Just a reminder, that there will be no classes on Monday, May 27, 2013 in honor of Memorial Day.   Classes will resume on Tuesday, May 28, 2013. 

Enjoy ringing in the summer with family, friends, and food, but also please remember those that have served and are currently serving our country in order to keep us safe. 

The Aurora City Schools will be taking a break during the week of March 25 – April 1, 2013.  There will be no classes held during this time.  Classes will resume again on Tuesday, April 2, 2013. 

Please have a fun and safe spring break.

Congratulations to the Aurora City Schools for earning the Ohio Department of Education’s Excellent with Distinction ranking for exemplary performance during the 2011-12 school year.  The district has achieved the ranking of Excellent for 12 consecutive years.

Congratulations to the Aurora Schools’ staff, students, and parents for all they do to make this happen!

The previously scheduled Aurora athletic events will be held as scheduled this evening despite the school day closing.  If you have any questions, please contact the Aurora Schools' Athletic Department.

The Harmon/High school ski club is canceled and will be rescheduled.

The Superintendent of the Aurora City School District has determined that the current weather conditions have become too hazardous to proceed with school/classes safely today.

All of the Aurora City School buildings will be closed today, February 1, 2013. Any after school activities that normally would have taken place are also cancelled for today. Stay tuned to your local news outlets for further weather condition updates.

 WAY TO GO!

This fall, the Cleveland Browns are promoting youth football by giving fans the opportunity to vote for a Cleveland Browns High School Game of the Week throughout the season. The winning high school game will be covered by ClevelandBrowns.com and the team that wins the game will receive $4,000 for their football program. The winning coach and game MVP will be honored live at a Browns home game.

 Voting will remain open until Wednesday at 5:00 p.m.    

 To vote, go to:

www.clevelandbrowns.com/community/youth-football/game-of-the-week.html

Classes will not be held at Aurora City Schools on Friday, February 15 (Teacher Professional Development Day) and Monday, February 18 (President’s Day). 

Classes will resume as usual on Tuesday, February 19th.

Enjoy the long weekend!

TOPIC  “Mean Girls” 

The Parent Communication Forum (PCF) for Leighton/Craddock/Miller Schools taking place on Thursday, January 24, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. will deal with the topic of “MEAN GIRLS.”   The meeting will be held at Leighton School.

Join us for important school updates, too!

Congratulations to this year’s Aurora High School Outstanding Greenmen Award winners.  The recipients are:

Justin Bunka, Rachael Davis, Kelly Fussner, DeAnna Fyffe, Matt Gardner, Shawn Lambert, Thuy Le, Erin McNamara, Mitchell Moravec, Zoe Nietert, Lindsay Pizzuro, and Michaela Ritz.

Congratulations to the educators who are also being recognized by each student as having had a strong influence on them.  They are: 

Alicia Jimenez, John Eacott, Laura Bell-Peters, David Munson, Sean Berrodin, Chris Radtke, Toni Taylor, Sarah Dixon, DeAnna McCarrell, Conni Hilston, Bob Mihalik, and Melissa Lindley.

The students and teachers will be honored at a banquet on April 10, 2013.

Leighton Elementary School’s annual Dads ‘N Donuts will be taking place on March 5, 6, and 7, 2013 from 8:15 – 9:00 a.m.  Please try not to be early since set-up will be taking place. We hope you can join us for this special opportunity for students to enjoy a breakfast including, coffee, juice, donuts, and other breakfast items, with their dads or special guest.  This is also a fantastic time for the adults to see the school and student classrooms.

In order to accommodate all students and special guests, we ask that ONLY Leighton students attend this breakfast.  The days will be broken down by grade in order to have room for families with multiple children.  Please try to attend on your designated day listed below.

3^rd Grade – Tuesday, March 5

4^th Grade – Wednesday, March 6

5^th Grade – Thursday, March 7

We look forward to starting the day off with you!

Parents of 2^nd graders transitioning to Leighton School and 3^rd grade next school year are invited to attend an orientation meeting on April 23, 2013 at 6:30pm. 

We look forward to sharing all the great things we do at Leighton!

The Ohio State Legislature has set aside Monday, May 6, 2013 as School Bus Driver Recognition Day.  Please take this opportunity to let your child’s bus driver know how much they are appreciated, possibly with a thank you note to your driver.  Their care and dedication makes it possible for students in our district to be transported safely to school every day.

A great big "Thank You" to all of our bus drivers for all you do!

An overview of the 5^th Grade Human Maturation unit will be provided for the parents of 5^th graders.  This unit will be taught to 5^th grade students in May.  The meeting will be held on May 2^nd at 6:00 p.m. in the Leighton School Media Center.

The Leighton Elementary School Orchestra will perform in concert on May 15, 2013 beginning at 6:30 p.m.  Come and hear just how great they sound!

Please join us for the last concert of the year for the Leighton School band students.  It will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Aurora High School.  We hope to see you there.

Aurora High School senior baseball player Matt Mihalik will be featured in the next episode of High School Sports Insider, a weekly half-hour show airing highlights and features from Ohio schools.

The show airs on two networks:

Fox Sports Ohio’s Sports Time Ohio –

The next show time is Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 3:00 p.m.

Time Warner Cable Sports Channel (311 in SD, 1311 in HD):

 Tuesday, May 21, 2013 show are at 5:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.

For more show times go to:  http://bit.ly/VljCu3

WAY TO GO MATT!

Students entering 5^th Grade next school year and are interested in joining band are encouraged to attend the “Band Petting Zoo” on May 2^nd from 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.  This is a great opportunity to gather information, try out the different instruments and make your selection.

To learn more about First Lego League, students (grades 3-7), parents and community members are invited to attend an informational meeting on May 7, 2013 from 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at Leighton Elementary School.  Students currently in grades 3-7 will be forming teams for competitions during the 2013-14 school year.  This year’s challenge theme is Nature’s Fury.

Parents and community members are needed to lead these groups with support from district personnel.   If you are interested, we would love to have you join us to learn more.

There will be no classes held at the Aurora City Schools on Friday, April 26, 2013.

Classes will resume as usual on Monday, April 29th.

Enjoy the long weekend!

The Harmon Beta Club is hosting their annual American Red Cross Blood Drive on Friday, March 8th from 3:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. in the Harmon Commons.  We really need your help because we have significantly fewer donors on our schedule than we generally do. Please consider donating to this worthy cause.

Please go to http://www.redcrossblood.org/ and enter HARMON in the sponsor code to sign up.  Thank you to everyone who volunteers to give the gift of blood.

We would like to thank our Aurora School Board members, Jerry Kohanski, Pam Mehallis, Annie Grohe, Bev Kuch, and John Sloe, for all of your hard work and dedication to our children!  You have made this a wonderful place for our students to learn!

Help your students be a hero!  Your child is participating in the American Red Cross Pint Size Hero program, a community service project that introduces students to the importance of donating blood.  The program encourages students to invite adults to give blood on their behalf. 

Harmon Middle School will be hosting this Red Cross Blood Drive on Friday, February 8, 2013.   It will run from 3:00 p.m.- 8:00 p.m.  Thank you so much for giving!

ONE PINT SAVES 3 LIVES!

The Aurora Greenmen varsity football team will take on the New Philadelphia Quakers on Friday, November 2, 2012.  The playoff game will be played at Aurora High School’s Veterans Stadium with game time at 7:30 p.m.  Gates will open at 6:00 p.m.

All tickets are $9.00 at the gate and pre-sale tickets are $7.00. NO PASSES OR SEASON TICKETS will be accepted.  Pre-sale tickets will be sold on Thursday, November 1 and Friday, November 2, 2012.

Please click on the link below for detailed information about the game and ticket sales.

Greenmen OHSAA Playoff Game Information

GO GREENMEN!

Mark your calendars!  The Aurora All Sports Boosters will be holding their Spring For The Sports Annual Reverse Raffle/Silent Auction on Saturday, March 9, 2013.  This year it will be held at a new Aurora location, the Aurora Golf Club from 6:00 p.m. – 12:00 midnight. 

Join them for a wonderful evening of dinner, dancing, fantastic auction items and a $2,000 grand prize. This event helps support our Aurora High School and Harmon Middle School student athletes.  Please take a look at the flyer below for more information, including ticket prices/purchasing and silent auction donations.

SEE YOU THERE!

Spring For The Sports Flyer

The month of April is recognized as Child Abuse Prevention Month across the country. The Children’s Advocacy Center of Portage County uses its Pinwheels for Prevention project as one of its activities to improve community response to child abuse and neglect.  This year the Harmon School BETA Club is supporting the pinwheel awareness campaign.

The spinning pinwheels have been “planted” and are being displayed on the front lawn of the Aurora Police Department from April 18-25, 2013 for the 7^th year in a row. They are intended to be a visual reminder to residents about the number of children affected by child abuse and neglect. The pinwheels are used to represent the caring individuals who break the silence surrounding child abuse and report suspicions of child abuse or neglect.  This year the Harmon School BETA club is supporting the pinwheel awareness campaign.

To report any suspected cases of child abuse or neglect, please call the 24-Hour Child Abuse Hotline (CARES) at 330-296-2273. For more information or to volunteer, please contact The Children’s Advocacy Center of Portage County at 330-297-8837.

Please click on the website link below to learn more about the Law Enforcement and Safety Levy placed on the May 2013 ballot by the City of Aurora. 

Aurora City Law Enforcement and Safety Levy Information

5^th grade parents, please mark Wednesday, May 29, 2013 on your calendar for the annual 5^th grade field day/COSI science experience. 

The rain date for the field day ONLY is Tuesday, May 28^th.

This year’s AHS spring musical and annual district art show will run from May 3-5, 2013.  The musical Little Shop of Horrors will be performed at 7:00 p.m. on Friday 3^rd and Saturday 4^th.  Curtain time for the Sunday performance is 2:00 p.m.

Please be sure to stop and enjoy all of the impressive artwork created by our talented art students both before and after the performances at the annual district art show.

The Aurora Elementary Schools are holding a Book Drive to benefit the new Little Free Libraries that will be appearing throughout the Aurora community this summer. 

We need lots and lots of books to fill the Little Free Libraries with.  If you have any books that you would like to donate, please bring them to Miller, Craddock or Leighton School.  Boxes will be set-up in the lobbies for the collection. 

Thank you in advance to all who share their books and promote the love of reading.

The Aurora School District is currently in the process of implementing several school bus security upgrades.  These changes will help to increase safety on our buses.  Cameras are currently being installed on our entire fleet of buses that capture not only video, but sound. 

Along with the cameras, drivers will be working with their student passengers to create an assigned seating arrangement.  This seating chart will be helpful for substitute drivers and will also aid in any identity issues that may arise.

Principals at each of our school buildings will be discussing these changes with their students on Monday, March 4^th.  If you have any questions, please contact the Transportation Department at 330-954-2114 or the Board Office.

HARMON/HIGH PTO FLOWER FUNDRAISERS

The Harmon/High PTO is running both a flower bulb and a flower fundraiser this year. 

The flower bulb sale features spring bulbs to bloom summer flowers.  It runs from April 9 -20 for catalog orders and through April 26 for online orders.  On-line orders ($5 delivery fee applies to each individual address) are preferred.  Please make checks payable to Harmon High PTO.  Order forms went home with Leighton students but the forms are available at all school buildings and can be returned to any school.

The flower fundraiser, which has awarded scholarships over the last 30 years to deserving seniors who would like to further their education, has previously provided over 100 scholarships totaling more than $65,000.  Please help by making your pre-sale only orders from Friday, April 12 – 20.  Pick up is one day only on May 10 from 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. 

If you have any questions or need more information regarding the flower bulb sale, please call Lori Bopp at 517-320-1783 or bopplori699@gmail.com.  If you have questions pertaining to the flower sale, please contact Diane Dolata at 330-995-4982.

Please click the links below for more information and order forms/instructions.

HARMON/HIGH PTO FLOWER BULB FUNDRAISER

 HARMON/HIGH PTO FLOWER FUNDRAISER

The Aurora Boys’ Soccer team has advanced to Regional competition and will be playing Massillon Jackson on Wednesday, October 31, 2012.  The game will be played at Revere High School with game time at 7:00 p.m.  Gates will open at 6:00 p.m.

All tickets are $6.00 at the gate with no pre-sale tickets available and NO PASSES OR SEASON TICKETS accepted.

Please click on the link below for an informational flyer.

Boys' Soccer Regional Game Flyer

GOOD LUCK – GO GREENMEN

The Aurora Elementary PTO is once again holding their Malley’s Candy Sale to support their Cultural Arts Program.  This HUGE fundraiser offers profit margins of between 33 and 50 percent. 

Family and friends can order yummy candy either on-line, or through the hard copy order form sent home with each student this month. The sale runs from February 1 - 28, 2013.  Paper order forms need to be returned to school no later than March 1^st and internet orders can be placed until March 25^th.  If you have any questions, please review the letter sent home or call Patty Owens at 330-995-6957.

Please click on the link below to view the PowerPoint presentation that was given during the parent meeting for those who students who are transitioning from 2^nd grade to 3rd grade this fall.

Parent Transition Meeting PowerPoint

Congratulations to all in our district on the top rankings we received by both U.S. News and World Report and The Washington Post.  Aurora High School was rated as #10 in the State of Ohio by U.S News and World Report and as #15 in the state by The Washington Post.

Aurora High School was also top ranked nationally at #307 out of 21,035 high schools reviewed by U.S. News and World Report.  The Aurora High School Washington Post national ranking was #496.

This is an outstanding achievement and congratulations to everyone in our district for making this possible!

The Aurora Schools’ Summer Sports Camp Information for 2013 (and downloadable forms) are now available on our Athletic webpage.  The volleyball summer camp information will be available soon.  Also, please watch for the fall 2013 Sports Tryout Schedule to be posted online.

Aurora City School’s top math students competed in the Portage County Educational Service Center Math 24 Competition.  Special congratulations to 8^th grader Samantha Grohe and 4^th grader Sean Fritinger who were the overall 1^st place winners in their grade levels. 

The Math 24 competition was held at Maplewood Career Center in Ravenna.  Each Portage County school district sent their top 4 students from each district’s local Math 24 competition. 

Click on “more” below to view all of our Aurora Schools’ participants and where they placed in the competition.

Trick or treating in Aurora has been rescheduled for Saturday, November 3^rd from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

The Aurora Historical Society is presenting LINCOLN: The Constitution & The Civil War Exhibit.   The Aurora Historical Society is also hosting several programs in conjunction with the exhibit.  This free exhibit will run from February 25 – April 5, 2013 in the Aurora Community Theatre.

Sophomore and senior students at Aurora High School will be viewing the exhibit as a part of their curriculum. 

For more information and a listing of programs, please click on the link below.

Aurora Historical Society Lincoln Program Flyer

The raffle drawing for the 2013 Chevy Camaro sponsored by Tim Lally Chevrolet/The Chevy Network, which was postponed from April 22, 2013, will now be held on the evening of May 20, 2013 at the high school Spring Sports Awards Ceremony at 7:00 p.m..  Tickets are available at the Athletic Office until Monday, May 13^th.  

 All proceeds will benefit the student organizations at our schools. 

Check out the new music video by the L810 Studio Crew! 

They did an outstanding job!

L810 STUDIO'S OAA MUSIC VIDEO

The Aurora Schools Foundation is once again offering discount priced “Good-Any-Day” tickets for Wildwater Kingdom’s 2013 season. Tickets can easily be purchased from the Aurora Schools Foundation website at www.auroraschoolsfoundation.org. Click on the "Events" link on the foundation's website for ordering information.  Tickets purchased from this website will help benefit the Aurora Schools Foundation. 

“Good-Any-Day” discounted tickets will be available for purchase on the website all season long!

Please take a view moments to view this video regarding some changes to our safety procedures.  Some of the changes outlined in this video ask parents to alter some of the typical procedures used in the past. Please understand that student safety is our priority and we appreciate your support in regards to these changes.

Thank you.

The After Prom Committee is currently looking for donations for their 2013 After Prom which will be held on May 18, 2013 after the dance.

Please click on the link below for a flyer with more information. 

WANTED FLYER

The Spring 2013 Treasure Trove Sale will held from Monday, April 29 – Sunday, May 5. It will be held at the same location at 7435 Market Place Aurora, Ohio (the retail space in the shopping center next to Petsmart and Michaels, across from Geauga Lake/ Rt. 43).  

Please go to their website at auroratreasuretrovesale.WebStarts.com for more information.  If you have any questions, please contact Denise at (216) 297-5621 or auroratrovesale@aol.com.

AURORA TREASURE TROVE FLYER