West Liberty-Salem Local School District

It’s official! The verdict is in a congratulations are in order to the following homerooms for winning the Halloween door decorating contest! Champion: Mrs. Arnold’s 11th grade HR Runner up: Mr. Wolfe’s 10th gr HR 3rd Place: Mrs. Phelps’s 9th gr HR We would like to recognize Honorable Mention to the following: Mr. Cotrell’s 11th gr Homeroom Mr. Och’s 10th gr Homeroom Mr. Lynxwiler for his individual efforts (no thanks to his Homeroom) and Junior Holden Shafer for singlehandedly decorating the tops of the countertops in Mr. Stormes Junior HR

Help us wish the following teams GOOD LUCK as they compete in their respective competitions this weekend! Go Tigers! Varsity Boys Cross Country Team as they compete at the Regional Cross Country Meet at Troy at 12:00 District Champion Varsity Girls Cross Country Team as they compete at the Regional Cross Country Meet at Troy at 10:00 Sectional Champion Varsity Volleyball Team as they compete for the District Championship at Vandalia Butler HS at 12:00

West Liberty-Salem Key Club sponsored a spooky afternoon of pumpkin painting to get in the Halloween spirit! Over 120 high school students, from all grades, signed up to paint during their home room/lunch periods! There was no competition, just a friendly afternoon outside, getting their creativity out, and enjoying some time with friends. Mr. McGill, Mrs. Smith and a few other volunteers helped manage paint supplies, supervise and encouraged students to join in the fun. It’s not often that our high school students have time to engage in holiday activities during school, and we were overwhelmed by the amount of students who wanted to participate. They painted everything from spooky ghosts to witches, and abstracts with color. This definitely won’t be the last event like this! Special thanks to Molly Smith and Key Club for organizing the event, Mrs. Seymour’s class for donating brushes and paint supplies and Tom Wygal and Jake Vitt for unloading over 150 pumpkins Friday evening!

Congratulations to senior, Selena Weaver, who was named the WL-S DAR Good Citizen of the Year! You can find the article here: https://www.wlstigers.org/article/335536?org=wls

UPDATE! TIME CHANGES! Good morning! There are a several important reminders as October quickly comes to a close. Please read the entire message and contact us with any questions. There is NO SCHOOL on Friday, 10/30 for professional development. Check the district calendar for other important dates. https://core-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/918804/2020-2021_WLS_District_Calendar_V4.pdf Why not kick off the long weekend by supporting the sophomore class fundraiser at Chipotle, TONIGHT? There is a flyer attached to an earlier post that includes a ‘takeout’ code and also secures your donation to their class! Everyone is welcome and we hope to see you there! Final forms must be completed in order for your student to participate in winter sports, extra curricular activities, iPad rental and student driving. Please check with your student to make sure they have all forms completed. Parent/Teacher Conferences: Elementary parents should have received a survey last week indicating how you would like to receive your conference. If you have not heard from your student’s teacher by 11/10 and would like to schedule, please contact the elementary office. MS/HS students will receive information by the end of the week. Please be on the lookout and ask your student how you can schedule a conference. School fees are due by 11/4. At least 25% of fees need to be paid to be in good standing. If you need to make a payment arrangement, we are happy to help. Please contact the office at any time during the school day. Senior Pictures/Retake Day is Wednesday, November 4th . PLP students may come in at 7:25 am prior to in-house students to get retakes. Have a great rest of your week!

For any high school student that might be interested in wrestling this winter, come meet the new coach and find out season details tomorrow, right after school, in the Science wing. If you cannot attend, stop in the Athletic office and get the information from Jake.

TICKETS: All tournament entry for High School tournaments is now online. You must have ticket codes to purchase tickets. Codes will be sent home with each athlete from their coach. You can acquire general admission codes from the Athletic office. This applies to Girls soccer, Volleyball, and Cross Country. Middle school Football this week- tickets can purchased at the gate. REMEMBER: ALL Final Forms paperwork needs to be signed and completed by both the parent and student before you can participate in winter sports!

Mr. Henry and the varsity choir and show choir put on a fantastic show yesterday despite the cold! In an outdoor concert setting, complete with the Fresh Harvest and Flying Pepper food trucks, the crowd warmed up with a great meal, and a sneak peak of concert season! Varsity Choir sang three pieces, and show choir sang four. Mr. Henry explained that when the opportunity presented itself to host a show outside, he was all for it! While the current circumstances could have prevented the fall concert all together, collaborating ideas between Mr. Johnson and Mr. Henry came to life in yet another exciting ‘first’ for our students. Who knows, maybe it’s even a new tradition! As always, Mr. Henry emphasized that as long as he gets to teach music to our students, he is happy, but showcasing their hard work is always a rewarding event! Thank you for thinking outside of the box to create a perfect fall show for all to enjoy!

The West Liberty-Salem girls cross country team won its fourth consecutive DIII Southwest District title Saturday to qualify for next week's Regional meet in Troy. This is the 18th consecutive trip to the Regional meet for the program. Team Scores: 1st WLS 25, 2nd Versailles 50, 3rd Anna 84, 4th Russia 97, 5th Miami East 127, 6th National Trail 169, 7th Springfield Emanuel Christian 188, 8th Franklin Monroe 215, 9th Troy Christian 264 The Big Orange took the top four places with freshman Addison McAuley winning the individual title in 18:49. Ashley Yoder finished in second place with a 19:03 and was followed by teammates Katelyn Stapleton third place 19:21 and Madison Bahan fourth place 19:24. Also placing for WLS were Taylor Kennedy 17th 21:07, Claire Longshore 21:08, and Mandilyn Weaver 37th place 23:11. The DIII Girls Regional meet will be held at Troy Stadium Saturday at 10:00 a.m.

Urgent! Urgent! Tonight’s girls soccer tournament game is moved to bellefontaine high school- 7:00 Visit www.ohsaa.org/athletics for tickets.

It's Gold Card Friday! This week's Elementary episode features some "startling" moments. https://youtu.be/ii3bwGfGqEo

Mrs. Seymour has been at it again! She has graciously donated her time and materials by making limited edition Halloween masks that are available in the front office! Some are Halloween themed and some are Orange and Black. There will be soccer masks in honor of our soccer teams and their tournaments and Buckeye masks before the first OSU game of the season! Sizes are split between the office and the HS Art Room and available to any student K-12. Let your students know, if they wish to have one, they are available and so cute! Thank you to Mrs. Seymour for making and donating them!

This weeks staff spotlight goes to Kathy Smith our Food Service Director! It only seems natural to acknowledge her for her many years of hard work after National School Lunch Week! Mrs. Smith announced this week that the USDA funded program that allows all students, regardless of income, to receive free breakfast and lunch has extended the program for the duration of the 20-21 school year! Thank you, Kathy Smith, for your dedication to our students! Kathy had this to say about working at WL-S: This will start my 29th year at WL-S working in food service. I started as a sub and worked my way up to Food Service Director. I graduated from Graham High School. I’ve been married for 43 years to my husband Dow. We have a dairy and grain farm. We have 4 children and 9 grandchildren. In my spare time before my grandchildren were born, I was the Majorette Advisor for the WL-S band for over 25 years and the Musical Choreographer for many years. But now I love to attend all my grandchildren’s events and sports activities. Our whole family always tries to take a trip the Outer Banks each year this is something I always look forward too. Working here at WL-S is by far the best place to be and getting to watch your grandchildren come through the lunch line every day and give Mamaw a big hug.

Our high school Marine Biology students shared their recent shark dissection lab with our younger students last week! Marine Biology is studying the anatomy of marine life, and hands on experiences really make lessons stick. The students were completely responsible for explaining the functions of the sharks organs, skin, and dissection process. And, mixing the age groups makes for a really successful learning environment for everyone. Our high school students can solidify what they’ve learned by teaching others, and our little ones soak up everything they say! Great job, Marine Bio, and thank your for sharing what you’ve learned!

West Liberty-Salem will host Dohn Community High School from Cincinnati, in High School football this Friday, Oct. 23rd. at 7:00. Pre-sale tickets will be on sale Thursday and Friday morning from 8:00-1:00 at door #2 or in the Athletic office. Any left over tickets will be on sale at the gate prior to the game until capacity is reached. Gates will open at 5:30.

On October 7, 2020, students in our Spanish 2 class were assigned an in-class assignment which was not for a grade, that included a political opinion about Donald Trump. The assignment was posted by a parent to our WL-S Facebook page. This incident was addressed internally with the teacher by administration and the teacher issued a public apology to her students and explained why the statement, although not meant to offend, but generate discussion and a reaction from students, was wrong. Since this event, we have reiterated to our staff the importance of keeping personal beliefs, political opinions, and other topics of controversy out of the academic setting. The West liberty-Salem Schools want to be very clear that we do not condone, support or endorse the statements made in this assignment. As always, our number one goal is to continue to provide the excellent academic experience you have come to expect from WL-S. Thank you.

Take a break from the kitchen on Wednesday, 10/28 and support the sophomore class fundraiser! Show the attached flyer, or order online using the attached code, at Chipotle in Bellefontaine from 5-9 pm. We can’t wait to see you there! https://fb.me/e/4tnHE05YB

Deputy J, our school resource officer, always spends the first few months of school getting to know our students and being a big part of our safety drills! Last week, he visited our elementary class rooms and read, ‘I’m Not Scared, I’m Prepared!’ This book gives great examples, in an easy to understand format, of how students can always be prepared and safe during the school day. Thanks, Deputy J!

Calling all high school choir and show choir families! Join us for the first concert of the year Sunday afternoon, when our choirs put on an outdoor show complete with food trucks and great music! Please see all the details below and mark your calendars!

Information on future athletic tickets: All tournament entry for High School tournaments from here on out is done online. You must have ticket codes to purchase tickets. Codes will be sent home with each athlete from their coach. This applies to Boys and Girls soccer, Volleyball, and Cross Country Any middle school home games this week- tickets will be purchased at the gate. MS Football Game - 5:30 on 10/22 at Northeastern's Conover Field Tickets can be purchased at: https://nelsd.hometownticketing.com/embed/event/111?es=5ugveo9kd1qkq7hsoj589o50k1&single=0 6 Tickets can be purchased per player. No Code needed.