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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > October
October 2006
Shoot for the moon (or Mars)
(Kiser Middle School eighth graders Darran Raglin and Cherelle Smith work in Mission Control during a mock space shuttle mission at the Challenger Learning Center Monday.)
I was wrapped up with my reporting and headed out the door at the reopening of the Challenger center yesterday when Ken Kreitzer, who heads Dayton Public Schools’ radio and television program, grabbed me and asked, “have you seen the launch scenario yet?”
He wouldn’t let me leave until I sat in the row of flight seats, complete with straps and buckles, and went through the simulation that kids who play the astronaut roles get to experience during the “launch” of their missions. A loud voice counted down over a growing rocket rumble and my seat shook as I stared at a flat screen television showing movie scenes of a shuttle launch (they’ll soon replace that film with actual shuttle launch footage).
It was hard to imagine how a an impressionable youngster wouldn’t find that inspiring.
That’s the whole idea behind the Challenger centers nationwide — to inspire a new generation of scientists and engineers. And according to the one actual astronaut at Monday’s event, it’s critical that educators find ways to point smart kids toward careers in science.
One statistic he dropped during his speech was pretty shocking.
Rich Heib, who has flown on three shuttle missions and now works for Lockheed Martin, a large defense contractor, said his company last year hired one out of every 10 new graduates in the U.S. with engineering degrees. That shows how great the demand (and how small the supply) is for home grown math and science experts.
Later I was talking to a PR person for Lockheed Martin who was telling me about the next generation shuttle the company is developing and the goal to use it to go back to the moon by 2018 and then to Mars.
NASA may be an expensive and controversial program in some critics eyes, but at least one benefit of the space program is its ability to inspire kids and help them see the exciting possibilities for careers in math and science.
This put me in mind of a story I did years ago on a visit to the area by astronaut Mae Jemison. Here’s the lead of that story:
“One day in her south Chicago elementary school, the children in Mae Jemison’s class each stood up and said what they wanted to be when they grew up.
`A scientist,’ young Jemison said when it was her turn.
`You mean like a nurse?’ the teacher suggested in response.
Jemison went on to attend Stanford at age 16 and later became the first black woman in space, flying aboard a space shuttle.”
Later in her speech, Jemison said it was the idea of flying in space, inspired by early NASA missions, that made her want to study science. Maybe some of our kids can be inspired by the chance to visit Mars.
(My colleague Tim Gaffney, who writes about aviation, posted about the event at his blog here).
Image credit: Chris Stewart, DDN
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools, My Favorite Posts, Teaching and Learning
The natives are restless
(Immigrants arrive New York in 1887)
Imagine this.
There’s an influx of immigrants into a community. The natives try to help them assimilate, seeking to teach them the skills they’ll need in society. But there’s one problem. None of the native teachers are fluent in the immigrant language.
What’s more, it just may be that the it’s knowledge of the immigrant language that’s key to thriving in the emerging global marketplace.
Sound like some far away place? This may, in fact, describe your home and your children’s classrooms.
Here’s what I mean.
On Friday, my wife and I got new cell phones after two years so I gave the old, disconnected phones to the kids to play with. About half an hour later, electronic sounds drew me away from the frustration of navigating through the features of my new phone to the room shared by my eight and six year old daughters.
I was fairly stunned by what they were up to. One was playing a video game that I never even knew was in the phone. The other had changed the ring to a song, re-arranged the welcome screen, renamed the phone and put her sisters’ names into the address book. Neither of them had ever used a cell phone before.
Folks, let me introduce you to the digital natives. They’re our kids, the ones who have always lived in a digital world. We, on the other hand, are the digital immigrants, the ones learning the language of technology second hand.
Apparently, this isn’t a new idea, but only recently I was passed this great paper from 2001 describing the daunting challenge for our education system. Here’s a taste:
“It is now clear that as a result of this ubiquitous environment and the sheer volume of their interaction with it, today’s students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors. These differences go far further and deeper than most educators suspect or realize.
“Different kinds of experiences lead to different brain structures,” says Dr. Bruce D. Berry of Baylor College of Medicine. As we shall see in the next installment, it is very likely that our students’ brains have physically changed - and are different from ours - as a result of how they grew up. But whether or not this is literally true, we can say with certainty that their thinking patterns have changed.”
Which leads to this problem:
” … the single biggest problem facing education today is that our Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language. This is obvious to the Digital Natives - school often feels pretty much as if we’ve brought in a population of heavily accented, unintelligible foreigners to lecture them. They often can’t understand what the Immigrants are saying. What does “dial” a number mean, anyway?
In some ways, I’m lucky. I sent my first E-mail and joined my first Internet listserv in 1988, long before many people had even heard of the Internet, thanks to a summer job at a university. I loaded my first web page on a work computer in 1995, again ahead of the curve compared to the general public.
But nothing changes the fact that I am a digital immigrant — I’ve learned enough of the language to get along but I’m far from fluent. My kids, even at very young ages, already know some aspects of this digital language better than I do.
It’s a tough problem. Teachers, like many of us in other professions, have sought out training and experience. But we’re still immigrants and “language learners,” to borrow education jargon.
Any ideas for how to overcome the divide with the natives?
(Image credit: www.latinamericanstudies.org)
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: My Favorite Posts, Teaching and Learning
When kids learn (about beer!)
My oldest daughter turned eight Thursday and we went out to eat at her favorite restaurant — Logan’s, a steak house in Beavercreek. Waiting for our food, my youngest daughter tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to a lighted beer sign on the wall.
“Look! Guinness!” she said.
I looked at the beer sign — a big frosty beer mug with “Guinness” scripted over the top — and turned back to the table.
Wait a minute. I looked back at my four-year-old and remembered something. She can’t read!
“How did you know that was Guinness?” I asked her.
“Because of the “C” in the middle,” she said, pointing to Guinness’ trademark C-shaped harp in the middle of the mug.
And thus began my lesson in the power of marketing and how beer companies subtly encourage kids to think of drinking alcohol as fun and natural.
How do my kids even know about Guinness? Simple. I watch ESPN, a sports network. Guinness advertises relentlessly during sports programs. And their clever and entertaining ads feature cartoonish characters in slapstick scenarios.
Their ads have even become part of pop culture with the signature line “Brilliant!”
My kids fall off their chairs laughing as a bear attacks one of the characters, as they scare away fans with smelly cheese on their heads at a football game, as one of them bursts into flames eating chicken wings. Heck, I’ve even called them into the room to see these commercials because I know they enjoy them.
In theory, those ads are targeting me — the middle-aged male demographic. But the side benefit to beer companies is they appeal also to young children. As I thought about this after the restaurant incident, I realized they’ve asked me more questions lately about beer and drinking.
I don’t really drink beer that often — almost never at home but occasionally at events and restaurants. Now that I think about it, they’ve lately asked me if that beer in my hand is Guinness, what it tastes like and why I drink it. As is usually my policy, I answer them as honestly and completely as I can.
So in a way, I’m doing the beer company’s dirty work — indirectly teaching my own kids that drinking alcohol is a fun, acceptable, even desirable pass time.
What to do now? Well, I’ve resolved from now on to mention the dangers of drinking too much when these questions come up. What about you? What advice do you have for these situations? And do beer companies have a responsibility to make creative ads that are not as appealing to kids? Are Guinness’ commercial characters the T.V. equivalent of Joe Camel?
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Young Children
What it’s really like to be a biracial student
Melanie Boysaw is a thoughtful 15-year-old in L.A. who plays basketball and loves a wide diversity of music.
But that’s not how most of the kids at school think of her.
Some think of her as their “half-black” friend. To others, she’s their “half-white” friend. To the ignorant, she’s “oreo” or “whitewashed.” This is a girl who’s grandfather went to his grave without ever meeting his granddaugter, angry that his daughter married a black man.
Can’t imagine the confusion and hurt you’d feel growing up that way? Let Melanie tell you what it was like and why, after all that, she’s glad to be who she is in every way.
Melanie is part of my extended family and I found her essay an inspiration.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Teaching and Learning
Please excuse the mess
Sorry about the untidiness of this blog today and yesterday. Apparently, the tech side of our blogging apparatus is having a template problem. Not to worry. I’ve been told they “know about the problem and are working on it.”
Permalink | |
Breaking News: Ohio charters constitutional
Just got this from the Gongwer News Service regarding the Ohio Supreme Court:
“Justices said in a 4-3 decision that the Ohio PTA and other opponents had not shown constitutional defects in the law that provides state financing for privately owned and operated charter schools. Justice Judith Lanzinger said in the lead opinion that such policy decisions are within the purview of legislative responsibilities.”
Wow, another 4-3 school funding decision. This is a big win for charter schools and school choice advocates. Had one judge gone the other way, the state’s entire program could have been invalidated.
I’ll post more shortly, but please post your comments.
UPDATE: Here’s a little bit more explanation of the case:
A coaltion of teachers unions, parent groups and school boards argued that charter schools violate the state constitution, which requires a “thorough and efficient” system of “common” schools. They argued that the state created a dual system that was unequally funded and held to different standards, diverting money that they said belonged to tradtional public schools.
The court rejected their arguments, saying the legislature has wide discretion in setting education policy and that charter schools are not that different from other sorts of schools — like vocational schools or magnet schools — that may be funded differently and exempted from some state rules. The majority decision also says the charter opponents did not meet a high standard of proof required to win a constitutional case.
Here’s an excerpt:
“The General Assembly is the branch of state government charged by the Ohio Constitution with making educational policy choices for the education of our state’s children. Our personal choices are not relevant to this task. The appellants have not shown beyond a reasonable doubt that the statute is unconstitutional on its face; nor have they met their high burden of presenting clear and convincing evidence of the statute’s unconstitutionality as applied.”
Permalink | Comments (20) | Categories: Charter Schools and School Choice
What 9.75 mills will cost you
(Board President Gail Littlejohn and Superintendent Percy Mack at Tuesday’s meeting)
There’s some confusion out there about how much the school board’s proposed levy will cost if voters approve it in May.
Treasurer Stan Lucas said Saturday that he estimates a 9.75 mill levy is needed to right the district’s financial slide, but the board has yet to decide for certain they will seek a levy that size. (A board meeting planned for this morning to consider levy options was canceled.)
In today’s story on the financial crisis, I reported the auditor’s estimate for the cost in new taxes of a 9.75 mill levy for the owner of a $100,000 home — $298 a year.
I saw one television station report the cost for that homeowner at $853 a year and a board member complained Tuesday that a different station reported a cost over $900 a year. At least one GOTB reader noticed the conflicting numbers and asked who was right.
When I asked the auditor’s representative to speculate, she guessed that the $853 figure was calculated without reducing the home’s worth to it’s taxable value (35 percent of its real value) and and a couple other adjustments. I’m not sure about the $900 figure. A mill is $1 for every $1,000 in taxable value of a property. There’s a decent explanation of how it all works here.
The auditor also gave me figures for lower millage amounts, should the board aim a little lower. Here’s what the same $100,000 homeowner would pay in new taxes at:
—5.75 mills: $176.10 a year
—7.75 mills: $237.35 a year.
By comparison, the 8.75 mill bond issue for school construction in Dayton that passed overwhelmingly in 2002 cost the $100,000 homeowner $274 a year in new taxes.
For a recap of the news of Dayton schools’ financial crisis over the past week, go:
-Here for today’s story and Tuesday’s blog post on the board’s vote.
—Here for the proposed cuts to begin in January.
—Here for the list of cuts proposed for July 1.
—Here for Sunday’s story on the cuts.
—Here to add your comments to the debate over the cuts.
Permalink | | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
Dayton schools move toward layoffs
By Scott Elliott
Staff Writer
DAYTON — — Dayton school officials Wednesday moved ahead with a plan for steep cuts — teacher layoffs, reduced high school electives, fewer sports teams — beginning January.
But Superintendent Percy Mack said the door is still open to avoid some cuts if administrators can cut elsewhere.
“This is the most difficult thing I’ve had to do in 33 years in education,” Mack said. “We have to do the things in this district to balance our budget so we don’t face a takeover by the state of our fiscal affairs.”
The board unanimously adopted a five-year fiscal forecast, with deep cuts this year and next, to stave off a deficit until the 2008-09 school year.
Mack’s plan calls for 58 teacher and 19 bus-aide layoffs among 135 job cuts that would come in January. The plan eliminates many high school and middle school sports teams, reduces high school electives and cuts middle school foreign language, among $9.4 million in total cuts.
Mack said he hopes to revise the plan within two weeks, seeking to minimize layoffs and academic program cuts.
School board President Gail Littlejohn asked the community to rally around the district.
“When I joined this board in 2002 as president I found a neglected school district,” she said. “Textbooks were outdated, many by decades. Teachers and staff were lacking professional development. Our schools were in a major state of disrepair. It’s too important to let that neglect ever happen again.”
As Dayton school leaders seek to curtail classroom cuts, potential labor strife continues to simmer.
Teachers told the Dayton school board this month its offer of a one-year contract with no raise was not enough and gave it until Nov. 1 for a better proposal or they would consider striking. The last contract expired in June.
Union President Pat Lynch was unhappy Tuesday about what she said was a lack of communication from the administration about its proposed cuts.
“Dayton students need every Dayton teacher,” she said.
Lynch said the union was not notified about Saturday’s meeting, in which cuts were first spelled out. District spokeswoman Jill Moberley said the union was mistakenly not notified when an automatic e-mail was sent to a prior union leader. Lynch took office this summer.
School board President Gail Littlejohn said Tuesday the board asked administrators to consider pushing some of the non-academic cuts planned for next year up to January.
About $9.4 million in cuts, to come after schools return from holiday break, is key to a five-year fiscal forecast the board adopted Tuesday.
Another $12 million in cuts next year include closing three schools and 141 teacher layoffs among 198 more job cuts.
Next year’s plan also includes $4.5 million in non-academic cuts, such as layoffs for custodial, grounds, maintenance staff — which could be moved up.
The cuts for next year could be stopped if voters approved a levy the board will place on the May ballot for a projected 9.75 mills. A levy that size would cost the owner of a $100,000 home an additional $298 a year in property taxes as estimated by the Montgomery County Auditor’s Office.
The board is facing a $24 million deficit next year thanks to declining revenues, a situation that accelerated when the board lost a $16 million ruling by the state regarding charter school enrollment. Board members, who were hoping to hold off on a levy until 2008, said that triggered the urgency for cuts now.
The board meets again at 7:30 a.m. today in the Wurlitzer Room at 136 S. Ludlow St., to review options for a levy.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
Fordham Foundation: “We were naïve”
In the midst of all the Dayton school news, I didn’t want to overlook the latest in a pretty amazing charter school story going on in Cincinnati and some good reporting by my friends Jennifer Mrozowski and Denise Amos Smith, with their colleague Sharon Coolidge, at the Enquirer.
It’s a story that has the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, perhaps the most respected and influential voice for school choice in the nation, trying to explain how it was hoodwinked.
You might recall that a couple months ago the W.E.B. DuBois Academy, a charter school admired by nearly everyone who came in contact with it for going into a low income neighborhood and dramatically raising test scores with a tough, high expectations program, nearly closed when the state began questioning its finances. Fortunately, the school ultimately was saved.
On Tuesday, the Enquirer reported the financial problems were more than just a funding dispute with the state — the school’s well-regarded founder Wilson Willard was indicted on theft and fraud charges.
Willard was a Fordham poster child for everything that was good about charter schools — he and other DuBois staff were frequent speakers and guests at Fordham events promoting school choice — and when Fordham became a charter sponsor in Ohio, it jumped at the chance to take over management of the school.
But even Fordham, which is deeply plugged in, politically well connected and known for it’s critical eye and tough love as a charter sponsor, missed the financial games Willard apparently was playing and were unaware of a long-running state investigation of the school.
Fordham’s Dayton-based vice president, Terry Ryan told the Enquirer Fordham ran a background check of Willard that showed nothing.
“We thought we were taking over what was the top (charter) school in Ohio,” he said. “It’s fair to say we were pretty naïve.”
UPDATE: Terry Ryan clarified the timeline for me. Fordham takes over sponsorship of DuBois in July 2005. The criminal investigation of Willard begins in autumn of 2005 and Fordham learns of it in December of that year when it has trouble obtaining past audits for the school. In June DuBois’ funding problems become public and Willard is demoted. He later left the school. Criminal charges against Willard finally came last week.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Charter Schools and School Choice
School cuts stay in place, with wiggle room
The Dayton school board met this morning and unanimously voted to submit a five-year forecast to the state that includes deep cuts and 58 teacher layoffs in January.
But there’s still a chance the layoffs and other classroom cuts could be avoided.
Board members emphasized that Tuesday’s vote was required to submit the financial forecast to the state. The numbers in the forecast will not change, but Superintendent Percy Mack is still working on shaping the details of the budget cuts.
President Gail Littlejohn said the board asked Mack to consider moving some of the non-classroom cuts for next school year forward to January. If enough new cuts are found that way, the layoffs and classroom cuts could be pulled out of the plan. Mack said he should have final answers about whether there would be layoffs and other classroom changes within two weeks.
Other highlights of the meeting:
—There was a debate about procedures and protocol. Board member Joe Lacey began by arguing that the board, by design, is not able to vote on the cuts. This goes back a couple years to a change in the district’s budget process. The board used to approve budgets down to the specific line items for each department. Now it approves big picture numbers and allows Mack and his team to manage the line item details. Lacey prefers the prior method.
Lacey also complained about the board’s process for crafting the plan for budget cuts, which he said unfairly gave some board members special privileges. Three board members — Littlejohn, Vice President Yvonne Isaacs and finance committe chair Lee Massoud — met with Mack last Monday to review the budget cuts presentation that the full board heard Saturday.
Littlejohn and board member Mario Gallin said the meeting was proper under board rules and Littlejohn said the presentation did not change substantially from Monday to Saturday. Lacey argued the presentation did change and that it was unfair for selected board members to have extra influence guiding the budget cut process.
—Mack, Littlejohn and other board memebers placed the blame for their budget woes squarely on the Ohio legislature and complained that charter school funding unfairly hurt Dayton schools. “They’re trying to fund two public school systems out of one pot and they’re not doing a very good job of it,” Littlejohn said of lawmakers.
—Teachers’ union leaders meet with Mack this morning to discuss the budget cuts and their ongoing labor dispute. The union has given the board until Nov. 1 to make it a better offer than the no-raise deal it has presented so far or it says it will consider striking.
—The board will meet again Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. to hear a presentation on its options for a May levy. The board has told Treasurer Stan Lucas it wants more information about what types of levies it could seek and how long the levy should last.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
Dayton school cuts will come early
The Dayton Board of Education has cancelled a meeting it had planned for today and instead will meet at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Wurlitzer Room at 136 S. Ludlow St. (across from the district’s main downtown headquarters).
The Monday meeting was planned in case the board wanted to hash out details of the planned cuts one more time, but as they left Saturday’s meeting, board members agreed to continue their discussion informally by phone and E-mail and only convene for the Monday meeting if there was a major concern about the plan that needed to be aired.
This is an open public meeting that anyone can attend.
For more background on the proposed school cuts, go:
—Here for the proposed cuts to begin in January.
—Here for the list of cuts proposed for July 1.
—Here for Sunday’s story on the cuts.
—Here to add your comments to the debate over the cuts.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
Details of Dayton schools’ proposed cuts
To help everyone get a better handle on what exactly Dayton school administrators have proposed for cuts, I’m spelling out everything they discussed Saturday here at Get on the Bus. The cuts proposed for January 2007 can be viewed by following the “continue reading” link. Go here for the cuts proposed for July 2007.
(If you want to add your two cents on this issue, take a look at the conversation going on here.)
Cuts proposed for January, 2007
Curriculum and Instruction
—Reduce high school electives for the second semester and eliminate 52 teachers.
Rationale: High school enrollment tends to decline in the second semester.
Savings: $1.2 million
—Reduce adjunct staff at Stivers and Colonel White high schools by 25 percent, affecting about 28 adjuncts.
Rationale: Saving can be made by cutting specialized arts services, like one-on-one lessons.
Savings: $101,000
—Reduce all Curriculum and Instruction budgets by 11 percent.
Rationale: Programs, including some teacher training, would be reduced.
Savings: $337,900
—Eliminate middle school foreign language and cut five teachers.
Rationale: Dayton had begun adding language teachers for grades 6 to 8 at each newly opened elementary school in hopes of building language skills before high school. This would end that program, but board members Saturday asked administrators to try to find a way to keep it.
Savings: $108,000
—Abolish administrative jobs of director of pupli services, executive director of grants, associate director of fine arts and associate director of ELA.
Rationale: Other administrators in curriculum would assume the workload.
Savings: $334,517
—Moving costs of nurses for handicapped kids and mental health workers for emotionally disturbed kids to grant funding.
Rationale: Saves general fund dollars.
Savings: $1.3 million
—Close the automotive program at Patterson Career Center.
Rationale: The district would find an alternative for its 15 students
Savings: $81,000
Total curriculum and instruction savings: $3.2 million
Superintendent’s office
—Reduce catered food
Rationale: This cuts food for events that do not involve students.
Savings: $26,000
—Cut two positions — associate director of human resources and a secretary.
Rationale: Won’t fill two open positions.
Savings: $142,029
—Reduce advertising
Rationale: Cut construction news updates and mailings.
Savings: $45,000
Total superintendent’s office savings: $213,029
—Realize workers’ compensation savings.
Rationale: Treasurer Stan Lucas said improvement in the district’s workers’ compensation rating and changes in the way the program is administered should results in a savings.
Savings: $3 million
Total Treasurer’s office savings: $3 million
Facilities Management
Utilities
—Natural gas costs lowered
Rationale: Lower prices should result in a savings. Negotiations are underway.
Total utilities savings: $900,000
Groundswork
—Lay off one groundsworker and reduce equipment maintenance.
Rationale: Reduce mowing to once every seven days instead of five.
Total groundswork savings: $38,164
Custodial
—Lay off 11 assistant custodians,15 substitute custodians, four night assistant custodians, one area manager and reduce overtime.
Rationale: Reduce service to “priority cleaning,” focused on trash removal, sweeping and bathrooms.
Total custodial savings: $562,795
Maintenance
—Eliminate contracted service and create two new HVAC positions on DPS staff. Reduce overtime. Conserve supplies.
Rationale: Reduce response time for some repairs.
Total maintenance savings: $336,057
Total facilities management savings: $1.8 million
Nutrition services
—Lay off six part-time food workers, hold off on point-of-sale equipment purchase, buy some cheaper food products, reduce cash reserve for kitchen repairs.
Rationale: Will slow down packaging time and delay repairs.
Total nutrition services savings: $252,632
Transportation
—Cut one body shop mechanic, 19 bus aides for special education bus routes, delay tire purchases for non-buses.
Rationale:Longer turnaround in repairs and less student supervision. Could result in disputes with labor unions.
Total transportation savings: $254,850
Safety and Security
—Delay hiring of second security officers for Kiser and Cornell Heights schools and eliminate one school safety liason.
Rationale: Reduce security coverage at those schools.
Total safety and security savings: $93,594
Athletics and Intramurals
—Cut high school golf, tennis, cross country, soccer and swimming, eliminating 27 coaches. Cut middle school track, softball, cheerleading, wrestling, and soccer, eliminating 29 coaches. Eliminate annual transfer of general funds to athletic budget.
Rationale: The district wants to maintain high interest sports and those that bring in revenue, epsecially football, basketball and volleyball. There was some talk Saturday of district-wide teams for some non-revenue sports that otherwise would be cut, an idea that could end up in the final proposal the board votes on.
Total athletics and intramural savings: $543,093
Business Operations
—Discontinue lease for extra parking under St. John’s Church next to the administration building.
Rationale: other extra parking is available nearby.
Total business operations savings: $14,000
Total overall savings: $9.4 million
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
Dayton school cuts for 2007-08
Here’s the second half of the cuts the school board has planned for July 2007. Just follow the “continue reading” link at the bottom.
The board is planning a 9.75 mill levy for May and if it passes, most of these cuts likely will not be implemented. The cuts for January are expected to go pretty much as described if the board approves this plan Tuesday.
Cuts proposed for July 2007
Curriculum and Instruction
—Close two elementary schools and one middle school.
Rationale: The district will move to consolidate more aggressively in preparation for new, larger schools to come online.
Saving: $4.4 million
—Consolidate Montessori programs at Franklin Elementary School.
Rationale: This allows for the elimination of extra teacher’s aides at Jefferson and Horace Mann schools who assist with Montessori programs. The district has plans to eventually have one Montessori school at the Patterson Career Center site on River Corridor Drive.
Savings: $643,500
—Abolish administrative jobs of executive director of secondary education, assistant superintendent for pupil services, legal liason, one position in the accountability office, one principal, associate director of elementary initiatives and one teacher on special assignment.
Rationale: Several of these jobs will be vacated by retirement. Workload will be shared by other administrators.
Savings: $710,439
—Eliminate non-essential summer school programs.
Rationale: Will offer only summer school programs required by No Child Left Behind.
Saving: N/A
—Eliminate intervention program during fall break.
Rationale: This program is designed to help kids catch up who need extra help during an October break.
Saving: $30,000
—Reduce adjunct staff at Stivers and Colonel White high schools by another 25 percent.
Rationale: Saving can be made by cutting specialized arts services.
Savings: $202,233
—Cut high school electives by another 25 percent.
Rationale: Schools will build master schedules that focus on basic subjects with fewer elective choices.
Savings: 518,400
—Eliminate either vocal or instrumental music at elementary schools.
Rationale: Cuts a program offering both at elementary schools. Reduces each school to one music teacher
Savings: $665,415
—Move one administrative position to grant funding
Rationale: Reduces general fund budget costs.
Savings: $87,301
—Eliminate all five high school nurses.
Rationale: One remaining nurse will rotate among the high schools.
Savings: $216,000
—Raise class size to labor contract maximum (25).
Rationale: Expected to result in 21 teaching jobs cut.
Savings: $943,326
—Eliminate 10 elementary school assistant principals and three teachers on special assignment in elementary schools.
Rationale: Schools will operate with less supervision.
Savings: $1.1 million
—Reduce high schools to one assistant principal.
Rationale: Each high school will have just one assistant principal.
—Eliminate the job of principal at Colonel White High School’s academic magnet program and teacher on special assignment at the school.
Rationale: Magnet program for high achievers will operate with less supervision and leadership.
Savings: $174,000
—Seek grant funding for general fund programs.
Rationale: Reduces costs to the general fund.
Savings: $500,000
Total curriculum and instruction savings: $11 million
Facilities Management
Engineering
—Cut purchased services.
Rationale: Reduce previously planned purchases.
Total engineering savings: $25,000
Groundswork
—Lay off two groundskeepers.
Rationale: Will push the mowing cycle from once a week to every 10 days at schools and every two weeks for vacant lots.
Total groundswork savings: $89,859
Custodial
—Lay off five night assistant custodians, five substitute custodians and one area manager.
Rationale: Expand “priority cleaning,” focusing on basics like trash removal and sweeping, to more sites. Fewer supervisor visits to buildings.
Total custodial savings: $360,024
Maintenance
—Lay off eight maintenance workers
Rationale: Reduces response time for repair requests.
Total maintenance savings: $571,933
Total facilities management savings: $1 million
Transportation
—Cut one budget inventory technician, five bus aides, one router and one dispatch. Also, eliminate RTA bus passes for high school students.
Rationale: Longer turnaround on repairs, no student field trips, reduced bus supervision, no out-of-city travel for middle school sports.
Total transportation savings: $3.5 million
Logistical support services
—Lay off stock clerk
Rationale: Processing time for school supplies will double.
Savings: $29,460
Safety and Security
—Lay off security officers at Belle Haven and Wogaman schools.
Rationale: Newer schools have more cameras and safety features and can be monitored without security. Some board members asked administrators to reconsider this move.
Total safety and security savings: $72,467
Athletics and Intramurals
—Eliminate annual transfer of general funds to athletic budget.
Rationale: Turf at Welcome Stadium will be replaced with funds provided by a state grant, reducing the need for the transfer.
Total athletics and intramural savings: $5475,000
Superintendent’s office
—Reduce catered food, consultant services, travel, supplies, printing, professional group association dues and memberships, equipment rental.
Rationale: Cuts do not impact academic programs
Savings: $53,000
—Reduce advertising
Rationale: Cut student recruitment materials and mailings.
Savings: $25,000
Total superintendent’s office savings: $78,000
—Close down and shut off utilities for Roosevelt High School, the former First Street administration building, two elementary schools and one middle school (the schools have not been named)
Rationale: Save general funds.
Total building closure savings: $1.5 million
Additional reductions still needed
—Workforce reductions.
Rationale: To meet the 2007-08 budget without a new levy, the board must significantly reduce spending beyond the cuts already listed.
Savings still needed: $9.3 million
—Non-payroll reductions
Rationale: To meet the 2007-08 budget without a new levy, the board must significantly reduce spending beyond the cuts already listed.
Savings still needed: $2.9 million
Grand total proposed cost savings: $30 million
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
Teacher layoffs, sports part of $8.3M in cuts
By Scott Elliott
Staff Writer
Dayton school leaders Saturday proposed $8.3 million in cuts that could come in January, including 58 teacher layoffs, as part of a plan to head off a budget deficit next year.
School board members said this month they will seek a levy in May. In a special Saturday meeting, Treasurer Stan Lucas estimated that the levy will be for 9.75 mills, which would raise $14.3 million annually. The board still has to decide what type of levy to seek.
Meanwhile, the board must submit a five-year forecast to the state this week, and that forecast spells out a worst-case scenario if the levy doesn’t pass.
The school board expects to vote Tuesday on the full plan, which would include even deeper cuts next year such as closing three schools and cutting 141 teachers as part of $18 million more in reductions. And that’s not the end of it. Administrators said they will still need to find $12 million more next year to stave off a deficit.
“This is not a pretty picture,” Superintendent Percy Mack said.
The proposed cuts for this school year amount to 3.6 percent of the district’s $225 million budget. For next year, a 14.6 percent cut would be needed to avoid a deficit.
School board President Gail Littlejohn said when she joined the board in 2001 school officials were projecting a levy by 2005. She said the district instead reduced administrative spending and focused spending on academic reforms.
“We did make a conscious decision to take every penny we could find and put it behind reform,” she said. “We knew it would cost a chunk of money and it did. We are now spending down our reserves at a pretty fast clip. But we knew this day was coming.”
The financial crunch will force some hard choices.
The district, which has not sought a tax levy since 1992, began spending its $45 million reserve this year and the school board had hoped to delay a levy until 2008. But financial losses accelerated when the district lost a dispute over charter school enrollment. School leaders said a 9.75 mill levy was likely in May.
About $5,500 in state money is re-routed from the district for each student who enrolls in a charter school. Dayton and other cities had negotiated a deal with the state to reduce the amount taken for charters after a dispute over how those kids were counted.
But in May, Ohio legislature wrote a new rule making the state education department the final arbiter of financial disputes, and the department backed out of the deal. Cincinnati schools are suing the state over that dispute.
School officials said while they hope to still get settlement money if Cincinnati wins the suit, they must plan as if no new money will come from the suit or a new levy.
If a May levy fails, cut for next school year are even deeper than those considered for this year. Superintendent Percy Mack and his staff offered these explanations on those cuts:
School closings and job cuts: About 80 percent of the district’s budget is personnel. The only way to save significant money is to reduce personnel, school leaders said.
With 13 new, bigger schools opening this school year and next, the district would seek to consolidate more quickly. Class size would grow to 25 from 20 and 22 at early elementary grades. At high school, fewer electives would allow for fewer teachers. Adjunct staff members to teach private music lessons at Stivers and Colonel White high schools would be curtailed.
Nurses, and music or language programs may be cut, although board members Saturday said they hoped to maintain some of them. Principals would be asked to do more with less support. Montessori instruction would be offered at one site — Franklin Elementary School — instead of three.
Athletics: Teams with low participation that don’t generate revenue through ticket sales would be eliminated. A $50 fee would be instituted to play on the remaining teams.
Maintenance: Strategies to reduce staff include mowing grass less often, sticking to the basics for cleaning.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: My Favorite DDN Stories
Deep cuts proposed for Dayton schools
In a meeting this morning, Superintendent Percy Mack’s staff proposed deep cuts for the school district to try to head of a deficit next year. What may catch some off guard is that the board will consider $8 million in cuts starting January, and some of them — including teacher layoffs and eliminating some sports teams — would be painful. The board votes on these proposed cuts Tuesday.
Here’s a brief summary of what’s proposed. Look for more in Sunday’s Dayton Daily News.
Proposed cuts starting in January
As a pre-emptive move, the board Tuesday will consider $8.3 million in immediate cuts. Among them, the board would:
—Cut 135 jobs including 58 teachers
—Reduce the number of high school electives
—Eliminate foreign language in grades 6 to 8
—Reduce hours or eliminate 28 adjunct faculty at Stivers and Colonel White high schools
—Close Patterson Co-op High School’s automotive program
—Layoff 19 school bus aides for special education buses
—Eliminate high school golf, tennis, cross country, soccer and swimming
—Cut all middle school sports except football, basketball and volleyball
—Reduce groundskeeping, maintenance, food and custodial services
Proposed cuts starting July 1
The board said Saturday it intends to seek a 9.75 mill levy in May. If the levy does not pass, $18 million cuts will be instituted on July 1. Among them, the board would:
—Eliminate 198 positions, including 141 teachers
—Close two elementary and one middle school
—Strip Montessori programs from Jefferson and Horace Mann schools
—Eliminate all summer school not required by No Child Left Behind
—Cut high school electives by another 25 percent
—Cut adjunct faculty at Colonel White and Stivers by another 25 percent
—Eliminate either vocal or instrumental music at elementary schools
—Lay off all high school nurses
—Cut all elementary school assistant principals
—Cut one assistant principal at each high school
—Deeper cuts in maintenance, groundskeeping, food and custodial services
Even after all these cuts, school leaders say they still need to find another $12 million in cuts to balance 2007-08 budget.
Permalink | Comments (31) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
Define lazy
Blogger/teacher Get Lost, Mr. Chips says his kids really are lazy … when they’re in school.
When they’re out of school? Not so much. That’s when they work — and they work hard.
Could these two issues be related?
Back in April, I wrote about some intriguing research — a paper that argued American kids work too much and it’s part of the reason they’ve fallen behind the rest of the world when it comes to academic work.
While we romanticize teen-age jobs in the U.S. as character builders, there’s at least some evidence that these jobs, such as slinging burgers, don’t really translate into usable skills. But the energy spent on those fast food jobs and the like is energy not used on school work, which could perhaps be more important?
This also put me in mind of the recent stories about how kids who are good at math also hate math. (Alexander Russo critiques the media coverage of that story here).
At least one theory bounced around in the news stories about why kids who do well in math hate it is that, like exercise, only a certain type of kid enjoys the reward of the punishing work it takes to get better.
It’s interesting so many of our kids decline to learn math and yet appear not to mind grueling fast food work. Isn’t there some way to channel that energy and dedication back into challenging subjects like math?
(Image credit: www.youthink.com)
Permalink | Comments (6) | Categories: My Favorite Posts, Teaching and Learning
“Tag you’re it,” and other dangers
Sorry for the sparse posting. Major computer problems required me to get a new laptop.
Lots of education news out there this week. I was somewhat tickled to see this Boston Globe story about a school that banned kids from playing tag getting tons of media and blogosphere buzz.
It’s funny because this is a pretty old story that’s been reported in several other cities. I even blogged about it back in February.
As I said back then, I thought this was a joke until I started asking educators. Indeed, they are afraid of kids being injured playing tag. My own daughter’s school forbids kids to even chase each other! Jeez, what’s more natural for young grade school kids than to chase each other around?
It’s another example of our society’s fearful and litigious nature. It’s ruining the fun for our kids.
(Image credit: http://everydaymusings.blogspot.com/)
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Student Health and Safety
Mack is national superintendent of the year
(Percy Mack)
Dayton school board president Gail Littlejohn announced tonight that Superintendent Percy Mack was named national superintendent of the year by the National Alliance of Black School Educators. The group has not yet formally announced he is the winner but he recieved notification by mail.
Just a couple weeks ago, I wrote her that Mack’s star was on the rise and that could become a sought-after candidate for superintendent jobs in bigger districts.
If we thought he was likely to get noticed before, imagine what’s going to happen now. I wonder if other districts who might be interested in Mack will come offering a zero raise like he got this year?
Permalink | Comments (11) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
Taking the fight to an attacker
Forget locking the doors and hiding under desks. In one Texas school district, an intruder alert means something altogether different. It’s a call for the kids to attack.
And as crazy as that sounds, they might be right.
Could these recent violent school incidents do for school safety what the 9/11 hijackings did for air safety? That is, turn compliant victims into fighters?
After 9/11, I would be surprised if you’ll ever see an airliner hijacked again without a fight. Remember the shoe bomber, Richard Reid? A few months after the terror attacks he tried to light a bomb built into his shoe on an overseas flight and was quickly attacked and subdued by other passengers. Sept. 11 taught us that sometimes your only chance is to fight when you have the chance.
The way these latest school shootings have gone down, it’s not outlandish to suggest a school’s best chance in a threatening situation is to use its advantage — the attackers are always going to be outnumbered. A school staff and student body trained to attack at the first sign of trouble might actually prove effective at heading off a bigger tragedy.
Or, it might turn a situation that could be diffused without violence into one in which innocent victims are unnecessarily harmed?
Teacher-blogger Chem Jerk says this idea is insane, comparing it what he says is an equally crazy idea — allowing students and staff to pack heat.
What’s your take? Is the attack-first posture justifiable?
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: School Violence
Sir, yes sir! Mr. Superintendent sir!
(David Brewer)
Wow. Out in Los Angeles, they’ve named a retired Navy admiral as superintendent. L.A., the nation’s second largest school district, now becomes by far the largest to experiment with a military leader running its schools.
David Brewer has little education experience and was virtually unknown as a candidate for a top superintendency, but beat out a parade of well-known educators. School board members told the L.A. Times they were impressed by his leadership skills.
In a way, L.A. is behind the curve. There were a couple high profile ex-military superintendents in the 1990s — a mini-trend that then seemed to mostly run its course. By my count, there were 10 military superintendents over the past decade or so. How’d they do? Well, it was 50-50. About half worked out well and the other half mostly bombed (no pun intended).
With a few Internet searches, here’s what I was able to dig up on the generals and colonels who have led school systems:
Examples of military leaders who worked out as superintendent:
John Stanford. A former Army major general, he was superintendent in Seattle from 1995 to 1999 Stafford was well-regarded prior to his death in 1999 for bringing in outsiders and trying to shake up the district, especially focusing on improving its finances.
John Fryer. A former Air Force major general, he was superintendent in Jacksonville, Fla., from 1998 to 2005. After a successful run, he left to become president of the National Institute for School Leadership.
Thomas Siegel. A former Navy commander, he was superintendent in Boulder Valley, Colo., from 1997 to 1999 and has led Bethel Public Schools in Washington since 2004. There wasn’t much out there on his Boulder Valley tenure, but the local paper in Bethel is supportive of him and praised his success.
Raymond Arment. A former Army colonel, he has been superintendent in Eatonville, Wash., since 1998. I also couldn’t find much about Arment, but the few mentions of him were generally positive and his longevity seemed to indicate he was having a successful run.
J.J. Coolican. A formner Marine colonel, he was superintendent in the Peninsula school district in Washington from 1999 to 2005. He started as a school counselor after 30 years in the military. Eventually promoted to deputy superintendent and then to the top job. Tried to resign in 2004, but the board persuaded him to stay with a pay raise.
Examples of military leaders who didn’t work out as superintendent:
A.G Davis. A former Marine colonel, he was superintendent in New Orleans from 1999 to 2002. The district was largely in turmoil during his tenure, both academically and financially, and he resigned in the midst of a political fight after complaints that his father got large amounts of overtime from the district.
William Harner. A former Army lieutenant colonel, he was superintendent in Greenville, S.C., from 2000 to 2004. He resigned under pressure a year before his contract expired. While he was credited with raising test scores, he also sparred with the school board. A review by the county solicitor found no criminal wrongdoing after unnamed board members said his use of money from timber sales to start a lacrosse team, and other dealings, might have broken laws.
Joseph Redden. A former Air Force general, he was superintendent in Cobb County, Ga., from 2000 to 2005. He was forced out after the school board revolted over his plan to use sales tax money to buy every teacher and student in grades 6 to 12 an Apple laptop.
John O’Sullivan. A former Air Force colonel, he was superintendent in Savannah, Ga., from 2001 to 2004 and in Osesso, Minn., from 2004 to 2005. O’Sullivan was bought out early by the school board both times. In Savannah, he was bought out 20 months early. Went on to Osesso, Minn., in 2005 where he was again bought out, this time a year early. In both cases, board members complained about his brusque style.
Julius Becton. A former Army lieutenant general, he was superintendent in Washington, D.C., from 1996 to 1998, After repeated budget battles, he resigned after 17 months saying he was exhausted and calling this the toughest job he ever had.
(Image credit: L.A. Times)
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Schools and Politics
Cursive may be toast (good riddance!)
Actually, it’s not just cursive writing, it’s handwriting at all. Kids are learning keyboarding and other digital entry platforms at younger and younger ages, says the Washington Post. Cursive was used by just 15 percent of 1.5 million essay writers who took the SAT last year.
I’m already on record opposing cursive writing, although my primary objection as a southpaw is that cursive is a tool of right-handed oppression.
About a year ago, I made a conscious effort to give up all handwritten note-taking. It’s mostly been an amazing success. With a laptop, I’ve found that I can take notes almost anywhere. I have always typed much faster than I can handwrite, so I find my notes are better and more complete than ever. And the days of having to go back and decipher my wrench-wristed writing are mostly gone.
The only downside is that there are still some circumstances in which I must take handwritten notes and I’ve noticed I am slower than ever these days.
I’m certain our kids will have more and better tools for note-taking, and that hand writing will become more unnecessary. Which, as I’ve said, is fine with me. What about you? Are you one of those sentimentalists who pines for curvy penstrokes on lined yellow paper?
(Image credit: searle.ss.uci.edu)
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Teaching and Learning
How to get an A in an AP/Honors class
From time to time, I like to read a website aimed at high school kids trying to get into college. On the message boards, it’s clear from the questions and comments that the average reader is a top student searching for an edge to get into first-rate universities.
This week there was a great question posted by one of the students— what are the best strategies to get an A in your very hardest class? Here are the replies from two other students:
—Read the textbook, assigned or not. Take thorough notes on reading and lectures, go over them, rewrite/type them if you need more review, and have a highlighter system.
—Make flashcards. Even if you don’t use them, writing them out helps a LOT and they’re a quick way to review/test yourself.
—Do your homework. And do extra problems/questions, if that helps.
—Be engaged in class. Participate in discussions, and try to get yourself interested in what’s going on.
—Even if there aren’t discussions in class, discuss things with people. Try classmates, friends, your parents….
—Get a tutor if you need one, or ask your teacher for help.
—Understand how you’re graded.
—Read. Just read a lot in general - this improves your writing SO much. Also, learn to diagram sentences. Even if you have all the facts write, (hopefully) you’re also graded on how you write, so you want to write well.
—Aside from the obvious “listen/do your work,” become interested in what you’re learning. Build rapport with your teachers, drink lots of coffee, and create mnemonics for everything. Confidence/outlook definitely plays a huge role…if other people think that you’re smart, you’ll feel the pressure and rise to the occasion, etc.
I thought that was pretty good advice. Readers, feel free to add your own tips and pass this list on to students who might find it useful.
(Image credit: www.ehs.sbac.edu)
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Teaching and Learning
Should 3- and 4-year-old have spelling tests?
There’s been some blogosphere buzz about a Washington Post series that recently kicked off, called The Rise of the Testing Culture. (Alexander Russo rips the series here, while Jim Horn praises it here.)
In this week’s Carnival of Education, a weekly collection of the best in education blogging, Matt Johnson looks at one part of the piece, the story of how younger and younger kids are facing standardized tests.
I’ve seen some of these test, and they’re not pretty.
Go here for detailed examples of what pre-school standardized test are really like.
It’s inevitable that as public funding is pushed toward pre-school children, accountability will seek to follow. The younger a child is, the less reliable a standardized test can be.
BTW, my review of the book Building Blocks is included in this week’s carnival.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Categories: The Carnival of Education, Young Children
Will a thicker wall keep violence out?
(The U.S. consulate in Turkey before 9/11)
(The U.S. consulate in Turkey today)
It’s actually worse than those pictures appear. Last year, while traveling in Istanbul, I lost my passport and had to go to the U.S. Consulate for a replacement. After a half-hour trip out of downtown, we came to the hilltop fortress that is the image of the U.S. in that country. Walls, checkpoints and reinforced concrete everywhere.
A well-traveled friend told me this is a growing trend around the world — U.S. embassies and consulates are being rebuilt into military-style compounds in the name of safety. I understand the need for safety, but have we thought about how this makes us look to the rest of the world?
After a week of violent incidents at schools, I’ve begun to wonder how long before school buildings are remade in much the same way — into your own little neighborhood Fort Knox.
So far, we’ve begun to see mostly subtle changes in school design to add safety features to buildings.
But if violent incidents continue, how long before schools undergo a more radical transformation in the name of safety?
Already, schools, perhaps unintentionally, send signals to parents to keep their distance. My daughter’s kindergarten teacher blocked the classroom door on the first day of school — kids were allowed to pass while parents were shooed away. No pictures were allowed either. (I admit to being one of those who backed down the hallway for a quick first-day-at-school snap shot. Sorry, but that was a keepsake photo I simply had to have).
At the same time, there’s a lot of evidence that the more involved parents are in a school, the better the students perform.
Schools have a difficult balance to strike. They are public by definition and the education process is enhanced when they are more open to the community. At the same time, we all want to guard against those who would hurt our kids.
Can it be done without moats and watchtowers?
(Image credit: www.state.gov, www.state.gov)
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: School Violence
What does black student data tell us?
(Trotwood-Madison High School students last month)
A couple years ago, a fairly affluent Dayton-area suburban school district was cited as in a wire service story for its success educating black students because the percentage of black students who passed state tests was very high.
When we looked at the data, however, we found that while indeed the black students had scored well, there were very few of them. If I remember right, I think the high percentage resulted from something like nine of 11 black students passing a state test. And while applauding their success, we hesitated to conclude, as the statewide story had, that this district was doing something extraordinary to help black students achieve. The numbers were just too small to draw that sort of sweeping conclusion.
But ever since that story, I’ve wondered how we might try examine which Ohio school districts might, in fact, be doing something notable to raise achievement for blacks students. Perhaps there are examples from which the rest of the state can learn, since Ohio has one of the nation’s worst gaps between white and black test scores?
Using this year’s report card data, I started poking around, trying to find trends that might indicate success in helping black students achieve. Some of what I found was interesting. Some of it was curious.
I started by looking for districts with a large percentage of black children. I made a list of the districts in which black students made up at least a quarter of the enrollment. There are 39 of them out of 610 Ohio school districts.
Then I looked at three variables for black students from the state’s data — graduation rate and the percentage of black 10th graders who passed the Ohio Graduation Test’s reading and math sections.
Here’s some of what the data showed:
Low test scores but good graduation rate.
Jefferson Twp. a close-in Dayton suburb, has amazing success graduating black students despite low test achievement. Seventy-eight percent of the district’s enrollment is black, fifth most in the state. Despite ranking in the bottom quarter among the 39 districts for reading and math test scores, Jefferson ranks in the top six for graduation rate, just short of a perfect score. Jefferson and Maple Heights are the only districts ranked among the top 10 in graduation rate that also fall in the bottom quarter for both math and reading scores.
Campbell schools, near Youngstown, remarkably rank second worst in the group for black students’ reading scores but maintain a 100 percent graduation rate for those kids. The other two districts with perfect black graduation rates — Reynoldsdburg near Columbus and the Cleveland area’s Richmond Heights — both also rank in the top 10 for reading and math scores.
Comparing well with peers
Trotwood-Madison is another close in suburb that, like Jefferson Twp., is traditionally one of the Dayton-area’s lowest scoring districts on state report cards. But in this peer group, it’s scores compare reasonably well for performance by black students, ranked 13 of 39 for graduation rate and ranked seventh in math and 16th in reading.
Dayton ranks low when it comes to graduating black students, but better than several of its peers among the large urban districts including Cleveland, Youngstown, Canton, Columbus and Cincinnati. But reading and math scores for Dayton’s black students are in the bottom quarter among the 39 districts and slightly lower than most of those peers.
On the low end
Nearby Springfield’s black graduation rate beats Dayton, but it ranks lower in math and reading scores (in the bottom five among this peer group on both tests).
I also couldn’t help but notice how stark Cleveland’s numbers are here. Ohio’s largest school district was the lowest rated overall on state report cards released in August, and those low scores are reflected here. The district is last in this group by nearly 10 points in black graduation rate, last in 10th grade reading and third to last in 10th grade math.
I’m still not certain how much this data tells us. Give me your thoughts on what you see here and if you have suggestions for what other data you would like to see on this topic, I’d love to hear them.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: My Favorite Posts, Urban School Issues
Graduating black students
Four Dayton-area districts are among the 39 in Ohio in which black students make up at least 25 percent of enrollment. Which ones do the best job helping those kids achieve? Here are three measures. The districts are ranked by the percent of black students who graduate. In parenthesis, I’ve listed how each district ranks among the 39 for the pecent of 10th grade black students passing the Ohio Graduation Test in reading and math:
Reynoldsburg 100 (Reading 10, Math 1)
Richmond Heights 100 (Reading 1, Math 5)
Campbell 100 (Reading 38, Math 26)
Warrensville Heights 98.8 (Reading 21, Math 28)
South Euclid-Lyndhurst 98.4 (Reading 6, Math 2)
Jefferson Twp. 98.1 (Reading 30, Math 33)
Shaker Heights 96.8 (Reading 9, Math 11)
Maple Heights 95.8 (Reading 31, Math 36)
Liberty 93.3 (Reading 33, Math 19)
Finneytown 92.5 (Reading 13, Math 6)
Princeton 90.9 (Reading 18, Math 10)
Garfield Heights 90.9 (Reading 2, Math 20)
Trotwood-Madison 90.8 (Reading 16, Math 7)
Groveport Madison 90.5 (Reading 22, Math 14)
Whitehall 90.5 (Reading 12,Math 30)
Bedford 90.1 (Reading 4, Math 15)
Euclid 89.2 (Reading 5, Math 9)
Cleveland Heights-University Heights 88.1 (Reading 15, Math 13)
Mt Healthy 87.6 (Reading 17, Math 12)
Winton Woods 86.8 (Reading 7, Math 4)
Oberlin 86.7 (Reading 3, Math 38)
Lockland 84.6 (Reading 8, Math 3)
Springfield 84.5 (Reading 34, Math 35)
Warren 82.3 (Reading 36, Math 29)
North College Hill 80 (Reading 11, Math 16)
Akron 79.9 (Reading 25, Math 23)
Toledo 79.2 (Reading 14, Math 21)
Mansfield 78.9 (Reading 28, Math 22)
Steubenville 78.3 (Reading 37, Math 18)
Dayton 77.8 (Reading 29, Math 32)
Cincinnati 75 (Reading 19, Math 8)
Canton 73.9 (Reading 23, Math 31)
Columbus 70.7 (Reading 27, Math 25)
Lorain 70.6 (Reading 24, Math 24)
Lima 66.8 (Reading 35, Math 39)
Youngstown 64.8 (Reading 32, Math 27)
East Cleveland 63.2 (Reading 26, Math 34)
Sandusky 62.2 (Reading 20, Math 17)
Cleveland 51.2 (Reading 39, Math 37)
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Urban School Issues
Districts with the most black students
These are the 39 Ohio school districts, out of 610 in which black students make up at least 25 percent of enrollment (district, county, percentage). Dayton-area districts are in bold:
East Cleveland (Cuyahoga) 99.2
Warrensville Heights (Cuyahoga) 99
Maple Heights (Cuyahoga) 88.5
Trotwood-Madison (Montgomery) 84.8
Jefferson Twp. (Montgomery) 78.7
Cleveland Heights-University Heights (Cuyahoga) 75.9
Bedford (Cuyahoga) 73.6
Cincinnati (Hamilton) 70.9
Euclid (Cuyahoga) 70.6
Dayton (Montgomery) 70.5
Cleveland (Cuyahoga) 70.3
North College Hill (Hamilton) 67.7
Mt Healthy (Hamilton) 67
Youngstown (Mahoning) 66.9
Winton Woods (Hamilton) 66.1
Richmond Heights (Cuyahoga) 64.4
Columbus (Franklin) 62.6
Shaker Heights (Cuyahoga) 52.9
Princeton (Hamilton) 49.8
Akron (Summit) 48.5
South Euclid-Lyndhurst (Cuyahoga) 47
Toledo (Lucas) 46.1
Warren (Trumbull) 41.8
Lima (Allen) 41.5
Canton (Stark) 35.9
Mansfield (Richland) 34.8
Finneytown (Hamilton) 33.3
Sandusky (Erie) 32.9
Lockland (Hamilton) 32.3
Garfield Heights (Cuyahoga) 30.9
Steubenville (Jefferson) 30.7
Campbell (Mahoning) 30.4
Liberty (Trumbull) 29.3
Oberlin (Lorain) 28.5
Whitehall (Franklin) 27.2
Groveport Madison (Franklin) 27.1
Lorain (Lorain) 27.1
Springfield (Clark) 25.7
Reynoldsburg (Franklin) 25.4
Permalink | | Categories: Urban School Issues
Mark Cuban’s message
(Entrepreneur Mark Cuban)
About two years ago, I met a fine journalist named Chris Carey through the Knight Wallace journalism fellowship, a program we’ve both been through.
At the time, Chris was a top-notch investigative journalist on sabbatical from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch who had a dream. He wanted to run his own website dedicated to investigating fraudulent companies.
One site Chris liked to read was the blog of Mark Cuban, an Internet-era millionaire and now owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA basketball team.
This is where the story starts to get interesting.
Cuban writes about all sorts of stuff on his blog, including business, and his interests sometimes overlapped with Carey’s.
Carey commented on the blog and began an E-mail correspondence with Cuban, discussing his idea for the website. One day, Carey asked a simple question: would Cuban consider backing such a website financially?
“Yes,” Cuban wrote back.
The site is called Sharesleuth and it’s a winner. But the fascinating thing is Cuban backed Carey without ever meeting him in person until well after the site launched. He invested thousands of dollars in Carey’s idea solely based on his online conversations with him and some independent research he did to check out Carey’s prior work.
On Friday, Cuban spoke to a room full of journalists at the Online News Association’s convention in Washington, D.C. Afterward I asked him about Carey. I wanted to know why he did what few investors would do — spend money on a guy they’ve never looked in the eye.
“He had the goods,” Cuban said.
Based on what he had seen of Carey’s work and what he had learned about Carey’s prior experience he was confident the project would work. Cuban saw no need for the “gut feeling” emotional reaction of meeting Chris in person. He had something better — actual evidence that the guy had what it took.
There’s another blog I like to read called ProBlogger, written by blogging bigshot Darren Rouse, who this weekend also wrote about all the virtual acquaintences he depends on in his blogging business that he’d like to meet in person, includng his three business partners.
The lessons for parents and educators? Here’s a few:
—The Net puts a premium on communications skills, especially writing. Nobody would go into business with someone they’ve only met online if the potential partner wasn’t an expert at communicating ideas, using the written word. If kids have great communication skills, many more possibilities will be open to them.
—You can reach out to anyone. What are the chances Carey could have ever even reached Cuban if not for the Net? Communication with almost anyone is much easier now, and that opens doors that traditionally have been closed.
—Ideas are more powerful than salesmanship in an online world. This is something I tell high school kids when I’m asked to speak — the future will be exciting for those who work hard at learning to shape and refine their ideas and collaborate with others. You aren’t likely to get by on a charm and a nice smile in cyberspace.
—Physical distance is less important. Chris Carey can stay in Michigan and Mark Cuban can live in Texas and they can start a venture together entirely by E-mail. Rouse is in Australia but some of his professional partners are in the U.S.
Somehow, these lessons need to be imparted to kids. Are schools adapting to these realities of the Internet age?
(Image credit: www.nndb.com)
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Journalism, Teaching and Learning
In good company
The winner in my category at the Online Journalism Awards Saturday night was a great technology website called Good Morning Silicon Valley. I don’t know much about technology news, but this very well done and well written site had me laughing out loud the first time I read it.
The other two sites nominated in my category, CJR Daily and Seeing Black also are great sites. I was truly thrilled just to be in their company.
Most interesting to me was how few traditional reporters were nominated for the awards or attended the Online News Association conference. I’ll bet right now I’ll have more company in the future.
Here’s the complete list of winners and you can find all the finalists here.
Permalink | | Categories: Journalism
Let me show you around
I have a feeling we may have a few first time visitors here at Get on the Bus in the coming days. I’m at the Online News Association conference in Washington, D.C., where this blog is a finalist for a nice award.
To help along those who just want to look around, I compiled some links. Here’s five of my favorite recent posts:
—Football and the magical GPA: An academic disgrace
If you want to go back a bit farther, here are five more from over the past year:
—John Tierney picks the wrong study
—Reasons to love (and fear) Bible school
—When teens work, grades suffer
—Mr. D and the island whisperer
For more of Get on the Bus’ greatest hits, go here.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Journalism
Kindergarten now … or wait?
(Teacher Cheryl Richards comforts Hollie Hohenbrink on her first day of kindergarten at Waynesville Elementary School.)
The day care fees are killing you.
Your son has just turned five years old and he’s eligible — barely — for kindergarten. He’s a bit on the small side and still seems more like a four-year-old to you. Plus, he will be in class with some kids who already are much more mature looking at SIX years old.
But think of the savings. Half a day in public school will cut your day care costs by more than 50 percent. And the boy is smart. Academically, he’s ready. You’re a young, hardworking parent with two little kids, and making ends meet is tough.
Ultimately, your go with your wallet — the boy will start kindergarten on time rather than wait a year.
A new study by USC says this is the right choice, that there is no evidence holding children back a year to start school benefits them.
But a word of warning — your results may vary.
The father in the story I just told you is still tortured today by that decision 12 years ago. His son indeed was ready academically for kindergarten at age five. He became a straight-A student all the way through high school.
But he also was the smallest and one of the least mature kids in his grade nearly ever year and at times struggled socially. Even though only 9 percent of kids are held back to start school at age six, according to the USC study, that boy’s father would hold him back in a minute if he could do it over again.
Still, here’s researcher Gary Painter from USC:
“There is no long-term academic or social advantage for kids who wait a year to enter kindergarten. Instead, they are simply a year older as they enter college and the workforce.”
According to the study, the younger kindergarteners were much more likely to graduate college and ultimately earn slightly more. There was no evidence of a social advantage or even an athletic participation edge for older school starters, except in varsity football — the sport where bulky stature matters most.
In the long run, Painter said, the kids are better off to just go to school at age five.
This year, my daughter started kindergarten at age six. Our motivation to hold her back was to allow her to mature and to space her two years back from her sister. I can’t exactly explain why, but that seemed to offer her some chance for added independence from her sister’s shadow.
In light of this study, I’ve wondered if those were good enough reasons and if we made a mistake. What do you think?
(Image credit: Cox News Service)
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Young Children
Dayton teacher talks: Huber all over again?
(Huber Heights teachers on strike last month)
Sorry for the late post. Been stuck without Net access all day.
Pretty big news today that Dayton teachers authorized their leaders to call for a strike if contract talks don’t make progress at the next meeting on Nov. 1 (See more on the district’s money woes here.)
Right now, it’s fair to say there’s reason to worry that there could be a teachers’ strike in Dayton. But there’s no imminent danger of a strike. At least not yet.
Could this be a Huber Heights situation, with the teachers walking off the job, raising a similar level of anger and distrust?
Here’s three reasons why the Dayton teacher contract talks, so far, are different from those earlier this year in Huber Heights, which resulted in a nasty week-long strike:
—There’s a greater level of trust. In Huber, the bad feelings go back years and much of it is school board vs. union leadership. School and union officials in Dayton have always eyed each other carefully, but I don’t think the same sort of personal clashes and raw emotions are present in these talks.
There are some interesting political dynamics here. Pat Lynch is newly installed as the union president and has a very different personal style than her predecessor, Willie Terrell. Plus, successful talks are certainly important to establishing her credibility.
On the board’s side, there is a very narrow margin of error. The board needs community goodwill for their upcoming levy try and it needs teacher confidence — not to mention the continuity of uninterrupted instruction — to keep the district’s academic momentum going.
—Talks are ongoing. If you see talks break off, it’s time to get more worried. Prior to the Huber strike, the two sides weren’t even meeting anymore. Talks in Dayton have been civil and ongoing to this point.
—Everybody knows the big issue is money. In the Huber strike, all sorts of side issues clouded the talks, but in the end the final deal was mostly about money. At least here, money is the issue from the start, which should help keep the talks focused.
What’s your prediction? Will this be a strike like in Huber Heights? Or will they work it out?
Permalink | Comments (19) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools, Schools and Politics
Schools get cut, city gets a raise
(Mayor Rhine McLin and Superintendent Percy Mack)
On the same day Dayton school board President Gail Littlejohn publicly announced that Superintendent Percy Mack and Treasurer Stan Lucas would take no raise this year, a city panel recommended a 23 percent raise for Mayor Rhine McLin and 22 percent raises for the rest of the city commissioners.
Comments?
Permalink | Comments (17) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools, Schools and Politics
Labor talks, cash crunch hit city schools
By Scott Elliott
Staff Writer
The quickly worsening financial picture for Dayton Public Schools could stir labor unrest as the district looks toward a critical levy vote expected in May.
A two-year contract with teachers expired June 30, and their union and the school board are in mediation. The union has asked teachers to meet today to discuss options, and its president, Pat Lynch, said a vote to authorize the leadership to call for a strike is an option that may be discussed.
“That depends on what the members tell me,” Lynch said. “I’m asking them, ‘How do we proceed?’ “
On Tuesday, the board heard a bleak financial forecast from district Treasurer Stan Lucas. Two years ago, the district’s year-end cash balance was $45 million. Lucas said if the budget holds, Dayton will end this school year with a carryover of about $1.5 million.
“That’s very tight,” he said.
Revenues have been declining since the board’s last operating levy, which passed in 1992, and after enrollment losses to charter schools. Last spring, the board lost an appeal to the state about a change in the way charter school costs are deducted, taking a bite out of this year’s budget.
The fiscal realities are driving the district toward a levy try in May, board President Gail Littlejohn said. They’re also complicating the teacher talks. She agreed with Lynch’s statement that the board is offering teachers a one-year deal that amounts to no raise.
Littlejohn said she understood the frustration many employees feel in a year when the district finally gained big on the state’s academic report card scale. Lucas and Superintendent Percy Mack already have agreed to the board’s request that they take no raise this year, she said. Other administrators also will get no raise.
“Everybody worked like crazy to get out of academic emergency,” Littlejohn said. “This is the year the board would have most liked to have recognized everybody with a raise. I wish the financial picture looked better.”
Teacher raises the past two years were 4 percent each year. Health care is another major union concern. Last year the district’s health care costs jumped 19 percent over the prior year, triggering a contract clause that raised teachers’ contributions. The sides will meet again with a mediator Nov. 1.
As in many of its most recent financial crunches, Dayton Public Schools’ latest trouble was sparked by a dispute over charter schools.
School leaders knew they were going to need a levy soon and intentionally planned to spend from a $45 million cash reserve to put off that day. But a deal with the state on charters fell through, pushing the financial stress forward and forcing a levy try, which board president Gail Littlejohn said will come in May.
The district, which hired a consultant to try to nail down charter enrollment, last spring said charters had 675 fewer students than what the schools reported.
Each child who attends charter schools costs the district money. Using the charter schools’ figure, Dayton owed an extra $4 million for last year and $6 million for this year and next — a total budget bite of $16 million.
School leaders and the state nearly reached a compromise that would saved Dayton schools millions. But when the legislature passed House Bill 530 in May it made the state the “final arbiter” of funding disagreements. With that, the state withdrew from talks with Dayton, Treasurer Stan Lucas said.
“That killed us,” he said. “I can’t tell you the damage that did.”
Even if teachers agree to forgo a raise this year, Lucas said it will take $23 million in new income just to break even next year — equivalent to about 10 percent of the district’s budget. Without passing a levy, the district would have to make cuts.
Dayton Public Schools will end the year with about $1.5 million in the bank, a tiny carryover for its $225 million budget. Two years ago, the carryover was $45 million. These are some of the factors involved in the cash crunch:
Inflation: Since the 1980s, school districts have battled against ever-declining revenues thanks to a change in state law that stopped tax levy income from growing with inflation.
Most districts began seeking new levies more often, usually at least every three to five years, as income from prior levies decreased in buying power.
Dayton’s most recent levy was 1992. The district estimates every tax dollar it collects has about 54 cents in spending power today.
Cost cutting: After a 1999 financial crisis, the board eliminated a multimillion-dollar deficit by closing a dozen schools. The belt-tightening continued under Percy Mack, who in four years eliminated 325 jobs — about 10 percent of the district’s workforce — and trimmed the budget by $45 million.
The reserve: The district built a strong carryover balance that reached $45 million in 2004, helped along by a run of good fortune — a large delinquent real estate tax collection, a refund of a state overcharge for charter schools, state money from the district’s desegregation settlement and an increase in state aid for disadvantaged districts — which all came between 2002 and 2004.
Rising expenses: Health care and labor costs strained the budget. Health care costs have jumped an average of 17 percent each of the past two years. Teachers earned raises of 4 percent each of the past two years. Dayton’s average teacher pay ranks eighth in Montgomery County and 19th among the 77 Dayton-area districts.
School construction: Voter approved construction funds in 2002, which raised $245 million in local matching funds for the $627 million program to rebuild schools throughout the district in partnership with the state. Those funds, by law, cannot be used to fund operations, only construction.
Permalink | | Categories: My Favorite DDN Stories
A rising star?
(Dayton School Superintendent Percy Mack)
Last week, I caught up with Dayton school superintendent Percy Mack for a brief interview. After we talked about a few issues facing the city school district, I half-jokingly asked him a half-serious question:
Was he a candidate for superintendent in Los Angeles?
Mack laughed, quickly said no and mentioned he’d heard school board meetings there sometimes last nine hours. Then he reiterated how fortunate he felt to be working with the Dayton school board and staff, a functional and level-headed bunch compared to most big cities.
But I’ll tell you this — Mack is going to be an attractive guy for a bigger superintendent’s job soon, if he hasn’t been approached already.
Los Angeles may be a bit out if his league. It’s the second largest school district in the country and a hyper-political environment that probably needs a politician at the top. The outgoing superintendent there is Ray Romer, who’s last job was governor of Colorado.
Mack is not a politician. But he is a rare urban superintendent in that he has a track record of efficient management, good relationships and more recently, student test score gains. Even most critics of Dayton Public Schools acknowledge he’s led a fairly remarkable turnaround in his time leading the district.
And Mack’s prior experience was in DeKalb County, Ga., a metro Atlanta school district that ranks 29th biggest in the nation. Plus, he’s relatively young at age 55 and African American, two desirable attributes in many big urban districts’ superintendent searches.
Is Dayton in danger of losing Percy Mack? Perhaps not immediately, but head hunters are sure to be calling and the pay packages of top school districts can be enticing.
Mack has repeatedly told me he is not a candidate for other jobs and that he is happy here in Dayton. He came here as deputy superintendent in 2001 and ascended to the top job in 2002. A Savannah, Ga., native, he still travels home to Georgia fairly frequently to see his grown children and grandchildren. If he was only here trying to climb the professional ladder, he probably would have moved on by now. His pay ranks sixth highest among Ohio’s eight big urban districts. I’ll double check this figure, but I believe he makes about $140,000 a year.
I would imagine Deputy Superintendent Debra Brathwaite, who came here from Cleveland and has prior experience in New York City, would be a strong candidate to replace Mack if he ever did take another job. She’s Mack’s trusted top lieutenant who runs many of the district’s most important operations day-to-day.
What do you think of Mack’s track record here? Would you urge the board to take pre-emptive steps now, such as a big pay raise, to try to keep him?
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
The reading wars go nuclear
There’s a very detailed account in the Washington Post of the Education Department shenanigans regarding the Reading First program, including more on how the officials steered contracts away from programs that had proof of success in favor of better connected companies without such proof.
It’s worth reading.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Schools and Politics
Building Blocks: A new approach to early education
Packed into a Methodist church on upscale Park Avenue in New York City, hundreds of parents of infants and toddlers hung on every word from the admissions directors of four top independent schools.
These folks were well-heeled enough to crack open their checkbooks in a heartbeat to pay $25,000 for kindergarten if only their son and daughter could be the one in every 12 kids granted admission. Many of their kids were attending high quality pre-schools, among the best preparation for future schooling. But what was expected of a four-year-old to enter these exclusive schools?
The answer: the schools would accept those that best exhibit work ethic, citizenship, a sense of community, character and enthusiastic learning.
“Nonetheless, the school representatives said they sought to put the parents at ease and didn’t want to feed the admissions hysteria. Fat chance,” writes author Gene Maeroff.
In a his new book, “Building Blocks: Making Children Successful in the Early Years of School,” Maeroff challenges us to think differently about pre-school learning, and to value high quality early education much as the wealthy already do, although perhaps a little less hysterically.
Through the public schools, he argues, kids from every day families can achieve many of the same skills and preparation the Manhattanites at that church absolutely demanded for their kids in pre-school, if as a nation we are willing to make early learning a public policy priority.
Building Blocks is a thoughtful, thoroughly researched study of early childhood education — a great primer for parents, or policy makers, who want to better understand the issues in this rapidly-changing debate.
Today, we know the benefits of a building a strong academic foundation even in child’s earliest experiences.
For about the past decade, as brain research has exploded thanks to new medical tools and observation methods, the bandwagon of advocates for better education program for very young children has begun to buckle.
In the popular press, Ron Kotulak’s Pulitzer Prize winning 1994 Chicago Tribune series on advances in brain science opened a lot of eyes — kids who didn’t receive proper brain stimulation even in early infancy could be left far behind by the time they started kindergarten at age five. (Kotulak’s work is now a book called Inside the Brain: Revolutionary Discoveries of How the Mind Works.)
Today there is a healthy national movement pushing for more and better early childhood education and they’ve had some success convincing states to ride along. Oklahoma and Georgia, for instance, have “universal” pre-kindergarten programs that make state funds available to allow any four-year-old to attend an accredited program.
Maeroff, the former national education correspondent for the New York Times and the author of a dozen books about education in America, thinks its time to push the issue even farther.
In Building Blocks, he argues that state-funded pre-kindergarten should be just the start. In his vision, those kids belong in the public school system and there should be separate schools for pre-kindergarten to third grade to create a specialized, supportive atmosphere to get very young children off to a good educational start and improving their life chances.
“Those who believe in giving children the best possible start have only to resolve to lift out this portion of schooling and provide it with the separate integrity and distinct prominence that it deserves,” Maeroff writes. “The best way to do this would be through an identifiable PK-3 approach, whether the primary grades have their own separate buildings or wings or autonomy within an elementary school that includes upper grades.”
For Maeroff, high-quality, universal pre-kindergarten also is the most politically viable route to effectively expand critical educational opportunity to little kids.
This is a controversial view. Many experts argue that state-paid pre-school should be targeted only to needy children, leaving wealthier parents to foot the bill for their kids. They say state-paid programs for everywhere would be too costly and unnecessary for many, such as families where mom stays home.
But Maeroff says including pre-kindergarten in the public school system is the logical next step after wide acceptance of kindergarten, which also was once seen as a radical and perhaps over-the-top idea before gaining acceptance and inclusion public schools. And, as with kindergarten, with more acceptance will come more buy-in. Nobody would think to propose schools drop kindergarten today.
(However, kindergarten has perhaps not come as far as you might think, considering that my two oldest daughters could get no better than half-day kindergarten programs despite attending high-end public school systems in Michigan and Ohio in the past three years. Universal adoption of full-day kindergarten everywhere — in accordance with overwhelming evidence supporting its value — might be a necessary prelude.)
A stand-alone school for young children, Maeroff says, has advantages in staff training and collaboration and flexibility to group students in various ways. But even more than that, it sends a message — that these grades are important and deserve special, and specialized, attention.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Young Children
