Education News for 12-22-2011

Statewide Education News

• Early advantage – Akron Beacon Journal (editorial)

When it comes to financing innovative education, Ohio cannot say it is getting short shrift from the federal government. In 2010, the state won a $400 million competitive grant to support reforms in elementary and secondary education. The funds were made available to state applicants through the Obama administration’s $4.3 billion Race to the Top initiative. Last week, Ohio won another Race to the Top grant to support its early childhood learning system. The $70 million grant was one of nine successful state applications among the 35 submitted. Read More…

Local Issues

• Cleveland school board votes to keep preschool, spring sports, busing for high-schoolers – Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland school board voted Wednesday night to use savings from a new contract with teachers to head off elimination of preschool, spring sports and busing for high school students.

Members of the Cleveland Teachers Union completed five days of voting on the deal Wednesday afternoon, with 62 percent voting to approve it before the school board vote. Read More…

• ODE reviews Sycamore’s special education program – Fox 19 - Cincinnati

Sycamore Community Schools has been selected by the Ohio Department of Education, Office for Exceptional Children, for an onsite review of its special education program.

As part of the review, on Jan. 24, OEC will hold a public meeting to provide parents, guardians and community members the opportunity to address OEC regarding the Sycamore special education program. This meeting will be held at Edwin H. Greene Intermediate School, 5200 Aldine Drive, from 5:30 p.m. until 7 p.m.

Information on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, procedural safeguards and the formal complaint process will also be provided at the meeting. According to the OEC, meetings are not intended to resolve issues regarding an individual child or circumstance. Read More…

• Group opposes defunding of charter schools – Lorain Morning Journal

The Ohio Coalition for Quality Education is opposing the Lorain Education Association’s call to end public funding of charter schools.

President Ron Adler voiced his opinion on the topic a week after David Wood, president of LEA, asked at a school board meeting support for ending state vouchers.

“During a Lorain school board meeting Wood blamed the school districts declining student enrollment and financial difficulties on school choice and specifically, charter schools,” Adler said in press release. “He asked the Lorain School Board to support a petition drive for a November referendum, to end public funding for all charter schools in Ohio.” Read More…

• School union in Liberty defends health plan – Youngstown Vindicator

School-union representatives attended the fiscal commission meeting Wednesday and defended their self-insured health-care plan.

In past meetings, the fiscal commission has identified the district’s health-care plan, in which the district builds up a reserve and pays claims from the reserve, as a place the district can save money by possibly bidding out coverage to third-party insurance companies. Read More…

• Enrollment, confidence falling in Lakota schools – Hamilton Journal News

As 2011 comes to a close, the Lakota Local School District finds itself at a crossroads.

Faced with $9 million in cuts for the 2012-13 school year — on top of $22 million already axed over the last few years as a result of three failed levies in 18 months — Lakota is heading into what school officials believe is the district’s most critical time in its history. Read More…

• Heights schools might drop Licking County ESC – Newark Advocate

A local school district is exploring whether to contract with another educational service center, but at least one official from its current provider is not pleased with the decision.

Licking Heights Board of Education on Tuesday approved a resolution stating its intent to terminate its service agreement with the Licking County Educational Service Center, effective June 30. Read More…

• Huron City Schools unveil app – Lorain Morning Journal

Like many Web users, TJ Houston was tired of constantly having to scroll and click through numerous web pages to find contact information. In an effort to make life easier for him and those who are a part Huron City Schools, he helped the school launch its first app. The free app makes it easier to pay school fees, view events and stay current on news. Read More…

• Most local school board members get state maximum pay – Chillicothe Gazette

CHILLICOTHE -- Five of seven school districts in Ross County pay their board members the state maximum, but even those on the high end of the pay scale said the money is not the reason they serve.

Chillicothe, Huntington, Paint Valley, Union-Scioto and Zane Trace each pay their school board members $125 per meeting, the highest amount allowed by state law. Southeastern board members make $80 per meeting, and Adena board members earn $40. Read More…

• Unioto to revisit bullying policy – Chillicothe Gazette

Union-Scioto schools Superintendent Dwight Garrett said he will meet with a University of Toledo law professor in January to discuss possible changes to the district's anti-bullying policy. Read More…

Editorial

• Campbell should ask state to straighten out its books – Youngstown Vindicator

Before Mayor WILLIAM VanSuch launches the search for a new finance director — it seems clear that the current director, Sherman Miles, is in over his head — he should heed the advice of the chairwoman of the state commission overseeing Campbell’s finances and hire the state auditor’s office to clean up government’s books. The $17,000 price tag would certainly pay larger dividends than hiring a full-time budget director now. Miles should be replaced, but there is no need to immediately fill the position. VanSuch can request help from the county auditor with the day-to-day financial operations. Read More…

Education News for 12-21-2011

Statewide Education News

• Monroe board asking for state probe of ex-treasurer's spending (Middletown Journal)

MONROE — The Monroe Board of Education is expected to file a letter of professional misconduct with the Ohio Department of Education’s office of professional conduct this week detailing the actions of former Treasurer Kelley Thorpe. The letter — drafted by the district’s attorney, William Deters — is expected to be submitted to the ODE by the end of this week, board member Brett Guido said. Read More…

• TPS sees downgrade in bond rating (Blade)

Toledo Public Schools’ credit rating took a hit in recent days, as one rating agency downgraded the school district while another put the district on notice. Standard and Poor’s downgraded the district’s credit rating from AA- to A+, while Moody’s maintained its A1 rating, but added a negative outlook, which means it may face a future downgrade. Interim-treasurer Matt Cleland told Toledo Board of Education members Tuesday night that the agencies focused on the continued depressed economy and the district’s lack of a reserve fund. Read More…

Local Issues

• East Holmes schools to reveal cuts (Times Reporter)

BERLIN — East Holmes Local Schools will make $500,000 in cuts in district spending in 2012 because of the failure of its last three levies and is considering another $500,000 in cuts if a 3.77-mill emergency operating levy is defeated in March. The board of education will hold its Jan. 9 meeting at Hiland High School because it anticipates a larger-than-normal audience. At that meeting, the board will review the planned cuts and will reveal what additional reductions will be needed if the levy fails again. The planned cuts are based on input from the staff and the community. Read More…

• South Side schools plan adopted (Dispatch)

The Columbus Board of Education overcame concerns voiced at a meeting two weeks ago and voted 5-2 last night to go forward with a South Side school-closing and reorganization plan that will affect more than 3,000 students next school year. The board also handed Superintendent Gene Harris her first academic targets, voting 6-1 to, in effect, order her to boost the number of students proficient in reading to 75 percent by 2013. Read More…

• Agency ordered to compete for Head Start cash (Blade)

The agency that administers Head Start in Toledo will have to compete for continued funding against other potential providers in the coming year. More than 2,000 Toledo children attend Head Start, a preschool program for low-income children, through the Economic Opportunity Planning Association of Greater Toledo. According to EOPA's most recent tax return, the agency received more than $13 million in federal revenue to run Head Start last year. Read More…

Editorial

• Ohioans should be glad to see Teach for America (Plain Dealer)

Now that several foundations have raised more than $2 million to support the program and a helpful law from the Ohio General Assembly has swept away legal barriers that kept Teach for America out of Ohio's classrooms, the highly respected organization finally will get to work in Northeast Ohio next year. The popular organization, founded in 1990, recruits graduates from the nation's top-ranked colleges to teach youngsters in floundering inner-city and rural schools. Read More…

• Local schools shine in hitting progress goals (Times Reporter)

Just like individual report cards for students, the quality of a local education is measured against various learning standards. And for the past decade, an important one has been the No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The original law set targets that all students be proficient by 2014. While that expectation has come under some criticism in recent years from educators who contend it is unrealistic, the idea of all schools should aspire for higher achievement by students is nevertheless a valid one. Read More…

EDUCATION NEWS FOR 12-20-2011

Statewide Education News

• Olentangy to end daily all-day kindergarten (Dispatch)

Olentangy school officials plan to end a pilot program that offers daily all-day kindergarten classes and to convert its building into an elementary school. Officials said that will require drawing new attendance boundaries for the district’s elementary schools. A committee reviewing the kindergarten program decided that it is too expensive and that the building could be better used to ease crowding throughout the district. Read More…

• District could face fiscal emergency (Journal-News)

MONROE — As the Monroe school district continues to deal with a financial crisis, the district may be just months away from the Ohio Department of Education declaring it in fiscal emergency, the superintendent said Monday night. The ODE notified Monroe on Dec. 15 that it is now on fiscal watch; it had been on fiscal caution since Oct. 1. “With what we owe right now, we could end up in fiscal emergency by the end of May,” Superintendent Elizabeth Lolli said at the board of education meeting. Read More…

• Granville teachers appeal suspension of licenses (Newark Advocate)

NEWARK - Two English Language Learner teachers in Granville are appealing a one-year suspension of their teaching licenses imposed by the Ohio Department of Education. This past week, Mary Ellen Locke and Jane Pfautsch asked Licking County Common Pleas Court Judge David Branstool to stay the suspension imposed Nov. 15 for reportedly helping students cheat on the Ohio Test of English Language Acquisition in early 2010, according to appeals filed by attorney Eric Rosenberg. Read More…

Local Issues

• Amherst schools look at ways to cut spending (Morning Journal)

AMHERST — With up to 30 jobs on the line, the Amherst school district will be looking to cut $2.5 million for its budget next year. “These are challenging times to serve in the public education,” Superintendent Steve Sayers said. The district began looking at making cuts last month after failing a levy earlier this year. “Our expenses are expected to exceed our revenue,” Sayers said. At yesterday’s school board meeting, he detailed what $2.5 million in cuts to the district would look like. Read More…

• Findlay board OKs bus drivers' contract (Courier)

The Findlay school board voted Monday in special session to ratify a contract with district bus drivers. The board voted 5-0 to approve a two-year agreement negotiated with the Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local 010. Findlay City Schools employs 29 bus drivers, 22 of whom are union members. The union's ratification vote was held Thursday. The drivers agreed to no base pay or step raises in calendar year 2012. Read More…

• Westerville schools may cut 221 jobs (Dispatch)

About 100 Westerville teaching jobs — or almost 1 out of 10 — would be lost by next school year under a list of potential cuts introduced by the district school board last night. Also scheduled to be cut: 95 of about 740 classified staff members — mostly school-bus drivers and custodians — and eight of 74 administrators. In all, the list includes 221 jobs. Board members took no action on the cuts last night but began discussing them, and they voted to enter into negotiations earlier than planned with each of the district’s four unions. Read More…

• City schools consider restructuring elementary buildings by grade level (Chillicothe Gazette)

CHILLICOTHE - Chillicothe school officials are floating the idea of reconfiguring the district's elementary buildings by grade level. Superintendent Jon Saxton on Monday presented a report from an ad hoc budget reduction committee that offers two options for shuffling students -- neighborhood "sister" schools and grade band schools. The sister schools plan would house grades kindergarten through second in Allen and Tiffin and grades three through five in Worthington and Mount Logan with the idea that students could remain in the same area of the city where they now attend school. Read More…

Editorial

• Reading readiness (Blade)

Ohio's race to the top has begun in earnest with the announcement that the state is getting $70 million in federal aid to prepare low-income children for kindergarten. State education officials must spend that money wisely. President Obama's signature education initiative, Race to the Top, aims to help states develop creative programs to make schools more effective. Ohio was one of 35 states that applied for a grant to help get youngsters ready for kindergarten, and one of nine states selected to share $500 million in federal funds. Children's success in life often depends on what they have learned and experienced before age 5. Studies show that the better prepared a child is to enter kindergarten, the more likely he or she is to do well in school. Read More…

• L.A. Unified's food for naught (L.A. Times)

As any parent could have told the tastemakers of Los Angeles Unified School District, it's a long road from pizza to black-bean burgers, from chicken nuggets to quinoa salad. Kids like pizza and nuggets; they tend to balk at that other stuff. Unfortunately, the district forgot that when it radically changed its school lunches practically overnight to fare that was decidedly healthier but too exotic for many students — think Caribbean meatballs and pad Thai, in place of nachos and strawberry milk. Though some of the new meals have been a hit, too many end up in school trash cans. Read More…

Education News for 12-19-2011

Statewide Education News

• Teacher evaluations tested (Dispatch)

This is what schools are learning about Ohio’s new teacher-evaluation system: It is time-consuming. It is much more complicated than the old one. And it has potential to help teachers improve. Statewide, 138 school districts or charter schools — a total of 265 school buildings — are using new evaluations this school year as part of a pilot program of the new Ohio Teacher Evaluation System. About 20 districts and charters in central Ohio are test-driving the new system, including Canal Winchester, Columbus, Hilliard, Pickerington and Worthington. Read More…

• Growing STEM teachers (Enquirer)

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS — Teaching physical science, Jordan Woods says, is the easy part. But it’s more difficult to learn to manage a classroom of ninth-graders at the Hughes STEM high school. “It was definitely the teaching part I needed help with,” said Woods, a 21-year-old from Independence who graduated in June from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in neuroscience (and also is planning her upcoming wedding). She originally wanted to be a doctor before changing her career plans. Read More…

• Kasich’s new school-funding formula delayed (Dispatch)

Shortly after taking office this year, Gov. John Kasich scrapped his Democratic predecessor’s school-funding fix and pledged to replace it with his own formula for distributing tax money to schools. Kasich vowed to direct more money to classroom instruction, better serve the individual needs of students and expand school options by allowing more tax dollars to flow from traditional public schools to charter and private schools. A “bridge” formula was put in place for this school year, with promises of a new funding model for 2012-2013. Read More…

• Student homeless rate up 82 percent (Dayton Daily News)

Area school officials say the foreclosure crisis and job losses are causing more students to become homeless. There were 21,849 homeless students attending public schools in Ohio during the last school year. That’s up 82 percent from 2005-06 when there were 11,977 homeless students, according to data school districts reported to the Ohio Department of Education. Paul Schneider, liaison for the McKinney-Vento Homeless Children and Youth program in Springfield City Schools, believes home foreclosures are behind the rising numbers. Read More…

• Teach for America aiming to be in Ohio in the fall (Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND-More than $2 million in grants will help bring Teach for America teachers to Northeast Ohio schools by the fall. The money from the Cleveland, George Gund, Nord and Stocker foundations, along with a contribution from the Lennon Trust, will pay for the national program to recruit and train highly educated college graduates who majored in subjects other than education and help them move to the area. Read More…

• Ohio’s new schools going green (Journal-News)

Ohio leads the country with more green-school projects under way than any other state, the U.S. Green Building Council said in a report released last week. The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit released its first Best of Green Schools list recognizing recipients from across the country — from K-12 to higher education — for a variety of sustainable, cost-cutting measures including energy conservation. Read More…

• Districts lack minority teachers (Dispatch)

There were few other black teachers in Upper Arlington schools when the district hired her in 1979, but Kim McMurray Rhodes thought that, as time went on, there would be more. She never imagined that by the end of her career there would be fewer. “I was just breaking the mold. That’s what I was doing, and thinking I was opening the door for more and different minorities,” said McMurray Rhodes, 57, who retired in 2006. Read More…

Local Issues

• Staff exodus costs Toledo Public Schools $11M (Toledo Blade)

Tense contract negotiations in Toledo Public Schools and a controversial state law led to a mass employee exodus this year. More than 400 employees retired from the 4,500-employee district between January and August, causing severance payouts to more than double those in prior years. The retirements continue to have both financial and academic effects, district officials said. Read More…

• City schools may shop for ESC services (Chillicothe Gazette)

CHILLICOTHE - The Chillicothe City Schools Board of Education today could take the first step toward terminating its contract with the Ross-Pike Educational Service Center for special education services. The move is little more than a formality at this point, but Chillicothe school officials have indicated they might look to other ESCs if they can negotiate the same level of services at a lower cost. According to the biennial budget bill, which gives school districts more freedom in choosing an ESC, a district must notify its current ESC by Dec. 31 if it's even considering a switch. Read More…

• Despite reports, schools say hazing problems rare (Dispatch)

Officials for many local school districts say they have policies and procedures in place to deal with hazing, but they say it’s not a problem they deal with often. In Westerville, where four high-school basketball players were charged this week with hazing, school officials couldn’t recall such an incident in recent times. “This is the first time we filed charges” for hazing, said Westerville Police Lt. Tracey Myers. “ It’s not something we come across often.” Read More…

• Charter School opposition; Lorain School board passed a resolution against school vouchers (Morning Journal)

LORAIN — It has been an issue that has evoked a lot of strong emotions from those in public education, it’s Charter Schools. The Lorain School board passed a resolution Wednesday stating their opposition to pending legislation that would allow students to receive vouchers to attend charter schools. According to the school district, the legislation would allow any public school student to request an education voucher, with the only stipulation being that the family income is less than $95,000 a year. Read More…

• Swanton Local teachers authorize issuing strike notice (Toledo Blade)

SWANTON - Teachers in the Swanton Local Schools have authorized their union's bargaining committee to send a 10-day strike notice to the board of education, but the actual notice has not been given. The action Thursday by the 88-member Swanton Education Association came two days after the board declared negotiations with the union at an impasse and imposed terms of its last offer. Steve Brehmer, a spokesman for the teachers' union, said union officials would wait until two new members join the board in January before calling a strike. Read More…

Editorial

• Straight from the source (Dispatch)

A bill calling for the study of foundational historical documents, such as the U.S. and Ohio constitutions, the Declaration of Independence and the Northwest Ordinance, in Ohio schools will ensure that students will be exposed to the building blocks of American history. Such a law hardly should be necessary. It should go without saying that students need to understand the ideas expressed in those documents, which motivated and guided the founders of our state and nation. Read More…

Education News for 12-16-2011

Statewide Education News

• Midyear cut in federal funding hits schools (Blade)

A midyear cut in federal funds now leaves Toledo Public Schools with little wiggle room and facing possible future program cuts. The funding loss -- nearly $500,000 for Toledo's public, private, and charter schools -- came after congressional budget reduction deals led to about $8 million less federal money for Ohio schools. The cuts came largely to Title I funding, which is federal money dedicated to high-poverty schools. Read More…

• School districts form 2 groups to save cash (Dispatch)

The Ohio Department of Education awarded grants yesterday to two consortiums of school districts teaming up to coordinate transportation services and computer purchases to save money. “Better use of scarce public resources is a key element for improving Ohio’s educational system,” said Stan Heffner, superintendent of public instruction. “The grant proposal(s) not only will save money for area taxpayers, but also will be example(s) for other schools to follow.” Read More…

Local Issues

• Buzzers To Help Hilliard Schools Track Visitors (WBNS 10 CBS)

HILLIARD - Hilliard City Schools plans to install new security measures at all 14 of its elementary schools by the new year. Officials said that they want to know who is in their buildings at all times, and plans to install buzzers to let visitors and parents in the buildings. The buzzer at Ridgewood Elementary School was installed over Thanksgiving and the others plan to be installed before students return from winter break, CrimeTracker 10's Maureen Kocot said. Read More…

• District awarded grant to purchase iPads for students (Journal News)

FAIRFIELD — Before the end of the 2011-12 school year, students in the Fairfield City School District will get an opportunity to use iPads in the classroom. The district was awarded a $20,000 grant by the Duke Energy Foundation at Thursday night’s Board of Education meeting for the purchase of iPads for student use. Read More…

Editorial

• Budget cuts will cost us later (L.A. Times)

There's such a thing as tightening our collective belt or making do with less. When that happens, Californians raise fees or close another public office for a few additional days or cram a few more students into an already full classroom without screaming too loudly about it. But something entirely different is happening now: California is becoming a state that lets down its elderly, its disabled, its children and its college students in fundamental ways that will harm all of us in the years ahead. Read More…

Thanks to ODE for compiling todays news.

Ohio Education News Summary for 12-15-2011

The Ohio Department of Education's communications & Outreach team began compiling and sending out daily Ohio Education related newsclips. We'd like to thank them for this to be very useful free service. We're going to experiment with sharing this on JTF as a daily feature in the hope that our readers find it useful too. You can follow ODe on Twitter at www.twitter.com/oheducation.

Statewide Education News

• Money problems force school district to shrink school days and eliminate lunch (WOIO 19 CBS)

A special board meeting was held Wednesday evening to address the dire financial situation at the Garfield Heights City Schools. According to the district, the financial situation remains bleak due to another failed levy. Over the past several years, the district has eliminated more than $4 million from the district's operating budget resulting in the loss of many teachers and educational opportunities for students. A recent Ohio Department of Education report has listed the Garfield Heights School District's performance index as one of the lowest in the state. Read More…

• Higher fees mean fewer student-athletes at Lakota schools (Journal-News)

LIBERTY TWP. — With an increase in pay-to-participate fees, the Lakota Local School District has seen a decline in athletic participation numbers. The winter numbers are out, and all six schools — the two high schools (East and West) and four junior highs — all have declining athletic participation numbers. Pay-to-play is $550 per sport at the high school and $350 per sport at the junior high. There is no family cap. Last year’s pay-to-play fees were $300 and $200 for the high school and junior high, respectively, but continued budget cuts led Lakota to nearly double those fees for the 2011-12 school year. Read More…

Local Issues

• Groveport Madison floats school-uniforms plan (Dispatch)

Groveport Madison schools pitched a plan to families yesterday that would require uniforms for middle- and high-school students starting next fall, but many parents and students were adamantly opposed. Families will have another chance to learn about the proposal at a second forum at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 5 at Groveport Middle School South. District officials have been mulling the idea for the past two years, but the effort gained momentum in the spring, after high-school administrators presented benefits of uniforms at a school board meeting. Read More…

• Lorain schools look at cutbacks, borrowing to handle deficit (Morning Journal)

LORAIN — Facing a $12 million deficit, interim Lorain Schools Superintendent Ed Branham last night detailed options that include borrowing $6 million from the Ohio Department of Education, plus cutting an additional $6 million in spending. His final proposal is to be ready for the school board at the Jan. 11 meeting. After making $1.5 million in cuts in October, the school district still has a $10.5 million deficit to address. Under Ohio law, schools are not allowed to operate in the red. Read More…

• Olmsted Falls schools revamp talk from cuts to improvements (Sun News)

Olmsted Falls school leaders have turned their talk to fixing, rather than eliminating, items in their buildings. That is due to the district’s 2.8-mill, 5-year, permanent improvement levy of Nov. 8 passing by seven votes, following recounts in Cuyahoga and Lorain counties where its boundaries extend. "For the last three years, our conversations dealt with what can we cut, eliminate and squeeze," said school Superintendent Todd F. Hoadley. Read More…

Editorial

• Revamping education (Dispatch)

The U.S. economy has shifted so dramatically that education must shift accordingly. But a couple of statistics hint that that shift has yet to fully occur. State Superintendent Stan W. Heffner points out a glaring disconnect between high-school standards and college expectations. If more than half of Ohio’s school districts are rated excellent or better by the state, Heffner asked during a speech last week before charter-school administrators, why do 41 percent of high-school students need remedial classes when they get to college? Read More…

• Applause for proposed Cleveland teacher concession clauses (Plain Dealer)

Children are worth concessions. That's the positive lesson expressed in a tentative agreement Cleveland teachers will be voting on beginning today (Wednesday, Dec. 15) and continuing until Dec. 21. There is reason for optimism. In an interview, David Quolke, Cleveland Teachers Union president, described the proposed settlement as "good for kids and fair to our members." The $7 million in teacher concessions would be achieved primarily by giving up some teacher calamity and professional days this school year along with higher health co-pays for the next two years. Read More…

• Two birds, one stone (Dispatch)

Budget crunches have left many schools with little choice but to cut funding for things state law doesn’t require them to provide, and that has left arts and physical-education instruction in the lurch in many Ohio elementary and middle schools. Pickerington City Schools officials and teachers deserve credit for adapting to harsh budget realities and finding a way to continue arts and phys-ed instruction with less than half the staff of a year ago. Read More…