Welcome- August 2022!

Welcome Talawanda School District Families and Community Members,

Talawanda School District is a unique school district that includes Miami University.  We have a rural and suburban community that emcompasses approximately 144 square miles.  We are a large geographical  district with a student population around 3,000 students.

Our staff is dedicated to our community and our students.  Talawanda School District provides a plethora of activities, extracurricular options, and course choices not seen in many small districts.  Our Board of Education supports the endeavors and needs of our community, students, and staff.  Many of our staff reside within our district.  

The state provides approximately $1,500 of funding per student.  This amount is clearly not enough to educate all of our students with a rigorous curriculum and prepare our students for life beyond high school.  Our community provides the rest of the money needed to educate our children through taxes in our district. This is a school income tax combined with property taxes.  Our last operational levy passed in 2004 and went into effect in 2005.  Since that time, a bond levy was approved by our community and a new high school was built.  Three new elementary buildings were also built during the past 15 years (Kramer, Bogan, and Marshall).  The elementary buildings were built using our permanent improvement money, OFCC money, and our own local capital improvement money, so these modern schools were provided with no new tax dollars.  We have a very supportive and dedicated community that understands the need for modernized schools with appropriate science labs, technology, and learning spaces.

Our past and current Board of Education members, leadership, and staff have made outstanding decisions to not only provide many educational opportunities available for our students, but to also manage our financial resources.  The Ohio State Funding Formulas and operational rules make it difficult for Ohio schools to operate without asking for community financial support.  Most school districts are forced to ask their communities for operational levies every 5 to 7 years.  In 1997, in DeRolph v. State, the Ohio Supreme Court declared the State's school funding system unconstitutional, specifically citing four major flaws in the system, including insufficient state funding for school facilities.  In fact, the court system has declared this on 4 occasions but the Ohio Legislative Body has failed to address this.

Our Board of Education and team is dedicated to providing the best education possible and in tightening our belts. We have reduced department and building budgets by 20 percent, sought and received additional grants, reduced 10.5 teaching positions without changes to our overall programs, created some cost savings through attrition, and implemented a strategic plan to guide our decisions.  While this is not the time to induce panic, I believe it is important to let the community, students, staff, and parents know that we are in financial distress.  Our Board has approved a levy of 5.75 Mills (about $200 per year per $100,000 of assessed not retail value) in November's election. 

We recently finished a year without COVID19 remote learning.  We are being told there is a recent uptick in COVID19 cases.  Our team continues to monitor the COVID19 data, recommendations from the Butler County Health Department, ODE, and the Governor, and needs of both our students and staff.  Our school district is committed to the health and safety of all.  We know face to face (in person) education is the best education possible.  Please follow BCHD and Talawanda procedures if you are sick and/or test positive for COVID19.  Let’s keep COVID19 out of our buildings!

We have many partnerships with local agencies and community members.  Our health and wellness programs and activities are the envy of other school districts.  We have connections that provide mental health awareness and support to both our students and families. We also have benefitted from these partnerships to develop an educational program focused on developing the whole child.  We know COVID19 as well as other stressors have affected our students and staff.  We are blessed to have these opportunities.  

Our new Strategic Plan can be found at our website (https://www.talawanda.org/departments/superintendent-29/strategic-plan-308/ ).  Our plan will help guide our focus and direction as we address student and staff needs.  We will use BRAVE to address Bridging and Building our Community, Educating with Respect and Equity in Inclusive Environments, Accounting for our taxpayer money with fiscal stewardship, promoting Vision and innovative opportunities, and implementing Exceptional and high quality instruction and staffing.

Our Diversity and Equity Plan can also be found at our website (https://www.talawanda.org/media/documents/Website%20Copy%20of%20TEAM%20APPROVED%20Diversity%20Plan%202021-2022.pdf ).  This plan was developed by parents, staff, and partners.  We will continue to adjust the plan as we prepare and educate our students for life.

The new report card data should be shared with us very soon.  We will share the report card information at an upcoming Board of Education meeting when the data is finalized.  Please note that there are many changes to the report card including the elimination of the letter grades and replacing those letters with a star rating system.  Again, we will address these changes in an upcoming Board meeting.  Stay tuned.

If you are new to Talawanda, we welcome you.  We hope everyone had a restful and fun summer.  It seems each summer goes by faster and faster!

For additional information related to our district watch our Board meetings.  You may also locate information on our website, blog, twitter, and e news. Each building provides additional information regarding that building also found on our website.  As superintendent, I also provide quarterly video updates that hopefully provide you with some information within a short amount of time-2 minutes.

Talawanda School District is an outstanding educational institution.  I am blessed to work in this school district with our talented staff and under the direction of our consummate Board of Education.  I am also blessed to work with the many families and students who want the best for the Talawanda community.  

It has been so quiet without the students and staff.  While many are not happy summer is over, I am thrilled that our hallways will be jam packed with students and staff.

In Education,

Dr. Edward Theroux

Dr. Edward Theroux

Superintendent