This year our 1st and 2nd grade Christmas program evening performance will be held at Northwood Junior High. We made the change in order to better accommodate the larger student enrollment and parking needs. It will be a great opportunity for some of our students to get their first “peek” at Northwood, and to allow more parents and family members to be able to attend the performance. Our students have been working hard with Mr. Stamatis to get ready for the program.

Now that the colder, snowy weather has arrived, we have had an increase in the number of students picked up and dropped off at school each day. This has added a lot of congestion to an already busy dismissal time, particularly after school. We need everyone’s help to follow the procedures established to ensure student safety and keep traffic flowing.

We need everyone’s cooperation by observing the following:

1. Cars may not be unattended in the drop-off/pick-up loop. If you want to pick your child up at the doors, please park your car in the visitor lot or across the street at the American Legion.

2. Please park only in designated spots in the visitor lot. Lately we have had several people try to park in the through rows or in unmarked spots. This eliminates the paths for students to walk safely to their cars.

3. Please do not pick up students by stopping traffic on Ohio Street.

4. If you are parking at the American Legion, please do not have your child run across Ohio Street. They need to cross Ohio Street at the corner where the crossing guard is located and then walk into the lot.

5. Please make sure your child knows where to look for you if you are picking them up.

6. If your child is normally a bus rider, and is going to be picked up at the end of the day, please send a note in writing to your child’s teacher. Without a note, they will be sent home on the bus.

Thank you for your cooperation in helping follow these procedures.

There are many exciting activities scheduled during the month of December. Please check out the newsletter and calendar page for a listing of these events.

Enjoy your holiday season! Thank you for your continued support of Ely School!


NOVEMBER, 2008

For the first time in the five years I have been principal at Ely, the weather was nice for our Halloween parade, and we were able to be outside. The 5th graders have especially enjoyed reminding me that I have “caused” it to rain on the day we celebrated Halloween at school every they have been at Ely. It was great seeing so many parents enjoying the parties and the parade. The students enjoyed the day tremendously.

Parent-teacher conferences are beginning this week. By now you should have received (and returned) a parent-teacher conference notice. I know the teachers have been tracking down the few forms they have not had returned. Please feel free to stop by the office while you are in the building for conferences!

The Elyria Schools is having a presidential election for all students in grades K-6. The students in Mr. Markel’s 6th grade class are coordinating the event for the district, serving as election headquarters. They will be receiving each school’s results and reporting out results on the district’s website.

Speaking of elections, don’t forget to vote on November 4th. There are many important national and local issues on the ballot, including the Elyria School’s levy renewal—Issue 37.

Have a great November!

From the principal’s desk.

Dr. Jack M. Dibee, Jr.


OCTOBER, 2008

Once the newness of a new school year wears off, it’s easier for students to lose a little focus, or become complacent with school and learning. It’s important for all of us; staff, parents and students to keep the students motivated and help them find ways to succeed. Success comes in all shapes and sizes, and at times its easier to find faults then to find accomplishments. As we begin the month of October, I ask all of you to help our students find and celebrate their successes and to help them stay focused on school and learning!

In this month’s newsletter, there is information about our Halloween activities at school. Please take the time to read it carefully as you consider Halloween costumes for school, to make sure they meet our guidelines.

The first month of school has been a great one. Thank you for all of your support and cooperation!


SEPTEMBER, 2008

As I begin my fifth year as principal at Ely School, I would like to offer a special welcome to all of our new Ely School students and families!

This has been an exciting start to the school year, to say the least. I have truly enjoyed getting to meet all of our new students, and their families. So many of our new and returning families were in attendance at our open house last week. It was very rewarding to hear all of the positive comments about our school and the great start to the year we have enjoyed.

We opened the school year with 510 students, and currently are up to 523 students. The highest enrollment for Ely School that we still have a record of is 561 students during the 1997-98 school year.

A lot of hard work went into getting the school year ready for all of our new students. I want to thank all of the school and district staff for all of the time they put into getting the school ready.

Thank you for your patience as we have been dealing with the congestion on Route 57 and Gulf Road. I know this has caused buses to run late, but hopefully this situation will get better as the project gets closer to completion. Your patience is very much appreciated at dismissal time in following school procedures. Please remember, if you are utilizing the parent pick-up/drop-off loop on Ohio Street that you must stay with your vehicle at all times. If you would like to park your car and greet your child at the school door, please use either the visitor lot or American Legion lot.

This year, we focusing on high expectations for all students. Throughout the year, our students will be receiving reminders of our expectations, as well as instruction in how to meet the expectations. Before school started, almost all of our staff members participated in a workshop I presented dealing with maintaining high expectations. We truly believe all of our students can achieve, and its our job to help them achieve.

For students to truly succeed, they need to hear the same messages at home that they hear from us at school. The importance of trying your hardest, staying focused, not giving up, and asking for help when needed. When students see that their teachers and parents truly care about their education, they will care about their own education even more.

I would really like to thank Dr. Todd Abbe for his hard work in cleaning up our courtyard outside. He spent many hours in the hot sun before school started pulling weeds and cleaning up the courtyard. Thanks Dr. Abbe!!!

As we go through the school year, please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

From the principal’s desk,

Dr. Jack M. Dibee, Jr.


MAY-JUNE, 2008

As we near the end of the school year, we have been hard at work planning for the many changes coming to Ely School for next year. By now, I am sure many of you are aware that as a result of the upcoming closing of two elementary schools in our district, that Ely will see a large increase in student population next year. Our current enrollment projection is for approximately 525 students next year, a substantial increase over our current enrollment of 370 students.

I am very excited about the many potential benefits of a larger student population. I truly believe that with a larger enrollment, we will be able to strengthen many of the programs and activities already in place, as well as the potential of additional support services. From a financial perspective, there are many fixed costs our school incurs. With the larger enrollment, will come additional funding through our per pupil allocation, Title 1 funding, and the ability to raise more money in school and parent group fundraisers.

Another positive aspect of larger enrollment will be more balanced class sizes. Next year, we plan to have four sections each in grades 1-5, and three sections of grade 6. There will be an additional eight classrooms being utilized next year. (Yes, we actually had that many available classrooms not being utilized as classrooms!) The additional sections will allow us to remain closer to the class size guidelines, and not subject to such volatility by students moving in and out as occurred this year in grades where we only had two sections of a grade.

Needless to say, there are many issues related to facilities, space, technology, staffing, and scheduling that are currently being resolved to ensure a smooth start to the new school year. I can assure that our school and district staff is working hard in preparation to welcome our new students and their families.

I am very proud of the high quality education our students receive at Ely School. Regardless of whether we have 100 students or 1,000 students enrolled, I know the staff at Ely School will do everything they can to continue the long-standing tradition of excellence at Ely School!

I would like to offer my sincere thanks to all of you for your continued support! I wish all of you a very safe and enjoyable summer!


APRIL 2008

Our annual OAT testing is almost here. Please note the calendar of testing on the last page of the newsletter, as well as lunch schedule changes for all grades during testing days (on page 3). It is extremely important that all students are at school, and on time on days they are taking any OAT test. We can not admit them to class once testing begins, and as a result, a makeup session will be required. In addition, we can not allow students to leave early during any OAT testing session. Please make sure your child does not have any appointments scheduled for OAT testing days! Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

The Learning Lunchbox is an excellent program to help parents work with their child(ren) to be more successful at school. More information about the program is listed below, and on their website at www.learninglunchbox.com I strongly encourage parents to review the information and consider purchasing the program!


MARCH 2008

I think everyone was a bit surprised by this week’s snowstorm. It seems that this year we have had more times where snow was predicted and didn’t amount to much than days where it did.

As much as most of the students probably enjoyed their two snow days this week, I know many of our 4th and 5th graders were disappointed that it caused our three day trip to Mohican to be canceled. I spent an hour Tuesday night packing everything I needed for the trip, only to have to unpack it all Wednesday morning.

As it turned out, Mohican told us that even if we did have school on Wednesday, we wouldn’t have been able to come down because the roads there were so bad. In fact, the school districts in that area were closed again on Thursday.

At this time, we do not know if we are going to be able to reschedule our trip this year or not. Since their office is closed today due to the weather, we haven’t been able to find out whether or not they can accommodate us this year. More details will be sent home with students once we know for sure whether or not we can reschedule (if not, we will be refunding everyone’s money).

I want to thank our 4th and 5th grade teachers for the amount of time they have spent preparing for this trip, I especially want to thank Mrs. Weber who spent an incredible number of hours coordinating the fundraiser and keeping track of the finances and forms. Also, thanks to Mrs. Babcock for organizing some activities for the students who weren’t attending the trip. All of our 4th and 5th grade students were able to enjoy these special assemblies today!


FEBRUARY 2008

A few weeks ago, an article appeared in the Chronicle, describing the success we have had at Ely School with our paper recycling efforts. During each of the last three school years, Ely School led all of the Elyria City Schools (including the high school) in the amount of paper recycled.

I mentioned to the reporter that wrote the story how a lot of our success can be attributed to the great community involvement we have with recycling. Recycling not only helps the environment, it also allows us to lead by example, and show our concern for the environment to our students.

The schools in Elyria recently received a letter from the Elyria City Health District about this year’s recycling contest. The letter encouraged the other schools to get involved to try and “knock St. Jude and Ely off the top spot in 2008.” (Ely won for public schools, St. Jude won for parochial schools.). So thank you to all of you who have helped Ely School lead the Elyria City Schools in recycling.

By the way, in 2007, a total of 877 tons of paper was collected and recycled from the 39 locations in Elyria with recycling bins. Of this amount, 53.4 tons were collected from the bins at Ely School!

At the end of February, over 100 Ely students in 4th and 5th grade will be participating in the 3-day, 2-night trip to Mohican Out-of-Doors School. This trip is a wonderful learning experience for our students, and a great opportunity to learn a little more independence. Thank you to all of the parents who have supported the fundraising efforts to allow our students to have such a wonderful opportunity. Thank you to the 4th and 5th grade teachers for their enthusiasm and hard work to make the trip a reality!

Lastly, with all of the cold weather we have had lately, our lost and found collection has grown by leaps and bounds. The lost and found is located by the Ohio Street entrance. Please encourage your child to visit the lost and found if he/she is missing any items.

JANUARY, 2008

Happy New Year! As we begin 2008, our staff is in high gear as we continue working on helping our students achieve at the highest levels possible. As I visited the classrooms on our first morning back to school, I was truly impressed at how our staff and students were already engaged in teaching and learning.

Our January parent-teacher conferences are set for January 24. Our January conferences are scheduled on an as-needed basis by the classroom teachers. If you would like a conference with your child’s teacher, and are not scheduled for a conference, please don’t hesitate to call the school office to request a conference. Conference invitations will be sent home in the next two weeks.

We will also be sending home information to students in grades 3-6 who were selected to participate in our before school tutoring program that begins February 5. If your child is invited to attend, I strongly encourage you to have your child participate in this program. There is no cost for the tutoring, and the tutoring is designed to help your child improve their proficiency level on the OAT’s.

Congratulations to our winners in the When Will It Snow? contest! Our largest group of winners ever included Alison Wheeler, Suzie Harjar, Brodie Abbe, Michael Singer, Christina Berkel, Angie Frankina, Isaiah Horton, Andrew Behrens, Richard Washington, Devan Nail, Ethan Bakos, Meghan Wharton, Mrs. Babcock, Mr. Becka and Dr. Dibee! Our first inch of snow was December 5th!

Our newsletter will return to its usual length and format next month.


DECEMBER, 2007

As you will notice in the newsletter, there are many exciting events coming up at Ely School in preparation for the holidays. At the same time, the teachers are working to keep students focused and learning. It’s important for our students’ academic growth that we keep them focused on the reason they come to school each day, to learn!

Our Ely Pride Parents Group will be resuming ice cream sales on Fridays during the lunch periods. They hope to kick off the sales on Friday, December 7. In the past, items cost 50 cents each.

Speaking of Ely Pride, the organization has purchased a new Christmas tree for the school. Mrs. Stewart has been working with our students during art class to make decorations for the tree. The tree should be up in time for the programs on December 5.

Our “When Will It Snow” contest has taken on some added visuals this year. Thanks to the coordination of Mrs. Coley working with the 3rd-5th grade math teachers, numerous graphs and charts decorate the halls of Ely, providing information about the number of people guessing a specific date. The students did a great job designing these, and also learning about data collection and analysis at the same time.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very safe and happy holiday season! Thank you for all of your support for Ely School!

NOVEMBER, 2007

Each month, our school cadres and steering committee meet to discuss ways to improve student achievement. The cadres focus on specific areas, and develop strategies to help drive instruction and improve student classroom performance. While the majority of the members of these groups are staff members, we have parents serving on them as well. I want to thank Dr. Todd Abbe, Arlene Polderman and Dawn Wheeler for serving on the Math Cadre, Melissa Lopez and Jessica Norlin for serving on the Literacy Cadre, and Laura Ward for serving on the Steering Committee. It’s great to have the parents’ perspectives on issues and also allows parents to get a better understanding of issues from the school’s perspective.

This is a busy week at school, with parent-teacher conferences, the book fair, and the start of the second marking period all occurring. As you review your child’s report card with your child this week, this is a great opportunity to celebrate their strengths, and set goals for any areas needing improvement.

Several Ely teachers: Mrs. Coley, Mrs. Duffner, Mrs. Smith, Ms. Mudge, Ms. Dupree and Mrs. Michael, wrote grants to the Elyria Schools Endowment Fund for innovative programs that they would like to implement in their classroom, or in the school.

Veteran’s Day is coming up November 11. Don’t forget to take the time to thank all of those individuals who have served our country. Thank you veterans!


OCTOBER, 2007

As we begin the month of October we have many exciting events happening at Ely School. These events and activities are mentioned throughout the newsletter. If you ever misplace your copy of the newsletter, we have extra copies in the office, and a copy of the newsletter is available online.

Every Friday, from now until the Cleveland Indians are finished with their postseason (which hopefully will be the World Series), will be Cleveland Indians Day at school. Students are encouraged to wear their Indians shirts, hats, etc. If students don’t have any Indians merchandise, they can simply wear red!

A final copy of our school’s Continuous Improvement Plan will soon be posted on our school website. The annual “CIP at a Glance” will be included in the November newsletter.

Thank you to all of the parents that have responded to the recruiting efforts by the Ely Pride Parents Group for volunteers! The response has been great! Thank you for all of your support in their activities to benefit all of our students at Ely School!


SEPTEMBER 2007

Welcome to the 2007-2008 school year! Our school year is off to a great start and it has been a pleasure to see so many smiling students, parents and staff to start the year.

Our current enrollment is 345 students. This is a decrease of about 25 students from opening day last year. We currently only have classes for students in grades 1-6, as the district eliminated our half day kindergarten program at the end of last school year.

We have several new staff members at Ely this year. Ms. Della Hollan is our new school secretary. She was previously a secretary at Cascade Elementary. Mr. Dan Wirth is our new evening custodian. He previously was a substitute custodian for the district. Our new band teacher is Mr. Brian King. He has worked in the Elyria Schools before and will be here on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. We also welcome back Mrs. Ana Beltran as our occupational therapist. Welcome to all of our new staff members!

I am looking forward to our upcoming Open House. It is a chance for everyone to see the school, and learn more about your child’s upcoming school year.

On page two of the newsletter, you will find information about our school’s performance on the Ohio Department of Education’s Local Report Card. I am very excited at how well our students performed last year. We achieved our highest score ever. We couldn’t have done it without the hard work of our staff and students, and the support from all of you. Thank you for all of your continued support to Ely School!

From the principal’s desk,

Dr. Jack M. Dibee, Jr.