Congratulations to cross country runner Samantha Norman, who as a sophomore placed 10th in the State in the big school division at the State Cross Country Meet. As such, she qualified as an All Ohio Cross Country Runner. What an accomplishment when you consider running against the top 300 runners in the whole state of Ohio. On the boys' side, junior Kyle Kling placed 50th out of a field of 350 runners in Columbus. Way to go Leopard Cross Country Runners....you represented Louisville well! I also want to thank our Cross Country Coaches-Christine Eberts and Bob Sudomir for helping our athletes do their best.

Our Louisville High School Band performed well in Dublin over the weekend at the State Band Competition. They received a "2", which is an Excellent rating. Directors Karen Long, Kris Bleininger and Andrew Stankey are to be commended for their guidance throughout the year. A big thank you is extended to the Band Boosters for all of their continued positive support for our musicians. They truly contribute so much to our band's success. Thank you "Pride of Louisville" for the great sounds of music that your organization provides, not only during the marching season but throughout the year. The quality of sound is truly amazing.  read more »

Congratulations to the "Pride of Louisville" LHS Marching Band as they qualified for the State Band Competition by receiving top ratings at the Brunswick Competition on October 21st. They will be competing on November 4th at Dublin Coffman High School. Congratulations to the students who have worked so hard this year and also to the Directors - Karen Long, Kris Bleininger, and Andrew Stankey. A big thank you to the Band Boosters as well for all the hours of support and assistance helping these kids achieve.

Did you know that Kyle Kling won the NBC and along with Adam Mickley qualified for the regional Cross Country competition? The boys' team won the NBC meet by taking first. Our girls' Cross Country team qualified as a team for the regionals. Way to go Leopard runners!  read more »

Congratulations are extended to this year's Homecoming Queen and King - Carli Jones and Ben Schmucker. The Homecoming Court included the following attendants with their escorts - Seniors Samantha O'Neal and Jake Wheeler; Juniors Kylee Crislip and Austin Miller; Sophomores Samantha Norman and Corey Whaley; and Freshmen Kara Zwick and Jake Adkins. Congratulations Leopards!  read more »

Congratulations are extended to the Louisville Schools "People of Character" Awards. These include: Janet Harold (LHS), Kathy Guidone (LMS), Susan Buckel (FH), Wendy Thomas (LE), Sandy Stubblefield (Main Street), Lee Smith (NN), and Patti Michael (PG). They will be recognized at a special ceremony and reception on October 19th at the R. G. Drage Career Center. The program is sponsored by "Character Courts" Stark County Coalition.

Congratulations are also extended to LHS Senior, Megan Neubauer, who was recently named "Stark County Teen of the Month" sponsored by the Canton Repository. You may have seen Megan at football games as she is the Drum Major for our outstanding band. Way to go Megan!  read more »

Congratulations are extended to the Constitution Queen and her court. All are students at Louisville High School, and they certainly add to our positive leadership. The Constitution Queen this year is Brandy Moser, and the court consists of Alissa Brumbaugh, Lynae Gieseman, Gina Dinarda and Caroline Power. They are all to be commended for their selection.

It's hard to believe that we are at the midpoint of the first grading period. Interims are out. I want to note that our Technology Department has been working diligently to make the necessary upgrades for scheduling, grade reporting and EMIS. Our data acquisition site is the Stark County Regional Service Center, and they are converting and updating their software program. We have to work with our local systems to make sure that we can provide all of the data necessary for the state EMIS reporting system as well as our local needs such as grade reporting. With all of this said, we have had to put a hold on the Parent Internet Viewer until all of the bugs are worked out. Hopefully that will be done soon. The Tech Team is also upgrading many computers in the district, thanks to the Permanent Improvement (PI) dollars earmarked for technology. These new computers are going directly into the classrooms for student use. Thanks go out to Technology Coordinator Rick Malone and his assistant Shawn Arbogast for all of their efforts.  read more »

The Board of Education, at their September regular meeting, recognized several staff for outstanding service in the areas of transportation and food services.

The Board recognized Jack Friesner, Transportation Director, and our two mechanics - Bill Roosa and Tony Shaheen, for their 100% passage of our buses during the State Bus Inspection in June.  read more »

Our school year is rapidly approaching the midpoint of the first nine weeks. We are off to a great start, with our total student enrollment at 3,390 - an increase of 65 students from this time last year. This is indicative of the number of families that are moving into our district.

Other good news includes the fact that we have added some advanced placement (AP) courses in the high school curriculum. Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Carpico and Mr. Hostetler in receiving the weeklong training this past summer, we have added AP Chemistry and AP Government. This is going to allow us to provide additional coursework where our students may "test out" of some college courses by doing well on the AP test in that subject. These AP courses present more opportunities for our students within the high school day.  read more »

We have had a very good week with the beginning of school. On August 21st we held an orientation for new teachers, which went well. Our Curriculum Assistant, Sherry Unger, coordinated this event. Thanks to First Merit Bank and Mr. Jack Bolender for sponsoring the luncheon. A highlight of the orientation was the tour of our district and its facilities. Staff members who are new to our community are always amazed that we cover 30 square miles and have quite a bit of rural space.

On August 22nd we held our Staff Convocation, where we welcomed all of our professional staff and guests back to school. Thanks are extended to Reverend Denise Whitsel for offering our Invocation and to Student Council President Adam Mickley for leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance and for challenging staff with technology advancements. Our Board President, Debi Gulling, had some great remarks that included staying positive through our challenging times. Treasurer Jina Lingle reminded staff of all of the changes in our district since 1992, which is when we last passed an operating levy. She emphasized that we are the fifth lowest "revenue per student" district out of 611 districts in the State of Ohio. Our expenditure per student is the 92nd lowest in the state as well. Our Facility Manager, Mark Sigler, shared with staff the many district projects that were completed over the summer.  read more »

Congratulations to the staff, students, parents and community. It's official -- we have been notified by the State Department of Education that we achieved 24 out of 25 of the indicators on the State Report Card, thereby achieving the Excellent school rating. This is truly a wonderful accomplishment considering that we have the lowest revenue per child of any school district in Stark County.

It has been a busy month of August as all of the fall extracurricular activities are underway. If you have been to the stadium, you may have noticed that we continue to have some boards that are cracking. In the sense of safety, the facility committee and I have agreed to double up all of the wood walking boards on the home side. We are going to nail planks right over all of the current walking boards. As of this writing, we hope to be able to locate the two miles of plank that are needed. Also, we have had a real concern with the band and student boards. I shared earlier this spring that we were going to replace those with aluminum. That project was completed last week. A transformer had to be replaced last week by AEP and we had to repair the PA system. Other than those things, the stadium is in pretty good shape. We are watching the field closely to ensure that we do not have the insect problem that we had last year. I would like to thank the maintenance personnel who assisted with the plank project. This should make for a much safer seating area.  read more »

If you have been in education for any period of time, you know that one of the most exciting times of the year is at the opening of school. It was an awesome sight last week as I exited from the front of our middle school at about 9:30 a.m. I stopped and did a panoramic view of what was going on during this pleasant August morning. I looked to the east toward the YMCA and saw our high school band working on their routines. As I looked toward the high school, I saw our tennis and football teams practicing intensely. Then I looked directly north to see our boys' soccer team in full workout mode. All in all, there were over 225 high school students outside engaged in extracurricular activities. This snapshot in my mind speaks volumes about "healthy and focused" activities for lots of kids. It certainly speaks to the comments that I hear from many parents at this time of the year - "I can't wait for school to start". As I reflect on what I saw, it certainly reminds me that a part of a quality education is the "focused" and "healthy" activities that we support. Quality for the new school year starts now.

When you read this article, we will have less than one week until school starts for our students. Opening day for grades K thru 9 is Wednesday, August 23rd, while opening day for grades 10, 11 and 12 is Thursday, August 24th.  read more »