Statewide Stories of the Day
- Districts already holding back students in advance of new state law (Dispatch)
At Hamilton Elementary, repeating a grade is a matter of playing catch-up. “The old thinking was, ‘Yes, some of these kids weren’t at grade level, but we’re not going to hold them back,’ ” said Susan Witten, Hamilton schools’ director of teaching and learning. “It was seen pretty much as a punishment, as a negative. We’ve reversed the way we thought about it.” This fall, a new state law takes effect, requiring school districts to hold back students who aren’t reading proficiently by third grade. Hamilton schools already are holding back more young students. Read more...
- Living in district tougher nowadays for superintendents (Dispatch)
The desire of some school districts to have their superintendents live within district boundaries is often at odds with the realities of today’s tough housing market. The Worthington school board voted last week to tack an extra year onto Superintendent Thomas Tucker’s grace period for moving into the district because he hasn’t been able to sell his home in Columbus. “The whole issue is the economy right now,” Tucker said. “I actually live only 5 miles from the district office, but it’s outside of the district.” Read more...
Local Issues
- Police officer stashed school-attendance records (Dispatch)
When district auditors began asking questions about student-data changes at Whetstone High School, the police officer stationed there hauled boxes of documents home with her, records show. Officer Nanci A. Ferguson, who inexplicably was responsible for attendance and data at the school, handed over a single notebook belonging to the former principal in response to a request from Columbus’ internal auditor. “I hauled the rest of the boxes out of here (and) stashed them at home in my garage,” Ferguson told the newly appointed Whetstone principal. Read more...
- Charter school rejected (Blade)
Toledo City Council on Tuesday narrowly turned down a national charter-school company's request to open up shop in the heart of downtown. Connections Education had planned to open a site on the fourth floor of One Lake Erie Center, 600 Jefferson Ave. Connections typically runs online charter and private schools; the new site would be a high school called Nexus Academy of Toledo and would provide a blended school, with students using online curriculum at home and spending part of the day at the site. Council voted 6-4 on a special-use permit. Read more...
- Cleveland school board OKs resolution for 15-mill levy, vows accountability (Plain Dealer)
CLEVELAND - Cleveland school board members voted unanimously Tuesday night to put a 15-mill levy on the Nov. 6 ballot. The board voted 9-0 to put the issue to voters, drawing mixed reactions from about 40 people who attended the meeting. The tax is estimated to cost the average Cleveland homeowner with a $64,000 home an additional $294 a year for the next four years. Cleveland voters last passed an operating tax in 1996, and they approved a $335 million bond issue in 2001 for school construction. Resident Donna Brown told the board she will not vote for the levy. Read more...
- Lakota restructures athletics to save $315K (Journal-News)
LIBERTY TWP. — To help quell budget constraints at Lakota Local Schools, the district’s athletic department is being restructured with $315,000 in reductions. A major change is the switch to a district-wide athletic director and the elimination of associate athletic directors at the freshman schools, said Chris Passarge, executive director of business operations. Rich Bryant, 35, is taking on that role of athletic director effective Aug. 1. Bryant, a West Chester Twp. resident, had been serving as athletic director at Lakota East High School since August 2009. Read more...
Editorial
- Find the truth (Dispatch)
If substantiated, the attendance-rigging by Columbus City Schools officials is staggering in its scope. Not just the sheer size of the numbers involved — 2.8 million student absences allegedly erased over 51/2 years — but in the betrayal of district taxpayers, voters, parents and students. Such a scheme would artificially inflate the district’s academic rating, thus deceiving school-levy voters and parents, and allow the district to collect more in state financial aid than it should have. State Superintendent Stan Heffner has said that if the allegations are proved true. Read more...
- Cheating is unfair to students (Tribune Chronicle)
School administrators have an advantage their students don't: In effect, they grade some of the tests used to determine how well they are performing. Some of them are cheating, according to the Ohio Department of Education. Much of the data used by the state - as well as taxpayers and students' parents - to learn whether schools are doing a good job is prepared by school district administrators. Information on matters such as student attendance is submitted to the state, which posts it online. It is in school district officials' best interests for the numbers to look good, of course. Read more...
