Statewide Education News

Ohio Gov. John Kasich encourages thousands at Chardon vigil to comfort, support grieving families (Plain Dealer)

CHARDON - A crowd of thousands, swathed in Chardon red, holding candles and hugging, gathered in and around St. Mary Catholic Church on Tuesday night, near where five high school students had been shot a day earlier. Three have died, including Demetrius Hewlin, 16, and Russell King Jr., 17, whose deaths were announced Tuesday. Daniel Parmertor, 16, died Monday. He will be buried after a funeral Mass at the church Saturday. One woman held a wood-framed picture of him. Read More…

Chardon High School shooting, Vigil draws thousands (WKYC 3 NBC)

CHARDON - Community prayer vigils are being held in the aftermath of the Chardon High School shootings. On Monday night, more than half a dozen vigils were held at churches in Chardon and surrounding communities. Those somber observances included a candle light gathering on the Chardon Square. Students and community members came together to remember the five victims. On Tuesday night, thousands of people attended a memorial and vigil at St. Mary's in Chardon. Gov. John Kasich was among those attending. Read More…

Ohio school shooting, Drills, cell phone use paid off (Plain Dealer)

Nobody expected Monday's school shooting in Chardon. You wouldn't expect one in communities like Bay Village, Avon Lake or Orange either. But all of them plan for it. Over the past two decades and increasingly since the 1999 killings at Columbine High School in Colorado, school districts and law enforcement authorities have worked together on strategies to respond to violence in schools. Read More…

Recent U.S. Secret Service study looks at trends in school attacks (News-Herald)

When there is an incident that involves the loss of life at a school, people tend to ask why did it happen. A recent study by the U.S. Secret Service looked into 37 incidents involving 41 school attacks that occurred between 1974 and 2000. The review was conducted to identify and to highlight information that in some cases may have been known or knowable prior to school-based attacks and to aid in the prevention of future attacks. Read More…

Chardon High School shooting witness describes scene inside of cafeteria (WEWS 5 ABC)

CHARDON - Jason Suhadolnik still can't believe there was a shooting inside of his school. He is a first-year student at Chardon High School and was inside of the cafeteria when gunfire erupted. Suhadolnik was sitting at a lunchroom table with a few friends about 10 feet from the shooter when he opened fire. Suhadolnik said he doesn't know the alleged gunman, TJ Lane. He said at first the gunfire sounded more like a toy gun. Read More…

Latest school tragedy mimics others in its senselessness (Vindicator)

It happened again. And again the expressions of condolences are mixed with expressions of disbelief that one high school student could open fire on others, taking their lives. This time, it’s relatively close to home, in Chardon in Geauga County, a community not unlike many other Northeastern Ohio suburban communities. Many Vindicator readers would have visited its town square for the annual maple syrup festival at the end of April. Which makes the harsh reality even more difficult to grasp. Read More…

House of Representatives has moment of silence for Chardon shooting victims (Plain Dealer)

The U.S. House of Representatives held a moment of silence on Tuesday to honor the victims of yesterday's shootings at Chardon High School. The gesture was a request from Bainbridge Township Republican Rep. Steve LaTourette, whose district includes Chardon. It occurred at around 3:45 P.M. in the midst of a series of votes. "I would indicate that, in these tragedies there are also items of heroism," LaTourette said on the House of Representatives floor. Read More…

Local Issues

Youngstown School-board president seeks help with determining cuts (Vindicator)

Youngstown - The city school-board president says everything must be considered in the decision of where to make cuts and he’s asking the community for help to make those determinations. “Something has to be done with our finances,” said Lock P. Beachum Sr., school board president, during a school board meeting Tuesday. “Where are we going to save the money?” The district learned this month that because of a loss of more than 500 students as determined by the state’s official October enrollment count, it would receive about $4 million less. Read More…

TPS aims to run Head Start (Blade)

The dispute over who should control Toledo's Head Start program escalated Tuesday night at the Toledo Board of Education meeting. Dozens of supporters of the Economic Opportunity Planning Association of Greater Toledo and members of the union that represents Toledo Head Start employees attended the meeting to show opposition to a possible competing application by TPS for the $13 million grant to run Head Start. Read More…

McDonald schools Panel disbands as district is released from fiscal emergency (Vindicator)

McDONALD - The state Finance and Planning Commission for McDonald schools disbanded Wednesday, after the district was informed by the state auditor’s office that it was released from fiscal emergency. The commission requested the release in November 2011, after the local school board made the same request in September. “Coming back after fiscal emergency is an uphill battle for any entity, and each community must make the difficult choices that work best for them,” state Auditor Dave Yost said. Read More…

Licking Heights switches ESCs (Dispatch)

The Licking Heights Board of Education voted 5-0 last night to sever its ties to the Licking County Educational Service Center, which provides services, such as special-education programs, curriculum support and teacher training, to several school districts. The move takes advantage of a new state law that gave districts until March 1 to decide whether to switch Educational Service Centers or wait another year. Read More…

Liberty BOE votes to reinstate open enrollment in district (Vindicator)

Liberty - The Liberty school board voted unanimously to reinstate open enrollment, leaving to a future meeting approving the exact number of students it would allow under the program. Superintendent Stan Watson told the board there are likely slots for 10 open- enrollment students per grade but would return to the board with a solid figure in the future. The district would not be responsible for transporting the out-of-district students. Read More…

Strongsville Student Arrested for Threats Made to School, Students (WJW 8 FOX)

A Strongsville High School student was arrested on Tuesday morning for allegedly making a threat to the school and its students. According to an official with the Strongsville Police Department, the juvenile was arrested for inducing panic. The official tells Fox 8 News that the student was using social media to alarm other students that there would soon to be an act of violence committed at the school. Read More…

Other schools report threats in wake of Chardon shootings (Beacon Journal)

Several Akron-Canton school districts reported threatening messages Tuesday and one district confronted a student after he posed on Facebook with a rifle and made comments that officials perceived as menacing in the wake of the Chardon killings. Green High School evacuated classrooms shortly after 11 a.m. Tuesday and excused students from afternoon classes after a student found a bomb threat scribbled on a restroom wall. Summit County sheriff’s spokesman Bill Holland said the message read: “There’s a bomb in the building.” Read More…

Portage County student charged with inducing panic following postings on Facebook (Plain Dealer)

MANTUA - A day after the shootings at Chardon High School, Portage County sheriff deputies arrested a 17-year-old Crestwood High School student who school administrators felt was a threat to other students. On Monday, the boy wrote on his Facebook page, "Who agrees with their friend that it is a good idea to shoot up a school?" He also had posted a picture of himself holding an assault rifle. School officials told the sheriff's office that on Feb. 22, the teen posted on Facebook, "I'm close to going on a stabbing spree. I can't take some of these people anymore." Read More…

Editorial

3 young lives lost, countless others forever changed in Chardon High School shootings (Plain Dealer)

For just a few moments early Monday morning, gunshots rang out in the cafeteria of Chardon High School. Those shots were the last sounds Daniel Parmertor, 16; Russell King Jr., 17; and Demetrius Hewlin, 16, would ever hear. But for those who remain, the echoes are unlikely ever to fully fade. People who loved them are trying to cope with something they probably had never dreamed of: the life of a child, a grandchild, a brother, a nephew, a cousin, a friend, wasted suddenly, needlessly, senselessly. Read More…

Reasonable step (Dispatch)

Dunning parents for unpaid lunch money isn’t likely what Columbus City Schools administrators had in mind when they went into education. But with nearly $1 million owed, it’s a problem that shouldn’t be ignored any longer, and the district is taking a reasonable approach to collecting: focusing on the biggest debtors, while not denying lunch to any child. Read More…

Cleveland teachers should be on the same reform team (Plain Dealer)

We in the Cleveland Teachers Union agree with Mayor Frank Jackson that every child in our city should attend an excellent school and every neighborhood should offer our families a multitude of great schools from which to choose. No fair-minded person can dispute the notion that our union has always been willing to work with others to achieve those goals. Read More…