12/16/2019
Superintendent’s Message

As we near our Christmas break, I want to take a moment to thank the Shelby City Schools’ staff, students, parents and the entire community of Shelby for your support and everything you do to make the Shelby City Schools an excellent school district. I am fortunate that I have the opportunity to work with your children, and I am looking forward to the rest of the school year and all we can accomplish.

As you know, the Shelby City School District (SCSD) is partnering with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC) to build a new PreK-8 facility; this building will be located directly behind the current middle school. Recently, the SCSD hired Garmann Miller from Minster, Ohio to be the architect and Adena Corporation from Mansfield to be the construction manager on the project. Our goal is to have the PreK-8 building completed and open for the 2022 school year; that date might seem far in the future but I can assure you that there is a tremendous amount of work to be done to meet that goal. As a result, we are already very busy conducting a great deal of research and planning; as this process continues to gather momentum, we will work diligently to keep you as well informed as possible.

Just in case you are not aware, our first semester ends when we leave for Christmas break. We have incorporated the ability to do this into our school calendar for quite a number of years now. The teachers and students like this concept because when we come back in January, we jump right into the second semester of classes, which we believe pays tremendous academic dividends for our students.

Shelby is a community with strong traditions but of course, traditions are not unique to our little corner of the world. All around the world the holidays are celebrated with meaningful and ingenious customs. Children in some regions of northern Europe leave hay and carrots outside the house on Christmas Eve because they believe Saint Nicholas arrives by horse. In a festive display, folks in more tropical parts of the world adorn their homes with mango leaves and decorate banana trees. Interestingly, historians believe that the first record of a decorated tree dates back to 15th century France. In fact, many believe this tradition was later brought to England by immigrants who had roots in that region of Europe and missed the ritual of decorating a tree. Traditions exist everywhere and many of them are very similar. That’s what is unique about people…for all of our disagreements, we still have more similarities than we have differences. So as you and your family celebrate the holidays and all of your wonderful traditions, whether it’s decorating the Christmas tree together or simply enjoying the company of loved ones, keep in mind that traditions, no matter how simple or how extravagant, are the ties that bind. From the staff at the Shelby City Schools to all of you have a safe and joyous holiday season.