School News

For Jason Orsborne, it isn’t enough for his students to be prepared for what they might face when they arrive at college. 

The Troy High School science teacher wants his students to already have a taste of what to expect when they start taking college courses.

“As for the science department, I have the privilege of serving as the department chair,” said Orsborne, who began his teaching career at Troy High School in 2006. “When I first started this position over 12 years ago, we talked in a department meeting about increasing rigor of our courses to provide students who are interested in STEM careers an opportunity to explore a variety of disciplines. In the science department, we now offer college credit courses in physics through Edison State Community College, as well as biology and chemistry, both through Indiana University. We also offer a weighted, advanced version of Anatomy and Physiology, and although it is not a college credit course, it has also proven to prepare students for potential careers in health and allied sciences.”

Recently, Indiana University, one of the schools with which Troy partners to offer college credit classes,  determined that Orsborne was the best high school teacher it had teaching its curriculum to prospective college students, honoring him with its Advance College Project Distinguished Faculty Award. This was the inaugural year for the award.

“When my name was called for the award at the annual ACP Chemistry Professional Development seminar, I was shocked and very honored to be chosen as the distinguished ACP faculty member for 2024. IU is very careful in their selection of ACP faculty members through a rigorous application process, and I was honored several years ago when they selected and trusted me to teach ACP Chemistry and uphold the high standards of academics for the program. 

“To be given this award amongst the many excellent teachers in the ACP program was unbelievable. I have had the privilege of working with the ACP Chemistry teachers over the last 12 years, and they are excellent, dedicated teachers and a valuable resource for lessons and ideas. I can only imagine the same is true of the educators selected for all other ACP disciplines offered at IU, which makes the award even more surreal. I am very thankful to IU for all of their support in the program and for choosing to honor their educators with such a special award. It is an amazing program and an amazing honor.”

The award was based on the nominations from Indiana University site visitors for all academic disciplines, not just chemistry, which Orsborne teaches. Each year, an assigned faculty member from the partner IU campus (for, Troy, it is Indiana University East) observes a lesson and evaluates the course rigor pertaining to exams and lab activities, as sample work, with names omitted, must be submitted to the assigned faculty member as part of the site visit. Nominations were reviewed by ACP faculty and one ACP teacher was selected for this year's honor. 

Orsborne said there are a number of advantages to students taking college credit courses while still in high school. Troy High School offers college-level classes in a number of subjects, not just science. 

“We offer many college credit classes at the high school, and there is a value to students for taking these courses in high school,” he said. “In most cases, the class sizes at Troy are much smaller than a college like IU. During a visit to the IU Bloomington campus a few years ago, I observed an IU faculty member during a lecture for the same course I teach at the high school, and there were 225 students in the lecture hall. With the course offered at high school, the average class size is 22-24, so students can get much more one-on-one attention to learn the content and get extra assistance with problems. 

“Additionally, for students who are interested in college and the traditional four-year path, not only do they get a jump start on their degree with free credits, which lessens the time and cost needed in college after high school, but these courses in high school help ease the students into the rigorous expectations and workloads of college courses.”

Orsborne said he sometimes hears from former students who are grateful they got their experience with college expectations while still at Troy.

“There is also some value in coaching students on how to study and manage time in college level courses while in high school, which makes the transition to college much more smooth,” he said. “I know that myself and several other colleagues who teach these college credit courses get emails from former students every year proclaiming how much the college credit courses prepared them for college, both in terms of academics and time management, so the courses offered seem to be working for our students.”

It’s not just the college courses Troy offers that students can benefit from, Orsborne said. He hopes his department offers a wide array of classes that will benefit students down whatever path they may choose.

“Additionally, we have honors courses for physical science and biology, which provide significant advancements when compared to the traditional curriculum,” he said. “Our hope with higher level courses is to spark an interest in our offered subjects that could lead to STEM careers, but also provide the students valuable critical thinking and problem-solving skills, science knowledge, and laboratory skills that would allow them to be successful in future science courses, even at the college level. 

“We also try to provide real world examples of the use of the subject in the real-world, which are related to careers, such as how molecules are being specifically engineered to recognize specific proteins related to diseases. I have a former student who reached out to me via email recently, reminding me that he gained a love of chemistry and biochemistry from my ACP chemistry class and the ACP biology class at THS. He just finished his undergraduate degree in biochemistry at the University of Dayton, and is pursuing a PhD in Chemistry from Ohio State beginning this year. Success stories like this one are one of the reasons why we choose to offer these rigorous, advanced courses to help prepare students for college.”

 

There will be no school for students Monday, Oct. 14. 

This will be a professional development day for staff members. Professional development days provide time for staff to learn new skills to implement in their classrooms, collaborate with others, and further develop their expertise.

Professional development days, which have been in place for decades under a variety of names, have many long-term benefits for students. 

The Troy Board of Education will be open Monday. 

If your student or students receive free and reduced meals forms, please fill them out immediately. 

Per federal guidelines, free and reduced lunch forms must be filled out by Oct. 1 every year. If you filled out the forms last year, your student has continued to receive free and reduced lunches through the first seven weeks of the school year. 

If you do not fill out the forms, your student will be moved to a paying status. 

If you have not already filled out the form, you can find a copy of the form HERE. 

You can also fill out the form using PaySchools Central. You can find the PaySchools Central site HERE. You can find the instructions for that HERE. 

You can find out more about our Food Service Department (including monthly lunch menus) HERE. 

We want to be sure we are able to feed all of our students who are eligible to receive free and reduced meals!

 

The Troy City Schools will have a 1.1-mil permanent improvement levy on the ballot this November. Since this is a renewal of an existing levy, it will not raise taxes.

For an permanent improvement FAQ, click HERE. 

To learn more about general voting information in Miami County, click HERE. 

To find out where your precinct's voting location is, click HERE. 

For early voting information, click HERE. 

For absentee ballot information, click HERE. 

This levy first passed in 1984 and was most recently renewed in November of 2018. If renewed, this levy will cost homeowners $1.92 per month for every $100,000 of home valuation. Money raised by this levy can only be used for permanent improvements, and cannot be used for any other expenses, such as payroll.

 “While we look forward to getting new elementary school buildings in the very near future, the fact remains we still need to work hard to maintain the schools we do have in order to achieve our goal of keeping our students warm, safe and dry,” Troy City Schools Superintendent Chris Piper said. “Our custodial staff and maintenance staff do a fantastic job on our buildings on a daily basis, but given the age of the buildings, there are going to be projects like these to maintain what we have.”

The permanent improvement levy often goes to pay for expensive repairs or replacements. 

This past summer, for example, we had a number of projects that were paid for with money raised through the permanent improvement levy. 

The biggest summer project took place at Troy High School, where there was a partial roof replacement. Roof areas were replaced above the science wing, part of the commons outside the Trojan Activities Center and the area of the building near the bus circle. The cost of the project was $253,622, in addition to $22,000 for replacement design services. 

The district also spent a total of $55,410.17 in repaving two areas near the high school, including Ferguson Drive and the parking area outside the district’s technology department. 

All told, the district expects to spend $532,778.26 this year on capital improvement projects. 

“We feel we do an outstanding job maintaining our buildings,” Piper said. “But that maintenance comes at a high cost. This permanent improvement levy, which will not raise taxes if renewed, allows us to pay for those projects without using funds that are currently spent on student learning.”

What is a permanent improvement levy? 

A Permanent Improvement (PI) Levy produces funds that can be utilized for items with a lifespan of five years or more. Items of this nature are: 

• School buses/vehicle upgrades

• Roofs and parking lot repair/upgrades

• Boilers repair/upgrades

• Safety upgrades

• Classroom furniture upgrades

• Technology upgrades and improvements

• Wireless/network upgrades 

• Plumbing repair/upgrades

• Electrical repair/upgrades

• HVAC updates/repairs

• Exterior building maintenance, such as tuckpointing, caulking, windows, etc. 

• Interior building maintenance, such as flooring, ceilings, fixtures, etc.

Can this money be used for anything else, such as payroll?

No, it cannot. We are legally required to use money raised through a permanent improvement levy on items such as the ones listed in the question above. It cannot be used for other costs, such as payroll.

How much is Troy’s permanent improvement levy?

The Troy City Schools will have a 1.1-mil permanent improvement levy renewal on the Nov. 5th ballot

If this levy passes, how much will it raise taxes?

Because this is a levy renewal, it will NOT raise taxes. This permanent improvement levy was first passed in 1984 and last passed in November of 2018.

If it passes, how much will it cost taxpayers?

If renewed, this levy will cost homeowners $1.92 per month for every $100,000 of home valuation. 

With new buildings on the way, why is this permanent improvement levy necessary? 

We expect to have two new buildings open and operating in December of 2026. We expect to have two more new buildings open and operating in the fall of 2027. 

In the meantime, we will need the permanent improvement levy to maintain the nine buildings and other structures we currently have. 

Once the four new buildings are finished, six buildings (Cookson, Concord, Heywood, Hook, Kyle and Van Cleve) will be demolished and abated. 

Following the demolition of those schools, we will still need to maintain Troy High School, Troy Junior High School and the Forest building and other remaining structures.

What happens if the levy does not pass in November?

Even if the levy does not pass, we will still be responsible for keeping students in all of our buildings warm, safe and dry. If forced to do so without the benefit of the permanent improvement levy, we would need to use money from other sources, such as the general fund.