Springfield City School District News Digest

If you haven’t yet noticed, Springfield City School District (SCSD) really looks out for the wellbeing of its students with impactful programs and initiatives. So many in fact that the Hub has decided to provide a regular digest of some of the district’s many impressive efforts.

As SCSD Communications Specialist Jenna Leinasars explains, “Our dedicated team of educators holds a shared district aspiration that all students walk across the stage at graduation with a well-rounded understanding of the world because of the myriad of opportunities and viewpoints that they have been exposed to within their years in the Springfield City School District. There is a place for every student to find their passion within our walls.”

The above would be a bold statement for any school district but it’s even more so given the range of socioeconomic, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds of the district’s population of students. A quality of which it is well aware and doesn’t shy away from.

“Among the district’s greatest strengths is its diversity,” says Leinasars, “existing not only in the makeup of our expansive student population, but also taking shape in the wide array of academic, extracurricular, cultural, and leadership experiences offered at the SCSD that are second to none locally.”

One of the more remarkable programs is school-based medical services. The Springfield City School District opened a School Based Health Center (SBHC) in Fall 2024 to support the health needs of the district's students, parents, and the Springfield community, with Rocking Horse Community Health Center as SCSD's provider of services.  More than 1,000 student-patients have already visited the newly constructed Health Center at Springfield High in the facility’s first semester open to the public.

The idea to create a SBHC was derived from community feedback regarding ‘Access to Care’ that was given during the design of the District’s most recent Strategic Plan. In the first semester of the center’s operation, the majority of appointments have been mental health visits and wellness checks.

Services provided at the health center include same day sick visits for SCSD students, chronic care management, child wellness visits, women’s health and wellness, vaccinations, patient advocacy, and sports physicals.

Though not directly the impetus for the program, it’s not hard to imagine how mental health and wellness check offerings could prevent or decrease violence which might even include self-harm or mass shootings.

Springfield City School District also greatly values its faculty and staff. So much so that it empowers even its substitute teachers. In November, Springfield High School allowed one of its long-term subs to create a daylong event for World Kindness Day. We reported on that and you may read about it here.

This month, a Springfield High School teacher was honored by the State of Ohio for championing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of inclusivity.

Mr. Arlon Nash, a Sign Language Teacher at SHS, received the Ohio Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Commission Individual Award on Jan. 16, at a ceremony in Columbus.

Mr. Nash was nominated by fellow SHS teacher, Ms. Patricia Blair. Mr. Nash is a Deaf educator, whose primary language is American Sign Language (ASL). He is a leader in the Ohio Deaf community, with over 20 years experience teaching ASL in the SCSD and other educational institutions.

Mr. Nash has received numerous awards and accolades, including Clark County Teacher of the Year and is a three-time recipient of the Teacher of the Year award from the National American Sign Language Teachers Association – the first Black Deaf person to do so.

As Leinasars says, “The Springfield City School District is working to change the perception of what an urban school district education provides to students.”

We at the Hub see that SCSD is not only working toward that goal but achieving it and showing other districts that so much more is possible in the process.