Statewide Education News

Teach for America Program Coming to Ohio (WSYX 6 ABC)

COLUMBUS - A service-oriented teaching program targeting schools in low-income areas is coming to Ohio next school year. The nonprofit Teach for America recruits recent college graduates and professionals to teach for two or more years. It plans to have at least 40 teachers in northeast Ohio this fall and 30 in southwestern Ohio. Officials hope to add 70 more Ohio instructors in 2012 and again in 2013. The program says it has received support from school districts and others in Cincinnati, Cleveland and Dayton. Read More…

Most schools see success (Tribune Chronicle)

Apparently the fourth time was a charm for Weathersfield Schools as residents finally cast their votes in favor of the district's bond issue request. Most school levies, except Howland, were passing Tuesday night. In preliminary, uncertified results, Weathersfield voters were approving the 6.6-mill bond issue and one-mill permanent improvement levy during Tuesday's primary, with about 60 percent voting for it and 40 percent against it. Read More…

Anti-levy group helps students pay athletic fees (Journal-News)

LIBERTY TWP. — An anti-tax group in the Lakota School District has temporarily refocused its efforts to establish a fund to help needy students play sports. No Lakota, the core group of 35 members made up of mostly business owners, has launched Yes to Lakota Kids to help student athletes and their families struggling to pay participation fees that have continued to increase in the past two years. Read More…

Local Issues

Girard students go high-tech (Tribune Chronicle)

GIRARD - Sidney Durkin nodded her head as she explained how "cool" it was to have the answer she wrote on the wireless tablet at her desk appear on the interactive whiteboard at the front of the classroom. The 10-year-old girl, a student in Gina Pallo's fourth-grade class at Girard Intermediate School, worked the wireless tablet with ease, making her choice and demonstrating the difference between her two options. Read More…

SuccessTech shootings were life-changing for wounded teachers (Plain Dealer)

The day a student opened fire more than four years ago changed the lives of two teachers forever. One stopped teaching for good. The other started teaching with a greater purpose. David Kachadourian and Michael Grassie were both shot at Cleveland's SuccessTech Academy on Oct. 10, 2007. Michael has never been back in a classroom since that day he heard pop, pop pop in the hall. Student Asa Coon ran past, stopped, swore at Michael, then shot him in the chest. Read More…

Fairfield debates open enrollment (Journal-News)

FAIRFIELD — Fairfield City Schools is considering allowing students outside the district to enroll to bolster its coffers. Superintendent Paul Otten said that 78 percent of school districts in Ohio have an open enrollment policy. In Butler County, only Fairfield, Ross and Lakota do not allow outside students to attend district schools. Otten said the only reason he is recommending Fairfield adopt a policy is to generate additional revenue. Fairfield City Schools loses $535,871 per year because of the 94 students who open enroll out of the district, he said. Read More…

Beavercreek School levy narrowly defeated (Dayton Daily News)

With 27 percent of the votes counted, the Beavercreek Schools request for a 6.7-mill emergency levy is failing with 52 percent against it. The current results are: Yes: 8,256 No: 8,885. Beavercreek Superintendent Nick Verhoff called the 6.7-mill emergency levy that would generate $10.9 million annually “absolutely critical.” “If we can’t increase revenue, our only other option is to make cuts to our expenditures,” he said. Read More…

Avon voters said no to new middle school but will continue emergency operating levy (Sun News)

AVON - "Thank you to the community for passing Issue 12," said Superintendent Jim Reitenbach. "We appreciate your support in providing 8 percent of the school’s operating budget." But school officials got a mixed message from voters on Tuesday. Final, unofficial results from the Lorain County Board of Elections show Issue 11, the bond issue for a new middle school, failed by 146 votes (2,964 to 2,818). However, Issue 12, the renewal emergency operating levy, passed with 57 percent of the vote (3,328 to 2,478). Last November, the bond issue failed by 177 votes. Read More…

Westerville levy prevails, averting some cutbacks (Dispatch)

The decision didn’t come until early this morning, but Westerville school voters supported a property-tax levy that will restore many of the most painful cuts that had been planned for 2012-13. “We walk out of here this morning with a victory and a challenge,” said school-board President Kevin Hoffman. “We will still be very focused on doing the things that we need to do” to control the district’s budget. The district’s 51 percent win — a 585-vote margin that followed a November defeat by nearly 7,400 votes — was the main headline for local schools in yesterday’s primary election. Read More…

Board of Education rehires retiree at full pay, pension (Dispatch)

The Columbus Board of Education voted yesterday to rehire a top administrator at full pay weeks after she retired with a public pension, although three members abstained from voting. Mary Ey will be paid $128,551 annually to become, again, chief officer of student-support services — the same job she had and the same salary she received before she retired this year. Ey will be making substantially more. Educators within the Ohio Teachers Retirement System can receive a pension of two-thirds their final salary after working 30 years. Read More…

TPS ponders selling sites of former schools (Blade)

Toledo Public Schools will find itself the owner of a significant amount of vacant land this year, after dozens of buildings are razed in the conclusion of its building program. Under the district's Building for Success program, contractors built or renovated 3.5 million square feet at 44 sites, with a final price tag of about $635 million. With all the new construction, dozens of buildings were demolished, leaving the district with scores of vacant plots dotting Toledo. Maintenance of those lots costs money, and vacant space can prove to be an eyesore. Read More…