Speech Language Pathology Teacher