Statewide Stories of the Day
- Schools test-drive state's online testing system (Lima News)
LIMA — A colorful pie chart appears on the screen, inviting pupils to create their own colonies, figuring out how best to allocate their resources. On another test question, pictures of state senators appear with information hinting to whether they belong in the North or South. Pupils drag the pictures to the appropriate spots. This is the future of state testing: All online, more colorful, more interactive, more fun. Read More...
- Cleveland schools plan wins legislative support as Mayor Frank Jackson agrees to less control over new charter schools than he sought (Plain Dealer)
CLEVELAND — Mayor Frank Jackson scaled back his push to empower a local panel to approve new charter schools to win approval of his far-reaching Cleveland schools plan in the state legislature. Instead the new Transformational Alliance will only be advisory and will review charter school sponsors, or authorizers, and make a recommendation to the Ohio Department of Education, which will have final approval. Read More...
- Anti-truancy effort lauded (Dispatch) County and school officials yesterday touted an anti-truancy program that aims to help chronically absent Columbus students avoid court. The event was meant to take stock of several anti-truancy efforts that affect Columbus City Schools children, including Project KEY, drop-off centers for corralled truants and work by police officers to round up truants, said Edwin England, who helps oversee Project KEY. There’s little data to measure whether some of those programs have helped curb truancy. Read More...
Local Issues
- School adopts drug-test policy (Blade)
TOLEDO — St. John’s Jesuit High School & Academy plans this fall to introduce random drug tests for all students and staff, making it one of the first schools in Ohio to have such a policy. All students and staff could be asked to provide a hair sample for testing, and submission to the tests will be a condition of enrollment, the Rev. Joaquin Martinez, school president, said last week. School administrators have discussed a possible drug testing policy for about two years. It does not include testing for alcohol. Read More...
- 'Shared' treasurers saving school districts money (Dayton Daily News)
Local school district treasurers Dan Schall and Brad McKee are on the forefront of a state effort that aims to reduce costs and increase efficiencies by sharing services across public entities, such as school districts. “The governor really believes that for too long the first options considered to save money are cutting services or raising taxes, but there really is a third way,” said Randy Cole, policy manager with the Ohio Office of Budget and Management. “They can find efficiencies and change the way they perform services.” Read More...
- Licking County School Districts all pass Ohio Graduation Test (Newark Advocate)
NEWARK - Licking County's school districts all passed every section of the Ohio Graduation Tests for the first time this year. Although the results, posted online this week by the Ohio Department of Education, are only preliminary, they are encouraging, Newark Superintendent Doug Ute said. Ute's district sits at 76.1 percent of sophomores passing the science test -- up from 68.8 percent in 2011. "It's higher than it's ever been at this time," he said. "You have to keep in your mind, too, those things could change." Read More...
- Summer school numbers decrease (Journal-News)
Increasing costs of summer courses and more online options have contributed to the shrinking number of students enrolling in traditional summer school programs according to local school officials. Hamilton City Schools has seen its summer school enrollment plummet from 668 high school students in 2008 to 376 in 2011 according to a Hamilton JournalNews analysis. Keith Millard, director of secondary programs at Hamilton City Schools, said there are several contributing factors for the drop off. Read More...
- Decision on drug testing for all Vermilion students could come this summer (WEWS 5 ABC)
VERMILION - A few days after 16-year-old Jessica Fernandez committed suicide by standing in front of a train, an ex-boyfriend is speaking out. The police report states that Fernandez had a drug problem. The report does not say whether drugs had anything to do with her suicide, but James Harwood of Lorain believes it did. “Jessica was a beautiful person,” Harwood said, sitting on his couch with tears in his eyes. The 22-year-old said he is a former addict himself and has been in recovery for some time now. Read More...
- Minerva cuts teaching, bus-driver jobs (Repository)
MINERVA — As a cost-saving measure, 10 teaching positions and two bus driver slots were eliminated from the Minerva Local School District payroll. The school board also eliminated two administrative positions while filling two others. One of the positions filled was treasurer. That went to Larry Pottorf, the school system’s business manager. “The business manager also has a treasurer’s license,” Superintendent Joseph Chaddock said. “So the business manager will become the treasurer and I am eliminating the business manager’s position.” Read More...
- Area students fare slightly worse than 2011 on OGT (Chillicothe Gazette)
CHILLICOTHE - Students in Ross and Pike counties, as a whole, met fewer benchmarks on the Ohio Graduation Tests this year than in 2011, but not by much. Passing the OGTs is a requirement for all high school graduates. Introduced in 2001, the standardized tests met the federal requirement for testing. They're administered each spring to high school sophomores, as well as juniors and seniors who have not achieved proficient scores on one or more of the tests. Read More...
- Schools still face financial challenges (Vindicator)
Youngstown - Even though the city school district’s loss of state money isn’t as large as what was expected a couple of months ago, the school board president said financial challenges remain. “We’re not out of the woods yet,” said Lock P. Beachum Sr., Youngstown city school board president. The board decided late last year to place a replacement levy on the March ballot — seeking less millage than the levy that expires this year. But in February, the board voted to remove the replacement levy. Read More...
Editorial
- Hard-won legislative accord on Cleveland school reform should galvanize local officials (Plain Dealer)
Give Cleveland a chance to reform its struggling schools, which could mean a chance to remake the city. That's all that Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Cleveland Schools CEO Eric Gordon have been asking for as they seek legislation in the Ohio General Assembly that would, among other things, give a review panel oversight of city charter schools. Fortunately, despite some last-minute controversy about the Transformation Alliance, the mayor's proposed vehicle to monitor Cleveland charters, a deal was finally struck last week. Read More...
- Grand bargain (Dispatch)
With a deal hammered out on Thursday, one of the boldest experiments in education reform ever seen in Ohio is poised to be launched after final approval by the General Assembly in June. It aims to transform the education and prospects of the children of Cleveland, not to mention enhancing the economic prospects of Ohio. If it succeeds, much of the credit will go to Cleveland’s Democratic Mayor Frank Jackson, who exhibited political courage and remarkable political skill in crafting a bipartisan plan that led a variety of special interests to make sacrifices for the common good. Read More...
