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May 3 - 10, 2006
Mother of Dublin's middle school concept to retire
After 35 years in education-- 29 in Dublin -- Carol King is retiring.
News photo by Ben French
Sells Middle School Principal Carol King talks with seventh graders (from left) Rachel Salay, Claudia Margaroli, Grace Rechel and Lauren Barr during lunch period at the school Monday. King is retiring after 35 years of education service, including 29 years in Dublin.
By ROSEMARY KUBERA
Carol King's second goodbye will be July 31.
"I retired three years ago," said King, the principal at Sells Middle School. "I was rehired to come back to Sells.
"We have done some really good things. I feel really good about the turn around that has occurred at Sells," she said.
"My purpose was to come back and turn this building around and within a year we were back up to excellent again."
Sells had slipped to continuous improvement academic status on the state report card, but earned excellent ratings for the 2003-04 and 2004-05 school years.
This year's report card is scheduled to be released in summer.
"It's been 35 years," King said. "I felt that I need to step aside and let some of our younger people take over."
She spent 29 of her years in education with the Dublin City School District and was a key developer of the district's middle school concept.
King started in Dublin in 1977 as a sixth-grade teacher in the 1919 Building.
She was hired as an assistant principal in 1983, and had been working for two years on the concept of middle school.
"I began reinventing Dublin Middle School, which wasn't a true middle school," King said.
Work to revamp junior high into middle school for the benefit of adolescents began in 1983 at Dublin Middle School -- located in what today is known as the Sells building.
It was the district's one and only middle school, but it did not truly fulfill the definition.
Middle schools are usually designed around three pods or wings, one each separating the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade levels.
"With an architect we developed a plan for what a middle school building would look like -- to fit the concept of middle school," King said.
"Out of that, and with educational specifications, Davis Middle School was developed and built in 1988," King said.
"I developed schedules and what a middle school should look like and what we should do in middle school and how we help our students to be successful and develop a program that really fit the needs of young adolescent children," she said.
"We worked on putting that concept into a building form.
"We used the concept at Sells, but Davis was built for the middle school concept," King said.
In behalf of the Dublin City School District, King in 1987 accepted a U.S. Department of Education award of excellence for the middle school concept in the Rose Garden at the White House.
King became principal at Sells in 1988.
Grizzell was built to conform to the middle school concept in 1994. Karrer was built in 1999, and King moved in as principal there.
"I've had the opportunities to hire many wonderful young teachers in Dublin. I've also worked with eight assistant principals," she said.
Six of them remain with Dublin schools, including Mike Trego, executive director of learning and teaching, Human Services Director Jim Miller; Karrer Principal Rick Weininger; Indian Run Elementary School Principal John Orr; and Sells Assistant Principal Jennifer Moorefield.
"All of these administrators that I've worked with have been excellent when it comes to middle school leadership and they are very dynamic, bright people," King said.
King lives in Westerville with her husband, Paul, a middle school principal in the Delaware City Schools district.
Their three children -- Todd, Chris and Robin -- are graduates of Dublin. The couple has seven grandchildren.
They met in 1988 when Mr. King became the first principal at the new Davis Middle School. He remained a Dublin principal for 18 years.
Asked what message she'd like to impart to middle school parents, King said, "It is such an important part of the social and emotional growth of children that we have to support them, understand them, be their advocate.
"But we also have to stand firm on boundaries," King said. "The most important thing that they need is love and understanding."
Hinduja's volunteer efforts earn presidential award
Suraj Hinduja
By HOLLY FENNER
Suraj Hinduja might look like your average Dublin Davis Middle School student, but he is making a big impact through his dedication to volunteer services.
Hinduja was presented with the President's Volunteer Service Award Feb. 15 when President George W. Bush visited Dublin.
According to a press release from the White House, the award was created at the direction of the president by the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation.
It is available for volunteers ages 14 years old and younger who have completed 50 hours or more of volunteer services; to individuals 15 and older who have completed 100 hours or more; and to families or groups who have completed 200 or more hours.
Hinduja served 280 hours of volunteer service in the Dublin community in 2005.
"I know I'm not able to volunteer 4,000 hours a year, but even one hour a year makes a difference to somebody," Hinduja said in an e-mail.
Prior to receiving the award, Hinduja also had the opportunity to welcome President Bush to Ohio as he stepped off Air Force One at Port Columbus International Airport.
"It was wonderful," Hinduja said about meeting the president. "It was the chance of a lifetime."
"(He) is not even 5 feet tall yet, but this 13-year-old has begun a life of volunteer service that makes him a towering presence in our community," Christine Nardecchia, volunteer services coordinator for Dublin said in an e-mail.
"(He) spends much of his time thinking of and serving others at school, during summer breaks and while spending time in the Dublin community," Nardecchia said.
For Dublin, Hinduja has been a camp volunteer for two years at Project LEED (Leadership, Ethics, Esteem and Duty) and was elected president of the camp.
Project LEED is a nine-week summer camp for kids in grades 7-9, which combines recreation with volunteer service projects.
"It was something fun to do and I was recommended by city officials," Hinduja said.
"It was a great opportunity for me to help people."
According to the White House release, Hinduja has volunteered in soup kitchens, wildlife centers and has organized a fundraiser to benefit a local homeless shelter through Project LEED.
"I go as far as I need to go to fill my duties," Hinduja said.
Hinduja organized a car wash with the help of his LEED peers and raised $350 for the homeless shelter and delivered the cash directly to the shelter's director.
"It makes me feel really good inside that I am helping, whether it's indirectly or directly," Hinduja said.
Hinduja has also been a junior counselor for elementary school students at camps sponsored by the city of Dublin Recreation and Volunteer services departments.
Not only is Hinduja an active volunteer in the Dublin community, but also at Davis Middle School.
At school, Hinduja is a Volunteer School Ambassador, helping new students find their way around; a Volunteer Peer Tutor, helping tutor students in math and social studies; a Peer Mediator, spending approximately 25 hours per year mediating conflicts between individuals and groups of students; and is also Student Council secretary.
In the future, Hinduja said he hopes to study political science and law.
John Deere sales team plans move to Dublin
Average annual salary for 22-person staff is $116,477
Thursday, January 5, 2006
By MICHAEL RACEY
Villager Staff Writer
The regional sales office of John Deere is moving to Dublin.
"We're thrilled with the move," said Colleen Gilger, acting director of Dublin's economic development division.
John Deere, based in Illinois, is looking to sell its 150,000-square-foot parts-distribution center on Georgesville Road in Columbus.
John Deere officials have decided to lease 10,400 square feet of space at Preserve II on Frantz Road for its 22-employee sales staff. The office will be open for business on March 1.
"Our plans are to relocate to Dublin," said Jerry Roell, general manager of the office. "We've had less employment at our Columbus operation. Our employment base has been scaled down."
The international firm sells one of the best-known brands of agricultural, construction, forestry and power equipment, as well as a popular line of merchandise.
John Deere officials were looking for a smaller office to relocate its regional sales operation and picked Dublin, Roell said.
Dublin offered an economic development deal to John Deere worth a 12 percent rebate on its payroll income taxes to the city, provided the office meets annual 2.5 percent growth projection goals during a period between 2007 and 2009.
John Deere also will receive a $7,500 relocation grant this year to help with costs associated with the move which is planned for February, Roell said.
A first reading of the deal will happen at Dublin City Council's meeting Monday night. A public hearing and second reading for a vote will occur at council's Jan. 23 meeting.
While negotiated between the company and the city's economic development division, the deal requires council's approval.
The average salary of the sales employees moving to Dublin is $116,477, according to Gilger.
She said the company will be worth about $212,816 in additional payroll income taxes to the city.
The company signed a five-year lease for the Dublin office space, Roell said.
His sales staff is responsible for a 16-state region that is bounded by Indiana to the west, Kentucky to the south and the northeast part of the country.
Roell said the company also employs 65 field representatives that work from their homes and are not part of the deal with the city.
Some sales and administrative work has been shifted to Kansas City while parts distribution that was coming out of Columbus has been moved to Indianapolis and an office near Toronto, Roell said.
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