Ed News

Education News for 08-22-2012

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State Education News

  • Delay in report card release keeps good news from parents (Middletown Journal)

    • With the state board of education indefinitely delaying the release of the state report cards, some local school districts will have to wait to announce good news to parents
    Read more…

  • Local school district leaders frustrated over delay with state report cards (New Philadelphia Times)

    • School superintendents in the Tuscarawas Valley say a delay in releasing state report cards won’t have a major impact on area districts, but it’s frustrating nonetheless.
    Read more…

  • Ohio school report cards delayed during investigation (Zanesville Times-Recorder)

    • Amid an attendance-tampering investigation, Ohio has delayed next week's release of annual school report cards whose results determine innumerable decisions by schools and families about funding, student scholarships and building and program placements.
    Read more…

Local Education News

  • Cloverleaf, Medina sign deal to share treasurer (Akron Beacon Journal)

    • The neighboring Cloverleaf and Medina school districts have struck a deal to share a treasurer for the next school year.
    Read more…

  • Teachers get closer look at oil, gas drilling industry (Chillicothe Gazette)

    • CHILLICOTHE -- A couple of area teachers recently picked up some first-hand experience with the oil and natural gas industry to take back to their classrooms this fall.
    Read more…

  • Columbus schools hire lawyers in attendance probe (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Despite having a full-time attorney on staff, Columbus City Schools agreed last night to pay up to $100,000 to hire independent attorneys “to advise and represent” the district in an ongoing investigation into data rigging.
    Read more…

  • School safety stressed (Marion Star)

    • MARION - As summer vacation ends and school starts for Marion City Schools students, law enforcement recommends that everyone give themselves a little more time to get to where they need to go.
    Read more…

  • Man mistaken for participant in mock school shooting (Newark Advocate)

    • PATASKALA -- Roy Luckett isn't a school shooter, but the Newark resident said he was tackled like one during a training exercise at Watkins Memorial High School this past week.
    Read more…

  • Parents sue Northridge school board over busing policy (Newark Advocate)

    • NEWARK -- Three parents filed a lawsuit against Northridge Local Schools' board Tuesday, saying their children should be bused to private schools.
    Read more…

  • Judge continues bullying lawsuit against Mentor Schools (Willoughby News Herald)

    • A lawsuit against Mentor Schools that alleges it failed to recognize and stop the bullying that resulted in a student’s suicide was continued on Tuesday in the United States District Court Northern District of Ohio.
    Read more…

Editorial

  • Sort it out (Columbus Dispatch)

    • The State Board of Education made the right call in voting 18-0 on Monday to delay releasing the state’s annual report cards on public schools’ performance.
    Read more…

  • No excuses for faking records (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

    • Area residents will have every right to be furious if they learn local school districts are among those that have been tampering with data to make it look as if student attendance is better than actually is the case.
    Read more…

Education News for 08-21-2012

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State Education News

  • National firm to lead hunt for Ohio education boss (Canton Repository)

    • The Ohio school board opted Monday to conduct a thorough national search for a new state superintendent…Read more...

  • Ohio school report cards delayed during data investigation (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

    • Parents and school officials are going to have to wait longer than usual to see how their public schools fared on the latest state report cards…Read more...

  • Data chaos delays report cards on schools (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Releasing Ohio’s school report cards this month simply wouldn’t be fair, the state’s education leaders have decided…Read more...

  • Executive-search firm to help find next state school chief (Columbus Dispatch)

    • The State Board of Education didn’t use an executive-search firm before hiring Stan Heffner as state superintendent last year…Read more...

  • Teacher evaluations to be time-consuming (Lima News)

    • Elida High School Principal Greg Leeth has 37 teachers in his building. And when the new Ohio Teacher Evaluation System begins next school year, he and his assistant principal will have to evaluate each of them twice a year…Read more...

  • New school year, new chance to stress early learning (Marion Star)

    • As kindergarten students start school, teachers are asking parents to continue their learning at home. Students who haven’t gone to preschool will get their first taste of school this week…Read more...

  • School report cards delayed (Toledo Blade)

    • The Ohio Board of Education voted unanimously Monday to indefinitely delay the release of school report cards in the wake of a statewide investigation into reports of data manipulation…Read more...

  • Pay-to-play fees abound in area school districts (Willoughby News Herald)

    • Only a few days remain before students are back to school, with some districts starting as early as Wednesday. After spending money to ensure children have the supplies they need for the new year…Read more...

Local Education News

  • Ashtabula board puts brakes on transportation (Ashtabula Star-Beacon)

    • Ashtabula Area City School Board unanimously voted Monday night to keep the 6.4-mill levy on the Nov. 6 ballot and to cut student transportation to local extracurricular activities…Read more...

  • CPS redistricting move angers Oakley families (Cincinnati Enquirer)

    • A dozen Oakley families are calling for policy changes after Cincinnati Public Schools redrew a school attendance boundary without notifying them and assigned them to a new school opening this week in Hyde Park…Read more...

  • Effort to repeal Westerville school levy makes ballot (Columbus Dispatch)

    • An effort to reduce a 3-year-old school tax in Westerville produced enough valid petition signatures to be placed on the Nov. 6 ballot by the Franklin County Board of Elections…Read more...

  • Hancock schools set policy for free, reduced-price meals (Findlay Courier)

    • Hancock County Local Schools has announced the 2012-13 policy for free and reduced-price meals for children unable to pay the full price of meals…Read more...

  • City loan fund out $221,665 on school (Mansfield News Journal)

    • County officials have filed to foreclose on the former Woodville Elementary School to collect $5,740 in delinquent property taxes…Read more...

  • Mobile literacy program keeps kids reading (New Philadelphia Times)

    • A new pilot reading program kept students focused on books this summer, despite being away from the classroom…Read more...

  • Dropouts offered 2nd chance (Toledo Blade)

    • Allison Hinds decided in her senior year that she and high school didn't mix. A teenager with attention deficit disorder and test anxiety, she found herself with a full schedule…Read more...

  • Information System Glitch Costs Columbus Schools Money For Mailers (WBNS)

    • Some parents in the Columbus City Schools said that the district is wasting time and money sending out busing information that is not complete…Read more...

Editorial

  • Lifting up talent (Columbus Dispatch)

    • With a new school year starting, some central Ohio school systems are beginning to make a transition from seniority to merit as a basis…Read more...

Education News for 08-20-2012

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State Education News

  • Scandal may delay report cards (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Ohio should delay the release of this year’s school-district report cards, the president of the State Board of Education says...Read more...

  • Schools asked to self-report data scrubbing (Columbus Dispatch)

    • State Auditor Dave Yost urged Ohio schools this week to voluntarily disclose whether they’re falsifying their student-attendance data...Read more...

  • School year starts with career/college push (Marion Star)

    • Educators are identifying communication and attendance as skills in need as students head back into the classrooms...Read more...

  • Grading scales not level at area schools (Middletown Journal)

    • When it comes to grading scales, the “playing field” isn’t the same for students at area school districts...Read more...

  • Cities, schools try new investment program (New Philadelphia Times)

    • More than 60 Ohio school districts, cities and local governments are taking part in a new state program that can triple the yield on their taxpayer investments...Read more...

  • Schools combat hunger through free and reduced lunch programs (New Philadelphia Times)

    • There are 4,325 children living in poverty in Tuscarawas County, enough to fill the Performing Arts Center at Kent State TuscarawasRead more...

  • Former Ohio superintendent dined with testing VIP (New Philadelphia Times)

    • Stan Heffner celebrated his new $180,000 private sector job over $10 cocktails, escargot, and oysters at San Antonio’s swanky Tost Bistro Bar in the spring of 2011...Read more...

  • Schools work to meet reading guarantee (Springfield News-Sun)

    • A new law that requires some students to repeat the third grade if they are not reading on target will force local schools to communicate more with parents...Read more...

Local Education News

  • New leaders discuss plans for five area school districts (Canton Repository )

    • Four local school districts have brand new superintendents this school year, along with Canton City’s Chris Smith, who is beginning...Read more...

  • Harris aims criticism at wrong target (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Gene Harris met with her principals about 10 days ago to get them ready for the start of school. “It’s been a tough summer,” the superintendent began...Read more...

  • Columbus City Schools: Deleted absences 7% of all records (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Columbus Superintendent Gene Harris has said her school district’s attendance-cheating scandal needs context...Read more...

  • Columbus schools to pay $6 million to suburban districts over tax-sharing errors (Columbus Dispatch)

    • The Columbus school district plans to pay a group of suburban schools almost $6 million over three years to make up for billing errors the district made in the Win-Win agreement...Read more...

  • Training in soft skills starts early (Marion Star)

    • As industries and educators push soft skills, elementary educators are starting the discussion as early as kindergarten with a program called The Leader in Me...Read more...

  • School lunches will be healthier this year (New Philadelphia Times)

    • School cafeterias and menus in Tuscarawas County are getting a makeover in a strong step to combat childhood obesity. When school opens this week in most local districts...Read more...

  • Clevelanders say NO to school levy (WEWS)

    • Just say no. Just say no," was what Kimberly Brown and several others chanted together...Read more...

Editorial

  • Valedictorian, you're retired (Chicago Tribune)

    • Quick: Do you remember your high school valedictorian? Chances are, you actually do. You also may recall the long, rambling speech at graduation...Read more...

  • Image makeover (Columbus Dispatch)

    • The Columbus Board of Education is right to be worried about how the public views the school district, but its first step to make the district look better should be investigating and fixing its serious problems...Read more...

Education News for 08-10-2012

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State Education News

  • Interim superintendent admits 2010 reprimand (Columbus Dispatch)

    • To his current and former bosses, Michael L. Sawyers' use of a school district's credit card for personal purchases a few years ago was a minor mistake...Read more...

  • Free meals for all (Marion Star)

    • All Marion City Schools students will be able to eat for free thanks to a new funding stream...Read more...

Local Education News

  • Olentangy school board OKs union deal (Columbus Dispatch)

    • ...Read more...

  • Westerville teacher will keep job after inquiry over text messages (Columbus Dispatch)

    • ...Read more...

  • Lockland schools hire acting head (Columbus Dispatch)

    • ...Read more...

  • Hot line taking tips on Columbus schools scandal (Columbus Dispatch)

    • State Auditor Dave Yost has created a temporary hot line for Columbus school employees who want to report wrongdoing related to student-data tampering...Read more...

  • Kirtland cuts teaching positions Willoughby (News Herald)

    • Kirtland Schools will enter the 2012-13 school year with fewer staff members than in the past. The board approved a reduction in force at a May board meeting totaling 8.75 positions...Read more...

  • Bedford schools working it out with teachers (WTVG)

    • Leaders in the Bedford School District say they expect to have a full contract with teachers in the next couple weeks...Read more...

  • Days of sitting are over, Youngstown teachers told (Youngstown Vindicator)

    • The days of students sitting in rows of desks while a teacher lectures are over. “Sit-and-get times are done for everybody,” Beverly Schumann, the city school district’s executive director of curriculum...Read more...

Editorial

  • Squeeze on schools (Akron Beacon Journal)

    • It took 18 years and 13 tries, but the Buckeye School District in Medina County finally won voter approval on Tuesday for an increase in local property taxes to run the schools...Read more...

  • Doing the right thing (Columbus Dispatch)

    • The Columbus Board of Education faces a difficult road. Its chief executive has acknowledged that district employees manipulated attendance data...Read more...

Education News for 08-09-2012

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State Education News

  • Use of 'seclusion rooms' divides educators (Cincinnati Enquirer)

    • Little-known “seclusion rooms” in Ohio schools are a vital tool for helping special needs students...Read more...

  • Appointee running for education board (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Stanley Jackson’s newest opponent isn’t wearing a helmet and spikes. Jackson, the former Ohio State quarterback whom Gov. John Kasich appointed to the State Board of Education in June...Read more...

  • Party held to bid Heffner farewell (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Hugs, cake and a lingering sense of shock marked a small going-away party for state Superintendent Stan W. Heffner yesterday inside the Department of Education...Read more...

  • Ohio schools swing, miss on most levies (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Fewer than 1 in 5 school levies across Ohio passed in Tuesday’s special election, which had the most education issues of any August vote in seven years...Read more...

Local Education News

  • Most Summit County school districts on November ballot (Akron Beacon Journal)

    • Ten of Summit County’s 17 school districts will have tax issues...Read more...

  • $1.6M cost-savings expected from schools sharing subs (Journal-News)

    • A new process to provide area districts with substitue teachers in the upcoming school year could save the school systems more than $1 million, officials said...Read more...

  • Mom of boy who died sues Mansfield City Schools (Mansfield News Journal)

    • The mother of a Newman Elementary School third-grader who died after suffering an asthma attack at school has sued the Mansfield City School board and some of its employees...Read more...

  • OSU-M to help Mansfield schools raise test scores (Mansfield News Journal)

    • Mansfield City Schools is looking to increase math literacy and raise standardized testing scores this year thanks to a partnership with The Ohio State University at Mansfield...Read more...

  • 2 local schools placed on state noncompliance list (Springfield News-Sun)

    • Two local schools were included on a list of 88 in Ohio that failed to comply with state safety requirements designed to help authorities...Read more...

  • Suit filed against Warren school district, board over furlough (Youngstown Vindicator)

    • Kristen Lewis, who was laid off from Warren City Schools after being romantically linked to then-Superintendent Bruce Thomas, has filed a lawsuit against the school district and its board...Read more...

  • School board reinstates bus route (Youngstown Vindicator)

    • The board of education Wednesday reinstated a second bus route for Roosevelt Elementary students for the new school year. The district cut to one bus while it was in state fiscal emergency at the advice of the state Finance and Planning Commission...Read more...

Education News for 08-08-2012

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State Education News

  • School costs rise 6% (Youngstown Vindicator)

    • Columbus-based Huntington Bank has released its 2012 Backpack Index, which shows that parents can expect to pay 6 percent more than they did in 2011 for back-to-school supplies…Read more...

Local Education News

  • Columbus schools barely keep C on state report card (Columbus Dispatch)

    • The Columbus school district has slipped in its score on this year’s state report card and will barely cling to an overall C grade, preliminary data show…Read more...

  • Attendance scandal: ‘There is no way I would condone this,’ Harris says (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Some Columbus school-district principals might have received financial bonuses by retroactively changing student-attendance records to boost their schools’ state report- card numbers, Superintendent Gene Harris acknowledged yesterday…Read more...

  • Madison School levy fails; personnel cuts likely (Willoughby News Herald)

    • The Madison School District will begin to examine where cuts can be made after voters rejected a 4.9-mill levy Tuesday…Read more...

  • Pay-to-play policy in Poland schools brings minimal downsizing to teams (Youngstown Vindicator)

    • Pay-to-participate fees haven’t caused a dramatic drop in participation in fall sports, with the exception of high-school cross country, which was anticipated, the athletic director says…Read more...

Editorial

  • Necessary resignation (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Ohio’s Education Department faces Herculean challenges: Fix school funding, repair a district-accountability system mired in scandal and ensure that third-graders can read, to name a few…Read more...

  • Education official must face penalties for errors (Marietta Times)

    • Many public officials caught in wrongdoing maintain they just didn't know what they did crossed legal and/or ethical lines…Read more...

  • Quitting isn't enough (Toledo Blade)

    • Stan Heffner's departure as Ohio's top education official became inevitable after a state report suggested he had deliberately concealed a major conflict of interest and used public resources for personal business…Read more...

  • Penalize former Ohio school head (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

    • Many public officials caught in wrongdoing maintain they just didn't know what they did crossed legal and / or ethical lines…Read more...

  • Ohio has opportunity to bolster accountability in education (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Rigorous academic standards and high-stakes accountability for schools and educators alike are important for school-improvement efforts…Read more...