Month: March 2026

Lincoln 8th-grader Genevieve Ramey successfully spelled her way to the No. 1 spot at the annual 21 WFMJ Regional Spelling Bee on Saturday, March 14, 2026, at Stambaugh Auditorium.

As grand champion, Genevieve secured a $2,000 scholarship from Kent State University at Trumbull and the opportunity to represent her school at the 101st annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., over Memorial Day weekend. She also walked away with a 1st Place Trophy.

More than 60 spellers in grades 5 to 8 represented schools in Trumbull and Mahoning counties at the spelling competition that is in its 93rd year.

Genevieve claimed her win by correctly spelling “comminatory”.

Last year, Genevieve won the Trumbull County Educational Service Center’s Annual Spelling Bee. She was among 34 students from schools across Trumbull County to compete in the event that was co-sponsored by the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.

The 34th Annual Awards Dinner of the Board of Directors of the Warren City Schools Foundation and the Committee of the Warren High Schools’ Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame will be held Saturday, May 2, 2026, at Warren G. Harding High School,  860 Elm Road, NE, Warren, Ohio. 

The event will kick off with tours of Harding High School and a Social Hour from 5 to 6:30 p.m., when dinner will begin. 

Tickets are $30 per person. Deadline for reservations is April 17, 2026.

The 2026 Inductees Are:

• Derick Young
• Korey Gall
• Tom Megalis
• Jayni Sech
• DeWayne Reed
• Patrick McBane.

Download the 2026 Awards Dinner Reservation Form 

Last week, for Read Across America week, students at the McGuffey PK-8 School joined thousands of children nationwide who participated in Read Across America week, we had several events. 

The longstanding national reading effort, which this year ran March 2 to 6, focused on celebrating reading, promoting literacy, and highlighting diverse, inclusive books for children. Initiated by the National Education Association in 1998, this national event features themes like “Champion Kindness.”

Here are some highlights from McGuffey’s activities:

• K-2 & 3-5 Family Fluency events were held on Thursday and Friday. Parents were invited to come in to learn more about reading fluency. We started off with a brief presentation in the cafeteria teaching families what fluency is, why it matters, what fluency sounds like, and strategies for improving fluency at home. Parents then transitioned to their child’s classroom where they practiced the different strategies with their child. The teachers modeled choral reading, echo reading, and partner reading before the students and parents practiced together. Each grade level added their own twists to the activities in the classrooms. Kindergarten had race cars that they used to read fluently across sentence strips of words they are learning. Other grades had cards with different ways to practice reading fluently such as “read like a monster”, or “read like a newscaster”.  All students K-5 received a book to take home to practice reading fluency and parents received a folder with fluency information as well as grade level reading tips. 

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• In 6-8, we held our first, “Blind Date with a Book” where students went on “speed dates” with different books. The books were completely covered and had clues on the front and a quote on the back. Students explored the different books without seeing the cover to see if they could figure out the genre, what the book was about, and decide if they were interested in the book. At the end of the class period, students got to rank the books from their favorite to least favorite. The next day, all grade 6-8 students received one of their top choices of books to read during class and answer questions about the book. At the end of the class period, all students got to take home the book they chose. On Final Forms, we sent home a parent informational sheet sharing ways that parents can help engage their middle school reader at home with their new book. 

One of our Warren City Schools students has a piece in the running in the Trumbull County Educational Service Center’s People’s Choice Award. 

Voting opened today and continues through 8 a.m. Thursday, March 12. You can vote once from each email address.

The link to their page can be found here. 

Forty families participated in the recent PK-3 Family Reading Event at the Jefferson PK-8 School.

The students came to see the “Reading is Magic Show” and participated in Literacy Stations with their families. 

Students, families and staff are sending out a great big “Thank you” to HomeGoods for visiting the Willard PK-8 School, reading to each kindergarten class, and gifting every student a brand new book to take home.

Everyone agreed it was special day filled with stories, smiles, and a love of reading!

Warren City School District Athletic Director Rick Shepas has resigned from his position, effective June 30, 2026, for a new opportunity at East Palestine City Schools.

Mr. Shepas, who has worked in Warren nearly the past two years, will assist East Palestine in the school district’s efforts to expand its workforce development program.

Additionally, he will serve as Head High School Football Coach for the Palestine Bulldogs football program.

A formal resignation from AD Shepas has been expected for some time as he and Warren Superintendent/CEO Steve Chiaro have been discussing the most appropriate transition that would best support the student-athletes in the Warren City School District.

Mr. Shepas started in Warren as Athletic Director in July 2024 with the expectation that he would be a bold change agent for the athletic program, explained Superintendent Chiaro.

“Significant change is exactly what he brought to Warren in just under two years,” Chiaro said.

During his short tenure the district implemented:

• A strength conditioning program for all student athletes in December 2024;
• An indoor track program for student athletes in Trumbull County in 2025 that has since expanded to a multi-county program;
• A highly successful Girls Flag Football Team that has been showcased at the Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland, the Cleveland Brown’s home stadium;
• A youth wrestling program with outstanding participation this year; and
• A Boys pilot volleyball program.

Under AD Shepas’ leadership, student participation has improved and expectations for student- athletes at both the middle and high school levels of competition have been raised.

On Tuesday, March 3, 2026, the Warren City School District will begin a search for a new Athletic Director who has a bold vision, passion for outstanding student athletic programming, and a plan for implementing and maintaining the trajectory of the student athletic program success that is currently in place within Warren City District.