Starlight School News
Letter from the Director
Here at Starlight we have had a busy start to the 2025-2026 school year! The students have adjusted well and it’s hard to believe the first grading period is already over. Hopefully you all had a chance to meet with your teacher at our first Parent/Teacher Conference day last month. Please remember there will be another conference day in the spring and we encourage all families to schedule times to meet with their classroom staff.
The students have had a fun and exciting fall! Several classes visited the McDonald’s Pumpkin Patch. We also had both preschool and school-age students go to the Branstool Orchard, and two of our school-age classes visited Van Buren Acres. One of our school-age classes also visited an alpaca farm, and the teacher said the kids loved it! Here at Starlight, we are firm believers in community engagement and love that our staff try to organize fun and educational field trips for our students. As always, we appreciate all of our families support with letting your students participate.
The PBIS team has been busy this fall. We introduced a new mascot to the school, Blaze the tiger, and have redesigned our school-wide PBIS plan from superheroes to Blaze and his positive interactions throughout the day. There will be more to come about PBIS and our new school-wide plan later this year.
Lastly, a letter went out earlier this month about calamity (snow) days. Please remember as the winter weather approaches, to be sure you are receiving the One Call messages regarding important notices. While we do continue to call Whiz News in the event of delays and cancellations, the majority of our calamity day information is sent through our one call system, and we want to make sure all families are receiving the notifications.
Everyone have a safe and fun Winter season! If you need any assistance, please don’t hesitate to call the school front office.
First Day Photos:
Fall Festivities
Starlight students participated in several fun fall activities this year, including visits to the local pumpkin patch and apple orchard, creating scarecrows, and PBIS Halloween Dance, Trick or Treating, and Friendsgiving!
Transition Students
The Transition Class continues to complete work study out in the community. We want to thank all of the local organizations that allow our students to visit their business and perform valuable work training throughout each week!
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Business and Organization that
work with our Transition Students:
Duncan Falls Nutrition
Dillon State Park
The Masonic Lodge on Northpointe
The Salvation Army
Muskingum Family YMCA
Sunrise Bowling Alley
Muskingum County Senior Center
Central Trinity United Methodist Church
National School Bus Safety week was October 20th to 24th. The students participated in school bus safety education and did some fun school bus art work!
Dates to Remember
Nov. 27 - 28 Thanksgiving Break
Dec. 22 Holiday Break Begins
Jan. 5 School Resumes
Jan. 9 End of Second Grading Period
Jan. 19 Martin Luther King Jr. Day - No School
Starlight School Spring 2025 Newsletter
Letter from the Director
The 2024-2025 school year is almost complete! We have finished up the majority of our spring testing and we are continuing to work on helping those students transitioning from preschool to Kindergarten.
As we finish up the last few weeks of school please remember that due to the number of calamity hours used this winter because of severe weather, we had a schedule change for the last week of school. The last day for students is now Friday, May 23, with an early dismissal one hour earlier than normal days. This means we will begin loading students on buses and in the Parent Pickup line at 2:10pm.
We had a lot of fun over the past few months, even though the weather wasn’t always cooperative. Our Inclusive Candy Cane Hunt went very well, a special thank you to Zanesville City and Franklin Local for joining us for that event. It’s always great to see our kiddos running around with students from other schools and enjoying our beautiful playground. As always, Santa Claus came to visit at Christmas time and all the students received a special gift! Preschool students visited the Ah Ha! Museum in Lancaster and went to Zemba Brothers for their annual spring field trip. The school age students stayed busy going swimming at the YMCA, bowling at Sunrise, and visiting many local restaurants and businesses. With a break in the weather we were able to get our Bridge Project completed this winter and it looks amazing! Sensory education is so important for our students and this project has brought us one step closer to a completed Sensory Trail/Butterfly Garden that I know our students will enjoy.
Lastly, I want to say how proud I am of all of our students and staff as for the first time in several years, Starlight had a school-wide Talent Show! We had both staff and student participation and some of the acts were nothing short of spectacular. We had kiddos who sang and danced, staff who played instruments, we had wall climbers, clay modelers, scooter racers, and many many more. The show was started off with a hilarious rendition of Lunch Lady Land performed by both staff and students and I have to say, I don’t think a single person in the room wasn’t smiling.
As always, I want to thank all of our parents and family members who help get their students to and from school, and continue to support us as we provide educational services for our students. Every school year here at Starlight can be challenging and this year was no exception. That being said, I think we had a great year and I can’t wait to see what the 2025-2026 school year has in store for us. Thanks and have a great summer!
Sincerely
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Brent Brannon
Director of Educational Services
Look what we're doing!
Home Depot
As part of our ongoing Family Engagement, we partnered with our local Home Depot to provide events where families can work together to build something. In December, we built a Hot Cocoa Ornament and in April we created Earth Flower Pot Containers to plant basil in. Everyone's favorite part is getting to use those hammers!
Talent Show
We always knew Starlight students and staff were talented, but WOW are they ever! The Starlight Talent Show had everything from dancing, musical instruments, rock climbing, math, and even an amazing Lunch Lady skit!
March for Inclusion
Starlight Students participated in our Annual March for Inclusion to celebrate Developmental Disability Awareness Month. They were joined by many people with disabilities, the County Commissioners, Sheriff's Office, Prosecutor's Offices, and many other organizations.
Bridge Project & Butterflies
Thanks to funding from the Straker Foundation, we have finished our Bridge Project, and are closer than ever to seeing our Sensory Trail and Butterfly Garden complete!
These areas will allow students to engage with nature, provide a calming environment, and encourage their curiosity and exploration.
Students recently enjoyed caring for butterflies and learning all about their lifecycle, before releasing them.
Upcoming Events!
We're offering an American Sign Language Course at the MCBDD on Thursdays from 6 to 7:30pm - September 18th to November 20th. Class will be held at Starlight School.
This course is great for beginners or those who would like a refresh of their skills. Lois Frame is the instructor. Class is limited to 35 participants.
This course is free and open to anyone in the community. We ask that you do not miss more than 2 sessions.
Registration is open at: https://forms.gle/aX6ggUawd3VbcSXQ9
For more information, email jenna.conaway@muskingumdd.org.
Starlight welcomed several new staff members recently.
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SSA:
Carrie DeWinter
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Physical Education Coordinator:
Sydney Ford
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New Classroom Assistant:
Wendy Holdren​
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SSA Quality Assurance:
Kelsi Leppla
Welcome New Staff
Advocacy and FANS Calendars
Employed and Empowered Spotlight
Meet Mary! Mary began working at Sunrise Bowling Center in the fall of 2024.
She is part of the kitchen staff. Her duties include cleaning tables, packing frozen food, washing dishes, folding towels, sweeping, and vacuuming.
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Mary has found a great team of coworkers at Sunrise Bowling Center. When asked what she likes most about her job Mary shared, “I like to see Teha, Montana and Hollie smile.”
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Her coworker Hollie, said, “Mary is a joy to be around and is a great addition to the team. She is great at building relationships.”
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The MCBDD, Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities, and The Fuse Network worked with Mary to find her job at Sunrise Bowling Center.
Meet Hannah! Hannah has been employed at the Muskingum County Records Department since 2021.
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Hannah’s job duties include organizing files, carrying/carting boxes, shredding papers, and typing. Her coworkers have been impressive by her ability to learn new skills.
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Hannah’s favorite part of her job is working the large shredding machine. She also really enjoys her coworkers and supervisor.
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The MCBDD, Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities, and Fuse Network worked as a team to connect Hannah with the Muskingum Records Office. However, it was Hannah’s skills and personality that landed her the job. Keep up the good work Hannah!
