Board adopts policy package, hears report card
The Westerville City Schools Board of Education adopted all seven policies up for final reading at its regular session Monday, Oct. 12, at the Early Learning Center, with votes from all five members. The package included Policy 2431.07, the Student Athlete Mobility policy required under Senate Bill 276, which lets students take part in extracurriculars at another public high school when their own school doesn’t offer the activity, along with bylaws on filling a board vacancy and on resignation or removal, and policies on public records, interscholastic athletics, youth membership organization access and use of medications.
The board also heard a presentation on the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce report card and first readings on policies covering homeless students, volunteers and sex offender notification, plus the secondary music curriculum. Members approved the September financial report and fiscal 2027 activity budgets, a personnel consent agenda that included two OAPSE Local 138 memorandums and an amended contract for Treasurer Nicole Marshall, donations totaling $8,273.20, a resolution authorizing Elford, Inc. to provide preconstruction services for the Westerville South High School Phase 7 project, a police services agreement for a school resource officer at Minerva Park Middle School, out-of-state and overnight field trips, and a slate of 27 early graduates.
Recognitions
The board recognized the district’s Student Well-Being Department Monday for earning national accreditation through the Council on Accreditation, an honor that opens the door to additional grant funding for prevention programs including Hope Squad, Link Crew, ROX and WEB. Board member Anisa Liban called the accreditation process rigorous, and the board honored Jessie Martin, director of student well-being, and Tami Santa, executive director of student services.
Robert Frost Elementary reading teacher Amanda Anderson received the Westerville Sunrise Rotary Club’s Service to Youth Award for September. Anderson, who co-leads the school’s PBIS team, was surprised Wednesday by Rotary representatives, Superintendent Angie Hamberg and Principal Dr. Angela Hayes; she will be celebrated at a Rotary breakfast in May, and a flag will fly in her honor at the Field of Heroes over Memorial Day weekend.
On the calendar
The board’s next regular meeting is Monday, Nov. 23 at 6 p.m. at the Early Learning Center, 936 Eastwind Dr.
Eighth-grade artwork from across the district’s middle schools is on exhibit at the Westerville Public Library’s Wizards and Wands Festival, which opened Oct. 17 and runs through Oct. 29. The Bette Marschall Grant application deadline is Oct. 30. The district’s Holiday Help program is still looking for families willing to help fulfill children’s holiday wish lists — the volunteer form is due Oct. 31.
From the district’s News & Announcements
The Student Well-Being Department has earned national accreditation through the Council on Accreditation, which opens the door to additional grant funding for prevention programs like Hope Squad, Link Crew, ROX and WEB. Board members recognized Jessie Martin and Tami Santa at Monday’s board meeting. (See Recognitions, above.)
At Wilder Elementary, a “Chip Chip Hooray” attendance party is underway — classrooms earn pieces of a Mr. or Mrs. Potato Head for each day of perfect attendance and celebrate with chips once it’s assembled. Absences dropped 37% in the first nine weeks compared with last year, office behavior referrals fell 72%, and students earned 3,000 PRIDE tickets, more than double the staff’s 1,200-ticket goal; the school also launched a Girls on the Run team, a Hope Squad and a fifth-grade choir this fall.
Robert Frost Elementary reading teacher Amanda Anderson has been recognized by the Westerville Sunrise Rotarywith its Service to Youth Award for September. (See Recognitions, above.)
About 80 male mentors from the district’s three high schools met their elementary mentees this week as the district expanded its peer mentoring program for elementary boys to six schools. Launched last year by Dr. Ja’Niece McAlpine as a male counterpart to the ROX girls program, the initiative adds Hanby and Fouse elementaries this year; mentors will visit twice a month for lessons and recess for the rest of the school year.
Former Team USA and Ohio State wrestler JD Bergman visited Annehurst Elementary on Thursday to hype students ahead of their walk-a-thon and talk fitness in Lindsey Visintine’s physical education classes. Annehurst is one of nine elementary and middle schools in the district taking part in the statewide Team Tressel Fitness Challenge.
Westerville North’s Big Band joined more than 2,000 Central Ohio students for a jazz concert featuring Wynton Marsalis at Ohio State’s Mershon Auditorium. Marsalis performed with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra for the Wexner Center’s Jazz for Young People program and took questions from students afterward.
Westerville North’s girls soccer team has spent five weeks volunteering in a Robert Frost Elementary classroom, rotating Monday and Wednesday afternoon visits to Cindy Campbell’s second-graders since mid-September to read, write acrostic poems and lead hands-on activities. Head coach Nick Wheeler said showing up for others is central to the program’s culture.
Also this week
The Columbus Dispatch ranked Westerville 12th among 37 central Ohio districts for remediation-free ACT and SAT scores, with 32.4% of students hitting the state’s college-ready benchmarks — nearly double the 17.6% state average. The figures, from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce’s 2025-26 data, feed the same College, Career, Workforce and Military Readiness component the board reviewed Monday.
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