It was a year of growth for the Worthington City School District as a focus on "21st-century learning" led the way to a major renewal process and new alternative opportunities.

But tragedy reared its head as the school community lost loved ones and hurricane-force winds shuttered school doors for several days.

Here's a look back at some of the top Worthington schools stories of 2008.

New worldview

School leaders began 2008 by focusing on "21st-century learning" as district priorities fell into place around the need to revamp teaching and technology to prepare students for a global society.

Two new school board members -- attorneys Julie Keegan and Charlie Wilson -- were sworn in at the first board meeting of the year.

Later in the month, Wilson and Colonial Hills Elementary School teacher Jill Carter traveled to China with the Chinese Bridge Delegation. Both came back with ideas on how the district could move in a more global direction by teaching Mandarin.

In February, Phoenix Middle School, the district's newest alternative school, held its first Phoenix Phair to raise funds for students to travel to Chicago, and Linworth Alternative Program students began annual Walkabouts to destinations as diverse as Wallop Island, Va., the Philippines and Uganda.

Later in the month, an evaluation of Phoenix by two local educators netted rave reviews of the new school.

District teachers came up with more "school within a school" ideas, and board members looked over proposals for the International Business Academy, Three I Alternative, Authentic Learning through Technology and the Worthington Supplemental Credit Recovery Program.

School board members mulled over Metro School matters, finally paying $80,000 to allow six students to continue at the new science school, despite an earlier agreement to make parents responsible for tuition expenses.

Later in February, the district's middle school MathCounts teams swept a regional contest, coming in second, third, fifth and sixth, all qualifying to compete in a state competition.

The month ended with a drug sweep of the parking lot at Thomas Worthington High School, requested by Thomas students. Only one student car was impounded, but the search turned up marijuana, drug paraphernalia, drug sale and distribution equipment and a knife.

Suessical celebration

March began with a Suess-inspired celebration at the Worthington Community Center, sponsored by the Worthington Education Association as a Reach Out and Read event, with a birthday party for Dr. Suess. The Reach Out and Read fundraiser was expected to bring in more than 5,000 children's books for Children's Hospital.

Granby Elementary School's robotics team clashed and crashed its way to a first-place win at the National Robotics Challenge in Marion, as its robot wrestler won the gold award in the middle school division of the Mini-Sumo category.

School officials gave the green light to develop three of the "school within a school" proposals: the International Business Academy at Worthington Kilbourne High School; Three I Alternative at Linworth; and the Entrepreneurship Business Academy at Thomas Worthington High School.

The district's "mathletes" knew their numbers at the state MathCounts contest in April, with Kilbourne Middle School capturing sixth in the state, McCord Middle School placing eighth and Perry Middle School coming in 13th. Kilbourne eighth-grader Jason Troutner scored a big second-place win in the countdown round and placed seventh overall in individual results.

A plan to move Colonial Hills sixth-graders to Kilbourne Middle School left Worthington administrators backtracking and publicly apologizing after a number of parents were upset because fifth-graders were told about the plan before parents. Assistant Superintendent Paul Cynkar said administrators were trying to address crowded conditions at Colonial Hills. Elementary enrollment is beginning to increase, while middle school enrollment continues to decline, Cynkar said.

Two Science Olympiad teams took the top spots in a regional contest as Worthington Kilbourne captured first place and Thomas Worthington took second place. The teams went on to finish in the top four in three events at the state contest.

Ghostly reminder

As May brought prom season to the district, 89 Thomas Worthington "ghosts" haunted the halls at the high school, sending a chilling "don't drink and drive" message to students. Student volunteers had faces painted half white and half black and moved through the halls like ghosts, instructed to remain silent and considered "dead" by other students. Eighty-nine was the estimated number of students nationwide who are killed in alcohol-related incidents each prom season.

The district suspended the HomeBASE program at Worthington Kilbourne High School, despite the fact the 10th house students and teacher Roger Beck built continued to garner major green-building awards. District leaders cited "unresolved legal issues" at the time.

Worthington students were glad grads in June as 422 Thomas Worthington seniors and 350 Worthington Kilbourne seniors received diplomas in 2008 commencement ceremonies

Tragedy struck a former Worthington student in June, however, as Kilbourne High School alumnus Christian Hallam, 20, died after tumbling over a lowhead dam on a makeshift raft on the Olentangy River.

The mourning continued as Gary Anthony Smith, 29, a 1997 graduate and the son of retired Worthington Kilbourne teacher Niki Gnezda, was killed in a motorcycle accident in Maryland. His father was Worthington teacher and track coach Gary Smith, who died of cancer in 1998.

A new five-year financial forecast revealed voters may face an operating levy of 6.4 mills to 7.9 mills on the May 2009 ballot. Without more revenue coming in, the district could face a budget deficit of $18 million in 2012, district leaders said.

The district's 21st-century learning concepts and elementary renewal plans continued as Granby Elementary School teachers unveiled a plan to adopt "Basic School" techniques, which include teaching character concepts and wellness, as well as cooperative learning and problem-solving.

Also in June, Thomas Worthington chemistry teacher Cynthia Hummel was named Central Ohio Chemistry Teacher of the Year by the American Chemical Society.

Administrator shuffle

Administrators shuffled positions like a game of musical chairs in July as Superintendent Melissa Conrath reorganized central office positions and added a new administrator, Shirley Hamilton, formerly of Gahanna-Jefferson schools, to take on the position of elementary and secondary education. Hamilton's salary will be paid through the Franklin County Educational Service Center.

Worthington Christian Schools opened the new Custer Family Early Childhood Center to accommodate infants, preschoolers and kindergarten students.

Kids and camps were highlights of July as the Worthington Arts Council held Camp Creativity at Evening Street Elementary School and Artventure at Granby.

Construction and repairs on several of the school buildings continued as district leaders spent $3.9 million of the bond funds and crews hurried to fix roofs, paint, install new lockers and make needed repairs.

Early in August, administrators learned Adequate Yearly Progress scores for a couple of student subgroups might nix the district's chance for an "excellent" rating on the state report card for a second straight year. The district stayed on top with stellar scores for six years in a row, but was given the middling "continuous improvement" rating last year when AYP targets were not met for the third consecutive year.

Teachers and administrators readied classrooms and the new school year began with new student orientation events, scavenger hunts and welcome-back parties.

Good news came at the end of the month as Worthington schools were rated excellent after all, due to the Ohio Department of Education's new "value-added" component.

A mighty wind

Hurricane-force winds shuttered school doors Sept. 14, hurling tree branches and debris on power lines and causing power outages that closed all Worthington schools for four days and some of the schools for five or more days.

Worthington student groups rallied to the rescue, spending days off school helping senior citizens clean up debris.

The Gary Smith Compassionate Teaching Award went to Linworth Alternative Director Wayne Harvey and English as a Second Language teacher Margaret Wilcox.

The school board in October approved a new teachers' contract, granting a 2.85 percent increase to the wage scale in teacher's salaries for each year of the three-year contract.

Teachers pay higher monthly health premiums under the contract, but the district will pay up to 67 percent of the annual deductible into teachers' health savings accounts the first year, 60 percent the second year and 70 percent the third year.

By the end of the month, board members had approved a 2.85 percent increase in salaries of all district administrators.

Halloween was an "Extravaganza" at Thomas Worthington High School as science teachers transformed into wizards and whipped up fiery fusions to teach the magic of chemistry.

Outdoor classroom

In November, Brookside Elementary School teachers and Principal Fritz Monroe unveiled an elementary renewal plan, called Schoolyard Enhanced Learning, which will continue to utilize the school's pond area and get students out of the classroom and into the schoolyard.

The house Kilbourne students built through HomeBASE was nominated for the prestigious Recchie Award from the Columbus Landmark Foundation. Only four other major Columbus building projects were nominated.

Board members approved new four-year contracts for Conrath and Treasurer Jeff McCuen, giving each a 2.75 percent raise in salary.

November ended on a tearful note as 7-year-old Kelli Shults, a Worthington Park Elementary School student, allegedly was shot and killed by her father, who then killed himself. The school community was stunned by the news.

As December began, schools rang in the holidays with choir concerts and service activities. Students collected canned goods, visited senior citizens, adopted needy families and sent stockings to troops overseas.

Board members approved a new policy that could put surveillance cameras in hallways, parking lots and other common areas of the school buildings and assured concerned parents that the city's refusal to pay for crossing guards would not endanger students.

As the days sped toward winter break, district nurses found families in need and placed 165 families with holiday sponsors. About 480 local children received clothing, food, gifts and holiday wishes from Worthington schools and student groups.