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Education News for 05-14-2013

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State Education News

  • Schools, city look for millions in BWC rebates (Columbus Dispatch)

    • The city of Columbus could get at least $5.4 million and Columbus City Schools about $1.9 million under Gov. John Kasich’s proposal…Read more...

  • Plan would return $113M to Ohio schools, cities (Marion Star)

    • Ohio communities and schools would share almost $113 million in rebates from the state’s workers’ compensation fund should a proposal from Gov. John Kasich be approved…Read more...

  • Schools fared "better than normal" in special election, even though many had losses (Ohio Public Radio)

    • Voters across the state headed to the polls yesterday to make decisions about all kinds of levies – including almost 140 school issues…Read more...

Local Education News

    

  • No interim chief on the horizon for Columbus schools (Columbus Dispatch)

    • The Columbus Board of Education has no idea who will take over the $1.3 billion-a-year…Read more...

  • Fifth-graders have a blast while learning (Mansfield News Journal)

    • Fifth-graders at Hannah Crawford Elementary are learning math, language arts, science and social studies skills in a unique way…Read more...

Editorial

  • Yet another tale of a looted charter school shows that better fiscal safeguards (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

    • The Cuyahoga County prosecutor has it right, for the last six years, an in-house den of thieves has stolen nearly $2 million from a Cleveland charter school for teen dropouts…Read more...

Education News for 08-06-2012

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State Education News

  • Official Seeks Meeting About Ohio Schools Chief (Associated Press)

    • A member of the Ohio Board of Education called Friday for an emergency meeting to be set for the panel to address findings of wrongdoing against Superintendent Stan Heffner by the state watchdog. Read more...

  • Leader of Ohio schools resigns (Associated Press)

    • Ohio's top education official resigned Saturday amid ethics questions about his work for an educational testing contractor. Read more...

  • Ohio school chief quits (Cincinnati Enquirer)

    • Ohio’s top education leader announced his resignation Saturday, just two days after facing accusations of misconduct and ethics violations in office. Read more...

  • Ohio schools chief Stan Heffner resigns under fire for conflict (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

    • Ohio Schools Superintendent Stan Heffner resigned on Saturday, under fire after the state inspector general found he lobbied improperly for a private education company he planned to work for. Read more...

  • State schools superintendent resigns amid ethics fallout (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction Stan Heffner announced his resignation this afternoon amid the fallout accompanying an ethics scandal. Read more...

  • Schools’ rigging was on the wall (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Although the state auditor’s office and the Department of Education launched investigations this summer into potential data-rigging at school districts across Ohio, the warning lights have been flashing red for years. Read more...

  • School attendance manipulation called ‘unfathomable’ (Lima News)

    • LIMA — When Jill Ackerman found out about public schools throughout the state likely manipulating attendance records to boost standardized test score averages, she was shocked. Read more...

  • Locked Away: How Ohio Schools Misuse Seclusion Rooms (State Impact Ohio and Columbus Dispatch)

    • Some Ohio children with disabilities are regularly isolated in cell-like rooms, closets or old offices when they behave badly. Read more...

  • Locked Away: New Policy Would Limit Use of School Seclusion Rooms to Real Emergencies (State Impact Ohio and Columbus Dispatch)

    • A 17-year-old Ohio girl died in 2008 in a home for troubled children after her caretakers pinned her face-down on the floor. Read more...

Local Education News

  • CPS superintendent can stay in suburbs (Cincinnati Enquirer)

    • Cincinnati Public Schools superintendent Mary Ronan’s new three-year contract no longer requires that she live in the district… Read more...

  • Districts hope to cut cost by sharing subs (Cincinnati Enquirer)

    • A newly formed partnership between Butler and Warren counties’ Educational Service Centers, will allow 13 school districts to draw from a central pool of substitute teachers. Read more...

  • Investing in Ohio Schools (Columbus Dispatch)

    • There will be no more classes in the parking lot, no more mysterious walled of hallways. When 1,500 Licking County students return to Newark High School this month, most construction on their once disjointed campus will be complete. Read more...

  • School facilities commission continues past halfway point (Dayton Daily News)

    • The Ohio School Facilities Commission has reached the halfway point of its mission to upgrade school buildings throughout the state at a cost of more than $10 billion, but faces a future in which its source of funding is no longer clear. Read more...

  • Skill training is 'win-win' (Marion Star)

    • ...To make sure they can find people who possess the talents needed to fulfill the responsibilities assigned to them, employers do what they can to foster such skills in the prospective workforce. Read more...

Editorial

  • Marrison: We'll keep on digging into school records case (Columbus Dispatch)

    • The developing scandal over school-attendance records is growing more odd. And disappointing… Read more...

  • Don’t allow schools to cover it up (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

    • It has been said that the coverup is worse than the crime. Well, what about a coverup of a coverup? That may well be happening in one of Ohio's largest school districts. Read more...

Education News for 04-19-2012

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Local Issues

  • Town hall session on teen drinking sparks interest (Newark Advocate)

    • The students of Granville High School's CHAMPS group kicked off this past week's town hall meeting on underage alcohol use by shocking the audience. They read anonymous stories from Granville teens who said they used drugs and alcohol on a regular basis. Read more..

  • Parents, Teachers Angry Over CMSD Staff Layoffs (WJW – Cleveland)

    • The decision by the Cleveland Municipal School District to respond to a $66-million budget deficit, by laying off 508 teachers, is being criticized by teachers and parents. Justin Hons, 32, is being laid-off from his job as a social studies teacher at John Hay High School, and it’s his fourth lay-off notice in 11 years. Read more..

  • Raising Tusc summit: Give grads skills that employers require (New Philadelphia Times Reporter)

    • Schools of the 21st century must focus on graduating students who have the skills employers are requiring, a Georgia educator told area business and school leaders Wednesday. Frank Pinson, chief executive officer of the Floyd County College and Career Academy, was keynote speaker at the Raising Tuscarawas summit at the Performing Arts Center at Kent State University Tuscarawas. Read more..

  • Bellaire School District asking community for funding ideas (WTOV-Steubenville)

    • Bellaire School District officials will hold a community meeting on Thursday focusing on the future of the financially strapped district. In 35 years, the district has not had any additional money for operations, and Superintendent Tony Scott said he hopes community members can generate ideas for funding. Read more..

  • CPS cuts 10 percent of teaching staff (Cincinnati Enquirer)

    • Cincinnati Public Schools will have 237 fewer teachers next school year. The seven-member board of education voted unanimously Wednesday to eliminate about 10 percent of its teaching staff to help fill a $43 million budget gap. The cuts, which the Enquirer reported earlier this month, come as the district works to maintain its place as Ohio’s highest-rated urban school district. Read more..

  • Reynoldsburg City School Students Will Pay More To Play (10-TV-Columbus)

    • Reynoldsburg City School District officials said that many were questioning the school booster club following a rise in prices for students wishing to participate in sports. The school board voted on Tuesday night to raise the fee to participate in sports to more than $100 to make up for the money it expected to receive from a booster club, 10TV's Tanisha Mallett reported. Read more..

  • Student's mother seeks reprimand against police chief, principal (Springfield News Sun)

    • A mother is asking for the Enon police chief and principal of Indian Valley School to be reprimanded after she said her son was unjustly questioned about a missing cell phone against school policies. The incident happened March 28 after the mother of an Indian Valley School parent reported her daughter’s cell phone missing. Read more..

  • Taking gun to school gets student 3 weekends in jail (Columbus Dispatch)

    • A Columbus high-school student who took a gun to school last year was placed on probation yesterday and ordered to spend three weekends in jail. Razoar B.D. Harding, 18, of Briar Ridge Road on the East Side, pleaded guilty in March to two counts of carrying a concealed weapon. Read more..

We're not saying it is hypocritical, but

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We're not saying it is hypocritical, but when you pass legislation saying that teachers are to be evaluated on their ability to do the job, then you turn around and hire your own partisan political appointees for a job they have no experience to do, it does make one wonder.

After a months-long search for someone with regulatory experience to ride herd on Ohio’s four casinos, a state panel yesterday chose someone with none.

Matt Schuler, chief of staff for the Republican president of the Ohio Senate, was appointed executive director of the Casino Control Commission. Commission members recruited the 44-year-old Gahanna resident after having trouble enticing regulators from other states to take a similar job in Ohio.

Maybe Mr. Schuler ought to at least take a test?

Matt Schuler was recently at the center of the controvesy over Senate staff getting massive retroactive pay rises.

Every member of senior staff in our caucus was approached about leaving, and we almost lost several other key staff members, Niehaus said. "It became obvious when I heard what some of the offers were that they were in part leaving because of money, so I asked our chief of staff, Matt Schuler, to do a review of salaries."

We guess after his salary review Matt Schuler decided he needed a wee bit more, but even that doesn't appear to be enough as he's now headed for the door to collect what is expected to be a windfall salary of $146,286. He may want to talk to his wife, school board member Jill Schuler. Mrs. Schuler has been a very vocal proponent of "sared sacrifice"

Board member Jill Schuler said she struggles with placing the tax request on the ballot unless all employees make a commitment. She cited no flexibility with personnel costs that make up 80 percent of the district's budget.

"The sacrifices some are making need to be made by the whole," Schuler said.

Like we said, We're not saying it is hypocritical, but...

What's John Kasich hiding?

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It's being widely reported that Governor Kasich and his legal team are refusing to fulfill a public information request made by legislators.

State Reps. Debbie Phillips, D-Athens, and Matt Lundy, D-Elyria, said yesterday that they are considering legal action after being rebuffed in a public-records request, filed April 6, for 17 items of information related to education funding.

Kimberly Kutschbach, Kasich's assistant chief legal counsel, said Monday in a letter responding to the Democrats' query that the governor's office "does not have any public records responsive to your requests" for 16 of the 17 items.

This is becoming a commonplace response from the Governor. We have heard from many sources that their requests receive the same response. We too received a similar response recently

Your request for emails, spreadsheets, memos, documents from "said" employees is vague and overbroad. Therefore, it is denied.
However, you are welcome to amend your request so that it is more specific.
Thank you,

Lisa Iannotta
Chief Legal Counsel
Department of Administrative Services
30 E. Broad Street, 40th Floor
Columbus, Ohio 43215
(614) 728-3475 Direct Dial

We had simply asked for "a list of employees who provided the analysis and generated this report, a copy of all emails, spreadsheets, memos, and documents from said employees regarding this report. Thanks" in reference to the DAS SB5 savings report.

What information is the Kasich administration now saying it doesn't have?

Among the items Kasich's lawyer said the administration didn't have: research that shows Kasich's new school-funding formula will improve student achievement; a copy of the formula itself; a list of charter schools in academic emergency or watch; and projections of cost-savings from eliminating the "last-in, first-out" rules for educators.

A request for communications to and from the Fordham Foundation, a pro-school choice think tank, was deemed too broad to fulfil.

What is more troubling? That they claim not to have this information in order to obfuscate legitimate requests, or that it genuinely doesn't exist?

If it is indeed the latter, it's an admission that they intend to blow up public education in Ohio and have done no research or analysis as to the effects, nor what they are planning to replace it with.

Has there ever been a more reckless budget?