Statewide Education News
- Getting students ready for college is shared goal of Ohio Board of Regents, Department of Education (Plain Dealer)
- What are state rules on school inspections? (WKYC 3 NBC)
- Kids can't learn if they're not in class (Repository)
- Fiscal emergency may solve Niles schools’ financial woes (Vindicator)
- Parents Concerned About Cyber Bullying (WBNS 10 CBS)
- State wants London to let charter keep profit (Dispatch)
COLUMBUS - A marriage between Ohio's K-12 and higher education systems isn't imminent, but the two are preparing to move in together. The Ohio Board of Regents, which oversees the state's public colleges and universities, plans to move its offices less than half a mile to the Ohio Department of Education's building this spring, said higher education Chancellor Jim Petro. Petro told the regents at a meeting last week that he and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Stan Heffner have developed a significant partnership that had not existed in the past between the two agencies. Read More…
OHIO - A Cleveland school was recently closed when concerns arose over the structural integrity of the 100-year old school. So we wondered, what are the rules for inspections? Local health departments are required to inspect schools twice a year, mainly focusing on sanitary conditions but some are more thorough. Fire departments also need to make sure alarms are working and exits are open. As far as structural integrity, school custodians are expected to look for any changes in the building and report any problems. Read More…
CANTON — With her six children at home, Crystal Brownfield wasn’t expecting company Friday. But a knock on the door came from Canton City Schools Superintendent Michele Evans. Evans, along with Tim Henderson, Compton Learning Center principal, was one of 20 teams of educators and Family Court employees who staged a friendly blitzkrieg of visits to homes where school attendance is an issue. The district has noticed a sharp increase in the number of truancies at the kindergarten and first-grade levels — a trend that both has puzzled and surprised school officials who typically see the problem with older students. Read More…
Not only is the Niles City School District facing a major financial crisis, but the teachers’ union has rejected the board’s “last, best and final” contract offer. To describe the situation as dire is to state the obvious. What is not so obvious is a solution that at first glance may seem counter intuitive: State imposed fiscal emergency. Such a declaration by state Auditor David Yost would trigger the appointment of a state fiscal oversight commission. The entity would the take control of the school system’s finances, and would also have the power to set aside all labor contracts. Read More…
CHILLICOTHE - A mother said on Monday that she is concerned that online anonymous attacks could lead to problems. According to Melissa Tyler, a mother of two, Ross County middle and high school students are using a website called Topix to create discussion threads about people in town. “These are damaging things to kids,” Tyler said. “If you’re called something for so long, you’re going to believe that you are.” Tyler and other parents alerted Chillicothe City School District officials, who blocked the site from inside school buildings, 10TV’s Ashleigh Barry reported. Read More…
The London school district is certain it’s right: It can funnel the $700,000 profit from an affiliated charter school into the district’s general fund. The state is certain that London is wrong: That money is supposed to benefit the at-risk kids at London Academy, an online high school that is both sponsored and run by the district. Since 2010, the Ohio Department of Education repeatedly has told London City Schools to stop taking the money and to start letting the online high school make its own decisions. Read More…
Local Issues
- Columbus school board may raise time for public to speak (Dispatch)
- More city kids ready for rigors of school (Enquirer)
- Districts work to keep student-athletes eligible (Journal-News)
- Elgin consolidation puts future of LaRue after-school program in question (Marion Star)
- Vasquez reflects on two tough TPS years (Blade)
- Twitter, Facebook helped students at Westerville North (Dispatch)
Three minutes is too little. Five? Too much. But four minutes to say your piece at a Columbus City Schools board meeting might be just right, according to a proposal being considered tonight. The Columbus Board of Education is considering adding a minute to its per-speaker allotment during the public-comment portion of each meeting. It’s currently capped at three minutes, which speakers have complained isn’t enough time to make their point, said board member Mike Wiles. Read More…
More youngsters came to Cincinnati Public Schools ready for kindergarten this fall than in prior school years, a report on kindergarten readiness scores shows. About six in 10 students who enrolled in CPS’ 42 elementary kindergarten classes scored 19 or better on the state-issued Kindergarten Readiness Assessment-Literacy, often called KRAL. The average score for CPS’ newest kindergartners was 19.3, making this the first year the average score exceeds the 19-point benchmark. Read More…
Just as high school basketball season entered its second half, many school districts also began their second semester. This marks the close of a grading period and the release of grades that could determine a student athlete’s eligibility for the rest of the season. A JournalNews analysis of the minimum academic requirements across Butler County’s public school districts found a wide range of standards. Data shows the minimum grade-point average requirement for eligibility at each of the high schools range from 2.0 to 1.0. Read More…
LARUE - Children gathered around the table, their puddings and juice approaching the end. Their energy? Not so much. That's part of the excitement for a free after-school program that aims to give students a safe place while extending learning beyond the end of the school day. Community members launched the LaRue After School Area Program, a state-licensed child care program, more than a decade ago. Administrator Becky Kibler said, at the time, a state inspector told her it would never last because parents weren't asked to pay. Read More…
Bob Vasquez has faced life-and-death emergencies in his work as a child-abuse investigator. But he says nothing else he has done caused him as much stress as his service over the past two years as president of the Toledo Board of Education. "Everything was fast-moving, intense, high-pressure decision making," Mr. Vasquez told me last week. Citing the district's troubled finances, he added: "I would go to bed every night thinking, when is the state going to take over?" Read More…
The day after Spanish teacher Leroy Gilkey was killed, Westerville North High School was in mourning. Teachers fought tears as they gave lessons. Hallways were silent. Grief counselors were stationed in the auditorium and near Gilkey’s classroom. Many students were glued to their cellphones, plugging into Twitter and Facebook to write what they couldn’t bear to say out loud. Read More…
Editorial
- Open the evaluation (Akron Beacon Journal)
- Education reform proposals, including charters, could improve Washington state (Seattle Times)
When parents decide their neighborhood public school is not the best fit for their child, they have an option: They can apply for enrollment in some other public school in their home district, or they can seek enrollment outside the district. All districts are required to have policies permitting within-district, or intra-district, open enrollment. But they have a choice whether or not to take students from another district, inter-district enrollment, the tuition per pupil transferred from state aid to the home district. Read More…
A SLEW of education reforms proposed to the state Legislature signal a chance to get real work done this session. Rep. Eric Pettigrew, D-Seattle, and Sen. Steve Litzow, R-Mercer Island, provide a bipartisan and bicameral approach for smart reforms. Their proposals would allow charter schools, establish a process to intervene when schools fail and continue strengthening principal and teacher performance reviews. Expect contentious debate. In particular, the teachers union sees charter schools as a threat. Read More…