News and Events from the Loveland, Ohio Area
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![[VIDEO] What will a day be like for students at the Loveland Intermediate School](https://lovelandmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/lis-day.jpg)
Loveland, Ohio – The Loveland Intermediate School team walks you through what a typical day will look like for their incoming 5th and 6th graders.
You may even see Mr. Carlier and Mrs. Carter race.
This video was shared on the Loveland City Schools FaceBook page on August 26.
Columbus, Ohio – AARP Ohio delivered more than 4,000 petitions today to Governor Mike DeWine and the Director of Ohio’s Department of Administrative Services Matthew Damschroder, urging the Administration’s support of two essential policy solutions to lower prescription drug costs in Ohio.
Collected from residents across the state, the petitions call for drug price transparency and for Ohio to leverage its full purchasing power during negotiations.
Director Damschroder heads the special council established in House Bill 166, tasked with providing recommendations to the General Assembly, Governor DeWine, and the Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee regarding Ohio’s best path forward to decrease the high cost of prescription drugs in Ohio.
The petition delivery coincides with the council’s last public participation meeting before preparing their final report and recommendations to Governor Mike DeWine.
“We applaud Governor DeWine’s focus on improving Ohio’s prescription drug price transparency, affordability payment models, and health care efficiency. Creating the council was a step in the right direction and now we need to see action to hold drug makers accountable,” said AARP State Director Holly Holtzen. “Older Ohioans are struggling with rising prescription drug prices and cannot afford to wait any longer, especially now.”
Urges using state buying power to negotiate lower drug prices.
Requiring drug makers to provide transparency and justification for price increases is one of the two solutions Ohioans who signed the petition are urging. Using state buying power to negotiate lower drug prices is the second.
“Promoting transparency around drug prices exposes unfair price gouging practices, forces accountability for dramatic prices increases and drives costs down,” said AARP Ohio’s Associate State Director of Advocacy Latoya Peterson. Peterson represents AARP and their 1.5 million members in Ohio on the prescription drug council.
Negotiation is a commonsense, but powerful approach.
“Negotiation is a commonsense, but powerful approach. Some states have begun buying prescription drugs in bulk for some residents, including Medicaid beneficiaries, state employees and retirees, and prisoners. And some states are joining with each other to create even larger buying pools as a way to bring down the high costs of medicines, ” said Peterson.
AARP has been tracking drug prices for 12 years in their Rx Price Watch Report. For each year, the price for prescription drugs has increased much faster than inflation. Here in Ohio, the average annual cost of prescription drug treatment increased 57.8% between 2012 and 2017, while the annual income for Ohioans only increased 13%.
“No American should be forced to choose between paying for the medicines they need and paying for food, rent, or other necessities,” said Peterson.
Oxford, Ohio – Following our report of 4 days ago that since the start of classes, that they had 10 positive COVID-19 tests among students and 2 among employees on the Oxford campus, Miami University now has announced that it learned on August 24, that twenty-seven student-athletes from various teams have now tested positive for COVID-19.
Fall classes began on Monday, August 17, mostly remote, with graduate students and some programs in person. Students who will be living off campus have been encouraged to stay home, if they can, until face-to-face courses start on Monday, September 21.
The university said, “Many, but not all, had attended an off-campus social gathering, over a week ago. The Butler County General Health District “out of an abundance of caution” is quarantining all Miami University student-athletes who have returned to Oxford, and any coaches and staff who were in contact with them.
The Butler County General Health District issued the blanket quarantine order to ensure no student-athletes would be missed through the normal method of contact tracing.
In the announcement by the university, Jennifer Bailer, Health Commissioner for Butler County General Health District, said, “As we know, the COVID-19 virus can spread quickly between people and infect groups of people in a hurry. This disease is serious. In young adults it is often mild, but has the potential to become critical for those with underlying disease or other risk factors.”
“One of the main functions of public health is to identify persons who have been in contact with COVID-19 cases as quickly as possible and ask them to quarantine for 14 days and monitor themselves for symptoms. This helps in preventing the disease to spread any further,” stated Bailer.
“My concern for the health of all of our student-athletes is paramount,” said David Sayler, director of athletics. “I am disappointed that poor judgment has led to this quarantine order and put in jeopardy our efforts to have our teams study and practice together.”
The announcement by the university did not say the total number of student-athletes who have been ordered to quarantine.
Because of concerns related to COVID-19, the Mid-American Conference announced Aug. 8 the postponement of all fall sports.
Columbus, Ohio – Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost today announced a more than $85 million multistate settlement with American Honda Motor Co., Inc. and Honda of America Mfg., Inc. over allegations the automaker concealed safety issues related to defective airbag systems in certain Honda and Acura vehicles. The systems were designed and manufactured by Takata Corp., a longtime Honda supplier, and were first installed in vehicles sold in the United States in the 2001 model year.
The frontal airbags posed a significant risk of rupture, which could cause metal fragments to fly into the passenger compartments of vehicles.
The settlement, reached between Honda and the attorneys general of 48 states, territories and the District of Columbia, concludes a multistate investigation into Honda’s failure to inform regulators and consumers that the frontal airbags posed a significant risk of rupture, which could cause metal fragments to fly into the passenger compartments of vehicles. The ruptures resulted in at least 14 deaths and 200 injuries in the U.S. alone.
“I’d never buy a car if I knew systems meant to save me and my family could actually hurt us,” Yost said. “That is what Honda denied Ohio consumers – the chance to make the best decisions for their families. This agreement will ensure that doesn’t happen again.”
“I’d never buy a car if I knew systems meant to save me and my family could actually hurt us,” Yost said.
The states made the case that Honda engineers suspected that the airbags’ propellant, ammonium nitrate, could burn aggressively and cause the inflator to burst. Despite these concerns, Honda delayed warning consumers and safety officials, even as it began partial recalls in 2008 and 2009. Further, Honda continued to represent to consumers that its vehicles, including its airbags, were safe. Since 2008, Honda has recalled approximately 12.9 million Honda and Acura vehicles equipped with the suspect inflators.
The states alleged that Honda’s actions, or perhaps more accurately its failures to act, as well as its misrepresentations about the safety of its vehicles, were unfair and deceptive, and that Honda’s conduct violated state consumer protection laws, including Ohio’s Consumer Sales Practices Act, O.R.C 1345.01 et seq.
Under the terms of the consent judgment, which will be filed with the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, Honda has agreed to strong injunctive relief which, among other things, requires it to:
Honda also agreed to pay the participating attorneys general a total of $85,151,210.15, of which Ohio’s share is $2,367,714.89.
In addition to Ohio, the multistate group includes Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Consumers who own a Honda or Acura vehicle are strongly encouraged to visit Honda’s airbag recall website at Hondaairbaginfo.com, or call its customer service toll-free number at 1-888-234-2138, to see if the vehicle is subject to a recall. Consumers may also check for open recalls by going to Safercar.gov. All safety recall repairs are free at authorized Honda dealers.
Morrow, Ohio – On August 6, Little Miami Local Schools announced that it was pushing back the opening dates of school for the 2020-2021 school year by one week.
The first day of school for grades 5-12 was on Monday, Aug. 24.
The first day for grades PreK-4 is Wednesday, Aug. 26.
Students who are enrolled in Virtual Learning Academy will also begin their courses on these days.
The information below contains the plans for returning students and staff to Little Miami school buildings for the 2020-2021 school year.
“As with many things in these unprecedented times, this plan could change with new or additional information.”
For the 2020-2021 school year, Little Miami will offer two learning options.
Should local or regional conditions dictate, Little Miami will enact its Intermittent Remote Learning Plan, where all students will participate in virtual learning. Moving to remote instruction may be at the direction of the Warren County Health District, the Ohio Department of Health, or local or state government. Students who are currently enrolled in VLA will continue in VLA.
Read the Intermittent Remote Learning Plan.
For the 2020-2021 school year, Little Miami will offer two learning options: in-person instruction in LM buildings, or remote learning through Virtual Learning Academy (VLA). VLA is operated by the Jefferson County (Ohio) Educational Services Center.
More than 1,000 students opt to begin year remotely
About 1,000 Little Miami students — approximately 20 percent of the district’s enrollment — have elected to begin the 2020-21 school year using Virtual Learning Academy.
The number of families electing to go remote was fairly consistent across grade levels. The average number of remote learning students per grade is 75. More than 200 high school students will be using VLA to begin the year.
Regulations for spectators announced
Blue Ash, Ohio – September 8 will be the first day of school for all students, including those in a virtual classroom learning setting. Parents have been asked to look for more information about their student’s school’s transition days for face-to-face learners on September 3-4. Half of Grades K-4, Grades 5-6, Grades 7-8, and Grades 9 and 12 students will attend on each of those days to ease the transition to school.
Families have been offered two options for the return to school.
Sycamore Community Schools will provide students Grades K-12 who cannot or do not wish to return to school with 100% virtual classroom learning fIve days a week.
In Virtual Classroom Learning, parents and guardians of elementary students assume the role of a “Learning Partner”. Each child will be taught by a Sycamore Community Schools teacher who will support the child in his or her learning, grade submitted work, and monitor the child’s progress. However, parents and guardians provide “vital support” for younger students in an online learning environment.
How will Virtual Classroom Learning be different from the 4th Quarter remote learning experience?
How will Virtual Classroom Learning be similar to Face-to-Face Learning?
FACIAL COVERINGS
MODIFIED RECESS WILL BE PROVIDED AT THE PK-8 GRADE LEVELS INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO:
MODIFIED PHYSICAL EDUCATION WILL BE PROVIDED AT ALL LEVELS INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO:
REIMAGINED MUSIC AND THEATER CLASSES WILL BE PROVIDED WITH:
Indian Hill, Ohio – The Indian Hill School District is ready to welcome students back on Thursday, August 27, for the 2020-2021 school year.
A message from Superintendent Kirk Koennecke
Each family will begin the 2020-2021 school year with two options:
1. In-person Learning at the Indian Hill School District
2. Brave Virtual Academy
In-Person Learning
Plan A: Five days a week of in-person instruction
Plan B: Hybrid, two days a week of in-person instruction and three days of online learning
Plan C: Online learning facilitated by assigned teachers if conditions warrant that a face-to-face setting is not safe
Please note: If you select In-Person Learning for your student, local health conditions will help to determine whether our District will participate in Plan A, Plan B, or Plan C. Please see accompanying documents for more information about the Indian Hill Schools Attendance Model Overview.
What does the start of the school year currently look like for In-Person Learning?
For the start of the 2020-2021 school year, students who select to participate in In-Person Learning will return to school in a Plan B, hybrid model on Thursday, August 27.
Do I have a choice of days for the hybrid learning model?
Students will be assigned to Team 1 on Mondays and Tuesdays or Team 2 on Thursdays and Fridays. Though we would like to make this a choice per family, we will be sorting students into these groups based on several factors: coordinating the same schedule for siblings in the same family; transportation routing and needs; and enrollment balance. Families will be notified of placement through a placement letter by August 13. We also recognize that there will be some families who have extraordinary circumstances that may warrant a request of a specific group. In that placement communication that will be sent to you directly from your student’s building, there will be a form to complete to indicate a request to change team assignment due to extraordinary circumstances.
Not comfortable with In-Person Learning? Welcome to the new Brave Virtual Academy!
The Brave Virtual Academy is a brand new offering of the Indian Hill School District. This option is available to all students K-12 who choose to remain home. We are only requiring students commit a quarter at a time to give families as much flexibility as possible. Students in the Brave Virtual Academy will work directly with Indian Hill faculty in a virtual setting using our unique Indian Hill curriculum.
Our staff did an incredible job of navigating emergency distance learning in the midst of so many unknowns this past spring. This upcoming school year will be different. Our educators have spent the summer entrenched in professional development with national experts to sharpen skills for our Brave Virtual Academy.
Specific teachers will be assigned to the Brave Virtual Academy. Their sole responsibility will be the education of students who have selected this learning plan. At Indian Hill High School, students will have access to the full course of study. An individual learning plan will be developed for each Indian Hill High School student that may include participation in a state-of-art eLearning platform, independent study, and virtual participation in in-person classes.
What Brave Virtual Academy is not: Plan C.
This has been a point of mild confusion, so we want to help explain what will happen with your student.
If you selected In-Person Learning and the District is forced to transition to Plan C due to safety concerns, your student will continue learning with the same teachers and same peers online. Students who selected Brave Virtual Academy will see no change if the District transitions to Plan C.The students in the Brave Virtual Academy will remain in their previously established courses with Indian Hill faculty and peers.
We want you to have complete details for all that our Brave Return to School program entails including: health and safety measures; attendance model overview; plan details; and our COVID-19 screening flowchart. Click here to view the information packet we have built; we hope these documents will answer your questions.
What will stay the same? Our #IHPromise to you and your family …
Each day brings change and challenge, but also new opportunities. We have a vision of Enduring Excellence in Learning, Leadership, Innovation, and Service. This is part of our #IHPromise to you, and that will never change.
Dayton, Ohio – University of Dayton President Eric F. Spina, Ph.D
began his “Dear Students” letter on Sunday with praise for their “cooperation in wearing face coverings, physical distancing and avoiding group gatherings. We’ve noticed a real improvement in recent days. I’ve seen it with my own eyes as I walked around campus.”
However, the Sunday message continued in announcing that in the past two days, a “concerning” number of students are now in isolation for testing positive or in quarantine as close contacts. Spina said, “It is clear several clusters of the virus have emerged among networks of students based upon activities that occurred a week or so ago that did not comply fully with our safety protocols. These clusters appear to be interconnected, and we need to take more stringent measures now to prevent the virus from spreading further.”
As of August 23, UD has 68 identified positive cases on campus. Individual cases are posted in detail on the UD dashboard reflecting results from individuals who have been working, living, studying or otherwise on campus. (See the UD status levels definitions below)
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Status 1 – GREEN – CONTAINED: A small number of individuals have tested positive, and contact tracing suggests that exposures are confined and the situation can be contained, isolated, and remediated. If an exposed or infected individual is a resident, they will be referred to quarantine or isolation as needed. Affected areas are decontaminated and University medical and contact tracing staff can monitor for possible escalation. All other campus and residence operations remain unaffected.
Status 2 – GREEN – LOCALIZED: An outbreak, for example, could occur in a particular floor, classroom, office suite, or common area where contact tracing still allows for a high degree of confidence in the ability to isolate and contain any flare-ups. It may require a floor, class, office suite, or common area to be closed for a period of time to allow for proper decontamination and containment to prevent ongoing exposure. A larger number of residents may be put in isolation or asked to quarantine.
Status 3 – YELLOW – CAUTION: An outbreak occurs where the ability to contact trace with high confidence makes it difficult to identify a specific area for containment, isolation and remediation. It may be necessary to close affected areas or buildings, isolate or move affected students, and/or ask impacted employees to move to remote operations. Some courses may switch to strictly online modality.
Status 4 – RED – WARNING: In the event contact tracing cannot reliably identify affected parties or spaces and contain the spread of COVID-19 campuswide, the University may switch all students to fully remote learning while staying in their on-campus residences. Commuter students will not come to campus and will use virtual learning tools. Students with the ability to return home may be asked to do so. Impacted employees will be asked to work remotely. The University will return to more normal, in-person operations once it can contain the outbreak.
Status 5 – PURPLE – VACATE: If the spread of COVID-19 on campus or locally is such that public health guidance or direction, or the University administration with the advice of our medical panel deems it critically necessary for the safety of our entire campus community to move students off campus to continue their classes, the University will initiate the following process:
Should an immediate evacuation of campus be necessary such that students cannot take their belongings with them, the University will contact students at a later date about a possible move-out process.
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In consultation with the school’s medical advisory panel and with the support of Public Health – Dayton & Montgomery County, U.D. elevated the campus status level to 3 – YELLOW – CAUTION.
A temporary shift to remote learning for undergraduate courses, Aug. 24-28 was implemented.
The university has implemented several measures to help identify, contain, and isolate the spread of the virus. Those measures include:
The President urged students to be forthcoming with contact tracers, and reminded students that neither them nor the contacts they identify will face discipline for “merely becoming sick.”
In a separate message to parents, faculty, and staff, Spina said, “It is clear that while there does not appear to be wide community spread of the virus”
Spina added that the temporary move is a vote of confidence in the student’s ability and willingness to help limit the spread of COVID-19, “so we won’t have to make it a permanent move.”
Spina’s plea was for students to “Please remain vigilant about observing UD and public health safety measures, and encourage fellow students to abide by them. The entire campus community appreciates your efforts to wear face coverings indoors and outdoors, practice physical distancing, and, especially, to avoid gatherings or groups larger than 10 people.”
A school funding bill originally sponsored by new Ohio House Speaker Bob Cupp is getting a fresh look and hopefully time in front of legislative committees before year’s end, according the legislator now heading up the bill.
The other original sponsor of the proposed legislation, state Rep. John Patterson, said a substitute bill is in the works that should touch on longstanding concerns the Ohio Supreme Court had about the constitutionality of the state’s education system.
“We’re taking a more balanced approach in the new bill,” Patterson, D-Jefferson, said.
The state’s contribution to education budgets has stagnated over time, while private schools have benefitted from the EdChoice scholarship program, in which some state funding for public school districts has been redirected to religious, charter and community schools.
EdChoice scholarships were frozen at current levels in an omnibus bill responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Patterson said a substitute version of House Bill 305 seeks to address “overarching criticisms” of the original bill, and the education system itself. One of the major criticisms is the distribution of money in the school funding formula between school districts with varying financial situations.
“Under the current formula, districts are all interconnected, so as one district becomes wealthier, another becomes poorer,” Patterson told the Ohio Capital Journal.
So, in the new plan co-sponsored this time by Rep. Gary Scherer, R-Circleville, the legislators want to reassess the amount that districts are able to raise on their own before they decide what the amount of state aid would be to schools.
The proposed bill would also take the weight solely off of property taxes for school funding, something the 1997 decision by the Ohio Supreme Court in DeRolph v. State of Ohio ruled was a big reason the education system violated the state constitution.
The new plan will combine property and income taxes along with a calculation of a district’s wealth level to “determine a district’s true capacity to raise its fair share,” according to Patterson.
“The question is what is fair for the locals, and what is fair for the state,” Patterson said. “We have fine-tuned for that.”
Disadvantaged students would receive more immediate help than in previous funding models if the new bill is made law. In the original proposal for the bill, aid would have been phased in over time for school districts, but legislators are now looking to channel that aid to districts immediately.
Patterson planned to meet with interested parties — teachers’ unions, public school officials and community school representatives on Tuesday to discuss the plan. One of those parties is the Ohio Federation of Teachers, who said school funding needs a direction that accounts for social and emotional learning as well as test proficiency.
“We’re hopeful that (the sponsors) are moving in the right direction,” said OFT executive director Melissa Cropper. “No school funding formula will be perfect, but having no school funding formula has been a disaster.”
In the next month, simulations of financial situations will be run to test the effectiveness of the bill as it stands, and Patterson hopes the bill will be ready when the Ohio House returns to regular session in September.
After anticipated amendments and passage of the bill, Patterson said implementation of the new formula could take years.
With EdChoice pitting private schools and public schools against each other for funding in the state model, Patterson said concerns were brought from both sides, and his bill plans to address private school issues as well.
“What I’ll say is we have heard their criticism and have addressed their concerns in the substitute bill,” Patterson. “I think they’re going to be pleased.”
The changes made to the bill Cupp once authored have the blessing of the new speaker, according to Patterson.
“Speaker Cupp understands the absolute necessity of passing House Bill 305 in this General Assembly,” Patterson said.
Neither Cupp nor Scherer responded to requests for comment.
Kings Mill, Ohio – The first full day of school for Kings Knights will be Tuesday, September 8
OPTIONS FOR K-8
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