Dear Beaver Local High School Students and Parents:
Welcome to the 2018-2019 school year! I am excited to be the new principal at Beaver Local High School. BLHS offers a challenging academic program, outstanding co-curricular and extracurricular programs, and exciting school-sponsored events throughout the school year. I feel honored to serve as the instructional leader of the school and look forward to working with the community to provide exceptional learning experiences for our students.
My three core beliefs as a lifelong educator is that every student can learn, teachers are more important than a textbook in impacting student learning, and teacher professional development is critical in helping students succeed. I feel that we offer meaningful professional development for our staff, and this year we will continue training associated with our building initiatives of assessment literacy, improved reading instruction (we were awarded a three year Disciplinary Literacy grant aimed at strengthening student reading through the Ohio Department of Education), and use of technology to enhance both classroom instruction and learning. The days that your student is not required to be here you can be assured that the staff is working on skills to improve one of these areas.
Recently there has been a lot of talk about the great importance of “21st Century” learning, and “soft skills”-- what exactly are they and why do our children so need them? Success in the near future for our students boils down to having the ability to perform the following: create, communicate, collaborate, and problem- solve. It’s our mission at Beaver Local to place students in situations that allow them to develop and hone these critical skills. Excellence through innovation!
I am humbled and honored to work in a school district that places great emphasis on instruction and learning, and will do my best to assure we continue to grow in these areas. Please feel free to contact me at any time at 330-386-8700 ext. 22464, or jim.riccardo@beaverlocal.org to share both celebration and improvement areas that you see. Here’s to a great school year and… Go Beavers!
Regards,
Jim Riccardo