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Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2007 > June > 11 > Entry

Summit addresses education in Dayton

By selliott | Monday, June 11, 2007, 12:34 PM

(Tom Lasley, Terry Ryan and Yvonne Isaacs at Monday’s meeting)

About 55 community leaders met for two hours Monday to discuss the education issues in Dayton. Ten speakers addressed issues of school choice, funding, cooperation and economic development.

Here is a summary of the speakers’ remarks:

Dayton school board member Gail Littlejohn: Littlejohn emphasized that the school board for five years has favored choice and has not been opposed to charter schools. By working with the district and charters, more people in the community now understand that educating poor urban children is very hard work, she said. But she said the competition between charters and traditional schools to this point has not not been “healthy,” blaming legislation that she argued pitted one side against the other.

University of Dayton education Dean Tom Lasley: Lasley said there are two types of cities in America today — those working to build stronger social structures and economic opportunities and those seeing a disintegration of those structures for lack of resources. To get Dayton into the former category, he said leaders need to think of education problems as one issue from pre-school through college, seeking transformative, system-wide approaches.

Susan Bodary, executive director of the P-16 Consortium in Dayton: The consortium is a university-led effort in Dayton to promote math and science instruction through cooperation with elementary and secondary schools. One of its primary efforts is a high quality math and science high school. She said the key was to connect these sorts of education initiatives with economic development efforts.

Fordham Foundation Vice President Terry Ryan: Ryan said competition in Dayton has been good overall for the city. He cited large gains in the percentage of students passing math and science state tests in fourth and eighth grade in Dayton when both charter and school district numbers are added together. He advocated for continuing a “portfolio” approach to education, in which many different programs are offered across the city in both the public and charter sectors. He called on the district to work with charters by leasing empty school buildings to them, selling them specialized services like special education programming and partnering to offer pre-school and after-school programs.

David Harris, CEO of MindTrust of Indianapolis: Harris used to work for the Democratic mayor of Indianapolis running an office through which the mayor sponsored charter schools in the city. He talked about collaborative efforts there, including charter schools run by Goodwill, a drug and alcohol treatment center and a neighborhood group. He said the city has actively recruited charter school companies that have good track records, along with organizations like Teach for America, which places top college graduates in urban schools as teachers. One program he described recruited mid-career professionals to take teaching jobs — 800 applied, 217 were interviewed, 80 were offered jobs and 60 accepted them.

Dayton Superintendent Percy Mack: Mack largely touted the district’s academic progress over the past five years in terms of better test scores, a better graduate rate, partnerships with the city and juvenile court to address truancy and an array of new choice options within the district. He mentioned that many Dayton students face obstacles people can’t imagine, telling the story of student who missed lots of school days to care for his mother after she went blind. And he hit on funding and the district’s impending budget cuts, too: “These cuts were made from a budget that was not the Cadillac budget,” he said. “It was a good Chevrolet budget. When you take a good Chevrolet budget and cut it by $30 million, you know what you have.”

Ann Higdon, superintendent of ISUS charter schools: Higdon emphasized the need for new thinking about education, noting that more jobs require skilled labor. She said when ISUS asks kids why they dropped out they say because school was boring, because students had safety concerns (they described having to “fight” their way in and out of school) and because they could not see how their studies were relevant in real life. At the same time, she said, employers are desperate for people with the skills to be, for instance, a master carpenter — a job that pays as well as jobs that require a masters’ degree. She said schools have to operate differently so kids see how the skills they learn translate directly to better jobs and higher earnings. She proposed extra funding for schools that educate kids who have been charged with crimes and kids that are more than two years behind.

Mike McCormick, superintendent of the Richard Allen charter schools: McCormick began by praising the district for its progress, calling it a “remarkable success” and saying the district has a real commitment to choice. He said Richard Allen schools’ top concerns are facilities and funding. He said he believes schools need a heavy focus on fundamentals but also need a longer school year and school day. Richard Allen, he said, has done well focusing on the basics but cannot afford the longer school day and year.

State Senator Tom Roberts: Roberts was the most critical of charter schools. He said school districts like Dayton have to ask voters for new money every five years while charters “just show up to the party and get money.” He said lawmakers tend to move quickly when business leaders complain of problems that hinder them and offer up solutions. Educators, he said, are met with more skepticism. He said effort to push science and math are good, but they can be hampered when kids attend schools that don’t even have basic science labs in poor areas. “Policies at the state level continue to perpetuate a lack of resources for these schools,” he said. He also said labeling schools as “academic watch” or other negative phrases reinforces a bad self image for the schools. The school choice movement was supposed to be about developing best practices but has instead developed what Roberts called a “book of the month club” mentality that has harmed accountability and quality.

House Speaker Jon Husted: Husted expressed some disappointment that many of the other speakers’ remarks were “marketing” and avoided the “difficult conversations” that needed to be had. He said education has to be viewed through an economic lens. Husted said he’s found that locating in the city is a “non-starter” for companies that consider moving to Dayton. Fair or not, he said employers believe their workforces now live south and east of the city and they don’t believe the city schools will be attractive to their employees. That’s why the city needs new educational options. He pointed to the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow online charter school, saying it served a variety students in an innovative way. He said charter schools are getting less funding than traditional schools and don’t get any money for school buildings. Husted said he wants more funding only for programs that are proven to work. He said the debate in Columbus is moving in three directions — the current state budget proposal, the governor’s push for a fundamental systemwide change and the proposed constitutional amendment for school funding. “So far, there is very little consensus,” he said. He argued that standards and testing have been good for Ohio and said Dayton educators of all stripes should focus on common issues, like the need for more quality teachers.

(Photo credit: Eddie Roth, DDN)

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