Welcome back from break. By break standards, it was short, but hopefully our students will come back rested and ready for some exciting learning opportunities over the next few months. Speaking for the staff, we’re ready to provide those opportunities and more.

Our goal this year is to be the second district (Milford was the first) in Clermont County to make “excellent with distinction”. This is doable. The elimination of state tests in the 5^th, 7^th and 8^th grades, some of which gave us and many districts problems in the past have been eliminated by the state for budgetary reasons. This should help. We are also very focused on student progress within our student subgroups. Success in those areas could get us to our goal.

Student success is more important than ever. With the bad economy, competition for jobs/careers is intense. Students coming out of this school district need to have the skills to be able to compete right away. This is true whether graduates are competing in college, military or in the job market. Success now will lead to greater rewards later in life.  

Thanks for your support of Bethel-Tate schools. If I can be of help to you, let me know. My email address is smith_ja@betheltate.org.