Category: News

Educational Aide and Coach Shares Life Lessons with Students, Athletes

Hip surgery at 26 years of age isn’t something most people expect to happen to them. Thankfully, when it happened to Max Ratliff last year, despite being new to the Hilliard Schools family, they were there supporting him every step of the way. 

While he ran in high school (which he attended right here in Hilliard) and in his time in the Marine Corps, he found it simply as a means to work out. It wasn’t until going through an identity crisis after leaving the Marines that he truly fell in love with it. 

“I found the thing that makes me feel alive; that I aligned my life and each week around,” he said. 

Between March 2021 and March 2022, he ran 1,000 miles, ultimately hoping to compete in an ultramarathon. Until he received the news that he hadn’t rested his body enough and he was headed for the operating room.

That was in July of 2022. The following weeks and months were one of the most difficult periods of his life. But only six months removed from surgery, he ran 60 miles in December. 

As an educational aide and assistant coach for the boy’s soccer team at Darby High School, he hopes he’s been able to share some of the lessons he’s learned throughout his experience with his students and athletes. Namely, listen to your body. He said no one knows your body better than you. If you’re pushing yourself too hard physically or mentally, speak up. 

Additionally, he said, “For my athletes especially, I hope they are learning the joy of accomplishing difficult things. This carries over into everyday little things.”

Mr. Ratliff joined the Hilliard team two weeks shy of the end of the 2021-2022 school year but said it feels like coming home. He and his siblings attended Hilliard Schools, and his family’s home is within throwing distance of Darby High School. 

His favorite part is interacting with his former teachers on a professional level. He also loves working with kids in whom he sees so much of himself. 

“I tell them all the time that if I had someone like me pushing me in the ways I push them when I was here, I would have fulfilled so much more of my potential at a younger age,” he said. 

Honoring our school board members

School board members exemplify local citizen control and decision-making in education. They volunteer hundreds of hours and an immeasurable amount of energy to ensure that our schools are providing the best education possible for the children of our community. For all are their dedication, we are taking this opportunity to show them our appreciation during School Board Recognition Month.

School board members are citizens whose decisions affect our children — what they learn, who will teach them and what kinds of facilities house their classrooms. These are men and women elected to establish the policies that provide the framework for our public schools. They represent you, and they take this responsibility seriously by attending lengthy — sometimes challenging — meetings, conferences and institutes where they broaden their knowledge about education; during numerous conversations about the schools; and sessions before the Ohio General Assembly.

Our school board is one of more than 700 such boards across the state. These boards enable us to have local control of public schools, meaning that decisions on school programming are made by local, elected representatives who understand the community’s unique problems, values, culture and circumstances. With the advice and counsel of the educational professionals they hire, our school board has an impact on virtually every aspect of our schools. It’s a huge responsibility and one that should not be taken lightly.

Too often we neglect to recognize the dedication and hard work of these men and women who represent us. The staff and students of our school district are asking all local citizens to take a moment to tell a school board member “thanks for caring about our children’s education.”

So, thank you to the dedicated men and women who make it possible for local citizens to have a say about education in our communities. We salute the public servants of Hilliard City School District whose dedication and civic responsibility make local control of public schools in our community possible. We applaud them for their vision and voice to help shape a better tomorrow.

Nadia Long, Brian Perry, Kara Crowley, Zach Vorst, and Beth Murdoch.

4th-graders at Hoffman Trails Elementary were engaged, as Dr, Rachel Kajfez, shared about the toy adaptation process. Dr. Kajfez leads the TAP (Toy Adaptation Program) at The Ohio State University, where she is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Education. Dr. Kajfez shared how play is how every child learns about their world. Some children, because of their unique needs, may need toys or materials to be adapted or modified so they can fully engage in play opportunities. Dr. Kajfez showed students the three basic types of circuits: Series, Parallel, and Series-Parallel which are used in creating switches for a toy. First, engineers take the toy apart to find the adaptor points that cause the toy to move, light up and or make noise. Then engineering students solder the wires, and then they test the toys.

The following week students launched a Toy Adaptation Design Thinking, where students researched design adaptations for children with differing abilities so they can play and interact with them to maintain their functionality. Design thinking is where students will first empathize and define the problem, then ideate, build prototypes and test them with students, and lastly, they will create a presentation of their design. These toys will be in an Exploration Zone in the Hoffman Trails Innovation and Discovery Center.

The Hilliard City School District is in the process of revising its K-12 Health and Wellness Course of Study. The District’s Health and Wellness Curriculum Revision Committee has just completed the development of the K-12 Health and Wellness Course of Study. This Course of Study was presented to the Board of Education on Monday, January 9. The Board will be reviewing the Course of Study over the next several weeks before voting on its adoption. We invite all families and the community to preview the K-12 Health and Wellness Draft Course of Study and if so desire, use the Feedback Form as an opportunity to provide feedback. Please note that the Course of Study development is a part of Phase 1 which does not include Resource Adoption. Resource Alignment and Adoption will take place during the next phase of the revision cycle.

If the community seeks to understand the curriculum revision process, please refer to the following board policies as a resource

• IFD-R – Curriculum Adoption Process Guidelines
• IFE – Curriculum Guides and Course Outlines

Course of Study Health & Wellness

Mejed (Meme) Alrjub is a proud 2015 alum of Bradley High School. Upon graduating she attended The Ohio State University where she earned a bachelor’s in psychology and also minored in education and human development and family science. She is currently in her last year of graduate school at OSU where she is studying for her master’s in school counseling. 

Meme is interning as a school counselor with Columbus City Schools but has aspirations of joining the Hilliard Schools team next year at the elementary level. She said the diversity of our community is its biggest strength. 

“I love the appreciation our district displays for all of our students. Our staff evidently work very hard to see students succeed while feeling included, seen, and welcomed in our schools,” she said.  

If you have an alumni you would like to see spotlighted, click here to send us an email!

We’d like to congratulate Tiffany Thomas, who has been chosen as the Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts (OCTELA) Educator of the Year in the High School division. We are incredibly proud of you for this amazing achievement!

The OCTELA Outstanding Language Arts Educator Award was established to recognize excellence in language arts teaching at the elementary, middle school, high school and university level. An OCTELA Outstanding Language Arts Educator demonstrates excellence inside and outside of the classroom through leadership in and advocacy for the language arts and focused efforts to improve student learning.

Congrats Tiffany!