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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Ruskin to house former charter school
The city school board Tuesday entered into what may be a first-of-its-kind partnership when it inked a deal to absorb an independent charter school but allow it to operate independently under the district’s control.
Construction of the district’s new Ruskin Elementary School in the Twin Towers neighborhood is nearing completion, but East End Community School had operated in a nearby district-owned school and draws many students from that neighborhood.
East End is an independently run and sponsored charter school founded in 2002. Under the agreement, the school board will have ultimate authority for the school but its day-to-day operations will be overseen by a five-person committee with two representatives from the school board. School officials said they believed the deal is the first such partnership in Ohio.
The school, with about 200 students, will roughly double in size when it moves to Ruskin. Its students will become part of the district’s enrollment count for school funding and the students’ state test scores will count toward the district averages.
Dayton schools made a similar move two years ago with the World of Wonder charter school. That school was independently-run but had always been sponsored by the school board and operated out of a district school building from its inception in 1999. But it converted completely to a district school through a similar agreement.
At Tuesday’s school board meeting, a group of East End students asked the board to allow the school to keep its name and “eagle” mascot rather than return to the Ruskin name and its “ram” mascot.
School board president Yvonne Isaacs said the board made a commitment to the neighborhood to bring back Ruskin, so that will be the school name.
However “an East End community school” will be added to the school sign to honor the new school’s charter school heritage, she said.
“We will bring the community to agreement on the name and mascot,” said board member Joe Lacey, who will serve on the site committee for the new school. “I will be happy if that is our biggest problem.”
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