The Cincinnati Public School District belongs to the Cincinnati community, and the district welcomes the community's involvement, partnership and generous donation of time and resources. A thriving school district and a prosperous community go hand in hand, and Cincinnati Public Schools is working hard to earn and keep the Cincinnati community's support.
CPS' administration places high priority on community involvement and actively seeks input to fully involve the community in its schools.
Examples of community activity in our schools include:
Around 30 students from Taft Elementary experienced chemistry at the college level during a visit to the University of Cincinnati's McMicken College of Arts and Sciences, funded by an anonymous donor who bequeathed a generous amount of money to the Department of Chemistry. The Taft students also interacted with UC students to find out about life on a college campus.
NADA, a downtown restaurant that features contemporary Mexican cuisine, treated 55 Winton Hills students to lunch. Chef David Falk has made a tradition of honoring students from Winton Hills Academy who have passed both the reading and math sections of the Ohio Achievement Tests.
Turner Construction Company, Roberts Paideia's Adopt-A-Class partner, sponsored a Career Fair for seventh- and eighth-grade students. The event sheds light on a wide variety of professions, and helps students determine the educational requirements necessary to excel in the career fields they choose.
Mayfield Clinic, South Avondale's Partner in Education, created Tiger PAWS (Partners at Work and School), a program that provides tutoring, mentoring and test preparation for students to help raise achievement. Mayfield Clinic's employees will provide the educational services, as well as fundraising assistance, grounds beautification and the development of Career Day programs.
The YMCA of Greater Cincinnati’s Clippard location donated 600 T-shirts to students and staff of Mt. Airy to celebrate their first day in their new state-of-the-art, 84,144-square-foot school facility. The T-shirts all featured the message, “First-Class Students…First-Class Staff…First-Class Community.”
Alvin Roehr, president of insurance firm Schiff, Kreidler-Shell, presented SCPA with more than $54,000 raised during the "Winter Wonderland of Talent and Sweets," a fundraiser to support the school's artistic programs. The fundraiser, designed to be an annual event, included student performances in music, dance and theater; a live auction; and a special performance of The Nutcracker.
First-graders at Winton Hills enjoy reading the books they love on customized chairs designed by St. Xavier High School students. For their service-learning project, the high school students were each given a children's book to read, asked to draw the book's main character, then create a child's wooden chair that either looks like or represents the main character from the book. The chairs are now used as a reading circle for the students.
Through the Adopt-A-Class Program, employees of local businesses and organizations spent time with students at Taylor, Parker, Oyler, Riverview East, Roberts, Taft Elementary and Winton Hills — treating them to holiday parties, gifts, field trips and other fun activities. The Adopt-A-Class Program facilitates personal, sustained connections between members of the business community and students in grades preschool to 8. Participating businesses included Procter & Gamble, Consolidated Metals, Kemba Credit Union, Elder High School, Deloitte, National City Bank, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Cincinnati Recreation Commission, DHArchitects, New Horizons Credit Union, US Bank, WXIX-TV and Turner Construction.
Cincinnati Bell employees and retirees stitched and stuffed 200 Christmas stockings for children at Hays-Porter School as part of their annual "Adopt-A-Stocking" program. The employees and retirees sewed, decorated and filled the stockings with age-appropriate toys and winter accessories, such as hats, gloves and scarves.
The Cincinnati Black Firefighters Associationand the Upsilon Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., presented holiday gifts to students in grades preschool to 4 at Frederick Douglass School. They also awarded special gifts to an outstanding boy and girl at each grade level.
The MBW Student Support Foundation sponsored a "Safe, Respectful and Responsible" essay contest for Mt. Airy students. Based on grade level, students created posters with their interpretations of the theme, wrote essays on the subject, or made persuasive arguments to peers. Prizes included classroom pizza parties and Wal-Mart gift cards valued at $50, $75 and $100.
The Charles H. Dater Foundation awarded $20,000 to Dater High School's band to purchase new instruments and music. Items purchased include flutes, clarinets, saxophones, trumpets, trombones, tubas, bass drums etc.
Nearly 300 Winton Montessori students will attend a special performance of the Madcap Puppet Theater, thanks to generous support from the Charles H. Dater Foundation. Recreating an authentic, old-time traveling show, the performers will introduce students to the stories of "Three Billy Goats Gruff," "Wiley" and other favorites. The event will be hosted by Madcap Puppets and the Student Activities Foundation.