Bay Village City School District

A profile

The Bay Village City School District serves about 2,500 students in their four school buildings—Normandy Elementary School (Grades K-2), Westerly Elementary School (Grades 3-4); the newly constructed Bay Middle School (Grades 5-8) and Bay High School, which has an enrollment of a little over 800. The community’s closeness is exemplified by the fact that each grade level stays together in the same school through high school graduation. The school district also offers child care and a special preschool center, Glenview Center for Child Care, that provides before- and after- school supervision, a half-day kindergarten extension program, and a special needs preschool, as well as full daycare for infants through preschool-aged children. The child care and extended kindergarten programs are funded through individual fees.

Achievement among the top in Ohio districts

Bay Village is a consistently high-achieving school district; the Bay Village Schools have earned Ohio’s highest academic rating of “Excellent” for years, earning a 2006 performance index score of 105.5 out of the goal of 100 on the most recent Ohio Report Card. About 95 percent of graduating seniors go directly to colleges or universities, and SAT and ACT test scores are consistently above national averages. Eighty percent of students take both tests.

Westerly Elementary School, which serves all of the Bay Village City School District’s third and fourth grade students, has been identified as one of the top dozen progressing schools in Ohio in a study conducted by Battelle for Kids, a partnership initiative focused on improving student achievement in Ohio. As a result of the extraordinary gains made by its students, Westerly was the focus of a case study conducted by Battelle for Kids so that the school’s policies, programs and practices can be shared to benefit all schools.

Award-winning programs and more outside recognition

The district consistently earns many awards, both locally and nationally, including being named the past five years to the Best 100 Communities in Music Education in America, top rankings for sources of relocation information, and three Harvard Business Club of NE Ohio awards for school management. The school district has also earned one of the highest bond ratings available to school districts, an Aa2 rating, from Moody’s Investors Service.

Student-centered building and schedule designs

The new Bay Middle School, which opened in January of 2004, gives students in grades 5 through 8 a learning environment that was specifically designed for their age level. Each grade has its own academic wing. Large classrooms are fully wired for Internet, telecommunications, and video. The school’s designers put the state-of-the-art facilities for music, art and athletics far away from the quieter academic areas. The beautiful and bright library is also fully wired for the enhanced use of technology. The environmentally-friendly building uses geothermal heating and cooling technology for cleaner, cost-effective heating and cooling, with climate control by classroom.

Always in the forefront of educational development, Bay High School operates on a modified block schedule, a new trend in student scheduling. Block scheduling allows longer periods for the study of core curriculum subjects. The Bay plan splits some of those periods to allow for greater selection in elective courses. A Quality Resource Period, replacing study halls, coincides with all teachers’ office hours, so that students can meet with those teachers who can provide needed extra assistance.

Bay High School requires 28 credits to graduate, which are six more than are required by the state of Ohio’s Department of Education. In addition, students also complete a senior project, an in-depth research project that requires field research and a presentation to a jury of faculty and community members. This is a college-level project, some which have been so outstanding they have literally changed lives. One student conducted a fund raising and community education effort which led to the donation of defribulators to our athletic program. Many others have also made meaningful contributions to our wider community. And more than a few students have said their research has pointed them toward careers they had not previously considered.

Strong community relations

A partnership with the City of Bay Village added a second community gymnasium to the new middle school (in addition to the main school gymnasium). The collaboration more than doubled the amount of gym space available for community recreation activities, as well as adding additional fitness center space.

In January 2004, hundreds of residents attended the new building’s dedication ceremony. The excitement in touring the first major construction project to take place in Bay Village in decades had both young and old visitors smiling with pride. Alumni representing a span of decades from the past 82 years spoke at a “decommission ceremony” to bid farewell to the old school (whose original section was built in 1922). The community was invited to tour the old building and to purchase mementos and salvage items before the demolition. (Bricks from the demolished school were sold at the school board office, each with a certificate of authenticity.)

The schools also make many more contributions to area citizenry.  The school system offers dozens of low fee computer technology classes each year, with courses taught by Bay High School faculty and technology staff. In addition to access to the middle school’s new gymnasium, residents can also make use of the Bay High School fitness center through the city recreational programs, and the outdoor track is open to the public at specified times.

The city and schools cooperate on a variety of other resource sharing programs, pooling their purchasing power and coordinating their services. One partnership, for instance, is Bay Family Services, which offers discussion groups with trained facilitators for students, workshops for parents, and referrals for community members who may require counseling for a variety of problems.