On August 19th, The Loveland Initiative continued to push our mission forward to provide educational support and assistance to underserved children and their families. We held our 24th annual backpack program for the 2020-2021 school year providing students with new backpacks filled with school supplies.
Terri Rogers is the Executive Director of the Loveland Initiative
Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the backpack program functioned differently this year. We made several changes to ensure that we had a safe program for our donors, partners, and the families we serve.
This year we teamed up with an amazing group, The Care Center at Northstar Community Church. Their mission is to provide CARE for the whole person as we help people remove barriers for success and build the resources needed to get to the next place in life.
Over 180 families received personal hygiene, cleaning supplies, and paper goods at The Care Center, and more than 200 backpacks filled with school supplies provided to kids through The Loveland Initiative via a drive-thru format.
A HUGE thank you to The Care Centerfor hosting the program and for the use of their facility. A HUGE thank you our donors who collected backpacks, monetary donations and/or supplies. A HUGE thank you to ALL our volunteers, YOU were invaluable! A HUGE thank you to Loveland Magazine for their publicity support. Without the support from our awesome community we could not do what we do.
Once again, thank you for making our 24th annual backpack program an enormous success!!
The Loveland Initiative is a 501(c)(3) registered charity. For more information on The Loveland Initiative, please contact Terri Rogers at trogers7@fuse.net or www.lovelandinitiative.org and our Facebook page.
David Miller is the Publisher of Loveland Magazine
by David Miller
In August when Loveland High School athletes and possibly a band student were tested positive and quarantined after testing positive for COVID 19 rumors quickly spread through the community, however, there was never any official acknowledgment, only a very brief, casual mention of it at a recent Board meeting.
Now that fall sports are underway and in-person instruction has begun, Loveland Magazine posed the following question to the District’s Information Officer yesterday:
Is there a plan or will there be a plan to update the media in a real-time way when positive COVID 19 cases are in the school population?
The District’s answer seems to be maybe they will. The Superintendent says they are waiting for orders from Governor Mike DeWine.*
It will be our right to know data the District collects. It is “our” data as tax-paying citizens. Projecting light on vital community health information is the surest disinfectant against rumor, speculation, and fear.
Outbreaks in our schools may be the deadliest setting for the pandemic within our community.
The District does not need open records COVID advice from the statehouse when choosing to let residents know about COVID spread in the community. It’s common sense to allow citizen’s in on the data so they can also help stop the spread.
Perhaps there is a reluctance to report bad news as if it would be bad publicity or perceived as a failure of policy of their diligent hard work keeping COVID out of classrooms. Not so. COVID is here and the public needs to feel confidant that the District who has gathered so many into classrooms will report to the greater community of our vulnerable population if there is a community spread from the local petri dish.
Disclosing real-time/point of entry data would help all families make informed decisions. Parents, guardians, and childcare providers have a right to know if cases are increasing rapidly in the school district.
It’s a simple choice, either be 100% transparent or not. No advice from DeWine can prevent the District from immediately disclosing data that doesn’t compromise the privacy of students or staff or adhering to privacy restrictions that FERPA and HIPAA require.
We’d have wished the Superintend had made an unconditional and unequivocal commitment to release real-time communication to district residents when COVID CASES are discovered in the classrooms and offices.
Loveland citizens and Tigers alike can handle the truth and as always won’t run from you… they have proven all Summer long they won’t run from you if you get COVID.
* Superintendent Dr. Amy Crouse responded:
When there is a positive case, our health team gathers the facts of the case, including the identifying information of those students and staff who have had close contact with the positive case (within 6 feet for 15 minutes or more). The district sends a notice of the positive case to the appropriate school/program based on the contact criteria. The district also works closely with the Hamilton County Department of Health to complete the requirements for contact tracing.
Details of our health protocols are posted on our website and updated as needed.
We are waiting on orders from the Governor for sharing our COVID data with the public. We have been discussing and planning for this COVID dashboard and will finalize our plan once we have the full details/order from the state.
School Health Services Reopening Plans and Protocols
Miami Township, Ohio – Overnight closures will be effect later this month on the State Route 28 bypass in Milford as part of a bridge deck replacement project on Happy Hollow Road over the bypass.
On Monday, Sept. 14, Bypass S.R. 28 will be closed in the eastbound direction during the overnight hours, and on Tuesday, Sept. 15, the bypass will be closed in the westbound direction while crews install beams on the Happy Hollow bridge.
The closures will be in effect from 10 PM each night to 5 AM the following day.
During periods of closure, traffic will be detoured by way of Business S.R. 28.
In addition, Happy Hollow Road will be subject to intermittent periods of short-term, 15-minute closure during both nights. At all other times, traffic will be maintained in one lane at the overpass bridge with temporary signals.
A contract was awarded to Sunesis Construction Company for approximately $1.9 million to rehab the bridge, and completion is scheduled for late spring of 2021.
For additional information regarding ongoing traffic, construction and weather-related information across the state, visit www.OHGO.com.
Know Before You Go!
For more detailed traffic information, and to get personalized traffic alerts for your commute, download the OHGO app or visit OHGO.com.
Sugarcreek Township, Ohio – This PSA features 99-year-old Jim “Pee Wee” Martin who lives in Sugarcreek Township in Greene County.
Jim volunteered to be a WWII Paratrooper, an original member of Company “G”, 3rdBattalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. His nickname “Pee Wee” was earned because he was 106 pounds, the smallest and lightest guy in the company. In 1944, Jim jumped into France over Utah Beach the night prior to D-Day and fought for 33 days in the Normandy campaign. He also fought in Holland, Belgium, and Germany.
Among his many awards, Jim earned a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart for his great work.
Loveland, Ohio – Today was the first day of school for the Loveland District and in a “Welcome Back, Tigers!” video on FaceBook, Superintendent Dr. Amy Crouse urged parents to send her photos of the children as they head back to school, whether in-person or remotely. Many parents already have and the photos have been posted on the District’s public FaceBook and Twitter pages.
Many of these photos contain personal information about the child, whether standing at their front door, in their neighborhood or even photos of the child in their bedroom where they will be studying. Some of the photos give first names, some last names, what grade they are in, and their age. Many say the name of their teacher.
On the District Twitter page, you can read the parent’s full name along with the child’s photo. Some of the posts disclose which day a child will be home and which day a child will be on the bus or at school, which reveals when a child may be waiting on their school bus or getting off one.
Posting back to school photos on a personal FaceBook page is common practice and shared with personal friends and grandparents, however, posting children’s photos of them in their bedroom on a public page is infinite in the number of people around the globe who can now view the images along with the personal information.
The invitation to parents said:
We know that this school year is starting like no other, but we still want to still celebrate the first day of school on Monday.
We hope that whether you are starting school in person or remotely that you share your official “first day of school” photos with us!
Share using the hashtag #LCSFirstDay20 or email your photos to krsacome@lovelandschools.org. We will feature student photos on our social media channels all week! #TigersTogether #LCSFirstDay20.
Dr. Crouse’s invitation is at the 38-second mark of this video.
Columbus, Ohio – Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced that the following order has been signed by Ohio Department of Health Interim Director Lance Himes:
Columbus, Ohio – The Ohio Supreme Court has said a school district can go ahead with a firearm policy for personnel while the state’s highest court decides on their case.
The Ohio Supreme Court granted Madison Local School District’s request to allow the implementation of a policy allowing trained personnel including teachers to be armed on the Butler County district’s grounds Wednesday.
The amount of training the personnel must receive is still up for debate as the Ohio Senate considers a bill to lower that training level.
But just as they allowed the motion, they also sped up the schedule for their own deliberation.
“No stipulations or requests for extension of time shall be permitted, and the clerk of court shall refuse to file any stipulations or requests for extension of time,” the court said in a filing.
The district asked for an expedited timeline because of the upcoming school year, which started Aug. 13. The appeals court decision had “no practical effect” before then, because Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine had already closed schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Attorneys for the school district parents who filed the initial lawsuit said a last-minute halt to the appeals court decision “threatens to upend the expectations of parents who have used the intervening months to make time-sensitive decisions — and commitments — about how to safely educate their children this fall.”
“While parents face a variety of safety concerns when deciding how to school their children in a global pandemic, Madison’s last-minute request would add to the confusion and concerns that parents are currently grappling with, and have already made decisions about,” attorneys for the families wrote in a response to the motion, filed Aug. 12.
The parents disagreed with the district’s argument that allowing the school to implement the policy before the supreme court makes its final decision is “necessary to prevent irreparable injury.”
While both parties want to avoid a school shooting like the one that sparked the policy in the first place, attorneys for the parents said, being barred from implementing the firearm policy “does not prevent Madison from deploying almost any conceivable option to enhance school safety; it simply bars the use of armed staff whose few days of training fall far short of the state mandate.”
The school district has 20 days to file their arguments with the court, and the families have 20 days following that to respond.
Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor and Justice Michael Donnelly disagreed with the decision to expedite the case and temporarily halt the appeals court decision, and Justice Patrick Fischer noted he would have specifically denied the portion of the motion to allow the district’s firearms policy.
Susan Tebben is an award-winning journalist with a decade of experience covering Ohio news, including courts and crime, Appalachian social issues, government, education, diversity and culture. She has worked for The Newark Advocate, The Glasgow Daily Times, The Athens Messenger, and WOUB Public Media. She has also had work featured on National Public Radio.
Whistle Stop Clay Works (WSCW) is pleased to announce the third annual Pottery Affaire happening Saturday, September 12 from 11am. until 4pm. The show highlights local artists who will be offering hand made pottery, paintings, note cards, photographs, felted items, and much more.
This show is a wonderful opportunity to support local artists who have been impacted by the pandemic and to buy unique, hand crafted work. There will also be demonstrations on the potter’s wheel and pottery studio tours.
“It’s an amazing show. There are about two dozen artists showing their work. The Pottery Affaire offers tremendous variety and selection, so you’re sure to find something that just right for you or someone on your holiday list,” states Bonnie McNett, show coordinator and instructor at WSCW.
The show is happening by the beautiful O’Bannon Creek at 119 Harrison Avenue, in historic Loveland, Ohio. “The setting is just perfect with lots of expansive shade trees and the beautiful O’Bannon Creek ambling by,” continues McNett.
The outdoor show will require vendors and shoppers to wear face masks and observe social distancing guidelines.
The Pottery Affaire is being held at 119 Harrison Avenue just north of downtown Loveland on Saturday, September 12th from 11am. till 4pm.
Loveland, Ohio – The Loveland Middle School shared a video to FaceBook about what they have been working on and what their students can expect when they come back to school.
Loveland, Ohio – This week, the Loveland City School District has shared videos on FaceBook to give families a better insight into what to expect as they welcome back students on Monday, August 31.
Here’s what Loveland High School teachers and administrators had to say.
![[POLL] Is it a good idea to post student’s home photos on School’s social pages?](https://lovelandmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/1st-day-photos.jpg)
![[VIDEO] A day at Loveland High School will look like this](https://lovelandmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/proud-tiger.jpg)