LEWISBURG — Tri-County North’s three principals reported on the beginning of the school year during the TCN Board of Education meeting on Monday, Aug. 19.

All levels of the district urge students to “ROAR,” but that means slightly different things for the elementary, middle, and high school.

At the elementary, students are encouraged to be Respectful, Organized, to Achieve, and be Responsible.

According to TCN Elementary Principal Joe Finkbine, the students rotated through different stations learning about the expectations of the elementary school on their first day. They even talked about bus safety and dismissal/entering the building.

“It was really really good,” he said. “It has been an awesome start [to the year]. We’re really exciting for our students and staff.”

ROAR is also encouraged in the middle school, but instead, students are encouraged to be Respectful, Organized, to Achieve, and be Resilient.

The high school also encourages their students to ROAR, utilizing the same acronym as the middle school, but staff has added more expectations to each box.

In his report, High School Principal Joe Hoelzle added, “I think all three schools had a great opening day.”

Finkbine also reported on taking teachers to the Ohio Conference for Administrators in the beginning of the summer.

“We really had a great time with that,” he said. “We get surveys back after the end and we really got some positive results back. We’re really proud of the group that went.”

Mills reported on the Panther Olympics, which is a competition between all three schools in the district the high school has won for both years.

“We are the back-to-back champions. The trophy will stay in my office — in case you want to come by and see it — for another 365 days,” she said. “That kicks off the school year to a great start.”

She added, the Class of 2023 — which is this year’s freshman class — are under a new set of graduation requirements.

Superintendent Bill Derringer used his report to recognize staff for perfect attendance and spoke about building improvements. He also updated the board on safety procedures and updates that have been made to the school complex.

Tri-County North will hold their next Board of Education meeting on Monday, Sept. 16 at 7:30 p.m. in the TCN Lecture Room.