Statewide Education News

Ohio puts teachers on notice (Enquirer)

Come September, Ohio will likely be the only state in the country to force thousands of teachers at low-performing schools to take special licensing tests. A provision in Ohio’s budget law requires that by Sept. 1, the state must rank all public schools and charter schools based on a report card measure called the Performance Index – a calculation of student performance on state tests. Schools ranked in the bottom 10 percent will require teachers of “core” subjects to take licensing exams within the school year. Core subjects include reading, math, science and social studies. Read More…

Ohio may use new report card system (Dayton Daily News)

COLUMBUS — Ohio will revamp how it grades K-12 school performance and set new goals for cutting the achievement gap among student groups if federal authorities exempt the state from requirements in the No Child Left Behind Act. State Superintendent Stan Heffner called the No Child Left Behind Act out of date and unrealistic. On Wednesday, Heffner outlined the changes the Ohio Department of Education is proposing in exchange for relief from the burdens imposed by the 2001 landmark federal education law. Read More…

College opportunities growing in area high schools (Dispatch)

More Columbus-area high schools are bringing Columbus State Community College to their students. Reynoldsburg school officials said last month that their high school will house a Columbus State regional campus for students and adults this fall. The Hilliard and Olentangy districts also are discussing expanding dual-enrollment opportunities with the community college. Columbus State says it’s talking with other districts as well. Read More…

Chardon Students Head Back To Class (ONN)

CHARDON - Students and parents said that Friday was a day full of mixed emotions as they headed back into Chardon High School for the first official day of school since the shootings. The students walked into the building hundreds at a time, with reminders that things will never be the same. A memorial greeted the students at the entrance of the school and some were nervous to adventure back into the cafeteria. Some students had been dreading the first day back, but knew it was something they have to do, ONN's Cristin Severance reported. Read More…

Youngstown school board won’t meet with High Commission, chief says (Vindicator)

Youngstown - The city schools superintendent can arrange meetings between district personnel charged with academic success and the Community High Commission, the school board president wrote in a letter to the group. Earlier this week, Jimma McWilson of the commission, a group seeking to close the achievement gap for black students in the city schools, delivered a letter to Lock P. Beachum Sr., school board president, asking for meetings with the board, as part of the regular board meetings of March 13 and March 27. McWilson wasn’t satisfied with Beachum’s response. Read More…

Some schools don’t have their safety plans on file (Dispatch)

Following the deadly school shooting in northeastern Ohio this week, the Ohio attorney general’s office says that 45 central Ohio schools have failed to file required safety plans designed to help police in a similar incident. But most districts contacted yesterday insisted that they had filed the plans. On the list from Franklin County were two Hilliard schools — Hilliard Bradley High School and HCSD Preschool — as well as the Reynoldsburg district’s Waggoner Road Junior High and Worthington’s Phoenix Middle School. Read More…

Local Issues

Threats continue to send northeast Ohio schools into lockdown following Chardon shooting (WEWS 5 ABC)

CLEVELAND - Threats continue to cause schools in northeast Ohio to go into lockdown Friday, days after a school shooting in Chardon. Reports of apparent threats started coming into area schools almost immediately after Monday’s shooting rampage, which left three students dead and two others injured. And the threats continue to be reported. On Friday alone, police confirmed incidents at Garfield Heights Middle School, Memorial Junior High in South Euclid and Springfield High School in Springfield Township. Read More…

TPS mulls new plan for student breakfasts (Blade)

A potential new approach to how Toledo Public Schools serves students breakfast could save the district money, boost academics, and feed hundreds of hungry children. Most TPS students already are eligible for free and reduced lunch and breakfasts, but not every student takes advantage of the subsidized meal. Some district officials and Toledo Board of Education members want to move breakfast from the cafeteria to the classroom. Beyond the altruistic benefits, if every student eligible for subsidized breakfasts ate the meals, the district could save more than $1 million. Read More…

Space issues prompt Newark schools to end transfers (Newark Advocate)

NEWARK - Newark's new schools are almost filled to capacity, prompting the district to discontinue transfers and to search for other options for its preschool units. The district announced this past week it no longer would allow students to transfer to an elementary or middle school whose boundaries they don't live in. Students who already have transferred can stay in their new schools, and siblings also are eligible to transfer if there is room in the grade. "We've got to give the transfer thing a break for a while," Newark City Schools Superintendent Doug Ute said. Read More…

Barrett school closing signals change in special education for Akron district (Beacon Journal)

The parents and staff who oppose closing Barrett elementary urged Akron school board members to visit the school so they could witness stories like this: On Wednesday, Tom Ward from Akron Orthotic Solutions came to Barrett to adjust a special kind of leg brace that 5-year-old Joshua Holcomb wears to help him walk. Joshua was born with spina bifida, which has left him unable to move his legs on his own. Read More…

19 Northeast Ohio school districts seek financial support from voters in Tuesday's election (Plain Dealer)

Facing declining property tax revenue and uncertain state financial support, 19 Northeast Ohio school districts have placed money issues on Tuesday's ballot, betting on a glimmer of hope in the economy and their cost-cutting measures to sway voters. Nearly half the school levies are renewals, meaning property taxes won't go up because voters are simply being asked to OK a tax rate that's already in place. Read More…

Kindergartners get first exposure to science (Journal-News)

HAMILTON — At the registration table for Highland Elementary’s second annual Family Fun Science Night, kindergartner West Cannon prances excitedly as he anticipates an evening of magic. “I like how you turn one thing into another,” he said, and demonstrates pouring an imaginary potion from one beaker to another. At his age, explained kindergarten teacher Pam Vernot, there’s not much difference between science and magic. “I always start the year asking them what science is,” she said. Read More…

Editorial

Promise to parents (Beacon Journal)

When the superintendent of Akron Public Schools delivered the State of the Schools address last week, he said the district continues to “right-size our footprint” with the school board weighing his recommendation to close Barrett, Essex and Rankin elementary schools. There’s no arguing the reality David James cited: The district no longer can support a physical infrastructure built to accommodate 30,000 students when enrollment has declined by one-third the past 20 years. Operating funds are shrinking, and the district is short by a projected $22 million for the next school year. Read More…

Mayor Jackson's school plan merits Democratic legislators' support (Plain Dealer)

The emergency-rescue package for the Cleveland schools is already in trouble in Columbus from a resistant Republican leadership and Democrats who are missing in action when their support is needed most. Republican Gov. John Kasich, Democratic Mayor Frank Jackson and Cleveland schools CEO Eric Gordon need to redouble efforts to push their proposal to alter teacher seniority rules, punish nonperforming Cleveland charters and build a better school system from the ground up. To start, they need to get it into legislative language, pronto. But it's up to lawmakers to set aside the usual partisanship and political myopia to show that state government and schools can be partners in promoting educational innovations when spending more is no longer feasible or even practical. Read More…