Education News for 01-16-2013

State Education News

• Ohio adopts student restraint, seclusion policy (Canton Repository)

The Ohio Board of Education has approved a policy on how educators seclude and physically restrain students in schools…Read more...

• Allison named Canton City Schools superintendent; gets 5-year contract (Canton Repository)

Nearly 64 years after his grandfather became the first black employee hired in the district, as a janitor, Adrian Allison becomes its first black superintendent…Read more...

• Key district official in data-rigging case retires (Columbus Dispatch)

In a flurry of developments yesterday, a key figure in the investigation of Columbus City Schools’ data-rigging retired; the Board of Education gave a cool reception to Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s request to critique district business operations…Read more...

• Schools’ use of seclusion now limited (Columbus Dispatch)

State Board of Education members say their seclusion and restraint policy isn’t perfect, but they’re proud to have done something to protect Ohio’s children…Read more...

• Gov. Kasich says his comprehensive school plan will be delivered shortly (NPR)

Gov. Kasich has signed a bill into law that grades schools on an A through F grading scale. But as Ohio Public Radio’s Jo Ingles reports, that’s a part of a bigger education plan that the Governor intends to release soon…Read more...

• OPATA offering free training for educators (Portsmouth Daily Times)

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine says more training opportunities for Ohio’s educators have now been scheduled…Read more...

• State says former treasurer must repay school (Youngstown Vindicator)

A state audit has revealed excess payments to the retirement fund of the school district’s former treasurer…Read more...

Local Education News

• North Canton takes proactive security steps in schools (Canton Repository)

After the horrific school shooting in Newtown, Police Chief Stephan Wilder feared a copycat gunman could strike here…Read more...

• Looking at the bottom line, Heath schools open doors (Columbus Dispatch)

Less than 24 hours after the board agreed to allow open enrollment at Heath City Schools, a parent sat in the district parking lot filling out applications…Read more...

• After-school shooting sends boy to youth prison (Columbus Dispatch)

A 15-year-old boy who fired a gun outside an East Side elementary school, grazing the head of a 17-year-old girl, was committed to the Ohio Department of Youth Services yesterday…Read more...

• City schools board enters agreement for energy savings (Mansfield News Journal)

Mansfield City Schools could save “tens of thousands of dollars” in energy expenses through a new program, Superintendent Dan Freund said…Read more...

• County delays decision on school funding (Springfield News-Sun)

Clark County commissioners delayed a decision about contributing $100,000 to the Global Impact STEM Academy due in part to uncertainty about the project…Read more...

• Schools to cash in (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

Area schools are cashing out. Local school districts soon will receive the first payment of casino-tax revenue, with some districts set to take in more than $110,000…Read more...

• Columbus City Schools Hopes To Have New Superintendent In 6 Months (WBNS)

The Columbus School Board is meeting Tuesday night with the firm that has been hired to lay out the process for searching and hiring a new superintendent. The goal is to have someone hired in six months…Read more...

• Ohio school workers to carry guns have police training (WEWS)

Two of the four employees who have agreed to carry guns at a rural Ohio school apparently have law enforcement backgrounds…Read more...

• Superintendent, board respond to concerns about enrollment at Austintown (Youngstown Vindicator)

Open enrollment was the hot-button topic at the Austintown school board meeting…Read more...

Editorial

• Aiming to excel (Akron Beacon Journal)

As a national monitor for effective and high quality education, Education Week’s annual Quality Counts surveys are a valuable resource in comparative data…Read more...

Education News for 11-07-2012

State Education News

• Cleveland school levy sails to apparent victory (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

The Cleveland school levy was passing Tuesday night, winning support from about 55 percent of voters with almost all of the ballots counted…Read more...

• Collins wins seat in State Board of Education central district (Columbus Dispatch)

Michael Collins won re-election to the State Board of Education in a three-way race for a seat representing Franklin, Delaware and Knox counties…Read more...

• Jacobs re-elected to state school board (Findlay Courier)

Northwestern Ohio voters picked Ann E. Jacobs to continue as representative on the state school board on Tuesday…Read more...

Local Education News

• Most school levies defeated in Stark County (Canton Repository)

Tax issues for area school districts were failing for the most part early Wednesday with Canton Local, Marlington, Massillon…Read more...

• Central Ohio school ballot issues (Columbus Dispatch)

What happened: Voters approved a combined 6.94-mill operating levy and $15.8 million bond issue that will raise $1.3 million a year for the district…Read more...

• Parents get look at new math courses (Hamilton Journal-News)

A group of parents previewing Fairfield City Schools’ new math curriculum said Monday the courses added up to a more promising future for their children…Read more...

• School levy left off Butler County electronic ballots (Hamilton Journal-News)

Voters in a small section of Butler County are voting with paper ballots after a glitch left the Northwest School District levy off the electronic ballot, according to election officials…Read more...

• Lorain schools get first new money in 20 years (Lorain Morning Journal)

“We won,” yelled Lorain City School Superintendent Tom Tucker to a roar of cheers at the school’s watch party at the Elks…Read more...

• Only 1 local school issue approved (Springfield News-Sun)

Of the six local school districts on Tuesday’s ballot in Clark and Champaign counties, only one issue was approved by voters, according to final unofficial results…Read more...

Editorial

• Chris Smith’s gift was bringing people together (Canton Repository)

He invited dialogue, consensus with his easy smile and low-key demeanor. The last time we mentioned Canton City Schools Superintendent Chris Smith…Read more...

• Bravo, Cleveland, for a wise vote for the city's future (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

By agreeing to a large increase in property taxes to support public education, Cleveland voters have made a major investment in their children and their city…Read more...

Education News for 11-06-2012

State Education News

• Finding new head of schools a challenge (Columbus Dispatch)

For the third time in less than five years, Ohio has a job opening for state superintendent of public instruction. Attracting good candidates could be a challenge…Read more...

• Health care costs rising by $700K in some districts (Hamilton Journal-News)

All Butler County schools enrolled in a countywide health care consortium are facing a 12 percent hike in insurance premiums…Read more...

• Common questions voters have on schools (WKYC)

Every election, voters ask why there are school levies on the ballot when the Ohio Lottery and casinos help fund the schools?…Read more...

Local Education News

• Somber Canton BOE names Allison to replace late Chris Smith (Canton Repository)

A somber Board of Education met Monday evening to grieve its loss of Superintendent Chris Smith and name a successor to continue Smith’s vision for the City Schools…Read more...

• Rossford schools to consult voters on upgrades (Toledo Blade)

The Rossford schools could come to the voters next November with a levy request, but this would happen only after a community survey…Read more...

• Boxing Legend Pushes CMSD Levy Passage (WJW)

Legendary boxing promoter and Cleveland native Don King was in the city Monday, going door to door and pressing the flesh, pushing for the passage of the controversial school levy…Read more...

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 10-23-2012

State Education News

• Canton school administrator among 9 named in ethics probe (Canton Repository)

Nine Ohio education officials — including the current assistant superintendent of Canton City Schools — failed to properly disclose trips to locations including Washington…Read more...

• In Ohio, 2 of 3 school levies seek new revenue (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

Two-thirds of school levies on the ballot in the state next month are asking voters to approve additional local dollars for education, the highest percentage…Read more...

Local Education News

• New Albany seeks bond-levy combo (Columbus Dispatch)

New Albany schools have run out of classroom space, district administrators say. After adding an average of 225 students a year over a decade…Read more...

• Forecast shows district in black, but with concerns (Hamilton Journal-News)

While the five-year forecast for Fairfield City Schools projects the district will remain in the black through 2017, thanks partly to an influx of levy…Read more...

Education News for 09-11-2012

State Education News

• Auditor: Probe not affected by report-card release (Associated Press)

COLUMBUS -- Releasing delayed state report cards on school progress won't hamper an investigation into potential tampering with school attendance numbers, Ohio's state auditor told education leaders Monday…Read more…

• Ohio isn't alone when it comes to school funding mistakes: editorial (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

After the Great Recession hit, far too many states took out their carving knives and quickly slashed school funding.…Read more…

• Ohio Board of Education wants school districts to go tobacco-free campus wide (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- There's no smoking inside schools housing grades kindergarten through 12 because a 6-year-old Ohio law prohibits indoor smoking in all public buildings and places of employment.…Read more…

• Auditor: Release report cards (Columbus Dispatch)

Go ahead and publish the on-hold school report cards, state Auditor Dave Yost told state education officials yesterday.…Read more…

• Auditor: Probe Not Affected By Report Card Release (WBNS)

Ohio's state auditor has advised education leaders that releasing delayed state report cards won't hamper his investigation into potential tampering with school attendance numbers.…Read more…

• School Attendance Scandal Costing Taxpayers Thousands (WBNS)

Ohio’s Auditor said on Monday that his staff has spent 7,000 hours and more than $140,000 on an investigating into whether Columbus City Schools officials manipulated attendance records.…Read more…

Local Education News

• Canton City Schools to follow state law on retaining students (Canton Repository)

CANTON — The Board of Education agreed Monday to change the district’s policy regarding retaining…Read more…

• Wolf Creek Local Schools to seek grant (Marietta Times)

Wolf Creek Local Schools hopes to join with 19 other Ohio school districts for a shot at their share of millions of dollars in grant funding to help with dual enrollment and blended learning classes.…Read more…

• Navy promotes STEM learning at Marion Tech (Marion Star)

The Navy is joining educators to encourage more students to seek STEM degrees. Vice Admiral James "Phil" Wisecup visited Marion Technical College recently…Read more…

• School Districts Hope To Share Services, Save Money (WBNS)

Two school districts in Licking County are exploring ways to share services to save money. Licking Heights Local Schools and the Southwest Licking Local Schools’ boards of education…Read more…

Editorial

• Lesson about secrecy still unlearned (Canton Repository)

The issue: Possible violations of open meetings law
Our view: Private meetings make it look as if Columbus board is circling the wagons…Read more…

• Catch Cheaters In Ohio Schools (Wheeling Intelligencer)

One hundred public school districts in Ohio are the focus of an investigation of falsified reports on student enrollment and attendance, it was reported during the weekend. That is approximately one-sixth of the districts in the state -…Read more…