School board digs into academic data at work session
The Westerville City Schools Board of Education held its Sept. 29 work session Tuesday (listed on BoardDocs as “BOE Retreat-4:00 p.m.”) — a work session on academic data and the district’s Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, followed by an executive session on employment and compensation of public employees. The posted agenda ran eight items: call to order, the pledge, resolutions to suspend and then reinstate Robert’s Rules of Order, the work session itself, the next-meeting notice, executive session and adjournment. The district posted the work-session slide deck — 41 pages on MTSS — but no minutes yet, and vote outcomes aren’t shown on the public agenda.
The session followed Ohio’s annual school report cards, released two weeks ago. Westerville earned four stars in Achievement, Gap Closing and Graduation, three stars in Progress and two stars in Early Literacy and College, Career, Workforce and Military Readiness. The district’s Performance Index percentage slipped to 81.1% from 81.7%, and chronic absenteeism rose to 18.2% from 17.8% — the second straight year above the state goal of 14.5%. The four-year graduation rate was 93.1%, while the five-year rate climbed to 96.3%.
Rotary honors October students of the month
The Rotary Club of Westerville recognized its October 2026 Students of the Month at an Oct. 1 meeting: Westerville Central senior Efrosini Samson, interested in psychology or neuroscience at Ohio State or Miami University; Westerville North senior Charlie Bosler, interested in management at the West Point Military Academy; and Westerville South senior Naomi Abimbola, interested in biology at Ohio State, Case Western Reserve or Ohio University.
On the calendar
The next board meeting is a regular session Monday, Oct. 12 at 6 p.m. at the Early Learning Center, 936 Eastwind Dr. The agenda isn’t posted yet; agendas typically go up the Friday before the meeting.
The OHSAA District Golf Tournament is Oct. 5–6, with four Westerville students competing as individual qualifiers. Seniors can get help on the Common App at a free workshop 5:30–7 p.m. Oct. 8, including a voucher for a free Ohio University application. The Westerville Public Library’s Wizards and Wands Festival runs Oct. 17–29 with student art on exhibit, and the Bette Marschall Grant application deadline is Oct. 30.
From the district’s News & Announcements
Hope Squad student leaders mapped out plans for visibility and engagement at the district’s inaugural Student Leadership Summit Thursday. Twenty-three high school Hope Squad leaders proposed ideas including a mascot, pep rallies, and more presence in morning announcements; each school’s group developed its own plan for October meetings. The peer-to-peer suicide prevention program is in its sixth year in high schools, its third year in middle schools, and expanded to seven elementary schools this fall.
“I’ve got important work to do”: choice-based art is empowering students at Hawthorne Elementary, where art teacher Liz Bash runs her classroom as studios — painting, drawing, clay, sculpture, fibers, printmaking and a new collage studio — and students choose their own projects and pace while meeting state standards. Fourth- and fifth-graders now mount and display their own work around the school.
Sixty students from all three high schools toured Ohio University’s main campus in Athens Wednesday, Sept. 30— the first district-sponsored college visit of the year, free to students, with an admissions overview, student-led tour and lunch in a dining hall. A second free visit to the University of Cincinnati is planned for March.
Four Westerville high school students qualified for the OHSAA District Golf Tournament Oct. 5–6: sophomore Sydney Hawes (Westerville South), senior Coleman Lee (Westerville Central), and seniors Clark McGeorge and Tori Smith (Westerville North). Strong finishes could send them to the state tournament Oct. 11–12.
Walnut Springs Middle School sixth-graders brought National Hispanic Heritage Month to life with passport presentations on research about Latin American countries and figures including Lin-Manuel Miranda, in Janin Rosas’ social studies class. Peers stamped custom passports as they visited each presentation; the teacher plans to reuse the model for Black History, Women’s History, and Asian American Pacific Islander heritage months.
Eighth-grade artwork from across the district’s middle schools will be exhibited at the Westerville Public Library’s Wizards and Wands Festival, opening Oct. 17 from 12:30–6 p.m. and on view through Oct. 29. The monthlong festival features more than 40 events celebrating fantasy fandoms and drew more than 5,100 visitors last October.
Submissions are open for the 2026-27 PTA Reflections Arts Competition for elementary and middle school artists in visual art, dance choreography, literature, photography, film production, and music composition. This year’s national theme is “What My Culture Means to Me”; 14 WCS schools are participating.
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