Education News for 05-23-2012

May 23, 2012 in Ed News

Statewide Stories of the Day

Ohio House adds gifted schools to education bill (Dispatch)

Ohioans could see charter schools set up for gifted students in 16 regions of the state under a still-evolving education plan in the legislature. An Ohio House committee continued making changes yesterday in Gov. John Kasich’s sweeping education proposal, which already had been altered by the Senate before that chamber approved its version this month. In another revision, the House Education Committee removed a provision that would have allowed school principals to pass third-graders who failed the state reading test. Read More…

State Superintendent Stan Heffner talks about direction of schools (News-Herald)

State Superintendent Stan Heffner was in Lake County this week to lay out the direction of Ohio’s schools. The former Madison Schools Superintendent, in a gathering Monday at Lakeland Community College’s Mooreland Mansion, keyed in on the importance of retooling the current Kindergarten through 12th grade system. Classrooms of the future will be learner-centered rather than teacher-centered; content coverage will be replaced with learning and doing; and textbook dependency will take a back seat to multiple sources of information, Heffner said. Read More…

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's schools plan slows down in Ohio legislature amid concerns over charter schools (Plain Dealer)

COLUMBUS - Negotiations to pass Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's education reform plan have reached a critical stage, as state lawmakers continue to wrestle with provisions that deal with charter schools. At the heart of the stalemate is a new panel Jackson proposed to serve as gatekeeper for charter schools in Cleveland. Charter-school proponents want to weaken the panel's authority but Jackson and his Democratic supporters in the legislature have held their ground. Read More…

State schools chief outlines changes ahead (Canton Repository)

CANTON — By the 2014-15 school year, school as we know it will change. Ohio Department of Education Superintendent of Public Instruction Stan Heffner made the rounds in Stark County on Tuesday to deliver that message and ask public school districts and parents to prepare. “Since 1989, we have focused on a minimum set of standards,” he said during a meeting at The Repository, “but as technology evolved, our system didn’t.” Now, said Heffner, plans are progressing to replace the existing state standards with the new College and Career Ready Standards. Read More…

Budget fine-tuning wins panel’s support (Dispatch)

The Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel will avoid a significant budget cut next year, youths can take driver’s education online and Thomas Edison is headed to Washington, under changes completed last night in the wide-ranging mid-biennium review. The bill, introduced by Gov. John Kasich this spring and described by House Finance Committee Chairman Ron Amstutz, R-Wooster, as a “process improvement package,” touches on nearly every agency in state government, often with minor adjustments intended to improve efficiency. Read More…

Local Issues

Galion school board votes to cut 20 positions (News-Journal)

GALION - After cutting 32 positions last year, the Galion schools are faring no better. Tuesday night, in a special meeting of the Galion City Schools Board of Education, the district did away with more than 20 additional positions -- some administrative -- in a cost-saving measure that made a dismal five-year-forecast look only a little better. The move last year saved the district $960,000. This year, the jobs being cut will save $956,000, said Superintendent Kathy Jenney. Read More…

Indian Valley High going totally electronic in fall (Times Reporter)

GNADENHUTTEN — This fall, Indian Valley High School will go totally electronic when its comes to educating students. The Indian Valley Board of Education voted Monday to implement the One-to-One Laptop Initiative for students in all four grades in the high school at a cost of $222,605. That amount will cover the cost of everything involved in making the switch, from purchasing computers to teacher training. Read More…

More local teachers considering retirement (Journal-News)

A proposed change to the state’s teacher retirement system may be the reason more local teachers are seeking retirement after this school year. Nick Treneff, spokesman for the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio, said the state has seen a “slight increase” in the number of retirees recently. He said the state is proposing changes to the State Teachers Retirement System and the Schools Employees Retirement System that may result in more contributions and less take-home pay for teachers, and could push the retirement eligibility age back at least five years. Read More…

Howland schools expect tough times (Tribune Chronicle)

HOWLAND - The Howland Board of Education approved a measure that will require some financial investment from its student athletes in the upcoming year. According to Tom Krispinsky, treasurer, the board approved a measure Monday that will cost student athletes $100 per student per sport at the high school level and $75 per student for unlimited sports at the junior high level. The measure does cap a maximum of $200 per student and $400 per family for grades 7 through 12. There is, however, a little relief for some. Read More…

Bluffton looking at deficit spending (Courier)

BLUFFTON - Bluffton school board this week approved a revision of the district's five-year forecast for fiscal years 2012-16, which predicts the district may outspend revenue this year by $345,616, said Superintendent Greg Denecker. "More than likely, that number will not be that great," he said. "Not everything is in" and the district's fiscal year does not end until June 30, he said. The amount is "probably a conservative projection," he said. Read More…

East Holmes district recalls six teachers (Times Reporter)

BERLIN — The East Holmes Board of Education approved an extensive realignment of its teaching staff Monday in the wake of a decision in March to eliminate 16 full-time teaching or staff positions as a cost-savings measure. Six teachers were recalled because more teachers retired than the district anticipated. Among the changes: Special-education classes were eliminated at the Winesburg and Mount Hope buildings. Students in those classes will be shuttled to classes at the Berlin and Chestnut Ridge buildings. Read More…

Hamilton High School honors seniors headed for military (Journal-News)

HAMILTON - Hamilton High School paid tribute Tuesday to its 17 seniors that will be joining a branch of the United States military upon graduation. Keynote speaker was Lt. Col. Joseph Copas, U.S. Army, a graduate of Taft High School in Hamilton who enlisted in the military in 1983. “I can’t think of any two more honorable careers than being a teacher or serving in the country,” Copas said. “How appropriate it is that we gather for a recognition of what these young men and women are about to do.” Read More…

Springfield teachers ratify new contract (ONN)

HOLLAND - On what would have been the day Springfield Local Schools teachers hit the picket lines, they ratified their new contract after almost a year of working without a contract and a year's worth of negotiations. A potential deal has been reached between Springfield teachers and the Board of Education. Now it's just up to both sides to approve it. There are 233 members of the Springfield Education Association, and while not every one of them approved of the new contract, majority rules. Read More…

Education News for 05-22-2012

May 22, 2012 in Ed News

Statewide Stories of the Day

Ohio's Dropout Numbers Jump At Higher Rate; Columbus Sees Decrease (WBNS 10 CBS)

CINCINNATI - Ohio's dropout rate increased between 2002 and 2009 at a higher rate than all other states except Illinois. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Ohio's dropout rate jumped from 3.1 percent to 4.2 percent in 2008-09. Columbus City Schools saw a decrease between the 2006-07 school year and the 2008-09 school year, 10TV News reported. The dropout rate was 7.4 percent in 2006-07, 5.8 in 2007-08 and 2.2 in 2008-09. Ohio's dropout numbers for 2009 are just slightly higher than the national average. Read More…

Northeast Ohio public high schools among nation's best, Newsweek says (Plain Dealer)

Twelve Northeast Ohio high schools are on Newsweek magazine's list of the nation's top 1,000 public high schools. Chagrin Falls High School led the region at 93rd in the country and fourth among the 35 Ohio schools on the list, which was released this week. Wyoming High School, near Cincinnati, topped the Ohio list. Other Northeast Ohio high schools singled out by Newsweek for national ranking were: Orange (151), Solon (152). Read More…

Fewer students missing graduation because of OGT (Beacon Journal)

Only 10 high school seniors in Akron Public Schools out of more than 1,300 have come up short on the Ohio Graduation Test this year and will not graduate with their classes, even though they’ve earned the required academic credits. In 2007, the first year the OGT became a requirement for a diploma, 95 seniors missed graduation, prompting many frantic and angry phone calls to board members. “It’s extremely gratifying to see that number drop the way it has,” said board President Jason Haas. Read More…

Academic commission owes city taxpayers an explanation (Vindicator)

“In order to ensure a seamless transition, the new treasurer must have the same level of expertise and the same insight and foresight as the man who is leaving.” When we expressed that opinion last month about Youngstown City School District Treasurer William Johnson’s impending departure, we had every reason to believe he had performed his difficult job with a high level of professionalism. After all, there were no complaints about Johnson’s tenure from members of the board of education or from the state-mandated Academic Distress Commission. Read More…

Local Issues

Westerville schools to stay in black until ’17 (Dispatch)

Westerville schools will be able to stay off the ballot two years longer than expected, district officials announced last night, largely because of an unusually high number of teacher retirements. Administrators said this year that a five-year levy voters approved in March would keep the district’s budget in the black through fiscal year 2015. But the district now will be solvent through fiscal year 2017, Treasurer Bart Griffith said. The announcement was based on a five-year forecast that the Westerville Board of Education approved 3-0 last night. Read More…

Doubling up bus routes returns to budget talks at Zane Trace (Chillicothe Gazette)

KINGSTON - A plan to cut the number of Zane Trace bus drivers in half is back on the table. The plan initially was suggested as the district's board of education looks for ways to reduce its budget by $1.3 million over the next two years. This past week, a motion to approve staggered school hours for the upper and lower grades -- which would have allowed the district to double up on bus routes and use fewer drivers -- failed to reach a vote. Read More…

Boardman students to pay more for meals (Vindicator)

BOARDMAN - Boardman Local School District students will pay more for a school lunch in the fall. The board of education, at a meeting Monday, approved raising the price of a school lunch by 25 cents. Currently, the price of a lunch is $1.75 for elementary students, $2 for middle-school students and $2.25 for those in high school. The raise is a result of the federal government’s Equity in School Lunch Price Act. Read More…

School board OKs five-year forecast (Courier)

FOSTORIA - Fostoria school board approved a five-year financial forecast Monday which predicts declining revenues and increasing expenses. The district's projected cash balance declines from more than $4.1 million June 30 to a negative balance of more than $2.8 million by June 30, 2016. However, that figure does not include potential revenue from three replacement or renewal levies which are scheduled to expire during the five-year time period but could be put before voters for renewal. Read More…

Four fired Granville teachers reinstated (Newark Advocate)

GRANVILLE - Four of 21 staff positions cut through a Reduction In Force action in March were reinstated Monday by the Granville Board of Education. Thanks to the retirement of seven teachers, a bus driver, a librarian and the school nurse in addition to two resignations, the reinstatements became possible, Superintendent Jeff Brown said. "When we enacted this Reduction in Force in March, I said that it would change probably the next day. I was right," Brown said. Six of the retirements were approved at the April board meeting. Read More…

Editorial

Despite initial misgivings, charter school alliance supports the Cleveland Plan (Plain Dealer)

The Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools (OAPCS) supports the Cleveland Plan. We have long advocated for portfolio plans, like Cleveland's, that focus on improving low-performing schools and that provide parents with a range of choices that include district and charter schools. The only part of the plan that troubled us was the Transformation Alliance. As originally proposed, the Alliance would be comprised of a group of people selected by the mayor who would have veto authority on all new charter schools opening in Cleveland. Read More…

Education News for 05-21-2012

May 21, 2012 in Ed News

Statewide Stories of the Day

Educators react differently to increase in public charter schools (News-Herald)

An increased interest in public charter schools has brought up different feelings among educators. While some districts might feel that the addition of these public schools, referred to as community schools in Ohio, provides another option for education, others have taken note of the difficulty they present when it comes to funding. Community schools in Ohio are nonprofit schools that operate independent of any school district under contract with an authorized sponsoring entity, according to the Ohio Department of Education. Read More…

Voluntary teacher departures spike (News-Sun)

Area school districts are seeing a spike in retirements and resignations, which many attribute to changes being made at the state level — including potential changes in public employee pension plans — the climate at local districts and the number of teachers eligible for retirement. “I’m as busy as I’ve ever been in a spring,” said Dan Tarpey, Centerville City Schools human resources director, whose district had an 86 percent increase in voluntary departures this year. Read More…

Dropout rate: Ohio slips as nation improves (Enquirer)

Ohio reported the second-biggest increase in its dropout rate between 2002 and 2009 even as millions of state and federal dollars were being spent on dropout initiatives. An Enquirer analysis of dropout data collected by the National Center for Education Statistics found that Ohio’s dropout rate rose from 3.1 percent in 2001-02 to 4.2 percent in 2008-09. Only Illinois’ rate increased more. The national average was 4.1 percent in 2009, the only year in which all states reported their data. Kentucky, Indiana and the nation as a whole improved during that time. Read More…

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson would alter education reform bill to ease concerns of charter schools (Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND — Looking to widen support in the Ohio General Assembly for his education reform legislation, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson has suggested changes to ease the worries of charter-school operators who fear the mayor's expanded power. State Sen. Nina Turner said that with the changes in place, she hoped the bipartisan bill will win approval this week. Turner, a Democrat from Cleveland, co-sponsored the Senate version of the bill. Read More…

Ohio to track classroom money, student performance (News-Herald)

COLUMBUS — The political fire still burns in Ohio to push more public money into classrooms, even after other states have backed off the idea amid evidence it does little to improve kids’ grades. The state’s latest strategy is to mandate that district spending be winnowed from the existing five spending categories to two by 2013: classroom or non-classroom. It’s part of a push by Republican Gov. John Kasich to reduce overhead and direct funds to classroom instruction. In-classroom spending percentages eventually would appear on state report cards, alongside student test scores. Read More…

Local Issues

Funding school budget forecasts: Tough road ahead (Journal-News)

Five-year forecasts for local schools show some districts will have to make tough choices if drastic changes are not made in their cash flow, a Hamilton JournalNews examination shows. All Ohio school districts are required by law to submit a five-year financial forecast to the state department of education. The forecasts are a primary tool in determining districts’ financial health. The JournalNews study examined the forecasts of the largest Butler County districts and found some have projected deficits by 2016 unless new tax levies are passed or state funding is increased. Read More…

Local districts cut librarians to help save costs (Blade)

When school ends in a few weeks, Maumee High School media specialist Cindy Bramson will retire and, like so many school librarians, will not be replaced. As public school districts across the country struggle to keep their budgets balanced, librarians are winding up on the chopping block -- a trend that some believe will hurt students and their ability to do the kind of research and writing expected in college. "The bottom line is I consider school media specialists part of the curriculum. We are academic," Mrs. Bramson said. Read More…

Valley View Schools to cut 20 staff positions (Dayton Daily News)

GERMANTOWN — The Valley View Local School District announced this week that it will reduce its staff by more than 20 positions. The reconfiguration, begun last year, is intended to generate $3 million for next school year, according to the district. The reductions include eliminating two full-time teaching positions, and allowing another three teaching positions to be reduced through retirements and resignations. Read More…

Schools tackle cyber bullying (News Journal)

Back in the good ol' days when a cellphone could only call and text, defining on- and off-school grounds was as simple as drawing a line. But now, in the age of smartphones and Facebook, school districts are struggling with how to address use of these technologies. This year, school districts are rewriting policies to comply with two new rules. The first is the Jessica Logan Act, signed into law in February, which requires school districts to address cyber-bullying. Read More…

Parents plead to preserve schools for developmentally disabled (Dispatch)

Parents upset about a plan to phase out much of the school-age program provided by the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities say they doubt their local districts can provide comparable education and care. “It’s not their passion,” said Becky Swartz, whose 14-year-old daughter attends the board’s West Central School. The two county-run schools have top-notch adaptive equipment, experienced staff and a proven approach that leads to the best environment for children with the most-significant disabilities. Read More…

Springfield schools transfer requests rise (News-Sun)

SPRINGFIELD — Requests to attend a Springfield city school other than the one geographically assigned have increased by 30 percent for the 2012-13 school year, according to the district. Nearly 85 percent of the increase in requests comes from families affected by changes to elementary boundary lines redrawn this spring. “Some of it is attributable to the boundary changes,” said Superintendent David Estrop. “About (65) of the voluntary transfer requests are in areas affected by the boundary changes, so that clearly has had an impact.” Read More…

Niles BOE to consider layoffs for 34 workers (Vindicator)

NILES - In an effort to save $1.4 million next year, the Niles school board will be asked this week to lay off 15 teachers and 19 nonteaching staff. However, even with the layoffs, a sizable deficit would remain for fiscal year 2013, warns Superintendent Mark Robinson, who will propose the layoffs at the board’s meeting Wednesday. “Even with those cuts, we still have to eliminate an additional deficit of $289,000,” Robinson said. “I could have gone deeper [with layoffs], but we’ve been very conservative, and I’m hoping to find other options.” Read More…

Editorial

A law to save lives (Dispatch)

Some choices aren’t all that complicated, especially when a child’s life is in jeopardy. That’s why it would make sense for the Ohio legislature to allow, or even require, schools to stock epinephrine injectors, commonly called by the brand name EpiPen, for unexpected allergic reactions that can turn fatal. The debate is percolating because of tragedies in other states: In January, a first-grader in Virginia who had a peanut allergy died after her heart stopped in the school clinic. Read More…

Ohio officials differ on how to get help to third graders who need it (Plain Dealer)

Gov. John Kasich is miffed that fellow Republicans crafted an end run around his plans to hold back third graders who do poorly on statewide reading tests. But any big changes in education can be counterproductive without safeguards in place to make sure children aren't penalized as a result. Kasich wants to hold back third graders who score below proficient on statewide reading tests, starting in the 2013-2014 school year. (Most special-education and limited-English learners would be exempt.) Read More…

Education reform must address poverty (Dispatch)

We see stories from time to time reporting how poorly U.S. students do in international testing. For example, in the 2009 testing by the Program for International Assessment of Education conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the U.S ranked 14th out of 21 countries in reading. An analysis by the National Education Association described in a blog by Mel Riddile, associate director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, presents a different perspective. Read More…

We've Had Reform but Not Progress (Wall Street Journal)

George P. Shultz and Eric A. Hanushek's "Education Is the Key to a Healthy Economy" (op-ed, May 1) is well stated. However, we've been doing school reform for over 50 years. Our national dropout rate hasn't improved much. Student proficiency has not improved as we'd like. In Ohio we increased funding, built hundreds of new schools wired and equipped with modern teaching and learning tools, expanded school options, opened science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) schools and even benchmarked ourselves against international standards. Read More…

Make it effective (Dispatch)

The Ohio House of Representatives has helped move education reform ahead in Ohio by restoring some of the juice that the Senate drained out of Gov. John Kasich’s proposals in Senate Bill 316. Applying a “third-grade reading guarantee” to all students who score below the “proficient” level on a state reading test at the end of third grade — instead of limiting it to those who score in the lowest of five categories — will give thousands more children the chance to bring their reading skills up to snuff before they’re advanced to fourth grade and harder subject material. Read More…

House and Senate busy tweaking Ohio's budget review (Plain Dealer)

The General Assembly should complete work the week of May 21 on a key bill to adjust the state's two-year budget. House Bill 487 is part of a four-bill "mid-biennium review" package. Differences between the Senate and House versions are not stark -- but some are significant. Among the more notable Senate tweaks is an overdue move to authorize the sale of $42 million in Clean Ohio bonds, mostly for conservation projects, with $6 million for farmland preservation. The House should concur in it. Read More…

Education News for 05-18-2012

May 18, 2012 in Ed News

Statewide Stories of the Day

House panel raises bar on third-grade reading test standards (Dispatch)

Last week, the Senate weakened Gov. John Kasich’s so-called third-grade reading guarantee by lowering the bar students need to hit on a state reading test to move on to the fourth grade. This week, the House Education Committee bumped it back up. Despite the debate, all agree that youngsters should be “proficient,” or reading at grade level, before moving on. But the possibility of having nearly two-thirds of third-graders held back in a few years when Ohio schools must start using more-rigorous curriculum standards and assessments has some lawmakers worried. Read More...

Positive Education Program raises $4 million in agency's first capital campaign (Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND - The Positive Education Program (PEP), which specializes in providing services to children with severe behavioral and learning challenges, announced today that the nonprofit had met its $4 million fundraising goal. The capital campaign, launched two years ago, was the first in the agency's 40-year history and raised money for the PEP Prentiss Autism Center in Fairview Park. The center is named for the Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Foundation, which donated $1 million to PEP. Read More...

Local Issues

Parents plead to preserve schools for developmentally disabled (Dispatch)

Conneaut BOE makes cuts to teaching staff (Star Beacon)

CONNEAUT — Many, if not all, of the ten Conneaut educators pared from the Conneaut Area City Schools roster for the 2012-2013 school year Thursday night could be back at their desks in the fall. By a 4-1 vote, the Conneaut Board of Education approved the reduction in force of the teachers. However, a better-than-expected budget forecast could allow the district to bring many of them back, officials said. "We're going to take a look at some options, plug them into our five-year forecast and see what we can do," Superintendent Kent Houston said. Read More...

Weathersfield schools see no changes in forecast (Vindicator)

MINERAL RIDGE - The Weathersfield Board of Education learned from district Treasurer Laurena Rouan that there are no major changes in the district’s five-year forecast. “Because of big, prudent decisions by the board members and administration, we’ve made incredible strides to be in the position we are in,” Rouan said at this week’s board meeting. Projections for the district still show no major changes from the October 2011 forecast projections, which continue to show the district in the black at year’s end until 2015, when a deficit of $75,000 is expected. Read More...

Columbus schools to stay in food business (Dispatch)

Five months after food-services firm Sodexo pulled out of its $13 million-a-year contract with Columbus City Schools, the district has decided it doesn’t need help providing 61,000 meals a day. The district’s food-services department interviewed three firms to replace Sodexo, and at least one said it could save the district millions of dollars over the next five school years, said Joe Brown, the district’s food-services director. But Brown recommends going it alone — the same way most districts operate. Read More...

Education News for 05-17-2012

May 17, 2012 in Ed News

Local Issues

Feds open bid process for Head Start program (Toledo Blade)

The federal government is officially soliciting bids for an agency to run Head Start in Lucas County. Head Start, a program for 3 to 5-year-olds from low-income families, is run by the Economic Opportunity Planning Association of Greater Toledo, but the agency was notified in December that it must compete against other agencies if it wants to continue receiving nearly $13 million to run the program. Read More…

Hamilton only public school district nationally to receive award (Hamilton Journal News)

The emphasis of character education within the Hamilton City School District has been rewarded. The Hamilton City School District has been recognized as a National School District of Character Award recipient by the Character Education Partnership in Washington, D.C. Read More…

Research shows ‘no excuses’ model for schools effective at boosting test scores (Akron Beacon Journal)

Former Akron City Councilman Ernie Tarle hopes to create a charter school in Akron that emulates the practices of the country’s highest performing urban charter schools. The schools are commonly referred to as following a “no excuses” approach that emphasizes a college preparatory curriculum, longer school days and years, strict discipline and conduct, intense tutoring, use of data to improve test scores and a staff of youthful, inexperienced teachers who sign on to the schools’ philosophy and typically do not belong to a union. Read More…

Zane Trace fails to act on school hours change (Chillicothe Gazette)

Proposed changes to Zane Trace's school hours, which would have allowed the district to double up on bus routes and eliminate as many as nine bus drivers, fell flat Wednesday. Board member Ralph Letsche made a motion to approve the changes, but no one seconded it, so it failed to reach a vote. Read More…

Expert, community leaders work to form literacy plan (Findlay Courier)

A literacy expert and community leaders encouraged thoughtfulness and collaboration in creating and implementing a Hancock County Literacy Plan, at a Hancock County Literacy Summit held Wednesday.
Hosted by the Literacy Coalition of Hancock County, the "Celebrate Literacy Luncheon" portion of the daylong event drew about 55 people to Owens Community College's Community Education and Wellness Center. Read More…

Education News for 05-16-2012

May 16, 2012 in Ed News

Statewide Education News

Legislator refuses to rush changes to school-grading system (Dispatch)

Revamping how the state measures schools and district performance on annual report cards is too important and too complex to do on the fly, a state legislator says. House Education Committee Chairman Gerald L. Stebelton, R-Lancaster, said last night that he intends to strip from Gov. John Kasich’s proposed education overhaul a new and more-rigorous grading system. Read More…

National Stories of the Day

Backer of Common Core School Curriculum Is Chosen to Lead College Board (New York Times)

David Coleman, an architect of the common core curriculum standards that are being adopted in nearly all 50 states, will become the president of the College Board, starting in October. The College Board, a membership organization of high schools and colleges that administers the SAT, the Advanced Placement program and other standardized tests, helped design the standards — an outline of what students should learn in English and math from kindergarten through high school — meant to ensure that all high school graduates are prepared for college. Read More…

The National Teacher of the Year on what makes a great teacher (LA Times)

The class clown from Mr. Gadberry's high school art class has made good — and how. Rebecca Mieliwocki teaches seventh-grade English at Luther Burbank Middle School in Burbank — but not next year. Instead, she'll be on the road as the National Teacher of the Year. It took her a long time to get to the classroom — she once worked as a floral designer, doing the flowers for Elizabeth Taylor's private jet — and eventually to the White House, where a fellow teacher, President Obama, crowned her as a national teaching treasure. Before she takes off, Mieliwocki is speaking at commencement at her teaching alma mater, Cal State Northridge — and right here. Read More…

Local Issues

NBC's 'Education Nation' to spotlight Steubenville's Wells Academy (WTOV-9)

A Jefferson County school will represent a success story on NBC's "Education Nation," the network's initiative to engage the country in the state of education in the U.S. The profile on Wells Academy in Steubenville will focus on the school's Success For All program. Read More…

Hamilton student overcomes odds to graduate (Hamilton Journal News)

For four days, J’aime Murray’s sat in a hospital bed in a coma following surgery to remove a tumor from her brain stem. The only way her doctors could tell if she had voluntary brain function was when she moved her toes. Read More…

Virginia Tech alumni talk with Chardon students (News Herald)

Few outside of Chardon could understand what that community has gone through since Feb. 27. One group that can relate to some degree includes those from the Virginia Tech campus. On Tuesday, representatives from the University's Actively Caring for People program stopped in Chardon to speak with students and staff from the high school. Read More…