Education News for 04-26-2012

Statewide Education News

• Reading test would hold back 12% of third-graders (Dispatch)

Less than 1 percent of Ohio third-graders were held back last year — about 800 students.

The number would jump to about 15,000 — 12 percent of all third-graders — if Gov. John Kasich’s proposed third-grade reading guarantee were in place. It’s part of his push to end social promotion and ensure that youngsters can read before advancing to fourth grade. Read More…

National Stories of the Day

• Education Slowdown Threatens U.S. (Wall Street Journal, subscription required)

Higher education in the U.S. has a problem: More students are getting into college, but they're not finishing. One community college in Maryland has developed a program aimed at getting students to graduation day. WSJ's Neil Hickey reports. Throughout American history, almost every generation has had substantially more education than that of its parents. That is no longer true. Read More…

• Concern Abounds Over Teachers' Preparedness for Standards (Education Week)

A quiet, sub-rosa fear is brewing among supporters of the Common Core State Standards Initiative: that the standards will die the slow death of poor implementation in K-12 classrooms. "I predict the common-core standards will fail, unless we can do massive professional development for teachers," said Hung-Hsi Wu, a professor emeritus of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, who has written extensively about the common-core math standards. "There's no fast track to this." Read More…

• Struggle over how to evaluate special ed teachers (AP)

Since the first day of class this school year, Bev Campbell has been teaching her students how to say their names. Some of the children in her class have autism. Others have Down syndrome or other disabilities. "People don't understand where they've come from," she says. "It's slow." Just one has learned how to say his name. Still, the South Florida teacher sees signs of growth in the nine kindergarten to second-grade students in her class. Read More…

Local Issues

• 'Working out the details' of school changes (Wooster Daily Record)

The work continues as the district closes two elementary schools and shifts its eighth-grade population to Wooster High School and its fifth- and sixth-grade students to Edgewood Middle School.

"The big question has been transportation," Superintendent Michael Tefs said at a board meeting Tuesday, describing "how (it) is beginning to shape up." After working with several options in consultation with the Ohio Department of Education, the Wooster City Schools' transportation department chose a three-tiered system for the elementary school, middle school and high school. Read More…

• Big changes for schools coming (Wilmington News Journal)

In 2011, three of the four school districts in Clinton County were rated “Excellent” or “Excellent with Distinction,” but none will rate that high under a series of new rigorous changes to education standards starting in the 2014-2015 school year. Over the next three years, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) is mandating that all schools adopt more a rigorous curriculum and assessments in an effort to ensure all students graduate ready for a career and/or college. For some districts, the multitude of changes is overwhelming. Read More…

• School districts benefit the most from auditor’s revaluation refund (Dispatch)

Reactions ranged from lukewarm to excited yesterday among treasurers at central Ohio school districts sharing in a $7 million pot of money to be distributed by Franklin County Auditor Clarence Mingo II. The money comes from the auditor’s real-estate assessment fund, which sets aside property taxes from schools, cities and other taxing agencies to pay for real-estate appraisals. Mingo announced the surplus yesterday. Money remained, he said, because of new technology, an efficient staff and good quality control during the 2011 county property reappraisals. Read More…

• Local school officials say ‘pink slime’ not a worry (Hamilton Journal News)

Several local school districts use the same food vendors who have admitted using lean finely textured beef — known as “pink slime” — in their products. Schools received letters from suppliers in March after a national uproar over LFTB. Districts received assurances that they were not purchasing “ammonia-treated lean finely textured beef.” Read More…

• Award-winning team teachers complement, not duplicate their material (Newark Advocate)

For Granville High School students taking Integrated Analysis and Physics, this is a basic exercise designed to make them see the connections between higher mathematics and the sometimes scary science known as physics. For their efforts in helping students make math and science come to life, mathematics teacher Scott Carpenter and physics teacher Al Spens recently received a 2012 Licking County Foundation Leaders for Learning Award, making them eligible for $500 grants to be used for professional development or classroom materials. Read More…

• Pending changes worry area educators (Findlay Courier)

Despite reassuring words from a state official this week, area superintendents remain frustrated with the impending revamp of Ohio's education system. Reaction came after James Herrholtz, Ohio Department of Education associate superintendent for the Division of Learning, defended the changes to Findlay's Rotary Club on Monday. "This (education overhaul) is going to be difficult," Herrholtz said. "(But) our students will certainly meet the challenges.” Read More…

• Collaboration on Head Start being weighed (Toledo Blade)

Toledo's Head Start grant could be headed toward a joint, collaborative approach involving more than one agency, several participants said after a meeting with officials of Toledo Public Schools and the Economic Opportunity Planning Association of Greater Toledo. "There was a lot of positive movement on the concept of collaboration," said Toledo Mayor Mike Bell, who convened the Wednesday morning meeting. "I saw a commitment to collaboration." Read More…

• Dayton educators offer Kasich suggestions (Dayton Daily News)

Several Dayton-area educators and experts offered suggestions on Gov. John Kasich’s education reform bill before the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday. They did not oppose Kasich’s proposal to toughen the state’s third-grade reading “guarantee,” but suggested lawmakers should also strengthen pre-kindergarten programs and teacher training. Read More…

Education News for 04-25-2012

Statewide Education News

• At-risk students hard to grade (Dispatch)

Advocates for charter schools serving students at risk of dropping out say they shouldn’t be held to the same standards as traditional schools. Lawmakers studying a plan to impose a tougher rating system on schools and school districts agree, but they aren’t sure how best to judge dropout-recovery schools. “You just can’t lump them in with every other school,” Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, said yesterday after hearing testimony from supporters of the schools. Read More…

• Ohio schools: Achievement tests can bring on stress (WKYC)

This time of year, teachers and students often get stressed out over testing. So what advice are schools and doctors giving families to make sure students are at their best for the testing that started this week? Here are some tips from Dr. Ellen Rome, a pediatrician at the Cleveland Clinic. Read More…

Local Issues

• Breathalyzer Now In Use In Central Ohio School District (NBC-4)

One central Ohio school district is taking a unique approach to better identify students who drink before school or school functions. Thanks to a grant, Pickerington Local Schools has an alcohol testing device, or a breathalyzer that can be used at anytime. “There's always been rumors, 'Oh, they've got a breathalyzer,’” said Pickerington High School North Principal Cindi Goldhaber. Read More…

• School district says privacy cloaks seclusion-room data (Dispatch)

The Columbus school district denied yesterday that it is blocking a state agency’s attempts to investigate the district’s use of seclusion rooms for special-needs students. In an answer to a federal lawsuit filed in early March, the district said it turned over documents that were pertinent to a mother’s allegation that her autistic son was so terrified when placed in a cell-like room that he stripped naked and urinated. Read More…

• YEA chief to teachers: Expect layoffs (Vindicator)

The president of the city teachers’ union cautioned members to prepare for layoffs and advised some to begin looking for new jobs. “The board will be changing the posting dates and the method of posting” for positions, Will Bagnola, president of the Youngstown Education Association, wrote in an email last week to the membership. “The board will not be honoring seniority in filling vacancies and assigning YEA members; board-action on a RIF [reduction in force] will not be done by April 30th; and, our class sizes will be increasing.” Read More…

• Superintendent roundtable discussion (13 ABC WTVG)

Three northwest Ohio superintendents sit down with 13 ABC regarding the new state ranking system. Read More…

• Hamilton charter school finds new campus (Hamilton Journal News)

The Richard Allen Academy, a private charter school located on the city’s East Side, has found a new home in the former St. Julie Billiart School on Shuler Avenue. Academy officials hope the move will help attract more students. The charter school needed to find a new home after its current campus at 299 Knightsbridge Drive was purchased last fall by Miami University Hamilton. Read More…

Editorial & Opinion

• Another glimpse into Ohio’s lax oversight of charter schools (Vindicator)

The Liberty Board of Education’s experience with two “conversion schools,” essentially charter schools that were operated by a public school district, provide an insight into an inherent lack of oversight that has plagued far too many of Ohio’s experiments in alternative education. This week, the first good news about what had been the Liberty Early Academic Resource Nest and Liberty Exemplary Academic Design schools came from the Portage County Educational Services Center, the current sponsor of the schools. Read More…

Education News for 04-24-2012

Statewide Education News

• Education: Big changes ahead (Findlay Courier)

Ohio schools are about to see a huge overhaul of the education system come 2014.
"In the education world, the landscape dramatically changes" in 2014-2015, James Herrholtz, the Ohio Department of Education's associate superintendent for the division of learning, said Monday.
Among those changes, Herrholtz said, are a new testing environment for students, implementation of the Common Core State Standards, and a new, rigorous report card for schools. Read More…

• State OKs aid for three troubled school districts (Dispatch)

The state approved more than $4.1 million in advance payments yesterday to three fiscally troubled Ohio school districts in order to keep them in the black through the rest of this fiscal year. The state Controlling Board, a bipartisan spending oversight committee, approved $1.8 million for Bellaire City Schools in Belmont County; $678,000 for Cloverleaf Local in Medina County; and $1.7 million for Ledgemont Local in Geauga County. All three are in fiscal emergency, and without the money would not be able to make payroll. Read More…

• Two Ohio schools receive big honor from U.S. Department of Education (FOX19, Cincinnati)

Two Ohio schools received a big honor on Monday. Loveland High School and North Adams Elementary School are among 78 schools across the country to receive the first ever U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools award. Read More…

• Fiscal officers, treasurers targeted in proposed bill (Vindicator)

Although the Liberty School Dis- trict and the city of Campbell are not mentioned by name, Ohio Auditor Dave Yost undoubtedly had them in mind when he proposed legislation to boost accountability and penalize wrongdoing by public sector fiscal officers and treasurers. Read More…

• Why this Week is Really Important for Ohio Schools (State Impact Ohio)

Elementary and middle school students across Ohio start taking the Ohio Achievement Tests this week, the month after high schoolers took the Ohio Graduation Tests. It’s not called high-stakes testing for nothing. The consequences of how students perform in the coming weeks are real, for adults as much as students. Read More…

Local Issues

• Cleveland schools legislation to move forward at the Ohio Statehouse (Plain Dealer)

A pair of Cleveland lawmakers on Tuesday will reintroduce a bill at the Statehouse that could sharply change how public education is delivered in the city and become a model for the rest of the state. The bills, one in the Ohio House the other in the Senate, will begin with bipartisan sponsorship in the legislature, and also have the support of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and the Cleveland Teachers Union. Read More…

• Plan is for laptops to prop up Newark graduation rates (Dispatch)

It began as a conversation about how to increase high-school graduation rates. It ended with iPads. That’s what administrators hope, anyway, as they present a contract for 400 MacBook Air laptops and 100 iPads to the Newark City Schools board for approval tonight. Read More…

• Student Athletes Ask For Drug Testing (WBNS - 10TV)

Student athletes at Licking Heights High School said Monday that they thought mandatory drug testing would keep students in line. A group of students at the Pataskala school asked administrators to start mandatory random testing for 10 illegal drugs, 10TV’s Kevin Landers reported. Under the proposal, every student athlete, in season or out, would be required to undergo the mandatory testing. Read More…

• Kids being kind (Marietta Times)

Kindergarteners at Little Hocking Elementary met their teacher's challenge to perform 100 acts of kindness in just under a month, but the end of the project didn't mean the end of the giving. For each act of kindness performed outside of school between Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Valentine's Day, students in Mary Hess' class brought back a 3-by-5-inch business card with a coin attached. The coins add a mathematical component to the annual program Hess has her students do in conjunction with the celebration of King's birthday and his dream of people living together in peace. When the project is over, the children decide what to do with the collected money. Read More…

Education News for 04-23-2012

Statewide Education News

• Ohio's education leaders want to overhaul 12th grade so students are ready for college, training (Plain Dealer)

Ohio's top education leaders want to "reinvent" the senior year of high school so that instead of cruising through their final year, students get involved in technical training, apprenticeships or college classes. "We want to have no distinction between the senior year of high school and the first year of college," said Stan Heffner, superintendent of the Ohio Department of Education, at a meeting this week of the Ohio Board of Regents, which oversees higher education. Read More…

• Ready for college? (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

Tim Saxton said he's not surprised by the number of high school graduates who need to take at least one remedial course when they get to college to "catch up." Although Saxton, superintendent at Brookfield Schools, said he's not sure how many students graduating from his school district need remediation he realizes there's definitely a gap between high school and college. "I know it's a concern and we need to work on closing that gap," he said. Read More…

Local Issues

• 2 charter schools, TPS mend relations (Toledo Blade)

Frayed relations between Toledo Public Schools and two charter schools it sponsors appear improved and the schools’ once-possible defection to the Ohio Department of Education apparently is off. Phoenix and Polly Fox academies’ boards have approved agreements to keep them affiliated with TPS until 2014. Read More…

• Special-needs students seeking new vouchers (Dispatch)

Special-needs students from 11 of Franklin County’s 16 school districts have applied for new taxpayer-funded vouchers to attend private schools. That includes Bexley, Dublin, Hilliard, Upper Arlington and Worthington — suburban districts where most students haven’t been eligible to use a private-school voucher before. Twenty students who live in the Westerville district applied. In Columbus, 32 did. Read More…

• Funding, school jobs linked to state tests (Dayton Daily News)

During the next three weeks, every third- through eighth-grader in Ohio will take state-mandated tests that are increasingly impacting every level of public education — student achievement and retention, school and district state report card ratings and, as early as next year, teacher evaluations. Read More…

• Cuts force schools to nix gifted programs (Hamilton Journal News)

Although school districts are mandated to provide a variety of services for students with disabilities, and are given funds by the state and federal government to provide those services, there is no requirement to provide services to gifted students. An examination by the JournalNews found some Butler County school districts provide specific programs for gifted students, but others, because of budget constraints, don’t provide specific programs. Read More…

• District saves thousands by using college tutors (Springfield News Sun)

Springfield City School District is saving thousands of dollars on afterschool tutoring by using work-study or volunteer college students from local colleges as tutors to staff the program. “There is no more money, so you’ve got to use what we have,” said Springfield City School District Superintendent David Estrop. “You can re-purpose it or you can find a different way of doing something. But you can’t say we need to spend more money doing this because there is no more money.” Read More…

• It's almost summer: New teachers near end of first year (Chillicothe Gazette)

It's usually during this time of the school year -- the home stretch -- that the weather improves, students become restless and the world outside their classroom has a greater appeal. Summer vacation was looming large over Bishop Flaget School on Friday, where the signs of the season were visible on the school uniforms of students in the computer lab. One boy's blue khakis were torn and smeared with dirt from kickball. Another boy's white shirt sported a bright-green grass stain. Read More…

• Paying more attention to printed word pays off for youngsters learning to read (Akron Beacon Journal)

When preschoolers gather on the rug for story time to hear a storybook such as I Stink! about a New York City garbage truck, they mostly focus on the pictures and the sound of the teacher’s voice telling the story. “They’re most likely looking at the pictures on the page,” said Shayne Piasta, assistant director of the Children’s Learning Research Collaborative at Ohio State University. “They may not understand where the words are coming from because they haven’t yet made that connection between the printed words on the page and the words that you are speaking.” Read More…

• Budget Challenge teaches kids finance (Cincinnati Enquirer)

As an undergraduate environmental science and public policy major at Harvard University, Palmira Buten found herself in credit card debt, mismanaging her cash flow and bouncing checks. Dave Buten was a chemical engineering student at Purdue University when he first bounced a check. “How could that happen when the ATM said he had money in his account?”, he questioned. “I was smart,” Palmira Buten says. “But you just don’t know this stuff.” Read More…

• Students avoiding healthful lunches (Dispatch)

Grandview student Kyle Modlich’s meal, left, is from a restaurant while Trevor Voelker chows down on his packed lunch. Schools across the state have ditched deep fryers and high-calorie meals this school year in favor of foods the state deems nutritious. But in some districts, as calorie levels have dropped, so have lunch sales. Particularly in schools where students can leave for lunch, sales have declined sharply as students pass up entrees such as pita and hummus for lunches packed at home or bought at restaurants. Read More…

• TPS students rally, rev up for Ohio academic testing (Toledo Blade)

It's testing season again in Toledo. Thousands of students in grades three through eight will immerse themselves in test booklets starting Tuesday, as Toledo Public Schools administers the state mandated Ohio Achievement Assessments. The math, reading, science, and social studies exams provide the bulk of data used to rate schools on the state's report cards and under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Read More…

• More riding on state-mandated tests (Middletown Journal News)

During the next three weeks, every third- through eighth-grader in Butler County will take state-mandated tests that are increasingly impacting every level of public education — student achievement and retention, school and district state report card ratings and, as early as next year, teacher evaluations. Read More…

Editorial & Opinion

• Don’t wait (Dispatch)

Protests from school officials and teachers who want a reprieve from tougher grading standards are predictable, but that doesn’t make them valid. The Ohio School Boards Association, teachers’ unions and others are asking for a delay in applying new performance standards proposed by Gov. John Kasich for school grade cards to be issued this summer. The new system, which places more emphasis on whether poor, minority, special-education and other categories of students are catching up to mainstream students in test-passing rates, is likely to lower the overall grade for most districts and charter schools. Read More…

• Ohio bottoms out in preschool funding: Brent Larkin (Plain Dealer)

Gov. John Kasich wants Ohio to become a winner in the federal government's Race to the Top competition for public schools. But in funding for one key component to educational success, Ohio has tumbled to the bottom. Rock bottom. The positive impact that quality preschool programs have on learning is no longer a theory. Read More…

• Measuring performance (Dispatch)

If teachers are to be evaluated based in part on how much academic progress their students make in a year, schools need a fair way to measure that progress. That’s the central challenge of a state-law provision that requires teacher evaluations by 2014 to be at least 50 percent based on student growth, and it ought to be a top priority for education experts throughout the state. Read More…

Education News for 04-20-2012

Statewide Education News

• Raising the bar at Ohio pre-K’s (Dispatch)

Thousands of poor youngsters start kindergarten unprepared to learn and behind their peers, delays that can cause them to struggle throughout their school years. A proposal being considered by Ohio lawmakers aims to reduce those learning gaps by requiring all tax-funded preschool and childcare programs to participate in a rating system to help guide parents and ensure high standards. Read More…

• Turn in a bully anonymously (Marietta Times)

Anonymous phone lines to report bullying and other behavior could be coming to local school districts. Providing some means to anonymously report bullying, harassment and intimidation is part of House Bill 116, signed into law by Ohio Gov. John Kasich earlier this year. It requires schools to expand their anti-bullying policies and include possible suspension for cyberbullying. Read More…

• Rallying cry of city students: Do your best on state test (Vindicator)

Students at Williamson Elementary School got rousing support as they prepare to take the Ohio Achievement Assessment next week. "We want them to bring on the OAA because we are ready," Principal Wanda Clark shouted at a Thursday morning rally at the school. "Are we ready?" Students shouted back that they are. First- and second-graders marched in the school gymnasium, holding posters and cheering, "Do your best, pass the test." Read More…

• Cyberbullying Law Now In Place; Students Note Positive Changes (NBC-4)

Bullying doesn't stop when your kids leave school, and as many as half of American teenagers said they've been bullied online. But now, there is something schools can do about it. Ohio's new law, The Jessica Logan Act, prohibits cyberbullying whether or not it's on school property, and schools are required to alert students and parents about discipline options if cyberbullying occurs. Anonymous reporting is also part of the act, but are schools changing their policies? Read More…

Local Issues

• Newark High School to get iPads, laptops

Newark City Schools administrators plan to add 400 laptops and 100 iPads to the high school this fall, with the goal of getting them into students' hands as much as possible. Superintendent Doug Ute envisions a time when teachers are more fully integrating technology into their lesson plans and students will carry their devices rather than heavy books in backpacks to and from school. Read More…

• Oregon Schools working on alternative energy project (WTOL )

Oregon City Schools put the massive blades for its 900 kilowatt wind turbine in place on Thursday, and they will help provide more than 80% of the energy for Clay High School. The turbines serves as a working monument to the district's commitment to the environment and taxpayers. Read More…

• Beavercreek district plans 30 layoffs, extensive cuts (Dayton Daily News)

The Beavercreek City School District plans to eliminate more than 50 full- and part-time jobs and cut academic courses across the district following a third-straight levy defeat. About 30 of the job cuts will come through layoffs and the rest through attrition, said Beavercreek Superintendent Nick Verhoff. Read More…

• Reality Check gives students glimpse of adulthood (Hamilton Journal News)

Students at Fairfield Freshman School had kids, bought a car, a house, insurance and other necessities — all within the space of 45 minutes or less. Granted, the children were represented by ping-pong balls. That’s because the students were participating in Reality Check, an annual event coordinated by the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce. Read More…

• CPS busing costs go up, up, ouch! (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Transportation cost overruns are blowing up Cincinnati Public Schools budget. The state’s third-largest school district expects to spend a whopping $29.5 million this year just to transport 21,000 kids to and from school each day. That’s 9 percent, or $2.3 million, more than budgeted and $1.3 million more than last year. Read More…

• KSU delegation visits Senior High to see Algebra Project work (Mansfield News Journal)

A delegation from Kent State University watched this week as Mansfield Senior High School math teacher Amanda Clawson led her Algebra Project junior class in analyzing two equations. "How are they different? How are they the same?" Clawson asked. Read More…

• Lorain City School layoffs; District cuts 182 positions, notices sent next 2 days (Lorain Morning Journal)

Lorain City Schools will be sending layoff notices today and tomorrow as the district cuts 182 positions, according to Interim Superintendent Ed Branham. “Letters are going out to be passed out to (today),” Branham said. The first group receiving the letters today will be secretaries, media clerks and health professional, with teachers and teachers and the remaining people being laid off get notices Friday, he said. Read More…

• State admonishes teacher fired for viewing porn on school laptop (New Philadelphia Times Reporter)

Howard “Mike” Winland, a former Strasburg elementary teacher, has been admonished by the State Board of Education for viewing pornographic images on a district laptop computer. Unless he engages in additional conduct unbecoming to the teaching profession, however, Winland will retain his teaching license. Read More…

• Unioto, ACLU near deal to avert bullying lawsuit (Chillicothe Gazette)

Five months after the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio threatened legal action against Union-Scioto Local Schools for allegedly not doing enough to address anti-gay bullying, the two sides are said to be close to an agreement that would stave off a lawsuit. What began as an incident Oct. 17 between two Unioto High School students flared into national news this past fall after a video of the attack went viral online. The mother of the victim, a 15-year-old freshman, said her son was attacked because he's gay and that the school had not done enough to protect him. Read More…

• Updated academic plan approved for Youngstown schools (Vindicator)

State Superintendent Stan Heffner has approved an updated plan to get the city school district out of academic distress. Though the plan in place since July 2010 focused on elementary schools, the updated document aims more at the district’s high schools. The plan was approved last month by the city schools’ academic-distress commission and submitted to Heffner, state superintendent of public instruction. Read More…

Education News for 04-19-2012

Local Issues

• Town hall session on teen drinking sparks interest (Newark Advocate)

The students of Granville High School's CHAMPS group kicked off this past week's town hall meeting on underage alcohol use by shocking the audience. They read anonymous stories from Granville teens who said they used drugs and alcohol on a regular basis. Read more..

• Parents, Teachers Angry Over CMSD Staff Layoffs (WJW – Cleveland)

The decision by the Cleveland Municipal School District to respond to a $66-million budget deficit, by laying off 508 teachers, is being criticized by teachers and parents. Justin Hons, 32, is being laid-off from his job as a social studies teacher at John Hay High School, and it’s his fourth lay-off notice in 11 years. Read more..

• Raising Tusc summit: Give grads skills that employers require (New Philadelphia Times Reporter)

Schools of the 21st century must focus on graduating students who have the skills employers are requiring, a Georgia educator told area business and school leaders Wednesday. Frank Pinson, chief executive officer of the Floyd County College and Career Academy, was keynote speaker at the Raising Tuscarawas summit at the Performing Arts Center at Kent State University Tuscarawas. Read more..

• Bellaire School District asking community for funding ideas (WTOV-Steubenville)

Bellaire School District officials will hold a community meeting on Thursday focusing on the future of the financially strapped district. In 35 years, the district has not had any additional money for operations, and Superintendent Tony Scott said he hopes community members can generate ideas for funding. Read more..

• CPS cuts 10 percent of teaching staff (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Cincinnati Public Schools will have 237 fewer teachers next school year. The seven-member board of education voted unanimously Wednesday to eliminate about 10 percent of its teaching staff to help fill a $43 million budget gap. The cuts, which the Enquirer reported earlier this month, come as the district works to maintain its place as Ohio’s highest-rated urban school district. Read more..

• Reynoldsburg City School Students Will Pay More To Play (10-TV-Columbus)

Reynoldsburg City School District officials said that many were questioning the school booster club following a rise in prices for students wishing to participate in sports. The school board voted on Tuesday night to raise the fee to participate in sports to more than $100 to make up for the money it expected to receive from a booster club, 10TV's Tanisha Mallett reported. Read more..

• Student's mother seeks reprimand against police chief, principal (Springfield News Sun)

A mother is asking for the Enon police chief and principal of Indian Valley School to be reprimanded after she said her son was unjustly questioned about a missing cell phone against school policies. The incident happened March 28 after the mother of an Indian Valley School parent reported her daughter’s cell phone missing. Read more..

• Taking gun to school gets student 3 weekends in jail (Columbus Dispatch)

A Columbus high-school student who took a gun to school last year was placed on probation yesterday and ordered to spend three weekends in jail. Razoar B.D. Harding, 18, of Briar Ridge Road on the East Side, pleaded guilty in March to two counts of carrying a concealed weapon. Read more..