The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) has announced a 2019 Gene Bottoms Pacesetter Award will be presented to Buckeye Valley Middle School during SREB’s annual conference July 8-10 in Baltimore, Maryland.
“I am extremely proud to have Buckeye Valley Middle School to be recognized as a recipient for the SREB 2019 Pacesetter Award,” said Superintendent Andrew Miller. “Buckeye Valley Middle School is a high-performing school, and their improvement efforts continue to be fruitful.”
The Buckeye Valley school is one of only four schools in the state — lone school in Central Ohio — to earn the national award. The other three schools receiving the award are Pioneer Career and Technology Center, Shelby; Steubenville High School, Steubenville; and U.S. Grant Career Technical Center, Bethel.
Brian Baker, Buckeye Valley Middle School principal, and Jim Albanese, Buckeye Valley High School principal, will attend the conference in July to accept the award on behalf of the district.
Baker said he attributes receiving the award to better communication, which has the district working better together.
“The whole wheel is spinning the best it ever has,” he said. “We’re working hard to work together as a district.”
Baker said faculty and staff have participated in countless conferences during the district’s 10-year membership with SREB, which is the parent organization for National High Schools That Work.
“We share best practices with other districts and visit schools to see how they do things,” he said. “It teaches us that we can do those things in our buildings.”
Baker added he and Albanese meet together at least once a week to bounce around new ideas.
“We’re already sharing faculty, staff and kids,” he said. “Working in isolation is not good.”
According to a press release, SREB’s school improvement frameworks are grounded in the belief of when states, districts, and schools create personalized, meaningful learning experiences and encourage students to succeed, students will make the effort needed to master academic and technical concepts.
The organization is dedicated to improving public education by working with states to improve public education. The organization assists educators in strengthening student learning through professional development, evidenced-based practices, curriculum, and helping educators to share resources.
Middle schools, high schools, and technology centers implementing improvements meeting goals related to graduation, readiness, and credential attainment are recognized by the national organization.
The Southern Regional Education Board is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Atlanta. It’s funded by member appropriations, contracts, and grants from foundations, as well as funds from local, state and federal agencies.
In an email to The Gazette, Dan Stacy, a career technical education consultant with the Ohio Department of Education, states, “Congratulations to the students and the staff of all four schools. Ohio High Schools That Work is extremely proud of the recipients for the SREB 2019 Pacesetter Award.”
