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Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2007 > October > 26 > Entry
Colin Powell charter school to close
The Colin Powell Leadership Academy, a charter school that is the target of a lawsuit by Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, will close at the end of the semester on Jan. 17.
Parents will be given the names of other schools, both charter and those in the district, that have a state report card rating of “continuous improvement” or better at a meeting this afternoon. More than 200 kids attend the school.
Colin Powell’s sponsor, Education Resource Consultants of Ohio, said the school’s three-member governing board, which runs its day-to-day operations, resigned and ERCO was not able to operate the school the rest of the academic year. Phyllis Brown, legal counsel for ERCO, said the governing board had failed to submit an improvement plan for the school and left the sponsor with too many problems to address.
“If board members had not resigned and left ERCO in this position, there were plans to demand the school provide a plan to address the academic emergency but there were no plans to close school in middle of the year,” Brown said.
Dann sued the school last month, arguing it failed to live up to its obligations to educate children and citing its low test scores over the past five years while the school consistently has been rated in “academic emergency,” the lowest of five state report card rating categories.
Less than a month after Dann’s action, the governing board parted ways with Colin Powell’s founder William Peterson in what was described as a mutual decision.
Brown said ERCO has been concerned about Colin Powell school’s troubled academic record and was pressing the governing board to make improvements even before Dann’s lawsuit. She said the suit had no impact on ERCO’s actions but “probably played a role along with other things” in the governing board’s resignation.
Last summer, ERCO has a similar situation with City Day Communit School when it dismissed the governing board and replaced it with new board members. The school continued to operate.
But Brown said the issues with the Colin Powell school are different.
“That was a totally different situation,” she said. “In this case we have school in academic emergency and on probation. The board was required to submit a precise improvement plan to get out of academic emergency. It is unfeasable to do what we did with City Day and bring a board in and expect them to get this to us. They already are past their deadline. It doesn’t seem feasible to bring new board in at this point.”
Operating the school until the end of the academic year also was not an option for ERCO, Brown said.
“We’re not in business of running schools and making board decisions,” she said. “If it were a month or two months to the end of the year that might have been feasible.”
Permalink | Comments (48) | Categories: Charter Schools and School Choice
Comments
By Laura
October 31, 2007 11:16 PM | Link to this
No, Mary, I don’t think that is the problem with the students I describe.Yes, they are underachievers, but I don’t think it is because they are under-challenged. They are frequently the students whose parent’s pay for tutoring and still don’t obtain the results we would like to see. As far as my failure to be more up-to-date on current research, it may be that we simply don’t read the same results or don’t agree on the conclusion. Regardless, you are so well informed that I don’t see any reason for me to spend my time becoming current. I’ll just wait for you to tell me what I need to know.By School Supporter
October 31, 2007 2:28 PM | Link to this
CPLA Parent writes, “It turns out that ERCO and their cronies want us to send our kids to New Bethel School and they had the audicity to tell us to keep quiet about it until everything is finalized.” If 200 new students attempted to enroll, New Bethel would need to find additional facilities and teachers. Perhaps they could leverage unused facilities and displaced staff from a recently closed charter.By Mary
October 31, 2007 7:56 AM | Link to this
Laura, in your 0ctober 29, 9:42 PM message, I think the group of students of educated parents you describe that you just do not get are likely normal to high IQ underachievers who have been chronically underchallenged in our education system. How much training as a teacher have you got on these types of students. Recently, you seemed to also have an uninformed view on grade and class acceleration. As many reports point out, including the Templeton Report, schools seem to ignore or be unaware of the education research regarding high IQ, underchallenged students who become low achievers and “unsuccessful”. The school solution for some of them is to get them involved in extracurricular so they won’t notice they are academically bored and underchallenged.By Teacher
October 31, 2007 4:20 AM | Link to this
Well-It’s a deep thing. If in deed Nu Bethel was some form of confidential information, so much for that. The Bible says, God HATES someone who sows discord among brethern. Read Proverbs and Repent, please. We do our children further injustice by becoming judgemental and condemning to one another. A bar was set with the Academic Content Standards that our children simply haven’t met yet. However with time and dedication we will surpass this expectation as we always do. We are born to overcome. Be of good courage. P.S Quitting never solved anything. It only leaves???????Unanswered questions. If there is one thing we can do to help our children, it is to speak life to them. Tell our children they are more than conquerors, they are fearfully and wonderfully made, and most importantly, the race won’t be won by the fast or the strong but to he who endures to the end. Hang in there Dr. Rob, co-teachers, parents and staff our day of reaping is coming if we faint not. We beared the name of a great politician and African American leader, perhaps the most unfortunate aspect of the current situation is that we simply allowed the title of a living legacy to slip away. But I refuse to believe that our whimsical plights can be so self-destructive, wisen up people. Read to our children at night and allow them to read to us. Use math in the grocery, while preparing dinner and in the car. Our children are depending on us, we must come through.By Rick
October 30, 2007 8:17 PM | Link to this
Laura, you are spot on when you discuss the importance of a dynamic principal who has high expectations for teachers, parents and students. An involved and dynamic principal is a key to a successful school. D.T. you state, “Simply look at the voting and living patterns of most Dayton residents and it�d impossible to dispute that racism is still a major problem in this town.” Why do voting patterns reflect racism? And what about the reverse racism of some black students, and administrators? Do you recognize that exists? The R word has been used so indiscriminately that it has lost its power.By School Supporter
October 30, 2007 3:17 PM | Link to this
acf writes, “I will have to look into other area charter schools. But who do I go to get an honest evaluation of the other charters in the area?” Parents Advancing Choice in Education, www.pacedayton.org, 228-7223, would be happy to help. You’ll need to make a short visit their office to sign up for services.By one who knows too
October 30, 2007 2:00 PM | Link to this
ACF, I would suggest going to the ODE website (OH Dept. of Ed.) and looking at local report cards for area charter schools and any DPS school. These reports will give you information on how the school is doing overall and by content and grade level. There are also questions for parents to ask teachers/principals. Go and interview schools you are interested in. If they can’t answer your questions and provide data to support their answers you should probably send your child somewhere else.By Concerned Mom of 3
October 30, 2007 1:14 AM | Link to this
DT- The intervention teams in Dayton Public Schools are completely overloaded. It is a daunting process when parents won’t show up for meetings, teachers have to collect lots of data to prepare for the “fight for services,” and some school psychologists delay the process even further by not coming prepared to meetings. Poverty is rampant in Dayton. When a child’s basic needs- food, clothing, and shelter aren’t provided for- it is really hard to educate them. They are in a “fight to survive” mode. (They bring that mindset to the classroom, too.) A great number of black and white children in Dayton are at an extreme disadvantage compared to children who live in the suburbs. It is a very sad reality. My hat goes off to the teachers who put their hearts and souls into serving these children.By Laura
October 29, 2007 9:56 PM | Link to this
For those of you old enough to remember years ago, students were only suspended when they did something really, really “bad”. The main purpose was to send a message to the student and as much so to the parent that the behavior was not going to be tolerated. That was at a time when parents cared about their child’s education, attendance and “permanent record”. They also cared what other people thought about their child’s behavior which was linked to their prenting skills. I can’t even begin to imagine what my parents would have done to us if my brothers or I had been suspended. Now when students ask me how many times I got suspended in school, they don’t believe me when I say never. I have seldom seen a parent who cared that their child was suspended unless it was to say that it wasn’t fair in some way. Most students will tell you their parents don’t care. Now, suspension is usually used more as a way to document one more way the schools have tried to deal with a disruptive student and/or to give the teacher a break away from an extremely disruptive student.By Laura
October 29, 2007 9:42 PM | Link to this
School Supporter: In my opinion the common element is poverty. The vast majority of students in DPS and the charter schools live in poverty. Another common thread I have observed is two-parent vs. single parent homes, which often equals near poverty. Another concern I have seen is the apparent substance abuse of pregnant mothers resulting in developmental delays and brain damage. By the time I get them in upper elementary, it is pretty obvious how successful in school they are likely going to be. Having taught in quite a few schools over the years, I can also tell you that the schools that produce the best students have a principal who places high demands on the teachers, students AND parents and does not give in when parents complain about procedures that are different than they have seen in other schools. It is interesting that many parents want their child to be at a school that is successful, but then don’t like the rules and try to get exceptions made for their child. There is one group of students that I just can’t figure out. They are the children whose parents seem fairly well educated but their children are not becoming successful in school. Are there issues parents don’t share with the teacher? Could it be peer influence? Is it that even these parents are not spending time with their children, exposing them to positive experiences, talking to them?By acf
October 29, 2007 2:17 PM | Link to this
I need some resource to find the rating system for charter schools. I have looked at the DPS grades and am very disenchanted. I don’t know what to do for my daughter. She doesn’t have the longest attention span, and I think that putting her in a DPS will only shorten it. Charter schools tend to be smaller and have smaller class sizes. For this reason I would like to have her in a charter but if the only choice ERCO is giving us is other ERCO schools or DPS, I will have to look into other area charter schools. But who do I go to get an honest evaluation of the other charters in the area? And how am I supposed to know if the evaluation is real. I don’t know if any other CPLA parents remember but we used to get shining reviews of CPLA’s progress, which I later found out were penned by CPLA administration. Go figure. At this point I really wish I could just home school my daughter. At least I know I’ll hold me accountable.By Caroline
October 29, 2007 11:18 AM | Link to this
D.T., I agree with you. I don’t think that all students should be retained no matter what. Every case needs to be looked at individually.By D.T.
October 29, 2007 9:33 AM | Link to this
James, a question I would have had for your teacher friend: would suspension have changed her “bad kids” behavior. The goals of schools are to socialize and educate. You cannot do either if children are not in attendance. The irony of you complaining about kids not being suspended is that if they were, they’d be at the Dayton Mall ruining your shopping experience. Also, the whole media thing is irrelevant to this discussion. To assert that race isn’t a part (not the sum however) of most problems in Dayton schools is naive. Simply look at the voting and living patterns of most Dayton residents and it’d impossible to dispute that racism is still a major problem in this town. Finally, I’d like to see your proposal for how to educate the kids who are just in the classroom to “ruin” it for the other kids. Do you put all the bad kids in a class with the worst teacher? Do you expel them? Educators have the responsibility to teach whoever walks through our doors regardless of how much we do or don’t like them.By D.T.
October 29, 2007 9:16 AM | Link to this
Caroline, I feel it’s dangerous for a school to simply maintain one retention policy that all students who fail should be retained. Schools have to focus on interventions during the year that will prevent students from failing. That is truly the issue. If parents, teachers, administrators, and students aren’t actively attempting new techniques to avoid failure, all have failed. Obviously some children will fail regardless of what interventions are made available, but making a blanket statement that ALL children who fail should be retained is simply irresponsible. Laura is correct in saying that children who are retained frequently drop out. What good does retention do the child, family, and community if it only boosts the drop out rate. As a solution, schools should consider the child’s previous and current work habits, the parent’s input, the student’ special needs, as well as that of the teacher.By School Supporter
October 29, 2007 9:10 AM | Link to this
Hi Laura. You ask, “What is the common element in both of these schools?” and most importantly, “What, if anything, can be done to improve the situation in either or both cases?” The respective boards appear unable to find administrators who can formulate and execute an effective improvement plan. Ed schools might examine the effectiveness of their administrator training; boards might demand better guidance from the Ohio Department of Education. On the other hand, it could be the administrators and boards aren’t listening to the teachers. Your thoughts?By James
October 29, 2007 8:16 AM | Link to this
35 can use his memories. I’m stating facts from the period when often channel 2 had a sobbing or angry person on to complain about how their child was being unfairly treated in punishment by the school building and how awful it was because they were black that this was happening. I’m sure some white people also were upset but that didn’t seem to get on channel 2. Your bringing racism into this sounds like Sharpton when he’s trying to put on his good guy hat to get himself in the media. I have friends and the lady taught in a Dayton high school when they started pressuring to avoid those awful suspensions that get recorded on the schools record with the state and the media can look at the numbers and say how awful Dayton is because they suspended a bunch of bad kids. So they reduced the number of suspensions. I recall the teacher talking about doing write up after write up and nothing happens to the kid. Needless to say she retired as soon as she hit the required years—so did a bunch of teachers taht same year from that building. The administration downtown wanted to affect how things looked in the numbers. The administration in the building wanted to keep the downtown happy and out of the media. The teachers had no help with classroom problem kids. If you read the descriptions throughout this blog, you read teachers having the same problems. The parents won’t come. They won’t answer phone calls. They’re not accountable. So keep the kids in the room and ruin the education for the kids there, black and white, who do care and whose parents do care. As for 35 being appalled at my ignorance, I’m appalled by his naivete but I do appreciate his expressing his version. Perhaps the ultimate example of media was interviewing the Trotwood mother screaming about the police having arrested her son, who apparently was one of the many, many allowed to run in groups at the Salem Mall, which drove real shoppers away from the playground the teens had selected. The mall was half dead already and she was out there, being interviewed by the TV people, fully upset how innocent her son was. The mall was already so bad I wouldn’t allow my wife to go to Penny’s by herself. Note that recently Dayton Mall implemented an age requirement after a certain hour at night to combat it’s ending up with the same behavior by groups of kids.By Mary
October 29, 2007 7:54 AM | Link to this
Okay, Caroline, 35 year DPS teacher, and Laura, maybe it’s the lead poisoning- of the kids, adults running the schools, and parents. Lead poisoning affects learning and behavior. That is also what we heard years ago about the fall of Rome with lead pipes used to transport water. Now it is lead paint in old school buildings and homes and maybe eating too many canned goods. Interesting article in today’s USA Today about lead poisoning and how it affects us all and leaches out of our bones into our blood as we age. Also interesting, today’s Dayton Daily News about how sports might cause obesity. Cultural, behavioral and physiological issues are entangled. Our culture needs to be smarter about these things in order to understand what is happening.By Caroline
October 28, 2007 11:22 PM | Link to this
Schools need to retain students who fail. What is the incentive for a student to do the work if they know that they will be passed anyway? What are the schools going to do, pass them every year until they turn 16 and drop out? Retaining rarely works in DPS, because the students know that they won’t be held back more than 2 years. This is how we end up with middle school students who can’t read and write. The administration “encourages” teachers to pass students. They say, “You don’t really want that student in your class next year, do you?” Of course, it is a lot easier to to just pass a student than to find out why they are failing, and really help them. BTW, I have seen several students really improve when they have to repeat. I’ve seen many more students get passed due to discipline issues.By 35 Year DPS Teacher
October 28, 2007 9:53 PM | Link to this
James, I am always a bit leery when one lumps an entire category of humans into one bucket and proceeds to label the bucket one name. As a veteren teacher who has had the priviledge of teaching in both east and west Dayton both pre and post desegregation I am here to tell you firsthand ALL kids are capable of behaving badly. Thank God most do not choose to do so because they have parental guidance that enables them to make better choices (though this has diminished badly throughout my teaching years). I have taught many white and black children, some good, some not so good and the only constant I have ever found is far too many in this city fall at or below the poverty line. I am not a native Daytonian (I came here to attend UD and stayed), but I have always been taken aback by the racial division that exists in this city. Perhaps the saddest thing is it seems to be getting worse these days. For the record James, hands on punishment of children really started to wane AFTER DESEGREGATION and in my humble opinion it was really because white children were suddenly in the classes and schools of more black teachers and principals than they had been previously in history. I happened to have been teaching in a west Dayton school during the beginnings of desegregation and I can still recall white parents telling me (yes, I am white and they felt more comfortable talking to me about this subject) they would not allow their kids to be punished by black teachers/principals. Today the district is primarily black so it wouldn’t be hard to say alot of the bad kids are black (the law of simple percentages makes this a reality), but your assertion that the district was trying to ‘hide how bad black kids are’ is just wrong (if not also racist). If 35 years mean anything to you sir, please know I’ve seen bad behavior on both sides of the fence here and I cannot honestly say one side is better at it than the other. Although I am appalled by your ignorance, I do applaud your candidness. As I read these comments on different topics about the schools one thing is evident to me, i.e., at the core of far too many of these comments is an underlying racism and one groups desire to feel superior to the other group. Too bad none of you can see that if your still around Dayton it means your likely less than affluent and in the end you all have far more in common than not. Please stop trying to ignore this reality, ultimately your going to kill your entire city with your unspoken hatred and racism.By Laura
October 28, 2007 9:32 PM | Link to this
Mary: Look more carefully at the second question.By Laura
October 28, 2007 9:29 PM | Link to this
To Lori and all the others who keep complaining about schools who refuse to retain (fail) students when they do not achieve the skills they need, the research does not support retention. Although I don’t know the current percentage, there is something like an 80% drop out rate for students who are retained. The only time there is any advantage is if the child is in a different environment, with a different teacher who teaches in a different manner using different materials. That almost never happens in the public schools. Retaining a child simply says, “We don’t know what else to do so we’ll have them try the same thing again.” Repeating something the same way as it was done the first time is all but guaranteeing you will get the same results the second time. In all the years I have taught I can not remember one student who was successful after repeating a year.By Mary
October 28, 2007 9:04 PM | Link to this
So, Laura, you are the teacher. What is your point?By colin powell parent
October 28, 2007 8:34 PM | Link to this
I am a colin powell parent and i think this is ridiculous that they would do a such of thing in the middle of the year. It’s almost like why not wait three more month’s till the end of the year and where are you supposed to put all of theses kids at in the middle of the year. So what do you do with the kids that cant catch up with the new school. Or the kids that are ahead in the new schools. See this to me has nothing to do with the academic level of the charters schools. I feel they are building all of these public schools and have no students to put in them cause they are all in charter schools. The dayton public schools are all in academic emergency I am outraged.By Oldprof
October 28, 2007 8:13 PM | Link to this
Maybe Lori isn’t really in the category of parents that I’m visualizing—the ones who think their children need special accomodations when the real issue is discipline and focus. “My kid didn’t learn that way” is bogus; we learn HOW to learn in multiple modalities—I started out as an auditory learner, but through application brought up my visual and tactile abilities to match. And finally, I can easily manage to turn all of my B-C students into A students; most pedants call it “grade inflation”. James, thanks for putting the monkey where it belongs.By Laura
October 28, 2007 4:57 PM | Link to this
Mary: You completely missed my point.By Lori
October 28, 2007 4:49 PM | Link to this
Correction: my child did not fail academically. She was a B/C student in public schools and is now an A student in a charter school. She also performed significantly above grade level on standardized tests while a student in a charter school. The public school system failed her because they failed to acknowledge that she had a learning disability. The school was too busy placing disruptive students in resource rooms instead of disciplining them appropriately. The child study team refused to evaluate her and failed to acknowledge my child’s real disability after I spent my own money to have her privately evaluated. I was very involved in her school and spent hours each week in school and hours at home supervising homework. The charter school my child now attends is not afraid to discipline a child if they act out nor are they afraid to hold a child back a grade if they are failing academically. It sounds like the “sponsors” of this school and the administration failed these students. However, parents and teachers must work together if a child is going to succeed in school. It is easy to blame teachers but if a child does not have adequate support at home, they will not succeed in any school—public, private, or charter.By James
October 28, 2007 11:57 AM | Link to this
For Lori in New Jersey you are saying your child failed in public schools. Schools don’t fail; the kids and parents in them don’t take accountability as their own. It’s always nice to blame something else. You mention you lived in Dayton long ago. Perhaps you were here when the accountability was being refused by parents for their kids; people didn’t want discipline enforced because it showed how badly the black kids behaved. So they pressured the administrators to not handle discipline in a way that made a record or caused suspensions/expulsions, i.e., keep the kids in schools for the teachers to handle and for the kids to ruin the classroom for the ones that wanted to learn. That’s when we moved out. The community activists got their minutes on TV and newspaper, the schools got ruined, and people moved out—still are. The reality is the parents then and now got the schools they wanted with some students and groups running the school. It’s just the same with the city. What a mess. Noone’s accountable. So let’s blame teachers… Duh.By S. Phillips
October 27, 2007 11:27 PM | Link to this
It’s obvious the Attorney General Marc Dann has a personal vendetta against charter schools. Why else would he overlook the POOR MISMANAGEMENT of Dayton Public Schools and their LACK OF PROGRESS?! “Vengeance is mine”, said the Lord. Oh, I’m sorry…they took prayer out of the public schools…imagine that.By teacher
October 27, 2007 10:38 PM | Link to this
As a teacher I do see the results of just pushing students along. It is not fair to the kids! From what I have seen, it’s not only charter schools that do it. The only reason the AG wants to focus on and close charter schools, is because they are a threat to teacher’s unions. However, as a teacher, they are cutting so many jobs, that there can’t be much of a union left.By Mary
October 27, 2007 10:08 PM | Link to this
Laura, some common cultural themes on why both public and charter schools fail might be found in the book “Come on people” - and other books as well.By CPLA Parent
October 27, 2007 6:59 PM | Link to this
Scott: I’m astonished at this action. As a parent, I was promised that we would have a chance to stay open until the end of the year. I’m agreement with JM. What is the role of these Sponsors? They seem only to come out when there’s trouble. Aren’t they supposed to help??? It would be interesting to know how many of ERCO’s schools are in Academic Emergency and what kind of technical assistance they have provided to HELP those schools. At some point, the Sponsor has to be held accountable. Just closing down schools doesn’t prove that the sponsor is doing its job. Scott, research this: It turns out that ERCO and their cronies want us to send our kids to New Bethel School and they had the audicity to tell us to keep quiet about it until everything is finalized. They talked about how great New Bethel is. After some research, here’s what I found out: New Bethel has 25 students and is also an ERCO school!!! What about school choice???? To shut down a school in mid year after all of the orginal management, board and founders have left is CRAZY!!! What about the kids and the staff??!!!??? One more thing Scott, could you find out who will be the new principal of New Bethel??? I bet you can take an educated guess.By charteschoolhater
October 27, 2007 2:18 PM | Link to this
Maybe Mr. Dann’s office needs to investigate and close the Dayton Public Schools for incompetence and in both education of it’s students as well as incompetence in management of the district as well. If we are going to investigate Colin Powell investigate and close all non performing schools staring with Dayton.By Steve
October 27, 2007 9:23 AM | Link to this
Ohio&ted sucks how bout you drop the attitude and stick to closing the strip joints. Your petty 2 cent comments mean nothing considering you live in Centerville. Your just another unscrupulous sword rattler that has absolutely zero invested in this district. Be happy that you have a good school district and leave us alone. We will figure this thing out without your ignorant self righteous statements if you don’t like Ohio or the Gov MOVE!! Why live in misery?? Oh I know why, you must be starved for attention.By angelina
October 27, 2007 3:50 AM | Link to this
Not all charter school bad, some of them better then the public schools.I have seen how public school works too and they have there down falls. I work for public school.Not as a teacher, but I do have insites.By Mike
October 27, 2007 2:39 AM | Link to this
Attorney General Marc Dann’s suits against charter schools have nothing to do with quality education. He, like most Democrats, is beholden to the teachers unions which are opposed to the charter schools.By Laura
October 26, 2007 11:30 PM | Link to this
OK, Some people are highly critical of the public schools, some are highly critical of the charter schools and, of course, some are highly critical of all schools. The questions now are: Why are we seeing very similar results coming from both schools?” “What is the common element in both of these schools?” and most importantly, “What, if anything, can be done to improve the situation in either or both cases?”By JM
October 26, 2007 11:12 PM | Link to this
I agree with Ed 100%. Usually it is the adminstration. It look like this ERCO organizaton needs to be held under the state microscope.If ERCO is to be the gatekeeper - why do they wait until it is too late to do anything? I bet they get their paycheck no matter what happens to the students and teachers. Mark Dan’s office needs to look closer at the sponsors and hold them accountable.Otherwise what is the purpose of having a sponsor. Especially one who let things already get out of hand at twoother charter schools in the area for finally getting involved.By Terri
October 26, 2007 10:39 PM | Link to this
Non-charter public schools are held accountable. They can be taken over by the state - i.e.: Cleveland several years ago.By acf
October 26, 2007 5:52 PM | Link to this
My 9 year old attends Colin Powell Leadership Academy and I am very lost right now. Everyone wants to call out the charter schools and criticize them but not all of them are bad. I just wish the best for all the children that are going to have educational upheaval with the knowledge that their school will soon close.By Lori
October 26, 2007 5:40 PM | Link to this
I don’t know much about Charter Schools in Dayton. I lived in Dayton a number of years ago and now live in NJ. Most of our charter schools have far exceeded the performance of our regular public schools. There is a tremendous amount of financial and academic oversight in our charter school law and frequently charter schools are held to a higher standard than regular public schools. We have some charter schools that have failed—mostly due to financial mismanagement. We have a ten member board of trustees consisting of parents and faculty plus an executive director and an educational director, who complement each other. We tried the public schools first and they failed our child. She is excelling in the charter school and we would never turn back!!By Tom Snyder
October 26, 2007 4:57 PM | Link to this
The whole public school system is a joke. It’s a re-education center for neo-fascist Communists posing as “liberals” and “educators.” The Dayton teachers did it in 1968-1971 when I went to high school when the school board majority tried to end the busing fiasco, and I’m willing to bet it’s even worse now. Tom Snyder Simi Valley, Calif. www.answers.org www.movieguide.orgBy G
October 26, 2007 4:35 PM | Link to this
Gee, Ed, you don’t know the difference between a school district and a city.By Lucy
October 26, 2007 4:22 PM | Link to this
Lee was clearly educated in a government school. ‘Arnt’??By SB
October 26, 2007 4:17 PM | Link to this
I am truly sorry to hear about the way our educational system is operating. There were definitely changes which could have been made when I was in school a long time ago, but nothing as serious as what’s happening now. I do know of one charter school which is truly wonderful in my eyes. I have a young friend with Asperger’s Disease. He has attended the Summit Academy in Xenia and the change in him has been amazing! I understand that if a student needs to speak to a counselor it can be done very quickly. My friend has progressed so well that he is able to return to his home school district and rejoin his friends. Not all schools seem to be operating as well as this school. I have to admit that I wasn’t so sure about charter schools when they first came on the scene. I highly commend the teachers and other staff at the Xenia Summit Academy for their efforts in helping these students find skills needed to help overcome their disease. Thank you!By OHIO & TED SUCK
October 26, 2007 4:03 PM | Link to this
Dayton is a hole. Close down these dumps called charter schools.By Lee
October 26, 2007 3:34 PM | Link to this
In my opinion, they need to shut down all the charter schools, and enroll those kids back into the public school system. I really dont see a difference between the charter schools and the Dayton Public schools if both arnt doing well. All I see is money being wasted in charter schools which could be going to the public school system. And no I am not an public school employee or anything.By Dee
October 26, 2007 2:07 PM | Link to this
I hope the State of Ohio investigates and closes down Pathway’s School of Discovery next. They pass children that can’t do 3rd grade math to “meet their quota” on test scores! How can 2nd grader be flunking that can read at a 4th grade level? The place is a joke and the only one’s suffering are the children! Shut Pathway’s School of Discovery down!!!By Ed Harkins
October 26, 2007 2:00 PM | Link to this
What is the state AG going to do about all the Dayton public schools that are, and have been, in academic emergency for years? Do we shut those down? Oh no we waste taxpayer money and build new schools because we all know it’s not the administration that’s doing a bad job, it must be the building. The city of Dayton is a joke!!