Education News for 11-05-2012

State Education News

• Seclusion-room policy: State plan a burden, schools say (Columbus Dispatch)

Schools say they’d be overburdened with paperwork, extra testing and expensive training if the state sticks with its plan to regulate how they seclude and restrain students…Read more...

• Ohio 12th in US for strongest teacher unions (Dayton Daily News)

Ohio has the nation’s 12th-strongest teacher unions, which have “highly permissive” bargaining rights and are involved politically even though the public…Read more...

• Two compete for state school board seat (Findlay Courier)

Northwestern Ohio voters will be picking a representative to the state school board Tuesday. Vying for the District 1 board seat are incumbent Ann E. Jacobs…Read more...

• School districts could be hit hard by federal sequestration (Middletown Journal)

Should automatic spending cuts, or sequestration, set to take place in January occur, it could have a dramatic impact on the availability of federal grant funds for education…Read more...

Local Education News

• Schools pause to mourn Canton City Schools Superintendent Chris Smith (Canton Repository)

Silence fell over three Stark County stadiums Saturday night as thousands of rowdy high school football fans took a moment to honor Canton City School Superintendent Chris Smith…Read more...

• Enrollment campout begins at Clifton school (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Nearly two weeks before enrollment starts, parents are pitching tents on the lawn of a Cincinnati Public school with hopes of getting their kids in one of the district’s most popular magnet programs…Read more...

• Northeast Ohio schools seek tax increases, voters seeks answers about other sources of funding (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

More than a third of Northeast Ohio's school districts are asking voters for tax increases…Read more...

• Anti-levy group: school-produced video crosses legal line (Dayton Daily News)

A video produced by Vandalia-Butler City Schools in advance of Tuesday’s levy vote has members of an anti-levy group questioning whether it pushes the envelope on laws…Read more...

• Kindness in Action: Madison students sending 3,200 items to troops (Mansfield News Journal)

Madison Junior High School students collected 3,200 items to send to U.S. troops overseas in time for Christmas…Read more...

• School within a school project focuses on hands on learning within a school (Newark Advocate)

Raymond Leslie often struggles to stay focused on a lecture in class. But when he’s holding a camera, or creating a piece of art, the concepts start clicking…Read more...

• 4.9-mill TPS levy would cost owner of $100,000 home about $150 per year (Toledo Blade)

Of the seven levy requests facing Toledo voters on Election Day, the largest by far is from Toledo Public Schools…Read more...

• How Cleveland public schools are funded (WKYC)

The Issue 107 ballot issue to levy taxes for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District raises a lot of questions…Read more...

Editorial

• Guarantee to fail? (Akron Beacon Journal)

Reading is such a basic skill, you can’t argue against children being able to read at grade level by the time they leave the third grade…Read more...

• Parents and teachers need to team up to help lift children out of poverty (Columbus Dispatch)

“The fate of our country won’t be decided on a battlefield. It will be determined in a classroom.”…Read more...

• The Importance of Education: An Economics View (Education Week)

It's not headline news that educational attainment is highly correlated with income: College graduates typically earn more than less-educated Americans…Read more...

Education News for 11-02-2012

State Education News

• State Board of Education: Voters to fill 7 seats on Tuesday (Columbus Dispatch)

Like a game of musical chairs, two members of the Ohio Board of Education are running for a seat representing Franklin, Delaware and Knox counties…Read more...

• ACLU getting involved with Celina pro-gay shirt issue (Lima News)

The controversy over T-shirts supporting gay rights at Celina High School has attracted the attention of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio…Read more...

Local Education News

• Students put bullies on alert (Columbus Dispatch)

Consider them the neighborhood watch of Baldwin Road Junior High School. As part of the school’s new bully patrol, about 60 students are monitoring the building for any sign of kids who are calling names…Read more...

• Technical problems ironic at meeting (Columbus Dispatch)

Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s third education briefing yesterday was to focus largely on new online technologies that could bring the most-skilled teachers into classrooms…Read more...

• Cuts To Come In December If Licking Heights Levy Fails (WBNS)

Dozens of school districts are asking for more tax dollars in next week's election. But one community says its cuts will begin in less than 30 days, if voters say "no."…Read more...

Editorial

• Burden on the schools (Akron Beacon Journal)

As many as 194 Ohio school districts have levies on the ballot on Tuesday, 123 of them seeking new money for facilities or operations. Whether they come from small, suburban districts or large urban systems…Read more...

Education News for 11-01-2012

State Education News

• Cleveland schools won't have promised details about school improvement plan before Tuesday's (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Voters who want to know exactly how the Cleveland schools would spend money from the 15-mill tax increase…Read more...

• Costumed kids seek treats as cold, wet weather is the trick (Columbus Dispatch)

With hands numb and clenched to an umbrella, the bumblebee in a winter coat agreed with her parents that it was time to head home. Warmth, after an hour-long walk through the soggy cold, trumped the lure of candy…Read more...

Local Education News

• Charter-school embezzler gets 2 years (Columbus Dispatch)

Former board members defended a man who embezzled from their charter schools before a federal judge sentenced him to prison yesterday…Read more...

• Students asked to remove pro-gay T-shirts (Lima News)

Celina schools officials said they didn’t step on anyone’s rights to freedom of speech when asking students to remove homemade T-shirts supporting gay, lesbian and bisexual classmates…Read more...

• Teachers Keep Jobs Despite Participating In High School Prank (WBNS)

Four Belmont High School teachers were placed on three week paid leave after being accused of participating in a student Homecoming prank, according to the Dayton Daily News…Read more...

Education News for 10-31-2012

Local Education News

• Parents sue school district over alleged bullying (Hamilton Journal-News)

A Hamilton family has filed a lawsuit against the Hamilton City School Board of Education, alleging “intentional infliction of emotional distress” as a result…Read more...

• Teachers bringing inside views to Marion boards of education (Marion Star)

The county’s largest school district has mostly former teachers on its board of education, while two other districts now have retired teachers on their boards…Read more...

Editorial

• Good challenge for higher-ed leaders (Canton Repository)

Gov. John Kasich sure gives a lot of homework. His latest challenge to leaders of the state universities and community colleges should get a host of issues on the table for public discussion…Read more...

• Lima, Elida school levies deserve support (Lima News)

Over the last several years, we’ve asked many public servants to pinch their pennies and eliminate unneeded overhead. We’ve begged them to consider…Read more...

Education News for 10-30-2012

State Education News

• Reynoldsburg schools attracting rave reviews (Columbus Dispatch)

Reynoldsburg schools long have been considered trailblazers in the state, trying new approaches to reach students. But their recent efforts — particularly with STEM…Read more...

• Few charter schools improve on state report cards (Hamilton Journal-News)

Eleven area charter schools improved their ratings on the 2011-12 state report cards, while 10 slipped and 16 others stayed the same, according to the preliminary data released by the Ohio Department of Education…Read more...

• Marion tour touts technology careers (Marion Star)

Jamal Richardson didn’t hesitate to volunteer when the Tri-Rivers Career Center student asked if anyone wanted to operate the robot he had just demonstrated…Read more...

• Efforts to help preschoolers working (Middletown Journal)

A program that reaches out to pre-schoolers is improving students’ kindergarten readiness, according to local education officials…Read more...

Local Education News

• Winton Woods parents upset by low state rating (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Dozens of parents crowded into the library of Winton Woods High School on Monday night to ask school leaders why the district was rated among the lowest in the state…Read more...

• Cleveland schools' spending per student ranks high, but so do students' needs (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

The Cleveland school district spends about $15,000 per student, making it among Ohio's highest-spending districts, even as it sits at the bottom in results…Read more...

• Cleveland schools' budget tops $1 billion, about a third not available for daily school operations (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

The total budget for the Cleveland school district is $1.1 billion, about $655 million of it in the general fund…Read more...

• Anti-drug effort seeks to sober up city, schools (Columbus Dispatch)

Worthington has excellent schools and is envied for its charm and services. It also has a dark underside: kids getting high, a pipeline of cheap heroin…Read more...

• Talks to replace schools audit-panel chief fizzled (Columbus Dispatch)

One member of the Columbus Board of Education pushed for board President Carol Perkins to step down as the head of a special auditing…Read more...

• Positive behavior strategy seeks to lessen discipline gap (Toledo Blade)

In a bid to improve school climates and reduce the disparity in discipline rates between white and minority students, Toledo Public Schools…Read more...

• Liberty schools predicts $15M debt (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

The Liberty Board of Education on Monday projected the school district's debt to exceed $15 million in five years…Read more...

• Treasurers: Charters, vouchers cost us lots (Youngstown Vindicator)

A large amount of taxpayer money meant for public education is being siphoned off by charter schools and vouchers, local school treasurers say…Read more...

Education News for 10-29-2012

State Education News

• Privilege issue stalls hearing in suit over schools’ private discussions (Columbus Dispatch)

After its in-house attorney told members of the Columbus Board of Education in July that they couldn’t hold private meetings to discuss an unfolding data-rigging investigation…Read more...

• Ohio Attorney General honors Chardon High School shooting first responders (WEWS)

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine honored a packed house…Read more...

Local Education News

• Some of the best will help kids learn to read (Cincinnati Enquirer)

A who’s who list of local business leaders is about to kick off an early childhood literacy campaign that seeks support from every workplace in the region…Read more...

• District changes evaluation process for top officials (Hamilton Journal-News)

Fairfield City Schools will change how it evaluates its treasurer and superintendent, giving those officials the first evaluations they’ve had in some time…Read more...

• Charter school’s scores outperform Springfield’s (Springfield News-Sun)

Two of Springfield’s three charter schools fared worse than the city’s traditional public schools, and a third school outperformed Springfield City Schools…Read more...

• $23M Pettisville school goes green in big way with building project (Toledo Blade)

Low emission and fuel-efficient cars get premium parking spots outside Pettisville’s new K- 12 school building…Read more...

• T.J. Lane using rarely successful plea in Chardon shooting (Willoughby News Herald)

After Keith Ledeger killed custodian Peter Christopher and wounded three other adults at Wickliffe Middle School on Nov. 7, 1994…Read more...

• Choffin school faces discipline issues after influx of Career Academy students (Youngstown Vindicator)

A teacher believes the addition of Career Academy students to Choffin Career and Technical Center is causing disruption for other students…Read more...

Editorial

• Poor excuse (Columbus Dispatch)

The second round of state Auditor Dave Yost’s probe of attendance-record-keeping practices in Ohio schools reveals two important things…Read more...

• Facing facts (Columbus Dispatch)

The bad news is that graduation rates have fallen for most Ohio high schools on the latest state report cards…Read more...

• Local school districts dealing with huge financial challenges (Youngstown Vindicator)

Here’s a sobering reality about public education in Ohio that should open the eyes of voters in the Nov. 6 election…Read more...