Statewide Stories of the Day

2.8 million school absences erased (Dispatch)

Columbus City Schools officials wiped 2.8 million student absence days off the district’s computers during the past 51/2 school years, with some key officials responsible for tens of thousands of deletions. The officials routinely erased more recorded student absences than they reported to the state — in some years, substantially more — according to district data tables The Dispatch obtained by filing a public-records request. Read more...

Many third-graders lag in reading proficiency (Enquirer)

Twenty-one percent of Ohio’s third-graders – 25,963 students – were not proficient in reading last school year, according to preliminary test results released by the Ohio Department of Education. That’s up from 20 percent in 2010-11. Starting in 2013-14, scoring poorly on the test will have major consequences for third-grade students. That’s when a new law by Ohio Gov. John Kasich will require them to repeat the school year if they don’t do well enough on the test despite two years of reading intervention. Read more...

Youngstown schools miss targets, lose $1.8M (Vindicator)

Youngstown - The city school district will see its school-improvement money slashed more than 50 percent for next year because the schools didn’t meet growth goals. The federal School Improvement Grant money allotted for University Project Learning Center, Chaney and East totaled $3.3 million. For next year, the amount is reduced to about $1.5 million, said Doug Hiscox, deputy superintendent for academic affairs. “Each year, you have to go through a process for evaluating how well things were done or whether you met targets,” he said. Read more...

Local Issues

Toledo Public Schools records adjusted to lift state test scores (Blade)

Toledo Public Schools has manipulated some students' attendance data to improve state report-card scores, the district's superintendent told The Blade on Friday. Under the practice, schools retroactively withdraw and re-enroll chronically absent students to erase their poor attendance records. Ohio school districts apparently are allowed to throw out test scores of students who are not continuously enrolled from October through the testing dates in March and May. Read more...

Middle school students learn how to navigate college through CampUS program (Newark Advocate)

GRANVILLE - Alma Zahar is a 13-year-old student at Southmoor Middle School in Columbus. She's had thoughts of becoming a doctor but had no idea how to go about it. "That takes a lot of years," she said. "But I wasn't sure what schools to go to. But this explained to me what type of colleges there are: community college, technical college and four-year college." Zahar was just one of about 40 middle school students at Denison University from Saturday to June 29 learning how to navigate the path to college in a program called CampUS. Read more...

Cleveland's school tax levy must be tied to creative parental classroom involvement (Plain Dealer)

The Perry family of Collinwod may represent one of Cleveland's best hopes for passing an enormous 15-mill school levy request that will likely appear on the November ballot. But to make that happen, it's pretty important that their son, Shaquille, stays alive. It's that simple. Shaquille is an emerging role model for the city. He should be encouraged and protected. He's a good example of what a determined young man can do in the face of formidable odds when bolstered by strong parental support. He will enroll at Kentucky State University this fall. Read more...

Audit finds former Imagine school officials made undocumented purchases (Repository)

State auditors say former employees of a Canton-based community school made nearly $4,500 worth of questionable purchases during a Best Buy shopping trip in 2010. The Ohio Auditor’s Office flagged the transactions during its most recent annual financial review of Imagine Schools on Superior at 1500 Superior Ave. NE. The school, formerly known as Pathways to Success Canton Community School, serves roughly 180 students between kindergarten to fourth grade and is not affiliated with a public school district. Read more...

Harris shakes up leadership of Columbus schools (Dispatch)

Columbus Schools Superintendent Gene Harris will shake up her top staff, in part to cover for reassignments resulting from a state investigation into whether district officials rigged school performance data. In a memo dated Monday, Harris said she would again name the district’s former lobbyist to a major leadership role. With the departure of former Chief Academic Officer Keith Bell to become superintendent of Euclid schools, Harris will promote the district’s chief operating officer, John Stanford, to the new post of deputy superintendent. Read more...

Editorial

Coming face to face with the sad state of runaway teens (Blade)

On a recent evening, an unexpected knock on my study window in the back of the house brought me face to face with the problem of runaway teenagers. A young girl in her early teens, clad in not-too-clean clothes, begged to be let in. Instead, I met her in front of the house. Waiting for police to arrive, we talked in the driveway. She had run away from a nearby group home for troubled teens, she told me. She said she had run away at least 30 times in the past three years. Somehow, every place she was sent annoyed her to the point she thought her only option was to run away. Read more...

If Clevelanders want a future for their public schools, it will cost them 15 mills (Plain Dealer)

Gasp. That's the sound that came from many Clevelanders when they learned last week that the Cleveland public schools are asking for a 15-mill levy to implement Mayor Frank Jackson's hard-won school reform plan. Despite their skepticism of -- or even outright anger at -- their long-troubled school system, voters must take a leap of faith for the future of Cleveland's 41,000 students. The levy would deliver an estimated $77 million annually to support the Cleveland Plan for Transformation over the next four years. Read more...

Fast action by board is troubling (Tribune Chronicle)

The Warren Board of Education wants to achieve academic excellence. But it decided against conducting an excellent search for a new school superintendent. The board last week named Warren G. Harding High School principal Michael Notar as the district's next superintendent. The board did not accept any applications or conduct any interviews prior to deciding who would be in charge of the district. Board members said there was no need because of how familiar they are with Notar. Read more...