Superintendent's Message

As the 2022-2023 School Year came to an end there were many causes for celebrations as well as excitement for the upcoming school year.  Since our last Your Schools publication in February both the winter and spring sports seasons brought in several Suburban League titles to Greenmen Nation including Girls’ and Boys’ Swimming, Wrestling, Softball, and Baseball.  In the arts we were treated to the Spring Musical Bye, Bye, Birdie under the direction of Rob Albrecht and the District Art Show which featured work ranging from our 3rd graders up through our Advanced Placement artists at AHS.  Spring Concerts for Orchestra (grades 4-12), Choir (2nd-12th), and Band (5th-12th) also filled the auditorium with beautiful music so needless to say there was a lot going on in our district outside of the school day for the community as well as during the school day with the community.  

This spring, in our Service Learning Class facilitated by Melissa Foster (AHS), young people were tasked to find a servant leader in the community, interview them, and write a paper. Six of these servant leaders, including Aurora Board of Education member Mike Acomb representing Aurora Youth Football, then came to AHS to talk with the class about their service.  It was a great example of meeting our district’s goal of getting the schools out into the community and the community into the schools.  Thanks also go out to the other five servant leaders who spoke at AHS including Eddy Cheyfitz (Believe in Dreams), Ron Clarke (Rescue Village), Liz Sutter (Aurora Relief Fund), Grant Cromeens (Silver Creek Church), and Eddie Van Pelt (Vimby).  The seniors in Toni Taylor’s English class also connected to the community as they had the privilege to listen to Aurora Police Officer and School Resource Officer (SRO) Tony Tritto share his experience in Afghanistan while serving in the military.  Toni invited Tony to speak because the seniors were in the middle of reading The Kite Runner which takes place in Afghanistan and so much of the culture and history of this far away land came to life for these students as Tony shared pictures, information, and some very interesting stories.  What a great way to take advantage of a primary resource right here in the ACSD while getting another community member into the schools.  One last example of our school community connections for this spring took place when we welcomed Ohio House Representative Gail Pavliga, from our own House District 72, who visited Leighton and was given a little tour by Leighton Principal Michelle Nizen which included stops in  Sarah Most and Lori Heller’s fourth grade classrooms.  While on the tour Representative Pavliga mentioned wanting to say hello to third grade teacher Jen Bindus who testified about the Third Grade Reading Guarantee (HB117) in Columbus earlier in the year.  Ironically, not two minutes later Jen walked around the corner and they got to touch base.  Finally, Representative Pavliga sat down with Michelle Nizen, Assistant Superintendent Paul Milcetich and me to discuss what is happening in Columbus and we were also able to share our ideas and concerns for public education. It was a great discussion and we appreciated the Aurora-Columbus connections.

Finally, throughout late May and early June 2023, the Aurora City Schools hosted several open house sessions for interested community members, parents, students, and educators to learn about and provide feedback on the master plan options currently being considered by the district. With aging infrastructure and a growing population as the primary considerations in the process, the district has been developing facility solutions to meet the needs of the district. Over 160 people attended who learned about the process, asked questions, and provided feedback on the issues facing Aurora City Schools. Each attendee had the chance to insert their feedback in an online survey to be considered as plans develop. 

While still early in the process, the district gathered feedback from the community on the two plans that are being explored and will continue to incorporate this into the planning process. If you would like to learn more, and see the plans that were presented at the open house, please go to our district website at www.aurora-schools.org and click on the ACSD Facilities Master Plan Project link on the top right hand side of the webpage.  

I hope you enjoy the time this summer with family and friends and look forward to seeing everyone in August as we look toward the start of the 2023-2024 school year.

Go Greenmen!

Mike