Dear Middle School Parent,

It is hard to believe that we are in the middle of March and looking to start the last grading period shortly.  Hitting the home stretch at the middle school level means two things for sure—warmer weather and Ohio Academic Achievement testing!  While the warmer weather obviously has not made itself available to us, the OAA tests are on their way and will be here soon.

We will be conducting our OAA tests the week of April 22.  Reading for all middle school students will be on Tuesday, April 23; math will be on Thursday, April 25; and eighth grade science will be on Friday, April 26.  Students and staff have been preparing for the tests throughout the school year, but we have started to “pick up steam” as we see the testing days on the horizon.  We will culminate our preparation for the tests with our OAA day of activities on Friday, April 19.

We have many other activities occurring at Crestview Middle School which I am excited to share at this time!  Our middle school scholastic bowl team has been very active in the month of March.  The team has experienced several successes and we are proud of their efforts.  The team consists of Joel Germann, Anna Lautzenheiser, Chase Baker, Katie Hughes, Becca Daugherty, Emma Saylor, Danielle Pawlick, Ford Tatum, Jacob Bowman, Brooke Ripley, Tanner Crowle, and Griffen Waltmire.  Their coach is Nurse Sandy Grooms.

This Saturday, our middle school band and choir students will be participating in the OMEA Middle School Solo and Ensemble contest at Minster.  We wish all of our students the best of luck and appreciate the efforts of our music department teachers, Mrs. Danille Hancock and Mr. Josh Thomas, for all that they do to prepare our young people for this event.

Our eighth graders have been preparing diligently for their Washington, D.C., trip.  Parents are reminded of the meeting on April 11 with chaperones meeting at 6:45 and the full group at 8 p.m.  This trip is a highlight for our students and they will see history firsthand, that’s for sure!

Speaking of activities, the question came up in a recent staff meeting of just how many middle school students do we have involved in school-related activities.  After doing some basic research and collecting data, we have determined that 85% of our middle school students are involved in school activities which require their time and effort outside of the school day.  This is a positive reflection on our students and parents.  The organization that it takes to make sure students are where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there is sometimes daunting.  Our challenge is to have 100% of our students participating in school activities; it’s great to see that we are close and can make this a realistic goal.

To conclude, as we see student involvement in various activities pick up as the weather turns warmer, I wish to continue to encourage all to make the educational process a priority in each household.  Our students have worked too hard throughout the year to “take the pedal off the metal” as we hit April, May, and June.  Let’s finish strong!

Go Knights!

Dave Bowen
Crestview Middle School Principal

Upcoming events
March 28                           End of 3^rd grading period
March 29 and April1         No School
April 11                             D.C. meeting
April 23                             OAA Reading
April 25                             OAA Math
April 26                             OAA Science—8^th grade