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Education News for 5-29-2013

State Education News

  • Columbus school-levy bill advances in legislature (Columbus Dispatch)
  • After hearing testimony from two Columbus school-board members and others, the Ohio House Education Committee voted 16-3 yesterday to send a bill to the full House that would require a school district property-tax issue…Read more...

  • Gender split proves positive in Hamilton schools (Hamilton Journal-News)
  • The lunch period at any school can sometimes be a chaotic scene of boys and girls vying for each other’s attention…Read more...

  • Lorain Superintendent Tucker outlines comprehensive academic recovery plan (Lorain Morning Journal)
  • On the same day Superintendent Tom Tucker outlined his comprehensive academic recovery plan for Lorain City Schools, its treasurer presented a gloomy financial forecast…Read more...

  • Greenon follows trend on all-day kindergarten (Springfield News-Sun)
  • Kindergartners entering Greenon schools next year will get more time to learn as the district moves to all-day classes, following a state and national trend…Read more...

  • School Nurses Want Law To Help Them Save Students From Deadly Allergic Reactions (WBNS)
  • As the school year comes to an end, state lawmakers will be getting a bill backed by school nurses within the next few weeks. Nurses want to save the lives of students who have allergic reactions to food for the first time while at school…Read more...

Local Education News

  • Columbus board mum on hiring provost (Columbus Dispatch)
  • The Columbus Board of Education met privately at noon yesterday to discuss hiring Ohio State University Vice President and Provost Joseph Alutto to become acting superintendent…Read more...

  • Hancock School board to rescind some layoffs (Steubenville Herald-Star)
  • Three months after announcing teacher and other staff layoffs, the Hancock County Board of Education is poised to call some of those people back…Read more...

  • Struthers considers drug tests for athletes (Youngstown Vindicator)
  • The Struthers City School District may begin drug testing its student athletes in grades seven through 12 as soon as the 2013-14 academic year…Read more...

Republican lawmakers looking to attack working people again

On this day in 1886

350,000 workers staged a nationwide work stoppage to demand the adoption of a standard eight-hour workday. Forty thousand workers struck in Chicago, Illinois; ten thousand struck in New York; eleven thousand struck in Detroit, Michigan. As many as thirty-two thousand workers struck in Cincinnati, Ohio, although some of these workers had been out on strike for several months before May 1.

The purpose of the May Day Strike was to bring pressure on employers and state governments to create an eight-hour workday. During this period, workers commonly spent twelve or more hours of each day at work. Unions, especially the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada -- the predecessor of the American Federation of Labor, encouraged workers to strike on May 1, 1886, to demonstrate the need for an eight-hour day.

Today, Ohio Republican law makers want to go back to a time that predates 1886, by introducing yet more union busting legislation. State Rep. Ron Maag (R) and State Rep. Kristina Roegner (R) are introducing so called "right to work" bills. These bills (Maag's targets public sector workers, while Roegner's target private sectors workers) come less than 2 years after Ohioans rejected SB5, the previous anti-worker legislation aimed at reducing the ability of workers to negotiate safe and fair working conditions, benefits and pay.

Here's a copy of the letter we obtained announcing the introduction of the bill, and a request for legislators to add their names to it.

The introduction of these bills come suspiciously timed - just a day after Governor Kasich met with the tea party funders, the Koch Brothers - who are big proponents of "right to work" legislation and union busting in general.

Phones and electronic devices were banned from some panels, as Koch strategists detailed next year’s electoral battlegrounds and donors committed contributions to particular states or projects.

At least a half-dozen rising Republican stars were also in attendance. They included Dr. Ben Carson, a Baltimore neurosurgeon who has quickly developed a following among grass-roots conservatives, and several members of the Tea Party wing: Govs. Nikki R. Haley of South Carolina and John R. Kasich of Ohio, along with Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

The Tea Party's efforts to push anti-worker legislation has been on-going in Ohio for more than 2 years. Their efforts to collect signatures to place anti-worker legislation on the ballot, by their own accounts has fallen way short

Mr. Littleton said it would be a “long shot” for the group to gather the roughly 380,000 signatures of registered voters needed by July 3, the deadline to qualify for the November ballot.

The effort is a long shot because it has no popular support. The We Are Ohio signature collection effort to repeal the last anti-worker legislation that the Tea Party supported, collected over 1.3 million signatures in just a few months. The current group of people supporting this anti-worker legislation are even more unsympathetic. For just how ugly and bigoted the Tea Party backers of "right to work" are, see here.

In Opposition to this anti-worker effort.

A number of people have come out quickly against this latest anti-worker effort. Ed FitzGerald, candidate for Governor

“I stood against these attacks on our everyday heroes and Ohio’s middle class when I voted against Governor Kasich’s Senate Bill 5,” he said. “As governor, I promise to stand up for the working families in Ohio, and stand behind the middle class that keeps our economy strong.”

David Pepper, candidate for Ohio Attorney General

"I oppose so-called 'right to work' because it hurts families and working people and destroys our middle class. This is a direct attack on our law enforcement officers who keep our communities safe. For these same reasons, I worked with the thousands of volunteers who fought back against Senate Bill 5, the unfair, unsafe attack on us all that voters rejected in 2011.

"But this is also a time when we should be asking all public officials – where do you stand on so-called 'right to work'. Working families and first responders deserve to know, are you with them or against them?"

Rep. Connie Pillich, rumored candidate for Ohio Treasurer

38 people who died on the job last year were remembered Monday at the Cincinnati region Workers Memorial, sponsored by the UAW and AFL-CIO Labor Council. Today, the Ohio GOP introduces legislation that could increase on-the-job deaths by 36%. The So-Called “Right to Work” bills could eliminate workplace safety measures fought for and obtained by labor unions. Dangerous.

Rep. Chris Redfern, Chair of the Ohio Democratic Party

“Here we go again. Apparently Governor Kasich has forgotten what happened the last time he and his Republican allies launched a broadside against the rights of Ohio workers. Ohio was paralyzed and our hard-earned economic recovery, which began a year before Kasich took office, stalled.

Just as SB 5 was soundly rejected by Ohio voters, we expect this unnecessary sideshow – which will do nothing to create more good-paying jobs – to fail, and we intend to hold Governor Kasich accountable for choosing to focus on distractions over Ohio’s middle class. If Kasich doesn’t want this attack on working families to move, he should say so immediately.”

Join the Future opposes these attacks on working people and we call upon our supporters to send a message to their legislators informing them that this legislation is wrong, unfair and unsafe.

Education News for 03-05-2013

State Education News

  • 2 are finalists for Ohio education chief (Columbus Dispatch)
  • A state Board of Education subcommittee today named Ohio’s acting schools superintendent and the governor’s top education adviser as finalists for state superintendent of public instruction…Read more…

  • State Ed Board spends 50K to “find” current superintendent (Plunderbund.com)
  • Last year the State School Board hired Ray and Associates, an Iowa-based company that “specializes in educational executive leadership searches”, to help identify a new State Superintendent.…Read more…

  • Ohio Bill Would Allow Schools To Use Levies To Cover Security Costs (WBNS)
  • School districts strapped for cash may soon have another way to pull money for school security.…Read more…

Local Education News

  • IN OUR SCHOOLS: Principals face layoffs from CPS (Cincinnati Enquirer)
  • The budget scramble has begun at Cincinnati Public Schools, and it may cost some workers their jobs.…Read more…

  • Strongsville teachers strike moves into 2nd day; more substitutes will be in classrooms (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
  • Teachers braved biting cold on picket lines today during the first day of the Strongsville Education Association's strike against the district, while students and principals faced their own ordeal inside the schools.…Read more…

  • Lima Senior students bring 'Shark Tank' lessons to middle schoolers (Lima News)
  • They’re called Spring Shoes, and Lima North Middle School fifth-graders Michael Younger and J’Veahn Soles assured the “Sharks” the shoes would be the next big thing.…Read more…

  • State tells Newcomerstown: 'We're not here to take control' (New Philadelphia Times-Reporter)
  • State and local officials met for the first time Monday to begin formulating a plan that will get Newcomerstown out of fiscal emergency status.…Read more…

  • Legend Elementary deemed 'School of Promise' (Newark Advocate)
  • Legend Elementary is one of 163 schools statewide to be recognized as a School of Promise by the Ohio Department of Education based on its 2011-12 report card.…Read more…

  • Massive ‘Building for Success’ program gets mixed reviews (Toledo Blade)
  • So big was the project, so vast its purported benefits to the city and its schools, and yet it barely passed.…Read more…

  • Strongsville High School students leave class during strike, feel unsafe and describe overcrowding (WEWS)
  • Strongsville High School students described a chaotic school day as their teachers took to the picket line.…Read more…

  • Schools lose beneficial drug prevention program P.L.U.S., investigate other options (Willoughby News Herald)
  • Beginning next year, area schools will no longer have access to the long-time drug prevention program they’ve come to know.…Read more…

Editorial

  • ‘A passion to be spent’ on teaching children (Akron Beacon Journal)
  • “The situation is dire, the agenda urgent. … There is work to be done and passion to be spent by all of us who appreciate the stakes for our children and for the nation’s future.…Read more…

  • State should give Cleveland school reform plan a chance to work: editorial (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
  • The Cleveland and Lorain school districts have fallen into the academic doghouse, failing to meet federal standards for four years and earning the state's lowest academic rating -- "emergency," essentially an F.…Read more…

  • Resolve Strongsville teachers strike quickly: editorial (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
  • No doubt about it: The ugly, confrontational Strongsville teachers strike is a disservice to the future of the suburban district, rated "excellent with distinction" by the state.…Read more…

  • Punish school statistics’ scrubbers (Marietta Times)
  • In what amounted to a spot check of Ohio school districts, state Auditor Dave Yost found eight that engaged in "scrubbing" of attendance reports.…Read more…

  • Common sense school rules (Warren Tribune Chronicle)
  • Several common-sense changes in state rules that often hobble rather than help public schools are being proposed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich.…Read more…

Education News for 12-06-2012

State Education News

  • Senate will redo bill on grading districts (Columbus Dispatch)
  • Republican leaders in the Senate say the goal of a new A-to-F report-card system and tougher school-accountability system is to ensure that all students graduate from high school ready for college…Read more...

  • Educators open to stricter standards (Hamilton Journal-News)
  • If making teachers take a rigorous exam to get their license, similar to the way lawyers take the bar exam in order to practice law…Read more...

  • Educators debate proposed exam (Springfield News-Sun)
  • Ohio educators responded with tempered support to the American Federation of Teachers’ call for a more stringent exam…Read more...

  • Political Fight Threatens To End Funding For Autism Treatment In This Session (WBNS)
  • The state education department spends over $250 million dollars annually in special education costs for children with autism…Read more...

Local Education News

  • Many kids miss school as 'stomach flu' spreads in Ross County (Chillicothe Gazette)
  • Several local schools reported a large number of students out sick Wednesday, one day after health officials said the so-called “stomach flu” appears to be fairly widespread…Read more...

  • Licking Heights school copes without busing (Columbus Dispatch)
  • There were a lot of whistles and hand signals, a few kids wandering through the parking lot yesterday with their cellphones pressed to their ears…Read more...

  • Schools create rainy day fund (Newark Advocate)
  • Granville school officials have established an emergency “contingency” fund that is dependent in part upon how quickly the Granville Inn is sold…Read more...

  • Custodians, groundskeepers laid off at Heights (Newark Advocate)
  • Licking Heights Board of Education last week moved forward with another round of reductions, laying off custodians and reducing the hours of dozens of bus drivers…Read more...

  • Teachers get STEM training (Warren Tribune Chronicle)
  • Some teachers were a little overwhelmed by the vast amount of information available in the new Defined STEM program…Read more...

Editorial

  • Short takes (Columbus Dispatch)
  • KIDS OFTEN are involved with activities at school beyond the traditional school day, and often when it’s dark. Combine poor visibility with a lack of sidewalks and well-marked or well-lit crosswalks…Read more...

  • Better busing (Findlay Courier)
  • Earlier this year, Gov. John Kasich's administration introduced "Beyond Boundaries," a program to help school districts, local governments and state agencies deal with less state funding…Read more...

Education News for 11-08-2012

State Education News

  • 55% of school levies pass (Columbus Dispatch)
  • As Gov. John Kasich’s administration finishes work on a new plan for funding public education, Ohio voters approved 55 percent of the 192 tax increases for schools on Tuesday’s ballot…Read more…

  • Test scores suffer when kids move (Columbus Dispatch)
  • The students aren’t staying put, Not in Columbus, a district that has long struggled with a student population that often.…Read more…

Local Education News

  • Cyberbullying and Sexting - Prevention and Education (New Carlisle News)
  • On Thursday, October 25th, 2012, Tecumseh Middle School, hosted the CyberBullying and Sexting Prevention and Education for all students and parents.…Read more…

  • Cleveland school board votes to restore full school day, along with cut programs, after levy wins (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
  • CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cleveland schoolchildren will have 50 minutes returned to their school day in January, after East Side voters overwhelmed West Side opposition to give the district more money Tuesday.…Read more…

  • Columbus school board discussing bus problem (Columbus Dispatch)
  • Spurred by complaints from parents, the Columbus Board of Education wants a plan to fix problems with the district’s bus operation.…Read more…

  • Upper Arlington Schools Did Not Plan For Levy Failure (WBNS)
  • Upper Arlington City Schools officials said that they did not plan for specific cuts should their levy fail at the ballot – which it did.…Read more…

  • Cleveland: Work begins after levy passes (WKYC)
  • CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Metropolitan School District took its first action Wednesday night, one day after voters passed a 15-mill property tax levy.…Read more…