The Loveland Middle School (LMS) Partners Club will be combining with LMS Best Buddies for the 2015-16 school year! These two similar organizations with a common vision operated separately last year, and will be combined to maximize student benefit and to better reach the collective goal of creating social opportunities for any student.
Through this joint effort (now to be referred only as Best Buddies) the club can maximize the ability to focus on developing positive and meaningful relationships with peers without taking away anything from one another.
“Combining our clubs will make our impact even stronger,” said Candice Paolino, LMS parent and Partners Club founder. “I am thrilled to continue to help facilitate this along with teachers Rachael Angel and Jennifer Ramage, and am looking forward to helping kids connect to one another!”
Photo caption: From October 2014, when the LMS Partners Club made its debut appearance at the Loveland Athletic Boosters Homecoming Parade
Mark your calendar for Tuesday, Aug. 11, to meet the newest member of the Tiger Family Administrative Team
Loveland, Ohio – The Tiger Family is invited to attend a Meet & Greet with the new leader of Loveland High School (LHS), Principal Peggy Johnson, from 6 until 7 PM Tuesday, Aug. 11, in the main lobby of LHS.
In June the district announced Johnson’s hiring. She officially started her position August 1. Click here to read her full bio.
Click here to watch Principal Johnson talk about her passion for education, her experience with Loveland, and why she just can’t wait for the first day of school.
“Angela Morales from Loveland, Ohio made this beautiful image for our “Ultrawide” theme at Ohio’s Hocking Hills State Park, using a Canon 6D and the short end of a 17-40mm f/4L zoom. Her exposure was ISO 200, f/7.1, 1/60.”
[dropcap type=”3″]I[/dropcap]f you are the parent of a college-bound student, you may soon face a whole new world of an empty nest, financial aid and questions about doing laundry. What you might not realize, though, is that with this new transition, there are some important considerations you need to keep top of mind, specifically life insurance and updating of legal documents.
Here are my tips (besides never mix your whites and darks) as your kids leave the nest.
Life insurance needs
Although it is not top of mind during this exciting time, it is important to make sure you have the right level of life insurance coverage.
No one wants to think about the unthinkable, but you might want to increase your own life insurance coverage or obtain coverage on your student if:
Your current coverage would not be sufficient to pay off student loan debt and meet the surviving spouse’s other financial needs, too.
You take out a Parent PLUS or home equity loan.
You co-sign with your child on a student loan.
Legal document needs
Strange as it may sound, if a college student age 18 or older is hospitalized while at school and is unable to communicate, the parents might not automatically have the right to tell doctors and hospital staff what medical procedures to use or not use. Also, if the adult student is not able to communicate for an extended time, parents might not be authorized to move funds from the student’s accounts. As legal adults, students over the age of 18 need their own advance medical directives, health care agent form and durable power of attorney for financial management, naming those who could legally act on their behalf. Below are some key terms and ideas to discuss with an attorney to ensure you’re prepared in the event that your child is incapacitated.
Important Definitions
Advance medical directive – Allows you to plan your health care before you may be unable to make sound decisions yourself.
Health care agent form – Allows you to appoint another person to make your health care decisions for you if you are unable to communicate them yourself.
Durable power of attorney for financial management – Gives someone the right to make financial decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so.
Leaving for school opens up a whole new world for both children and their families. By taking a few minutes to review your financial and legal situation now, you will be prepared for this new stage of your life.
The Loveland Initiative is proud once again to host the 17th Annual Back Pack Program for the 2015/2016 school year. Over the years we have provided backpacks filled with school supplies to qualifying families who meet income and residency guidelines; who are struggling with their financial situation to make ends meet due to job layoffs and fewer benefits received in the home.
Our goal is to make sure that every child starts off the school year with fresh new backpacks and school supplies. We feel that children are more optimistic and encouraged to start the school year focusing on learning and not on hand-me-down bags. It is about generating excitement and joy at the prospect of returning to school. We fill backpacks with school supplies based on a list distributed by Loveland School District.
Approximately 200+ children from under-served families in the Loveland area receive backpacks and school supplies via our Back Pack Program. Each family will sign up, pre-register and financially qualify. The 17th Annual Back Pack Program will be held at TheLoveland Initiative Center 405 Loveland Madeira Roadlocatedin the Loveland Square strip mall next to Irresistible Additions. The date for the event is Saturday, August 14th from 4:00-6:00 pm. Children will personally pick out their own backpack and leave with smiles on their faces.
We will be accepting donations of NEWBackpacks and School Supplies for Loveland City School District students in grades Pre-K through 12 (see supply list below). Please drop off donations starting July 1, through August 8, on these days and times listed; Monday’s 6:00pm-8:00pm, Wednesday’s 2:00pm-5:00pm and Friday’s 2:00pm-5:00pm at TheLoveland Initiative Center 405 Loveland Madeira Road. In addition to items, we always need volunteers for pick-up, sorting, packing and distributing. You have been invited by Terri Rogers to volunteer for “The 17th Annual Back Pack Program.” Please click on the link below to view the online sign-up sheet.
The Back Pack Program is a great asset to our community. We are confident that our community will once again pull together to help the children and the families in Loveland. Please feel free to call Executive Director Terri Rogers 513-739-2354 or trogers7@fuse.net with any questions or concerns. Thank you in advance for your help!
Terri Rogers is Executive Director of the Loveland Initiative
Download a printable shopping list to keep with you while you are out about town.
Do you remember the excited feeling you had going Back to
School each year with a new backpack filled with school supplies?
The Loveland Initiative, 17th Annual Back Pack Program to give 200 hundred Loveland School children the chance to start the year off NEW Backpacks and Supplies. If you can donate one of these filled backpacks, the children would appreciate it more than you can imagine. If you are not able to complete an entire bag by yourself, please consider sharing this project with a friend. Any and all donations are greatly appreciated!!!
LOVELAND ELEMENTARY
Grades 1-4
24 count Crayola crayons
Pencil box
Highlighters
One box 8 count Crayola Classical broad line markers
12 #2 pencils- plain yellow only
Glue sticks
4oz. bottle of Elmer’s white glue
Pencil Sharpeners
Scissors (children’s)
Red 2 pocket folder with fasteners
Blue 2 pocket folder with fasteners
Green 2 pocket folder with fasteners Yellow 2 pocket folder with –fasteners
Green pen
70 sheet spiral notebook (solid color only/wide rule)
Colored pencils
1-inch three-ring binder
boxes of tissues
One pink eraser
Pencil Cap Erasers
Container of Clorox Wipes
Dry erase markers
Wide‐ruled loose leaf notebook paper
Composition books
Black Sharpie
One box of Ziploc Baggies: (Girls: Gallon-sized) (Boys: Quart-sized)
LOVELAND INTERMEDIATE/MIDDLE
Grades 5-8
Wide ruled loose leaf paper
70 count spiral wide notebooks
3 ring 1”and 2” inch binders
Graph paper
Composition books
Index cards
Flash drive
#2 pencils
Erasers
Pencil bags
Pencil sharpeners
Pens ( blue, and black)
Highlighters
Post-it Notes
5 pack tab dividers
Ruler (metric & inches)
Book covers (stretch)
Calculators
3 prong pocket folders (red, yellow, purple, blue and green)
Scissors
Glue sticks
Box of tissues
Colored pencils
Markers (8 count, thick markers)
Book covers
Ruler with centimeters
Tab dividers
Protractors
LOVELAND EARLY CHILDHOOD
KINDERGARTEN
1 pair of Friskers child size pointed scissors (Girls Only)
2 Expo Dry Erase Markers
1 bottle (4 oz) Elmer’s school glue(Boys Only)
1 box 24 count Crayola crayons
6 large glue sticks
1 pack washable Crayola Classic Markers
1 pack Ticonderoga pencils (sharpened if possible)
1 box tissues-(plain, unscented, and no lotions please (Girls only)
1 package of baby wipes (Boys Only)
1 clear poly envelope (string closure)
Please make sure the bag is age appropriate. For example, if preparing backpack for a younger child, buy wide ruled paper, blunt tip scissors, etc. Please label bag as “younger or older”. We also serve Loveland High School students grades 9-12. Please drop off donations starting July 1, through August 8, on these days and times listed; Monday’s 6:00pm-8:00pm, Wednesday’s 2:00pm-5:00pm and Friday’s 2:00pm-5:00pm at TheLoveland Initiative Center 405 Loveland Madeira Road. In addition to items, we always need volunteers for pick-up, sorting, packing and distributing.
Please feel free to call Executive Director Terri Rogers 513-739-2354 trogers7@fuse.net with any questions or concerns. Thank you in advance for your support!
We want the Tiger Family to know the Loveland City School District has formally joined 40 other area school districts in forming the Greater Cincinnati School Advocacy Network in an effort to gain a collective voice for students with lawmakers in Columbus and Washington D.C.
“This is about continuing a conversation that really began last year with the people who have the ability to be change-agents for the betterment of schools, and working together to create an improved environment for our students across the state,” said Loveland Superintendent Chad Hilliker. “There is real power in numbers, and we made the decision to join forces to speak as one about gaining more local control over the management of our districts.”
Administrators from the Greater Cincinnati School Advocacy Network held a news conference announcing the development of the organization Monday, Aug. 3, at the Butler County Education Service Center.
“As school district administrators, we must focus our attention on growing our students – academically, socially and emotionally, and that is the bottom line,” said Hilliker. “This is our collective request to ask our lawmakers to recognize that we understand how to do that best at the local level, and revisit some of the mandates that distract us from that goal. As a group we have the opportunity to help advocate for legislation that keeps our focus on student learning.”
The complete list of districts in the Greater Cincinnati School Advocacy Network include:
BUTLER COUNTY Edgewood City Schools, Fairfield City Schools, Hamilton City Schools, Lakota Local Schools, Madison Local Schools, Middletown City Schools, Monroe Local Schools, New Miami Local Schools, Ross Local Schools, Talawanda Schools
CLERMONT COUNTY Batavia Local Schools, Bethel-Tate Local Schools, Goshen Local Schools, Milford Schools, New Richmond EV School District, West Clermont Local Schools, Williamsburg Local Schools
HAMILTON COUNTY Cincinnati Public Schools, Deer Park Community City Schools, Finneytown Local Schools, Forest Hills Local Schools, Indian Hill School District, Lockland Local Schools, Loveland City Schools, Madeira City Schools, Mariemont City Schools, Mt. Healthy City Schools, North College Hill City Schools, Northwest Local Schools, Norwood City Schools, Oak Hills Local Schools, Princeton City Schools, Reading Community Schools, St. Bernard-EP School District, Southwest Local Schools, Sycamore Community Schools, Three Rivers School District, Wyoming City Schools
WARREN COUNTY Little Miami Schools, Mason City Schools, Springboro Community Schools
“It has been a unique opportunity to work with districts in the Cincinnati area to help support our public schools and advocate for the needs of our students,” said Hilliker. “We will continue to look for ways to engage our communities to help support the outstanding schools districts in the state of Ohio.”
The Little Miami Local Schools Board of Education voted July 21 to place a levy renewal request on the November ballot.
The Board will ask voters to renew the issue that passed in November 2011 and that will expire next year. The new request will be for a 13.86-mill, five-year emergency operating levy, which would generate $10.6 million in operating dollars annually.
Little Miami Treasurer Terry Gonda said that while he knew levy requests were never welcome, he was pleased the district was not asking for new monies.
“With the 2011 issue getting ready to expire, the Board took a hard look at the most responsible way to move forward,” he said. “In seeking this renewal, the district will be able to continue to rebuild after fiscal emergency, without needing to ask our community to support a tax increase.” Gonda said that while the millage of this request is slightly lower, the amount it generates is the same as the 2011 levy, qualifying it as a renewal.
After eight previous ballot requests, voters approved a 13.95-mill, five-year property tax levy in November 2011. Prior to that, Little Miami had been proclaimed by the state to be in fiscal emergency in July 2010 and had been required to seek $11 million in state solvency assistance loans to continue to operate. Following the 2011 approval, the district was able to begin restoring services after two buildings had been closed and significant cuts had occurred in staff and services. The district also began repaying the loans within the required two-year time frame.
“We have operated very leanly while meeting our financial obligations to the state and to our community,” Gonda said. “This renewal will allow us to continue these operations while preparing for our largest enrollment ever this fall.”
Board President Randy Haas said board members are cognizant of their responsibility to the community, and this prompted long discussions about this levy request. The board also sought the input of the independent Business Advisory Council, which recommended this renewal request.
“As a Board, we are committed to being good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” Haas said. “Since the 2011 levy and even after the state commission left, we have scrutinized each financial decision closely. We feel that this renewal request is a fair deal for the district and for our community.”
Records request reveals plan by Port Authority to keep knowledge from public and press
Illustration by Clermont County Port Authority of sample “Conduit Financing” to private developers
Port Authority also now “owns” building and holds lease on land
Loveland, Ohio – Loveland Magazine made a public records request to the Clermont County Port Authority that reveals an arrangement with Loveland Station developer Jim Cohen, president of CMC Properties to delay public knowledge of a deal that awards CMC an Ohio sales and use tax exemption estimated to be worth $250,000 for the apartment complex he is building in Historic Downtown.
[quote_right]The Port Authority deal also gives the Clermont County development agency a 7-year lease on the 3-acre site, and ownership of the buildings.[/quote_right]The Port Authority deal also gives the Clermont County development agency a 7-year lease on the 3-acre site, and ownership of the buildings.
The City of Loveland paid approximately $2 million for the three acres and sold it to CMC for $180,000 in October of last year. In addition, there has been nearly two million additional public dollars invested in marketing, improving the site, and previous concessions to Cohen.
To make the tax break possible, “The Port Authority now owns the building and leases it to the developer, while the developer leases the land to the Port Authority,” as stated in a County newsletter released on June 30 .
By transferring the buildings and land to the Port Authority, CMC gets a sales and use tax exemption for construction materials or taxable services they purchase to build the 11,870 sq. ft. of retail space and 94 “luxury” apartments. The developer saves an estimated $250,000.
The deal is for 7-years (with early termination clauses), or until the apartments are built and a certificate of occupancy is issued.
The Clermont County Port Authority now owns these buildings and holds a lease on the land in Historic Downtown called Loveland Station.
Councilman Mark Fitzgerald said today that he assumed from what he previously heard, that the Port Authority was assisting Cohen with the project, however was unaware of the sales tax exemption or that the Port Authority now owned the buildings and holds a lease on the land.
In the June newsletter, Andy Kuchta, director of the Clermont County Department of Community and Economic Development said Loveland Station faced significant infrastructure costs, which threatened its viability. “The developer approached the Clermont County Port Authority in 2014 for assistance,” according to the newsletter.
Documents received from the public records request reveal that although the deal became public on June 30th of this year in the newsletter announcement, negotiations began at least as far back as July 21, 2014 at a 8 AM meeting at the Main Cup in downtown Milford. At the meeting was Andrew Kuchta, the Secretary and Fiscal Officer of the Port Authority, Jim Cohen, president of CMC Properties, and Chris Hamm, the chairman of the Port Authority. Hamm is CEO of Altimet/Global Scrap Management in Batavia and Milford. Kuchta is also the Director of the Clermont County Community and Economic Development agency
On September 5, 2014, Kuchta emailed Cohen with a summary of the meeting and outlined what they discussed. He also asked Cohen to provide him with, “Timing on when developer is comfortable with this deal becoming public.”
[quote_left]“We have not had any reporters or interested citizens attend a Port meeting this year, but you never know when someone will show up.”[/quote_left]On September 15, 2014, Kuchta emailed Cohen about an upcoming meeting of the Port Authority where they would vote on the tax exemption. In the email, Kuchta said, “We will discuss your project in closed session so there will be no reporters or others in that portion of the meeting. We have not had any reporters or interested citizens attend a Port meeting this year, but you never know when someone will show up.”
On September 17, 2014, the Port Authority met in a closed-door session with Cohen and others. According to minutes of that meeting they then approved a motion offered by Hamm for the Port Authority to pursue the tax exemption.
On October 7, 2014, Loveland City Council approved the development agreement and the transfer of the downtown property to River Trails Flats, LLC (CMC), allowing Loveland Station construction to start.
Before the $250,000 in Ohio sales tax relief, the total public dollars spent on developing Loveland Station was nearing $4 million, including legal fees, environmental studies, installing storm water sewers, staff time, removing the existing unsuitable dirt, supplying new fill dirt to raise the elevation, paving the site and then removing that original parking lot, burying utility lines, and creating a railroad “Quiet Zone” so apartment renters would not hear the approaching trains. Federal and State grants of $500,000 were also used to prepare the site for development.
[quote_right]Before the $250,000 in Ohio sales tax relief, the total public dollars spent on developing Loveland Station was nearing $4 million[/quote_right]During the time that former city manager, Thomas Carroll sought an increase in Loveland’s income tax, he told city council that the Loveland Station project would only generate $25,000 a year into City coffers.
Ohio law allows port authorities to provide the exemption of Ohio sales and use tax for the purchase of construction materials for projects using what is called, “conduit financing.” Because of its tax status, port authorities do not pay Ohio sales and use taxes on projects they control, thus the need to the transfer the land and buildings to the Port Authority.
CMC will build, maintain and operate the buildings. CMC paid the Port Authority a $19,000 lease financing fee and $20,000 for fees and legal counsel payable at closing, but $7,000 will be deferred and paid as rent to the Port Authority.
According to information provided on their web site, the Port Authority has no paid staff or physical office. Projects are managed by the staff of the Clermont County Department of Community & Economic Development. The Port received an initial $20,000 contribution from the County Commissioners in 2012 to fund the operations as the organization was established, and it was anticipated that the Port would be self-sufficient on an ongoing basis through project fees, .
The worst predicted impacts of climate change are starting to happen — and much faster than climate scientists expected
[quote_box_left]On July 20th, James Hansen, the former NASA climatologist who brought climate change to the public’s attention in the summer of 1988, issued a bombshell – sea levels could rise 10 times faster than previously predicted[/quote_box_left]
Historians may look to 2015 as the year when shit really started hitting the fan. Some snapshots: In just the past few months, record-setting heat waves in Pakistan and India each killed more than 1,000 people. In Washington state’s Olympic National Park, the rainforest caught fire for the first time in living memory. London reached 98 degrees Fahrenheit during the hottest July day ever recorded in the U.K.; The Guardian briefly had to pause its live blog of the heat wave because its computer servers overheated. In California, suffering from its worst drought in a millennium, a 50-acre brush fire swelled seventyfold in a matter of hours, jumping across the I-15 freeway during rush-hour traffic. Then, a few days later, the region was pounded by intense, virtually unheard-of summer rains. Puerto Rico is under its strictest water rationing in history as a monster El Niño forms in the tropical Pacific Ocean, shifting weather patterns worldwide.
A Headline from: lovelandschools.org
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