Editor’s Note: This write-up on Butler Elementary was submitted by Principal Libby Nickoli.
BUTLER — Butler Elementary moved into its new school during Christmas break of 2018. When students returned after the new year, a shiny silver phrase greeted them as they entered the cafeteria each day: Exceeding Expectations.
The staff clearly took this banner to heart as Butler Elementary was recently recognized by the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce as significantly exceeding expectations and has earned the department’s highest honor of a 5 Star Rating on Ohio’s Report Card.
Butler Elementary, along with a handful of other local schools, are in rare company. According to a presentation delivered at the Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center in September, there are 3,259 school buildings in the State of Ohio and only 298 schools achieved the 5 Star Rating.
This isn’t the first time Butler has earned a 5 Star rating. After the two year grade card hiatus due to the pandemic, Butler emerged from remote learning and a modified school day with its’ first 5 Star Rating.
“While students were home completing their education via computer, our teachers were out delivering books to families’ homes and making themselves available 24/7 to support their students and parents,” said Libby Nickoli, who is in her 8th year as building principal.
This personal touch clearly had an impact on student performance because the following year they missed the 5 Star distinction by 0.4% receiving a 4.5 Star Rating.
Parent Danielle Myers, who has three children at Butler Elementary said, “Our teachers at Butler Elementary are a true gift. They put in the extra effort to really know our kids as individuals and what motivates them to learn. Extra support is provided quickly when needed and there is a culture of teamwork to include parents every step of the way. We are so proud of our school and our kids!”
Butler’s consistency has garnered the attention of other elementary schools in the area.
“A number of principals have been contacting us to inquire about what Butler is doing to achieve these results, especially because of Butler’s demographics,” said Nickoli.
According to their most recent grade card on the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce website, 27.1% of the student body is receiving services via an IEP and 51% fall under the federal guidelines of economically disadvantaged.
“We approach our day-to-day operations as a team. Every staff member is an important part of our children’s day,” Nickoli said.
“Our cafeteria team ensures students are fed, our maintenance crew provides a clean and organized space for learning and play, our paraprofessionals check in and support our students throughout the day, and our teachers collaborate within their grade level teams and with interventionists to meet the needs of all students.”
Achieving the 5 Star rating hasn’t been easy. When Nickoli took the helm in the fall of 2017, Ohio was using letter grades to rank schools and the building had received a D on the previous year’s report card. Butler Elementary has faced a number of hurdles to get where they are today, the first of which was the construction project.
“When I arrived in the Valley, we were just beginning the process of building two elementary schools; one in Bellville and one in Butler. The first year, we lost our playground, which was adjacent to our 100 year old building, to make way for construction.”
“In order for students to play outside, they had to use the front lawn, which eventually turned to mud due to all the little feet playing. In order to get fresh air and movement, students ended up walking the sidewalks in front of the building to get some exercise,” Nickoli remembered.
During the final year and a half in the old building, Mrs. Nickoli noticed that a small change in the schedule might improve student learning and behavior. The following year, they tweaked the recess and lunch routine. Students would go to recess first with their classroom teachers and then report to the cafeteria to eat lunch.
“My first year as principal, I noticed children would come into the cafeteria, take two bites of food and then throw it away to get outside and play,” said Nickoli.
At the time, the school librarian and educational paraprofessionals would monitor outside recess for an hour and a half.
“Outside recess in Ohio is no joke; we were getting close to putting burn barrels outside to keep staff warm,” joked building secretary Sally Wilson. “The previous principal had set the standard of 20 degrees as the cutoff for outside recess.”
Support staff greatly appreciated this little change. Shelli Slavinski, librarian shared, “This change gave me the opportunity to spend more time in the library. As we prepared for the move, I was tasked with cutting our collection of over 20,000 books down to 9,000.”
Theresa Krocker, kindergarten teacher, noted a big change after the new routine was implemented.
“Under the old lunch routine, students would come back to class complaining about their tummies hurting because they barely ate their food. Putting recess first allowed students to play hard and then report to the cafeteria to eat. Student requests to go to the clinic were eliminated. Children are also better behaved when they are in the presence of their teacher. Having teachers as monitors improved behaviors on the playground.”
While the new building was under construction, a newly-created Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) team began to plan for the transition. PBIS is a framework that schools use to create a safe and positive learning environment for all students.
“After moving into the new building, Butler kicked off its PBIS matrix at a school wide assembly. Since then, our teachers have been explicitly teaching the lessons each year,” said Nickoli.
She continued, “Our data indicates that our PBIS framework has had a significant impact on student discipline. Suspensions have declined as well as office referrals. This means students are not losing out on instructional time.”
During the 2023-2024 school year, Ohio rolled out its new Science of Reading Initiative, which significantly changed instructional approaches to teaching reading. However, Butler teachers were able to transition to the new teaching methodologies with ease.
According to Nickoli, who does double duty as Principal and District Curriculum Director, they have been working very hard to align their instructional practices coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“First, we introduced Heggerty during our remote learning stint in the spring of 2020.”
Heggerty, a daily lesson program that focuses on phonemic and phonological awareness skills, aligns to national and state standards.
Alicia Williams who has been a first grade teacher at Butler for 8 years noticed a big improvement. “Students had the ability to isolate sounds, which in turn helped with reading, spelling, and writing,” she said.
Another key factor to success was an idea a Title I reading teacher brought to Nickoli.
As schools transitioned back to a normal school day during the 2021-2022 school year, Nicole Walker approached her principal with an idea that would ensure students receive individualized reading support without losing instruction time. This dedicated time has the building’s two reading specialists and a K-2 intervention specialist descend upon the same classroom simultaneously in order to provide 30 minutes of skill based reading instruction based on student data.
“This framework allows teachers to create groups based on students’ identified needs. The interventionists each take a group of students from the classroom and provide instruction targeted to those students’ literacy needs using the Fundations and Heggerty curriculums,” Walker said.
During this intervention time, the classroom teacher is also providing intervention or enrichment instruction to those students who are not with an interventionist. This approach ensures that every student receives 30 minutes of strategic, research based instruction each day in a small group.
Every two weeks, students are reassessed and interventionists meet with the classroom teachers to review data and adjust groups as needed. This collaboration allows teachers to ensure that all students’ progress is carefully monitored and teaching adjustments can be made quickly when necessary.
“Because this framework is designed to provide small group support to all students, it also eliminates the problem of students missing whole class lessons in order to receive extra help,” said Walker.
In the fall of 2022, the District introduced the Fundations curriculum into their ELA block. Fundations, a research-based multi-sensory literacy program, provides phonics instruction for students in grades kindergarten through third grade.
“Using Fundations has proven highly beneficial to the success of many students who prior to the Science of Reading movement had substantial gaps in two of the five pillars of reading,” said Kelsey Winters, a former third grade teacher now teaching fourth grade.
“The following year the District purchased Geodes, which are decodable readers that are aligned with the scope and sequence of their phonics curriculum.”
Lisa Kvochick, a second grade teacher, immediately saw the value in the books.
“I am very impressed with the knowledge building that occurs after reading the short stories,” Kvochick said. “Student writing was more detailed than previous second grade groups I have instructed over the years.”
Although Butler Elementary is a K-5 building, it also houses the District’s preschool program.
Kathy Quickle, preschool coordinator, approached Nickoli about aligning their practices with District initiatives. The preschool began using Heggerty when the rest of the building started during the pandemic. Next, they began using the Fundations handwriting vocabulary when teaching children to form their letters. The goal was to align the delivery of teaching to include the language they would continue to hear in kindergarten. Finally, they added Fundations for preschool to continue the alignment process.
“The main focus for our preschool program is to prepare our students for kindergarten,” Quickle said.
“One of the most beneficial things we have done is implement Fundations and Heggerty to create a seamless transition for learning. By doing this, we believe our students are better prepared for kindergarten expectations.”
Mrs. Nickoli was quick to point out that they wouldn’t be a 5 Star building without 5th grade teachers Kathy Cole and Billie Jo Keen. This team has been teaching together for twelve years.
“When the report card was released in September, I went into their classrooms to ask if their backs were hurting. Both looked at me, perplexed, until I said, ‘You carried us on your backs with student growth measures.’ Each year, the fifth grade team exceeds student growth expectations by a large margin,” said Nickoli.
Family engagement has also been a very important part of the school improvement process and it wouldn’t be possible without Butler’s beloved custodian, Buck Divelbiss. Mr. Buck loves getting involved in the annual Family Literacy Night held in November.
This year, the building’s Literacy Committee decided to use One School, One Book, which is a part of the Read to Them program and is designed to encourage families to read aloud to children. With One School, One Book, schools select a book and each student in the school receives a copy to read at home with their family. At school, students celebrate and explore the novel with their classmates. This year, Butler chose the book Charlotte’s Web.
“Mr. Buck always looks forward to learning the theme of Family Literacy Night,” Nickoli said.
“It allows him the opportunity to bring out his creative side.”
When he heard the theme was going to be Charlotte’s Web, he was inspired to recreate Zuckerman’s Farm on the cafeteria stage. He gathered some old pallets and paint and a barn was born.
Reading Specialist Mayme Legron assisted Mr. Buck with his vision and recruited first grade teacher Danielle Daniels to bring some farm items from her family farm. Local business, Liberty Lawn Care and Gardens also donated straw bales and concrete animals to complete the look.
Family Engagement also includes a very supportive PTO.
“We have been blessed to have so many amazing teachers willing to go above and beyond for our children!” President Kalie Orndorff shared. “They’ve met them where they are (without judgment) and found ways to motivate and encourage that we never thought of! My family is so thankful to be a part of Butler Elementary!”
Libby Nickoli couldn’t be more proud of her staff.
“Butler Elementary would not be where it is today without the professionalism and collaboration that takes place every single day from all departments,” she said. “I am incredibly blessed to have a team that loves children and wants them to succeed. We are never satisfied; we will always look for ways to get better.”