Statewide Education News

Kasich school plan may change (Dispatch)

Republican leaders in the Senate plan to slow down Gov. John Kasich’s initiatives for holding back third-graders who aren’t proficient in reading and for a tougher report-card rating system for schools and districts. Under the Senate plan, new report cards would be issued by Sept. 1, 2013, for the 2012-13 school year, not this summer for the current school year. And the so-called reading guarantee would start in the 2013-14 school year, instead of this fall. Read More…

Local Issues

School bus drivers test skills on safety course (WLIO-Lima)

They drive our kids to school every day. Rarely do parents second guess the skills of school bus drivers. For the drivers, the safety of the children is of the up-most importance. To help improve their safe driving skills, bus drivers took to the course as part of the regional school bus safety Road-E-O Saturday. Driving a car through an obstacle course of cones may be difficult for some people, but imagine doing it in a 30 to 40 foot school bus. That is exactly what area bus drivers did Saturday morning, helping to sharpen their driving skills. Read More…

Animals on loose not considered ‘calamity’ for closed schools (Dispatch)

Unsure whether lions, tigers and bears remained loose near Zanesville, three Muskingum County school districts canceled classes the day after Terry Thompson released his menagerie of exotic pets and shot himself in the head. A calamity? Read More…

Effort Underway To Repeal Westerville School Levy (NBC-4, Columbus)

The levy controversy in Westerville just won't go away. Even though voters approved a 6.71-mill emergency operating levy in March, voters may soon see a levy issue on their November ballot as well. However, the new issue would be to repeal the levy. Monday, the group Taxpayers for Westerville Schools began collecting signatures in an effort to repeal the levy. Read More…

Official: Public can fight school privatization (Vindicator)

To stop privatization of public education, citizens need to become active. “Go to hearings, send 10 million emails to the governor and the legislators,” William L. Phillis, executive director of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, told about 200 people at Boardman High School Monday. Phillis was a speaker at a public forum sponsored by township schools and the Mahoning County Educational Service Center, Read More…

Salem bus drivers treated to breakfast on their ‘day’ (Salem News)

SALEM - City school bus drivers received a pat on the back Monday as part of School Bus Driver Appreciation Day in Ohio. "They do an awesome job of keeping our kids safe," Salem City Schools Transportation Supervisor Tom Mather said about his drivers. As for the kids, he said "they're safer in a school bus than any other form of transportation." Read More…

Eastmoor neighbors concerned about Africentric relocation plan (Dispatch)

Residents of the northern end of Eastmoor say they have a lot of questions about Columbus City Schools’ plans to move Columbus Africentric Early College to a former apartment complex near them. In the meantime, Bexley-area officials remain interested in using the old Woodland Meadows property even after the campus is built. They met with Columbus school-district officials yesterday, Columbus schools spokesman Jeff Warner said. Read More…

State dept. of education recognizes local teacher (Chillicothe Gazette)

A Ross County educator recently was recognized by the Ohio Department of Education for her local leadership as an advocate for families and young children. Maryjo Flamm-Miller, program specialist for Ross County Job & Family Services, received the 2012 Irene Bandy-Heddon Community Leadership Award from ODE's Office of Early Learning and School Readiness. The Community Leadership award was one of several awarded during a conference April 21 in Columbus. Read More…