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Changes come in the new school year

Tribune Chronicle / R. Michael Semple Lakeview Middle School students board buses at the end of the school day last week.

Tribune Chronicle

WARREN — The golden days of summer are transitioning to the chrome days of school for students in several school districts in Trumbull and Mahoning counties.

But those Google Chromebooks in Champion, Lakeview and Austintown Local schools and Maplewood Schools isn’t all that’s new — there’s been a substantial investment in the woods and metal shop program at Warren G. Harding High School to keep up with the needs in that changing industry and there’s a new e-book program for elementary school kids in Champion.

In Lordstown Local Schools, the high school is returning to a split lunch period to spur academic achievement and the transformation of the media center into the Lordstown Innovation Center, a place area students can hone their creative thinking skills, will continue.

Champion Local Schools bought about 430 more Chromebooks, a move that means every student in kindergarten to eighth grade will have a computer. Students in fourth through eighth grades can buy insurance for the computers and take the device home. The district already has many of the computers at Champion High School.

“We wanted to have those kids with Chromebooks before they moved into the new building,” said Superintendent Pam Hood.

Also, the district, which starts school today, is putting into place a new e-book science program at the elementary school. It’s already happening in a few classes at the high school, Hood said, and makes sense to buy electronic updates rather than new hardbound books.

“It’s a better way for us right now to keep our textbooks more current,” she said.

The district’s new $31 million PK-8 school complex on state Route 45 south of the high school should open for the 2018-19 school year.

Maplewood and Austintown schools also increased their supply of Chromebooks for the 2017-18 school year.

Maplewood, which returns Aug. 28, got about 200 more for students in kindergarten to eighth grade, said Superintendent Perry Nicholas, while Lakeview continues its push toward outfitting each student in the district with one of the computers.

“We’re transitioning our student body to 1:1 technology,” said Lakeview Superintendent Robert Wilson.

Lakeview is also in the midst of having a new school building built. To accommodate construction of the new $31 million PK-8 school complex on Lakeview Drive, the district started classes on Aug. 15, which is about a week ahead of the other districts in Trumbull County.

Austintown schools, which also begins Aug. 28, bought 950 new Chromebooks for its third-to 12th-grade students. Also, said Superintendent Vince Colaluca, there are new iPads for students in the K-2 building and there is new instruction space for kindergarten to third-grade students with autism.

“We’re looking at expanding the program at each building every year,” Colaluca said.

In Warren City Schools, the woods and metal shop at the high schools was outfitted with new equipment to meet the changing needs of the industry.

“The equipment that was installed when the school opened is no longer what we need for industry credentialing for our kids,” said Superintendent Steve Chiaro.

There is also an effort to have welding offered in the district, maybe as soon as the second semester, Chiaro said.

Chiaro said there will also be a maintained effort on the district’s improvement plan and its literacy collaborative in the primary grades that “meets kids at their reading level,” and has groups to improve reading skills. In addition, the district is continuing with social and emotional learning program that Chiaro credits for less student suspensions and expulsions.

The district is also unrolling a new math curriculum in grades six to nine and putting together a committee to examine the social studies curriculum for changes in the 2018-19 school year. School in the district resumes on Tuesday.

Among what is happening in Lordstown schools is a return to two lunch periods, one for grades seven and eight and the other for nine to 12. While one group is eating, the other “will take part in 30 minutes of focused tutoring in the academic area they need the most assistance with,” said Superintendent Terry Armstrong.

Also, the media center’s transformation into the innovation center continues.

Armstrong said a few physical changes have been made to space, including re-purposing computers and work tables for a research and writing center, but the 3-D printers for the makerspace haven’t been installed.

Much of the curriculum and training for the center will come from the Trumbull County Educational Service Center with it hosting its countywide STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) program at the center. About 100 students will participate through 20 weeks during the year.

“It’s becoming quite a partnership. We’re real excited,” Armstrong said.

School in Lordstown starts on Wednesday.

news@tribtoday.com

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