Statewide Education News

ODE Files Waiver From No Child Left Behind Act – NBC-4, Columbus

The goal of the “No Child Left Behind Law” was to have 100 percent of all students proficient in math and reading at every grade level by 2014. But is it working in Ohio? Ohio is now joining 25 other states filing a waiver with the U.S. Department of Education saying the standards need to be updated. The states are also asking to be allowed to develop their own standards. View and Read here…

State wants to drop parts of No Child Left Behind Act - Lorain Morning Journal

The state has is requesting a waiver to key portions of the No Child Left Behind Act that it said would give school districts more realistic goals. On Wednesday, the Ohio Department of Education stated it sent an application to the U.S. Department of Education asking for a waiver of key portions pertaining of the law, according to state Superintendent Stan Heffner. Read More…

National Stories of the Day

26 States Plus D.C. Apply for NCLB Waivers in Second Round – Education Week

Twenty six more states, plus the District of Columbia, are applying for waivers under the No Child Left Behind Act, which would free them from many of the core tenets of the law in exchange for adopting key reforms backed by the Obama administration. Already, 11 states have won this new flexibility. Read More…

Local Issues

Teachers, Staff Return To Chardon High School – Ohio News Network

Wednesday marked the first day back for teachers and grief counselors at Chardon High School. One staff member said it would be hard to be in the building with books and papers still on the floor from the shootings on Monday, reported ONN's Cristin Severance. Read More…

Firm to highlight district – The Vindicator

The Austintown School District is rolling out a plan to retain current students and bring back ones who have left for open enrollment or charter schools. The district hired The Wixey Network, a marketing firm based in Toledo, to bring district highlights and accomplishments to the forefront, Superintendent Vince Colaluca said Wednesday during a luncheon with local media representatives. Read More…

School District to Send Parents to Collection Agencies – ABC 6, Columbus

Columbus City School District parents who rack up debt on their children's school lunch accounts could be getting a call from debt collectors. The district says any parent more than $50 in debt will be reported to a collections agency. Read More…

More school threats in wake of Chardon High School shooting – WKYC, Cleveland

Schools across Northeast Ohio are reporting threat incidents involving students in the wake of the Chardon High School shooting. In North Royalton, a 9th grader has been removed from the high school after a girl overheard the boy making threats and talking of possessing weapons. Counselors at the school called police who secured the building and removed the boy from the grounds. A search of the school turned up nothing. Police continue to talk to the boy. Read More…

City schools get some good news for future building plans – Chillicothe Gazette

After climbing more than 100 spots on the Ohio School Facilities Commission's equity list in the past nine years -- and with favorable legislative changes possibly on the horizon -- the Chillicothe City Schools could receive school construction funding sooner than expected. Read More…

School shooting suspects usually fit profile – New Philadelphia Times Reporter

Students who have gone on shooting rampages at schools and universities in the past have often displayed similar behaviors, area mental health professionals say. Those behaviors can include an inability to fit in with others, a preoccupation with violence or weapons and a change in their normal behavior — becoming more aggressive or more withdrawn. Read More…

Panel: Government savings are in shared services

Local officials were warned Wednesday not to expect Ohio to rapidly restore funding taken away after the state budget crunch. More than 50 city leaders, township trustees and county officials met at Longview Center for a session on coping with the loss of state revenue. The panel discussion was sponsored by the Richland Community Development Group. Read More…

TPS, agency square off in bid to run Head Start – Toledo Blade

A night's sleep didn't seem to cool tempers a day after the growing dispute over who should run Toledo's Head Start program took a public, confrontational turn. The Toledo Board of Education voted 5-0 Tuesday to authorize Superintendent Jerome Pecko to apply for the $13 million grant to run Head Start, a move that dozens of supporters of the grant holder, the Economic Opportunity Planning Association of Greater Toledo, protested. The planning association 's supporters criticized what they consider an attempt to dismantle one of the few remaining black institutions left in Toledo. Read More…

Walsh aims to raise city IQ – Canton Repository

Walsh University will be the first international Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) Institute in the area of education. The announcement was made at Wednesday’s 46th annual Business and Communications Club luncheon in the Barrette Center. Read More…

Editorial & Opinion

Free the Cleveland schools from weight of bureaucracy: Plain Dealer

So, it's not just theoretical. There really does come a time when an organization gets so thoroughly mired in rules and bureaucracy that it can no longer do the things it was established to do. There really does come a point at which the mission shifts so profoundly that the original purpose of the organization is lost entirely. Read More…

New approach – Columbus Dispatch

Congress’ failure to fix fundamental flaws in the No Child Left Behind law leaves states little choice but to seek relief from its unrealistic demands, but those states should not weaken the accountability requirements that are at its core. Ohio has joined the parade of states seeking waivers from the 2002 law, which has been up for renewal since 2007 but has remained unchanged. Add to Congress’ many failures its inability to agree on how to improve this far-reaching law. The U.S. Department of Education so far has granted waivers to 11 states; 37, including Ohio, have applied. Read More…

Chardon shooting – Columbus Dispatch

Parents in Chardon saw their teenagers off to school on Monday morning, believing it was a typical start to a typical week. How heartbreaking that several of those youngsters never came home. The Dispatch sends condolences to the victims’ families and to the entire community. Read More…