Libby Wallick for Olentangy Local School Board

01/24/2025

Last night at our Olentangy Schools Board of Education meeting, we were gifted the most impressive artwork depicting us (board members) as superheroes. A massive thank you and shout out to OBHS Art Teacher Ms. Angela Knight, OBHS grad Mia Jones, and OBHS junior Josie Baker. It is an honor to serve our community, and I would argue the real superheroes are the classroom teachers, paraprofessionals, bus drivers, secretaries, nurses, cafeteria staff, custodians, SROs, and administrators who support our kiddos’ academic and personal growth while keeping them safe and watching them flourish. 💙

Ohio School Boards Association

06/27/2024

So proud of our Olentangy Schools grads! Way to represent at Ohio School Boards Association today! A big thank you to Keith Bell Sr. for elevating the importance of student voice!

06/27/2024

https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/delaware-county/delaware-growth-pushing-schools-to-tipping-point/

DELAWARE, Ohio (WCMH) — When Delaware County Commissioner Jeff Benton was a child, he recalls a modestly sized Olentangy Local School District. “It was a 500- or 600-student district, i…

04/11/2024

Big thank you to Ohio Department of Education and Workforce Director Steve Dackin and Superintendent of Public Instruction Paul Craft for spending the day with us! Serving on the Ohio School Boards Association Board of Trustees and as a Cabinet Committee member is truly an honor.

01/18/2024

Questions about the proposed levy? Join district leaders at Tyler Run Elementary TONIGHT (1/18) at 6:30pm. Can’t make it tonight? Full schedule of community conversations in the comments.

Olentangy parents, staff favor March levy. FOR MORE: https://nbc4i.co/3SkVnSEStay informed about Columbus and central Ohio news, weather and sports! Follow N...

11/08/2023

Thank you, Olentangy Local School District, for your continued commitment to our mission to facilitate maximum learning for every student. Facilitating maximum learning requires a partnership between the district, families, students, and our amazing community. I am humbled by the support I received throughout the campaign as well as your confidence in me. Thank you for showing up and letting your voice be heard!

I want to thank Ben Weber and Shilpa Saxena for their willingness to passionately advocate for our students and for all they do in their volunteer efforts.

Congratulations to Kevin O’Brien and Lizett Schreiber on their successful campaigns. Olentangy has benefitted from the expertise of Kevin O’Brien as he has served on the Board for over a decade. I am thrilled that he and I have the opportunity to continue serving our community. I am also excited to begin working with Lizett Schreiber in January. I share her passion for public education and appreciate her emphasis on One Olentangy built on positivity, respect, and collaboration.

I also want to thank the many, many people that supported my efforts this fall by making financial contributions, sharing their time by distributing signs and campaign literature, and recommending me to their friends and neighbors. You are so greatly appreciated!

Lastly, but most importantly, I want to thank my husband, Quinn and my beautiful daughters. They are my reason WHY! We moved to Olentangy Schools because we wanted the best opportunities for our girls. My family has sacrificed so much so that I could serve on the Board. Specifically, Quinn took care of everything to make sure our family continued moving forward and maintained some sense of normalcy throughout the campaign. Love you!

I am ready to continue the hard work of upholding the district’s mission to facilitate maximum learning for every student through a fiscally conservative approach to spending. I continue to be focused on the safety and well-being of ALL students. Finally, I am prepared to continue the improvement of communication with all stakeholders as we grow together and keep Olentangy Local School District as the premier school district in the state of Ohio!

11/05/2023

🎥 A big thank you to Randall Sampson who invited candidates to have a casual 10-minute conversation with him in the hopes that voters would have the opportunity to get to know us better. The questions were not shared in advance and the final videos were not edited.

Today is the final day to vote early at the Delaware County Ohio Board Of Elections Vote Center. Unsure where to vote on Tuesday? Use the link in the comments to find your polling location. 🇺🇸

11/04/2023

🏈 Had a great time volunteering at the Olentangy High School Tournament game last night. As a school board member, one of the things I really enjoy is being involved in the entire district. This allows me to get to know students, staff, and parents from across our 95 sq miles!

➡️ This weekend, I’ll be out cavassing in neighborhoods so that I can connect with stakeholders who have not yet had an opportunity to vote. Remember, early voting continues today and Sunday, but the Voting Center will be CLOSED on Monday. On Tuesday, you will need to report to your assigned voting location.

11/02/2023

🇺🇸 Exercise your civic duty! 🇺🇸

Friends, you can still vote early at the Delaware County Ohio Board Of Elections Vote Center located at 2079 US Highway 23 N Delaware. A big thank you to all who volunteer at polling locations.

Hours are as follows:
11/2- 7:30am-7:30pm
11/3- 7:30am-7:30pm
11/4- 8am-4pm
11/5- 1pm-5pm

**CLOSED ON MONDAY 11/6**
**TUESDAY 11/7 VOTING OCCURS AT YOUR DESIGNATED POLLING LOCATION 6:30am-7:30pm**

11/01/2023

🇺🇸 Election Day is under a week away!🇺🇸

I’d like to extend my gratitude to Dillon Davis and the Delaware Gazette for reaching out with this opportunity. Please take a moment to read this article and familiarize yourself with the candidates who are vying for Olentangy Local School’s 3 open board seats.

This full replica of our printed product provides you the newspaper as you know and love it from the convenience of the web.

10/26/2023

📚 For the love of reading and kiddos, part deux!

🔷 Someone posed a really important question on my latest post, and I think the answer merits its own post. The question was as follows:

"Governor DeWine recently announced a program that will roll the Science of Reading out to all districts. Is Olentangy already using the Science of Reading for all K-2 students?"

🔷 Time to brag a bit. Other districts are now implementing as a RESPONSE to the state mandate. Olentangy implemented because staff knew it was best for students based on research. Olentangy's journey towards the Science of Reading began about 10 years ago with the development of Olentangy Literacy Instructional Model, which was developed based on the National Reading Panels Pillars of Literacy. The Pillars of Literacy (also referred to as The Big Five) are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension (descriptions of The Big Five from Orton Gillingham).

🔷 Once the Instructional Model was created, Olentangy began the reflective and important work of evaluating current instructional resources and practices. This led to the district noticing a need for an explicit and systematic approach to instruction in the areas of phonemic awareness and phonics, which then led to a district adoption of Heggerty and Fundations for primary grades. Also, Words Their Way was adopted for word study in the intermediate grade levels.

🔷 Since that time, Olentangy has accomplished the following:

🔹 Trained ALL literacy specialists K-8 in Orton Gillingham (roughly 2000 staff members)
🔹 Adopted GEODES for all K-2 teachers. Geodes scope and sequence aligns to Fundations. After December, all K-2 teachers will be officially trained in GEODES. Our literacy specialists were trained in GEODES last year and will have a coaches training in November to support the effectiveness of the resource adoption.
🔹 Developed a Vocabulary Framework
🔹 OLSD has met the HB 436 professional development requirement by designing an internal course that directly aligns with the tenants of OG and provides staff with 18 hours of professional learning on the topic.
🔹 Purchased Lexia as a supplemental resource for all K-5 students, as well as providing Lexia for students in grade 6-12 if appropriate. Provided professional development for all buildings, as well as specific training in Lexia for our literacy specialists and building administrators.
🔹 Purchased FUN HUB licenses for all K-3 teachers
🔹 Provided professional development to new teachers
🔹 Implemented MTSS with data meetings taking place in all buildings.

🔷 What work are we currently doing?

The ES Literacy Specialists Team is diving deep into recent research on reading instruction so we can do the following:
🔹 Evaluate our instructional practices to make shifts as needed, use this opportunity to update our Olentangy Literacy Instructional Model, evaluate our current diagnostic assessments to consider need
🔹 Evaluate resources for word study at the intermediate level
🔹 Developing data literacy across the district

My last post acknowledged, but I want to reiterate: OLSD had 100% promotion of 3rd graders to 4th grade which means ALL of our kiddos across 16 elementary buildings met the standard for the 3rd grade reading guarantee! Amazing! A giant "thank you" to everyone who played a part in this, from the district level to our educators working with early readers!!!

10/24/2023

📚 For the love of reading and kiddos!

❤️ Reading is arguably my first love. I used to roll coins and (much to the dismay of my teachers 😂) I’d lug them to school with my monthly Scholastic order form. As a child, I’m not sure there was anything I looked forward to quite as much as the Scholastic Book Fair. Reading is a way to travel to faraway lands and meet interesting characters all from the comfort and safety of your home. Reading is knowledge and knowledge is power. Volunteering with the PTO to help students develop wish lists and shop for new books is a highlight of each school year!

*Shout out to all the PTO parents who put so much time and energy into making book fairs so successful!

📖 Now let’s talk about reading legislation and how OLSD stacks up. In April 2021, HB436, was signed into law to provide screening and intervention for children with dyslexia. In accordance with the Ohio Revised Code, teachers must engage in structured literacy professional development (PD). Currently, ALL K-1 teachers, ALL K-5 English Language teachers, and Intervention Specialists who support those grade levels have completed the required training. THIS year, all of our 2nd-3rd grade teachers, Gifted Specialists, Intervention Specialists who support those grade levels, and NEW K-1 teachers will receive the required PD. ***Note: the State offers this training, but our amazing OLSD team offers the training IN HOUSE in a way that serves our District’s needs while being perfectly aligned to the State requirements. Additionally, Olentangy is the first and only school district in the state of Ohio to be Orton-Gillingham certified.

📕 To support the Science of Reading, the Board of Education approved the purchase of Geodes, which are decodable texts that reinforce students’ phonetic knowledge. All K-2 classrooms across the district received Geodes, and teachers will receive PD throughout the year to ensure the best use of these resources.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Lastly, per the state report card, OLSD scored 5 stars in early literacy which means Olentangy significantly exceeds the state standards in early literacy. OLSD also has a 100% promotion to 4th grade per the 3rd grade reading guarantee requirements. 🤩

🍎 This commitment to excellence is not by chance. It is a choice, and that choice is yours. I kindly ask that you vote LIBBY WALLICK on November 7th (or vote early!) so that we can celebrate what we’re doing well and continue to look for ways to improve the entire educational experience for our ONE Olentangy community.