Fenwick graduation 2012
Ponitz graduation 2012
Cars and Parts Swap Meet
E-mail 
E-mail Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2008 > May
May 2008
Brathwaite: I won’t be an interim superintendent
Debra Brathwaite
Dayton Superintendent Percy Mack’s top deputy want to replace her boss but has told the school board she only wants the job on a permanent basis and will not accept the role of interim superintendent.
Debra Brathwaite, Dayton’s deputy superintendent since 2003, just learned Thursday that she would not be offered the superintendency of Princeton schools near Cincinnati, adding to a list of near misses for desirable superintendent jobs that includes Akron and Toledo.
With Percy Mack’s plan to depart for Columbia, S.C., in July, Dayton school board members have expressed a strong preference to name an interim superintendent and conduct a national search for his replacement.
Brathwaite said she has declined an offer of the interim superintendent spot by board President Yvonne Isaacs.
“I’ve been deputy for five years in Dayton,” she said. “I believe I have done some exemplary work. Interim is a temporary position. I have been very open with my desire to be a a superintendent. The process in Princeton really validated my skills. I was up against two sitting superintendents. I think I did pretty well.”
Isaacs said she believes Brathwaite is the best choice for interim superintendent and would be a viable candidate for the permanent job, but now the board must consider its options.
“She made it very clear to me she was not interested in being interim superintendent,” Isaacs said. “I need to now have a converastions with the board. But I don’t believe our position will change with regard to going the interim route and doing a national search.”
Brathwaite said it is the board’s prerogative to conduct a national search but that she believes she has earned the top job.
“When you are interim, it ties you to the positon,” she said. “You are really put on hold and at the end of the day you don’t know what happens. I believe I don’t deserve that. I have really given a ll I have in Dayton.”
Word of Brathwaite’s possible rejection angered some of her allies within the district, prompting a letter signed by every elementary school principal in support of her candidacy for superintendent.
“By being just who she is: Brilliant, hardworking, earnest, fair and generous, she has earned our respect and undying loyalty,” the letter to the board states. “This letter is to let you know that we have utmost confidence in her and her ability to lead not only this district, but any district.”
Brathwaite, a native New Yorker, followed former Cleveland Superintendent Barbara Byrd Bennett to that city from New York City before coming to Dayton. She recently completed a doctorate in education and has run the day-to-day academic operations of the district under Mack. She has been a key player in the development of choice options, including the Dayton Early College Academy and two single gender schools.
Permalink | Comments (13) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetPrinceton passes on Brathwaite
The Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting Debra Brathwaite was not the choice for superintendent in Princeton schools near Cincinnati.
When I spoke to school board President Yvonne Isaacs on Tuesday, she said the board was inclined to named an interim superintendent and launch a wide national search for Percy Mack’s permanent replacement. She indicated there was interest in Brathwaite for the interim post and she would be considered also for the permanent job if she applied.
So it would seem Brathwaite is available, if the board wants to go that route.
At least one group within the district wants Brathwaite to replace Mack — the elementary school principals. Everyone one of them signed a letter in support of her, which was delivered to the board this week. Here’s what they said:
May 21, 2008
Dayton Board Of Education
Yvonne Isaacs, President
115 South Ludlow St.
Dayton, Ohio, 45402
Dear President Isaacs,
We have been honored to have had an exceptional leadership team: Dr. Percy Mack and Mrs. Debra Brathwaite. Now that we face the inevitable change that is too soon upon us, we are buoyed by the fact that Mrs. Brathwaite, the ‘wind beneath’ our wings, remains.
In the short while she has been with us, she has improved the way we do business in our schools. She has improved academic achievement for all our students by:
—Training us to be more effective as educational leaders
—Providing meaningful professional development for administrators and teachers
—Keeping us focused on one thing: Student Achievement
—Sharing her vast knowledge of procedure, knowledge of content and pedagogy from pre-k through 12th grade
—Supporting and enlightening us
—Being creative and risk-taking by offering more options to parents, students, and teachers (namely creating DBPA and CAEAG)
—Taking away the minutiae of endless paperwork/reports so that we could get into the classrooms and know what is going on
—Making sure we formulated CSI plans that made sense
—Making sure we were data driven
She has been very hands on and purposeful. Her door has always been open to us. She had a plan, a vision. We bought into the plan and we still share the vision.
So often in a complicated urban district, such as ours, the education of students is the last thing on the agenda. She made it clear, from day one, that the education of our students was the first thing on her agenda.
By being just who she is: Brilliant, hardworking, earnest, fair, and generous, she has earned our respect and undying loyalty. This letter is to let you know that we have utmost confidence in her and her ability to lead not only this district, but any district.
Professionally,
The Elementary Principals of DPS
Permalink | Comments (18) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetDomineck’s injunction denied again
(Donald Domineck (left) leaves the courtroom after his appeal hearing Thursday.)
Ohio’s Second District Court of Appeals this morning denied Thurgood Marshall High School parent Donald Domineck’s motion for an injunction to stop graduation Saturday unless students who did not pass the Ohio Graduation Test are included.
The court’s decision hailed Domineck’s “concern as a parent” but found “no basis in his argument to enjoin the Dayton school board from prohibiting students who have not passed the Ohio Graduation Test from marching in their respective schools’ graduation ceremonies.”
The court cited several precedents that the judges said prevent courts from interfering with school board decisions unless the board’s actions constitute an unreasonable abuse of discretion and noted that the court is prohibited from substituting its judgement for the board’s judgement on questions the board is authorized to determine.
Domineck said after Thursday’s hearing that he would seek financial and political support for an appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court if he lost this round, but with DPS graduations happening tonight and Saturday, it’s hard to see how he would have time to file another appeal.
(Image credit: Teesha McClam, DDN)
Permalink | Comments (15) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetAppeals court to decide graduation issue Friday
Donald Domineck, the Thurgood Marshall High School parent who wants his daughter to march at graduation Saturday, told a panel of appeals court judges that the school should simply award a “certificate of completion” for 13 years of schooling in lieu of a diploma to kids who have not passed the Ohio Graduation Test.
Comparing the school board’s rule barring those who do not pass the OGT from graduation to stringent “zero tolerance” rules and mandatory sentencing laws, Domineck asked the judges grant an injunction to give him time to meet with the school board to find a solution to the dispute.
“We believe this is a case where the court must transcend the modern mode of thinking and let those kids march,” he said.
For the school board, attorney John Concannon pointed to Domineck’s service as a U.S. Marines to illustrate the school board’s position.
“Suppose someone were to achieve a promotion or a medal in the service,” Concannon said. “Following Mr. Domineck’s logic, anyone who tries for but doesn’t merit that promotion or medal ought to be included in the ceremony and get a blank box, or the whole ceremony should be called off.”
Concannon said courts have long held that school boards have wide discretion as to who participates in extracurricular activities, whether graduation or clubs or sports teams. Courts have ruled, for instance, that coaches can establish rules for hair length for members of a team and that decision cannot be overturned by a court.
The three judge panel from Ohio’s Second District Court of Appeals included juges Mike Fain, William H Wolff, Jr., and Mary E. Donovan. Wolff said a decision would be filed by no later than the end of the day Friday.
Domineck said after the hearing that he will seek support from politicians and ask for contributions to cover attorneys fees for an appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court if his injunction request is denied.
Domineck also said he and another Thurgood Marshall parent plan to run for school board in November in the wake of the controversy.
Permalink | Comments (30) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetAppeals court will hear OGT case
In a bit of a surprise, a three judge panel from the Second District Court of Appeals will hear Thurgood Marshall High School parent Donald Domineck’s request for an injunction to stop graduation ceremonies this weekend unless his daughter and others who have not passed all parts of the Ohio Graduation Test are allowed to participate.
The court could have rejected the appeal without a hearing, which is what many expected given Judge Frances McGee’s ruling in common pleas court that Domineck had not presented “one scintilla of evidence” to support his daughter’s case during a hearing she held.
But instead, the panel will hear arguments from Domineck, acting again as his own attorney, and the school board for 15 minutes each in a hearing at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. The judges said they will treat Domineck’s request for an appeal as a motion for an injunction to stop graduation pending an appeal.
Permalink | Comments (11) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetZelman out as state superintendent
Susan Zelman
The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that Ohio superintendent of instruction Susan Zelman has resigned even though she does not yet have another job. She is a finalist for dean of education at the University of Oregon.
So now the search begins for Zelman’s replacement. Who might replace her? The state board of education already has begun the search process. Here are some names I’ve heard might be in the mix:
—Frances Strickland, first lady of Ohio. It was pointed out to me that Gov. Ted Strickland’s wife has a doctorate in educational psychology and worked in public schools for years. She is also known to be a key adviser to the governor on education issues. But could she really be considered for state superintendent?
Strickland’s spokesman Keith Daily told me no. “The first lady has no interest in pursuing the position of superintendent. She enjoys being first lady of the state of Ohio,” he said.
—Gene Sanders, Cleveland school superintendent. Sanders had a successful six-year run in Toledo before moving to Cleveland in 2006. His administration there has been generally well received.
—Gene Harris, Columbus school superintendent. Since 2001, Harris has guided Columbus schools and is personally liked by many people in Columbus.
—Steve Burigana, chief operating officer for the Ohio Department of Education. Burigana formerly worked with the Industrial Commission of Ohio before being brought in to manage the state’s charter school office. He is well regardered and has quickly moved up within the education department’s ranks.
Who else should be on the list? Let me know what you’ve heard by posting a comment.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: Schools and Politics
TweetLuckie: This is how charters should work
Clayton Luckie
State Rep. Clayton Luckie, D-Dayton and a former city school board member, sent out a letter today praising a new partnership between Dayton Public Schools and East End Community Community School.
Luckie is a huge charter school critic, but he says charters can work under this model. Here’s his letter:
May 27, 2008
Dear Editor,
I am writing in response to the article by Scott Elliott (“Dayton Public Schools to absorb East End charter school,” May 21, 2008) announcing the absorption of East End Community School by the Dayton Public School District. This is a prime example of how charter schools and public schools can operate harmoniously.
This merger is truly a win-win situation: East End will move into a brand new building - built by Dayton Public Schools - and will continue to operate independently. The Dayton Public Schools Board, though, will monitor the school closely as the quality control for what happens in the classroom, and the enrollment will count for DPS for school funding purposes. Overall, the merger itself will result in a symbiotic relationship for both entities and positive outcomes for the students and the community.
I congratulate the Dayton Public School District on this breakthrough in education for Ohio. This partnership will no doubt lead the way for many other similar relationships between charter schools and public school districts, ultimately improving the quality of education across our great state.
Sincerely,
Clayton R. Luckie (D-Dayton)
State Representative
39th House District
Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetHigh School busing: Here we go again
A few months ago,I was speaking to Mayor Rhine McLin and Commissioner Nan Whaley at a joint city commission-school board meeting and when the issue of high school busing came up.
They went out of their way to say that the deal that saved high school busing this year — $2 million raised primarily from the city, county and RTA — was very unlikely to continue and that the school board would need to find another way to fund busing next year.
Well, the pressure is on to find a solution.
As with last year, the school board says it cannot afford high school busing. Without the district’s RTA contract, kids would have to pay out of their own pockets to get to school, sending thousands more kids through downtown on RTA buses rather than riding special RTA routes designed to pick kids up and take them directly to school.
This is a scenario that last year the city, school district and downtown business simply could not stomach. That’s how the compromise solution ultimate was forged — to avoid that reality. But school board President Yvonne Isaacs said the district has no takers so far when it has asked for support to keep the deal in place next year.
Here’s the longer version of the story I wrote about this for today’s paper:
A five-year financial forecast approved by the city school board Tuesday assumes there will be no high school busing after June 30.
“If I would put it in the forecast, we couldn’t afford it,” Treasurer Stan Lucas said. “I couldn’t certify this forecast.”
The district cut high school busing last year after its 15.17-mill levy was defeated but the service was revived after community concerns were raised about truancy and potential problems with large numbers of kids congregating downtown for transfers on regular bus routes.
In the end, Montgomery County, the city of Dayton and the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority shared the $2 million cost of restoring busing for 5,600 public and charter high school students.
Board President Yvonne Isaacs said Tuesday, May 27, those groups will be asked about helping with busing costs again next year but has no firm commitments.
“We cannot afford it and we are appealing to the community for help,” Isaacs said. “We’re talking to anybody we can. We want to find a solution.”
The district projects that it will finish the school year on June 30 while carrying over just a slim $1.7 million to 2008-09, or less than 1 percent of its spending over the past 12 months. Just three years ago, the district carried over $45 million from the prior year, but much of that money was spent to close budget shortfalls following the levy defeat in 2007. Lucas said a 10 percent cash reserve is ideal and less than 5 percent is unusual for most businesses and organizations.
The district overspent its revenue this year, but only by a narrow $27,000 on a core budget of $171.4 million. Lucas said Dayton benefitted from Gov. Ted Strickland’s push for additional poverty aid to school districts, which brought an extra $4.8 million this year. Dayton spent about 78 percent of its budget on salaries and benefits, 14 percent on purchased services and 4 percent on supplies.
Looking forward, the forecast projects revenue to grow slightly over the next five years to about $181 million in 2012 for the core budget unless a levy is passed. Spending is projected to grow to about $185 million by 2012.
An additional $50 million in state aid is diverted to support 7,500 students attending charters and using vouchers for private schools.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetJudge: Graduation goes on without OGT flunkers
Judge Frances McGee
My colleague Lou Grieco has the story on Judge Frances McGee’s decision not to block Thurgood Marshall High School’s graduation.
McGee said Donald Domineck, a parent of a Thurgood Marshall student who has not passed the OGT, presented “not one scintilla of evidence concerning his daughter and the effect that School Board policy has had on her” at a hearing last week in her court last week.
UPDATE: Domineck already has filed an appeal of McGee’s decision. It has not been put on the court docket yet, but it has been filed in the system.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetWanted: Super man or woman for super job
It would be helpful for the Dayton school board if the right candidate to replace Superintendent Percy Mack would show up to interview wearing a cape and a big “S” on his or her chest.
“The next superintendent has to be a superman or superwoman,” board President Yvonne Isaacs said. “They’ve got to be a curriculum expert, to work with the community, to understand finance and to keep our building program on track. And hopefully they’ll be able to work effectively with the board.”
Board members know the search will not be that easy.
In interviews last week, several themes were common in the comments of five of the seven board members. They are open to local and internal candidates, but want a wide national search. They want Mack’s replacement to forge a deep connection with the community. They want someone with expertise in urban education. And they want a proven leader.
“Dayton looks for leaders to be engaged in the community,” board member Stacy Thompson said. “We need a community engager who will get involved with stakeholders — parents businesspeople, teachers. To facilitate that is critical in Dayton.”
With Mack’s announcement this month that he will leave Dayton after six years as superintendent to take the top job at the school district in Columbia, S.C., this summer, Dayton will have it’s first true superintendent search in eight years. Mack ascended to the top job from deputy superintendent without a search in 2002 when his predecessor, Jerrie Bascome McGill, retired.
Two years before, McGill was picked in a tumultuous board meeting that followed a problematic search led by an outside company. The company’s secretive selection process kept board members from knowing most of the names of those applied and prompted a lawsuit by the Dayton Daily News.
Board member Nancy Nerny said she prefers to use the services of the Ohio School Board Association for this search. Nerny said she wants the board to invite internal and external candidates to apply.
“We need someone who really loves the community and gets out in the neighborhoods and understands what our neighborhoods are like,” she said.
Mack’s top deputy, Debra Brathwaite, is a potential candidate to replace him. But Brathwaite last week interviewed for the second time at Princeton schools near Cincinnati. She is one of three finalists for superintendent there and could be offered that job this week.
Board members said they are interested in Brathwaite but won’t push their search process forward just to compete for her.
“We’re not going to rush this search,” Isaacs said.
School board member Joe Lacey also favors a broad search and prefers candidates with teaching backgrounds.
“We’re looking for innovative leadership,” he said. “We want someone who can understand the community.”
Board member Sheila Taylor said she prefers a local candidate, if possible, and a strong organizer.
“I want a superintendent with the same love in his heart as Dr. Mack for student learning and the Dayton community,” she said.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetWhat makes a real high school graduate?
(Students await their moment on stage at Troy High School’s graduation Saturday)
Graduation — a student wearing a gown and a funny square hat marching across a stage — is not mentioned in Ohio law.
Strange as it seems, since most of us have been through one, graduation is really nothing more than an informal ritual. It’s a cultural celebration that has grown up around the conferring of diplomas.
It is the diploma itself that is a matter of officialdom. Ohio law lays out the requirements to receive a high school diploma in this state. Meet the requirements and you MUST get a diploma from your school. A school that refused to award a diploma to a qualified student would be asking for a lawsuit.
And it works both ways. If you fail to meet the state’s requirements, it would violate the law for your school to give you a diploma anyway.
For this reason, I think just about everyone expects an injunction filed in court last week by Thurgood Marshall High School parent Donald Domineck probably will be denied early this week by Judge Frances McGee. In a court hearing Friday, Domineck had several arguments for why his daughter and other Thurgood Marshall students who have the required credits should be allowed in the graduation ceremony even though they cannot receive a diploma because they have not passed the Ohio Graduation Test.
The problem is none of Domineck’s arguments, as best I could tell, had a legal rationale.
But even if Domineck’s legal case fails, I still find this an interesting debate. And so do you, apparently, judging by more than 40 comments on my prior post on this.
Here’s what’s intriguing about the issue. First, I think both sides make compelling arguments about when a student could or should be allowed to participate in graduation. Second, Ohio lawmakers — as a GOTB reader quickly pointed out to me when this issue arose — just last year to steps took address fairness issues related to kids that simply cannot seem to pass one section of the graduation test.
And third, I have reason to believe a small segment of the students who have flunked the OGT have a very valid argument that their scores should qualify as passing scores. Hang with me until I get to that point.
But let’s start with the question, should a student who has not passed the OGT be allowed at graduation?
Dayton schools say no, and this is their rationale. School officials say the graduation ceremony is just that — a GRADUATION ceremony. Therefore, those who participate should only be those who are actually graduating. The district’s logic, essentially, says that having a student walk the stage in a cap and gown when neither the student nor the district knows for sure that the student will receive a diploma is to create a sort of fraud. That student, in the district’s view, is merely pretending to graduate.
If he or she eventually earns a diploma at the end of the summer then to some degree the fraud is mitigated. But at least some of those students will never earn the diploma. To some, the participation of students who are only pretending to graduate degrades the meaningfulness of the ceremony for those who actually have earned a diploma. As the district’s lawyer, John Concannon, told Judge McGee, the graduation ceremony is a great moment but it should mean something. Whether everyone in the district likes the OGT or not, Ohio law requires it for graduation.
OK, but now the other side.
Domineck argues that because the graduation ceremony is entirely a district-run ritual, each community can decide on its own what the event means. Domineck believes the graduation test is a meaningless exercise. There is no evidence, he argues, that a kid who earns 21 high school credits and passes is any better prepared for life than a kid who earns 21 high school credits and fails.
Domineck believes the test is arbitrary, flawed and discriminates against urban kids, who are by far the most likely group to fail it. Since Dayton is an urban distirct and has the power to permit OGT-blocked kids to participate in graduation, it should do so. In fact, Domineck thinks if every district refused to recognize the OGT when it came to graduation ceremonies it would send a message to lawmakers about the test’s unfairness.
And this is not only an urban issue. As I wrote last week, it’s suburban Kettering that is one of the few local examples of a district that actually does allow kids to participate in graduation who have not passed the OGT.
Kettering Superintendent Bob Mengerink said the district has that policy because its experience has shown that nearly all Kettering kids in that situation eventually do pass the OGT and receive a diploma and the district felt it was unfair to deny them their rite of passage if they met all other requirements.
And it seems that sentiment has even infected the legislature, Last year, a new rule created an exception to the OGT requirement for a very specific subset of kids — those who are good students, who have demonstrated a commitment to school and who have worked hard to prepare for the test but just can’t quite pass.
The new rules say a student who has not passed the OGT can graduate if he or she:
—Passed four of the five tests and missed passing the fifth test by no more than 10 scale score points
—Has had a 97 percent attendance rate each of the last four years and was not expelled
—Has a grade point average of 2.5 out of 4.0 in the subject area missed and completed the curriculum requirement in the subject area missed
—Has participated in any intervention programs offered by the school and has had a 97 percent attendance rate in the program
—Obtains letters of recommendation from each teacher in the subject area not yet passed and the high school principal
Now, this alternative route to a diploma rewards good students giving an earnest effort who, for whatever reason, can’t seem to quite pass one test. But there is another reason why this route is important for the state to have.
That reason is this — students who come very close to passing but fall short may have a statistical argument that their scores should qualify as passing.
Let me recap for you what Mark Fisher and I wrote in a series on standardized testing in 2004:
Meadowdale High School student Tynisha Edmondson was among the 2 to 3 percent of Ohio seniors who headed into May needing a passing mark on one or more proficiency tests before they can receive a diploma. Edmondson, who has earned A’s in science classes, hadn’t passed her science proficiency exam.
She is also part of another group of students: those whose chance to march with their classmates at commencement hinges on their answers to one or two proficiency test questions.
Edmondson was so close, some testing specialists said she may have a valid argument that she already has passed the exam.
She scored 198 on the proficiency test she took in March - just short of the 200 needed to pass. That’s very likely within the standard error of measurement that applies to such tests. The standard error, similar to the margin of error in a political poll, means the results could be off by an equal percentage in either direction.
(Testing expert James) Popham said Edmondson’s 198 is statistically indistinguishable from the passing score of 200.
Standard error of measurement remains an issue for standardized tests used in Ohio today. So students scoring a 398 or 396 on any portion of the OGT (400 is the passing cut off) — essentially missing the passing score by one or two questions — have an argument that their scores should qualify as passing.
Now, that’s an argument that might have gotten the state’s attention.
(Image credit: Peter Wine, DDN)
Permalink | Comments (11) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetThurgood Marshall parents get their day in court
A Thurgood Marshall High School parent argued in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Thursday that a judge should stop graduation unless his daughter and other students who failed the Ohio Graduation Test are allowed to participate.
“Their argument is we have no right to grant this request,” said Donald Domineck, acting as his own attorney. “But we’re not coming from the standpoint of whether you have a right or not. We are asking you to consider the circumstances. The kids have worked hard. The law responsible for this policy is unfair. Are we being sensitive to their feelings of the kids or acting like a robot?”
Ohio law requires students to earn 21 credits of coursework and pass all five parts of the Ohio Graduation Test to earn a diploma but some districts allow kids who have failed one part of the test to participate in graduation. Dayton schools do not.
John Concannon, attorney for the school board, said Domaneck made no credible argument in court that there is a legal reason to stop Thurgood Marshall’s graduation.
Concannon noted that starting last year Ohio law allowed students who have come close but failed one portion of the test to still graduate if they maintained a 2.5 average in that subject, attending school at least 97 percent of the time, enrolled in intervention programs and got recommendations from a teacher and principal.
Concannon said the district had even added a summer graduation ceremony for kids who pass the test over the summer.
“It is a great moment,” Concannon said of the graduation ceremony. “When diplomas are conferred upon people, that is something that needs to be earned. We didn’t make the rules about the graduation test, but we have to enforce them.”
Judge Frances E. McGee warned Domineck from the start that she had grounds to dismiss his case for procedural errors but allowed testimony and she would rule no later than Tuesday on his request for an injunction.
Permalink | Comments (51) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetRoosevelt, Patterson to be razed over the next month
The former Patterson Co-op High school will be torn down in June and the space is expected to be used for parking for the near future.
The school, at 118 First St., closed in 2001 at the urging of then-Mayor Mike Turner, who proposed that the city would buy the property for $5 million so that it could be developed or resold to be used as part of Riverscape.
The city signed a deal to buy Patterson but never paid any money and later asked the school district to release it from that obligation.
John Carr, the school district’s construction chief, said parking was the preferred short-term use for the site after talks with the city about its future. City spokesman Tom Bidenharn said the hope is to develop the site, but for now parking will help serve that part of downtown.
The building’s June demolition will likely follow the razing of Roosevelt High School on West Third Street, which has been delayed but is expected by month’s end.
Construction on the Patterson building began in 1952 and was finished in time for the 1954-55 school year, according to historical accounts of the school.
Patterson was the brainchild of a committee of industrialists led by NCR Founder John H. Patterson, who approached the school board in 1912 with the idea to combine skilled crafts with secondary education. That led to the Trade Extension in 1913 and that became the Dayton Night School, according to historical accounts. The Dayton Cooperative High School, housed at first in Stivers High School, opened in the fall of 1914.
Carr said there is not a plan right now for a community walk-through for the building, as the district has done with other schools. He said he was approached by alumni about such an event but they never followed up.
Permalink | Comments (18) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetReplacing Percy Mack may take time
There was a lot of news happening at the Dayton school board meeting Tuesday night. In addition to East End Community School coming into the school district next year, there was news on the superintendent search, Percy Mack’s departure, The Dayton Technology Design High School and Roosevelt High School.
Here’s a quick roundup:
—Superintendent’s search: I talked to five board members about the superintendent’s search and here’s the consensus — they all want to take their time with the search. All said they were looking for someone who could connect with the community and truly care about the district and its students in the way the felt Mack did. Most wanted to do a national search for a superintendent, although all of them were open to, or preferred, a local candidate, if possible.
What does this mean for Debra Brathwaite? Here’s what it looks like. If she is offered the job at Princeton, I expect she will go. Dayton does not appear ready to jump to compete for her. If she does not get the job at Princeton, things will slow down and she’ll be in the mix in Dayton. Brathwaite told me that her second interview at Princeton went well Monday night and she expects to hear from them sometime in the next week.
—Percy Mack: Mack spoke at length about his decision to leave for Columbia, S.C., emphasizing the influence of his family on the decision:
“This weekend, I spent time with granddaughter for her promotion ceremony from fifth grade,” he said. “I remember when she started in first grade. these days have gone by very quickly. My children have fond memories of the grandparents. I hope some day my grandhchilren wil have fond memories of me because of the time I could give them and share.”
Mack also recounted the district’s advancements during his tenure in terms of test score gains, graduation rate gains, budget improvements and other changes. He praised his senior staff, teachers, students and parents for helping push the district to better achievement.
“The hardest part is leaving this team that has worked so hard to drive the improvements in the school distirct,” he said. “I wish everyone well. I wont cut my ties with Dayton schools. Dayton schools will always be a part of Dr. Mack. I hope to always be a part of Dayton schools.”
—Dayton Technology Design High School: Principal David White and his staff made a presentation about the success of this alternative high school that mostly serves dropouts. The school in its second year made big gains in the number of kids it retained, the number of graduates and the number of kids who went on to college.
—Roosevelt High School: Word is the demolition of Roosevelt High School will begin before the end of May. (NOTE: It was pushed back again after I reported here earlier that demolition would start Friday.)
Permalink | Comments (12) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetRuskin 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.”
Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment | Categories: Charter Schools and School Choice, Dayton Public Schools
TweetBrathwaite: I might be interested if they are
Debra Brathwaite
I just spoke to Dayton’s Deputy Superintendent Debra Brathwaite and let me start by correcting an earlier blog post. Brathwaite is NOT a candidate for superintendent at Cincinnati Public Schools. I misunderstood some information I received Saturday.
Brathwaite IS one of three finalists at Princeton schools near Cincinnati, where she will have a second interview tonight. And that has put her in something of a weird position when it comes to questions about her interest in the Dayton superintendent job because she is pretty far down the line in the process with Princeton.
Brathwaite told me she intends to follow that process to its conclusion and so far has not been contacted by the Dayton school board about applying for the job Percy Mack will soon vacate. As a result, it was tough for her to answer the big question — does she want the Dayton job?
“I didnt know the superintendent would be leaving,” she said. “I’m going through with my process. Nothing has been advertised. It just happened. I don’t know what is going to happen next.”
I asked her if she had thought about what she might do if she were offered both jobs. She said she was not predisposed one way or the other.
“Of course I would explore where I am if given the opportunity,” she said. “But all of this just happened. Everyone was caught a little off guard.”
Brathwaite said it is no secret that she is interested in becoming a superintendent. She had previously interviewed in Lorain, Toledo and Akron.
“I encourage students to progress in their academic careers and I have to do the same thing,” she said. “I am a lifelong learner and I like a challenge and I am ready to assume that position.”
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetA smart-aleck defense of Percy Mack
Mack and Williams
Right after Percy Mack announced he was leaving for a job in Columbia, S.C., several of his detractors struck a celebratory tone in the blog comments here at GOTB, although some of his supporters have since come to his defense.
One frustrated Percy Mack fan told me they had a suggestion for Mack’s critics. Since the district now has a superintendent opening and we know former Dayton superintendent James Williams is looking for work, why not bring him back? If Mack’s leadership was so bad, the Mack fan said, why not return to the era that preceeded him? It would probably only cost $250,000 a year to get Williams to return (Mack makes $140,000), he said.
For those who don’t know the back story, Williams’ eight-year run as superintendent ended in a firestorm of controversy. He was bought out by the school board (for about $240,000. Maybe he’d come back and work a year for free to make up for that?) in the middle of a financial crisis. The teachers’ union voted no confidence in him. Even the business leaders, who had been some of Williams’ biggest supporters, called for him to leave in the end.
By contrast, many Dayton business leaders still like Mack and he just got strongly favorable ratings in a survey of teachers and administrators. Even the president of the teachers’ union had some nice things to say about Mack in a story in The State newspaper in South Carolina Saturday.
The Mack supporter’s point was this. Some people don’t like Percy Mack. That’s to be expected. Superintendents who stay in one place for a while (it was six years for Mack in Dayton) will wear out their welcome by making tough decisions that make people angry. That is part of the job.
But would anyone really want to go back to what was here before he took over? (We’re sort of skipping over the short, troubled tenure of Jerrie McGill, but you get the point.) Mack detractors, would you give Percy Mack at least that? Would you rather have him than James Williams?
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetThe big question: Inside or outside
In South Carolina, the State newspaper tells the folks down there about Percy Mack. But back here in Dayton, DDN editorial page editor Ellen Blecher proposes the school board take its time and says Mack’s departure is an opportunity to rally the community around the schools. Done well, she says, this could build a case for a fall levy.
The choice is shaping up like this — move fast and go internal for Mack’s replacement or move slow and go outside. Deputy Superintendent Debra Brathwaite is the strongest internal candidate, but it appears she is going to have other options. There could be other inside choices for interim superintendent if Brathwaite goes elsewhere, but her departure would seem to assure a full-blown search.
Here are some pros and cons of the two possible routes.
An internal choice wouldn’t have any learning curve. And in the case of Brathwaite, she’s basically been groomed for the position. Brathwaite runs the day-to-day academic side operations for DPS and just finished her doctorate.
But an external candidate would bring a fresh pair of eyes to the district’s management and would be unburdened by conventional wisdom and existing loyalties. It might take someone from the outside some time to get his or her bearings, though.
Let’s not forget that the November levy is a high stakes affair, with huge ramifications for the district’s long term financial and educational prospects. Would either route be an advantage in the fall election? That’s hard to say. It probably depends entirely on who the selected superintendent is and how he or she play the politics of the campaign.
If you were on the board, which way would you lean? Internal or external? Would you want to move fast or go more slowly?
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetThe pressure builds fast to replace Mack
Debra Brathwaite
If the Dayton Board of Education has any interest in promoting Deputy Superintendent Debra Brathwaite to replace Percy Mack, it had better move fast.
Princeton schools, near Cincinnati, on Friday named Braithwaite one of its final three candidates for superintendent.
(NOTE: This post initially reported incorrectly that Brathwaite would be named a finalist for superintendent of Cincinnati Public Schools. I’ve removed that reference here.)
So Brathwaite suddenly has some pretty strong cards to play, assuming she is even wants to stay in Dayton.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetMack: Best thing about Dayton was how it “embraced me”
(Mack is sworn in as superintendent by U.S. District Judge Walter H. Rice in 2002)
A lot of things looked really bad for Dayton schools when Percy Mack took over as superintendent in July of 2002.
The district report card rating was worst in the state. It was closing schools and shifting students around to save money. And a large bond issue for school construction loomed just a few months away.
But Mack had no hesitation about taking the job. It was his first shot at a superintendency and people who wanted the school district to change quickly rallied around him. Thinking back on the last six years, Mack this afternoon cited that instant support and continuing community commitment that he remembers most fondly.
“The way the people in this community embraced me as a person, not just as a superintendent — the kindness and great treament — it was key to our achievements with school district,” he said.
Mack, 57, insists he is not running away from Dayton. He said he wanted to stay but he feels the pull of family commitments in the south. His children and grandchildren live in Georgia.
“Dayton has been home for me,” he said. “The only thing that would change that would be family. My family is very important to me. Right now I have to support them. The sacrifice in moving had to be mine.”
Columbia, S.C., is a short drive to his childhood home of Savannah, Ga., and Atlanta, where other family members live. It was a very good fit, he said. The school district is a bit larger than Dayton and Mack said he felt the community there was similarly committed to improving schools.
“I’ve been blessed throughout my career to be placed in locations that fit my skill sets,” he said. “The Columbia area and the district there fit those skill sets.”
As he leaves Dayton, Mack said he recalls fondly the reform work initiated by the Kids First team of school board members led by Gail Littlejohn and the way the school boards that followed have carried on that work.
“We were all competitive in wanted the best for kids and for the district,” Mack said. “There were so many who said we couldn’t be done. We were committed to make it happen.”
What followed, he said, was widespread buy-in across the district from teachers, parents and students.
“They embraced me and my vision of the school district,” he said. “It became our vision for the school district.”
(Image credit: Bill Reinke, DDN)
NOTE: See pictures of Mack through the years in Dayton here.
Permalink | Comments (12) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetPercy Mack leaves; board to start search process
Percy Mack
Percy Mack, the superintendent who led Dayton schools from a worst-in-Ohio ranking to test score gains and other improvements over six years, will leave the district on July 1.
Mack on Friday accepted a job as superintendent in Columbia, S.C., a slightly larger school district of 23,000 students compared to 16,000 here.
Mack, who could not be immediately reached for comment, said earlier this month he was interested in the job primarily because it was closer to his native Georgia. He interviewed but was not selected for the superintendent job in Mobile, Ala., in September.
The school board in Columbia interviewed Mack and two other candidates last week. After a meeting this morning, they offered him the job and he accepted, according to The State newspaper.
School officials there did not disclose contract terms but have said they wanted to pay their next superintendent between $195,000 and $230,000. Mack makes about $140,000 in Dayton.
Dayton school board President Yvonne Isaacs said she was happy for Mack but sad for herself and for Dayton.
“This gets him as close to home as he can be without going home,” she said. “That’s good for his family.”
As for the district’s immediate future with a levy expected in November and no superintendent after July 1, Isaacs said the board would meet quickly to begin developing an action plan.
“It’s going to present a challenge for us,” she said.
Mack came to Dayton in the fall of 2001 as deputy superintendent, filling a long-vacant post as then-superintendent Jerrie Bascome McGill’s top lieutenant. Before that, he had spent his entire career as a teacher, coach, principal and administrator at school districts in Savannah and DeKalb County, Ga. He three adult children and grandchildren all live in Georgia.
When McGill retired in July of 2002, the Gail Littlejohn-led school board quickly announced Mack’s promotion to the top job. At the time, Dayton’s state report card rating had fallen to worst in Ohio as the district struggled with financial and facilities problems.
Mack took charge of the board’s wide-ranging reform plan that moved more money to the classroom while cutting overall spending. At the same time, the district began a $627 million school construction program. By 2006, the district’s scores had improved enough for it to escape “academic emergency,” Ohio’s lowest rating level.
But his luck began to change in 2007 when a financial squeeze led the board to place a 15.17-mill levy on the ballot. It lost badly and Mack had to implement $30 million in budget cuts, including more than 200 teacher layoffs. The cuts angered teachers and parents. And last fall the district’s report card rating fell back to “academic watch,” the second lowest rating level.
Isaacs said the board did not have a pre-set plan for how to replace Mack. One potential candidate is Deputy Superintendent Debra Brathwaite, who has interviewed for superintendent jobs in Toledo and Akron. Isaacs said she was not aware Brathwaite was a finalist for superintendent of Princeton schools near Cincinnati.
“That will definitely be a factor,” she said. “We will be moving quickly in the next few days to get together and look at all our options and chart a path forward.”
Permalink | Comments (16) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetReport: Mack takes South Carolina job
The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., is reporting Percy Mack will be the new superintendent there.
The story says Mack starts work down there July 1 and terms of his contract were not disclosed. Here is a post for more updates on this story.
Permalink | Comments (18) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetLuckie wants new limits on charter schools
Clayton Luckie
Looks like while I was out of town, Ohio Rep. Clayton Luckie, D-Dayton, introduced in the legislature the bill he promised last month that would limit charter school companies from opening new charter schools unless they can demonstrate that they are replicating a high performing school they already run successfully in Ohio.
The current law allows charter companies to open new charter schools in Ohio as long as they can demonstrate they have at least one high performing school they manage somewhere in the country. This means a company operating low performing schools in Ohio can keep opening more schools as long as it can point to high performers in other states.
And Luckie’s bill goes futher, blocking any charter company with a low performing school from opening more charter schools.
Here’s Luckie’s press release:
Rep. Luckie Introduces Bill to Limit Creation of New Charter Schools
Legislation Limits Expansion of Underperforming Operators
State Representative Clayton R. Luckie (D-Dayton) today introduced legislation limiting the expansion of charter schools under operators running poor-performing schools in Ohio. The bill would bar charter school operators from opening additional schools in Ohio if other schools they control in the state are listed in academic watch or academic emergency by the Ohio Department of Education.
Current law allows operators to open a new school in Ohio if they can show they operate other effective schools anywhere in the nation.
“Ohio has allowed charter schools to operate without proper oversight or accountability for far too long,” Rep. Luckie said. “Right now, the message to out-of-state operators is, ‘As long as you deliver quality education to Arizona’s children, take our public money and do whatever you want in Ohio.’ Ohio’s children deserve better.”
Luckie crafted this legislation in response to a situation in his district.
Imagine Schools, Inc., based in Virginia, recently announced its intention to open a new school in Dayton. The company operates 51 schools in several states, seven in Ohio. Two of its schools in the Columbus area - Great Western Academy and Academy of Columbus - are on Academic Watch and Academic Emergency, respectively. Imagine Schools, Inc.’s other Ohio schools have not been operating long enough to receive state report cards from the Department of Education.
“I fail to see how we can allow Imagine Schools, Inc. to open new schools in Ohio until they prove they can adequately educate children to Ohio’s standards,” Rep. Luckie said.
Governor Ted Strickland proposed a moratorium on new charter schools last year in Ohio’s budget, but the idea was rejected by pro-charter school Republicans, and negotiations produced the current law.
“It is time to demand that private companies operating with public funds deliver on their promises of quality or face serious consequences,” Rep. Luckie said. “It is time to enact effective charter school reform so we can repair what’s broken in our school systems.”
House Bill 552 now awaits assignment to a House committee for formal hearings.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment | Categories: Charter Schools and School Choice
TweetEngineering jobs, math and the future
I’m in Kansas City today for a seminar on math education put on by the Hechinger Institute for Education and the media where we’ve been talking a lot about the crisis of science and math education in the U.S.
Specifically, American technology companies are screaming about the need for qualified, home grown engineers and complaining that they have no choice but to hire Chinese, Indian and other foreign-born engineers because they are so much easier to find than American engineering school graduates.
As a result, Ohio is among several states that have made a big move for more math and science instruction. By 2014, Ohio will require graduates to take three lab sciences and pass Algebra II to receive a high school diploma.
This push for more math and science raises several questions. Among them:
—Will there be good paying jobs for engineering graduates in the future?
—Do all students need challenging, high level math courses like Algebra II?
—How will a big state like Ohio ramp up instruction so there will be enough quality courses (and teachers) for every student?
Let’s start with this question of jobs. CEOs of big companies say they need engineers now and that the are forced to hire foreign workers because there aren’t enough Americans going into the field.
But one of my reporting colleagues pointed out some dangerous math for young Americans who go into engineering in the future. And the bottom line is this — is there any reason to expect American companies to stop hiring Indian and Chinese engineers? Those foreign workers are very good and much cheaper than American engineering grads.
So given the competitive pressure, aren’t engineering wages likely to go down over time if companies can find skilled but far cheaper talent elsewhere? Will American engineers enjoy the same pay and lifestyle benefits in 20 years that they enjoy today?
A good counter argument is all kids can benefit from better training in math and science and that a degree in engineering will impart skills that will be useful in many types of jobs, even if engineering jobs are less desirable in the future. But that is a different message to tell a youngster than to promise a good, well paying job in his or her chosen field.
By comparison, consider the last big boom in engineering, math and science in the U.S. In the wake of Sputnik, the U.S. began spending millions on space engineering. The space program inspired many young people to study math and science. But it was both exciting to dream of working in the space program and the kids KNEW there would be good jobs when they came out of school.
Still, it is hard be opposed to a plan that would teach kids more and better math skills. Which brings us to Algebra II.
Here’s what I’ve heard from some math teachers about this idea. They say that Algebra II is very challenging and, for many kids, out of their league. But that’s OK. Some kids, they say, do not need to know math at the Alegbra II level. Competency at Alegbra I is plenty for most careers.
And there is a downside to requiring everyone to take Algebra II. First, we already have a shortage of good math teachers. Where will we get enough high quality teachers to add all this extra high level math instruction and to make it good? And what will those schools do with kids who simply cannot handle the math in Algebra II but need to pass to graduate?
Some math teachers fear the result will be to water down Algebra II instruction to make it easier to pass. So classes that are listed as “Algebra II” will actually be taught more at the level of Algebra I.
This is an interesting and complicated problem. Proponents of Algebra II point to studies that show students who take it in high school have the highest rate of college completion of any college-bound student. The bottom line is students who take Algebra II are very likely to go on and graduate from college.
But to me, that is a chicken-and-egg example. How many kids would take a challenging class like Algebra II in high school who were not already highly motivated and high achieving students? Are they graduating college at a high rate because of something they learned in Algebra II, or are they taking Algebra II because they already are motivated high achievers who are going to graduate from college no matter what?
What’s your take on this? Should everyone take Algebra II? Would you encourage your son or daughter to go into engineering right now? I’d especially like to hear from any math teachers or professional engineers out there.
(Image credit: Picture Ninja)
Permalink | Comments (14) | Post your comment | Categories: Teaching and Learning
TweetThe superintendent shuffle
On Friday I spoke with Dayton Superintendent Percy Mack about his experience interviewing last week in Columbia, S.C. The bottom line was that Mack didn’t see anything during his visit to discourage him and he is still in the running.
Mack said he had an enjoyable trip. He said he was impressed by the district, by the seriousness of the school board and especially by the the thoughtful questions and good attitude of the regular folks who came to a meet-and-greet with the three finalists. And he continued to find much in common between Dayton and Columbia schools.
Handicapping Mack’s chances is a tricky game, as we learned last year when he appeared to be the top candidate in Mobile, Ala., but then was not among the final two choices. The Columbia school board has a big budget hearing Tuesday, after which they are expected to get serious about choosing among the three superintendent candidates. We may hear something by the end of the week.
In Sunday’s DDN, the editorial board weighed in on the recent consultant’s report on Dayton schools and noted how Mack’s flirtation with Columbia might affect the chances of an expected fall levy campaign.
The editorial notes that the timing of a levy in November — even if it is a smaller one this time around — is not ideal for the district. The economy is probably going to be even worse this time than last year, for instance.
And if Mack departs, the district will have to make its case to voters without its most visible and most trusted voice. Who might be leading the charge for the levy? Well, the good money is on Deputy Superintendent Debra Brathwaite to quickly replace Mack if he departs. But Brathwaite is not sitting still. She has been interviewing for superintendent jobs for more than a year and an eagle-eyed GOTB reader noticed that Brathwaite interviewed last week for superintendent of Princeton schools near Cincinnati. (Note: Princeton has an interesting list of seven finalists that includes Douglas Lantz of Franklin and Valerie Browning from Greenview.) We also know Treasurer Stan Lucas — another key figure when it comes to winning public trust — applied a few months back at Lakota.
But for now, let’s suppose Mack and Brathwaite were to leave this summer. Who would be the face of the district come levy time? An interim superintendent? (There is not an obvious internal candidate after Brathwaite.) Or would the board conduct a superintendent search while launching a levy campaign at the same time?
Those are not great options.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetMemphis TV stations can’t get enough of Williams
A friend in Memphis tells me the local TV media has been having a field day with James Williams’ past escapades in Dayton and elsewhere while all but ignoring the other four candidates for school superintendent. I went looking for some of those TV reports and found a familiar face on this one. Remember when Andrew Douglas was a TV reporter in Dayton? He remembers being here, and he remembers James Williams, too. Take a look.
Meanwhile, back in Buffalo, Williams tells the local media that the city should consider it “a great honor” that he is being considered for the job in Memphis. A Buffalo radio station reports Williams telling the school board to “make me feel appreciated” if they want to keep him. (His contract there runs through 2011.) And on a Buffalo News blog, they ask if it’s time for Williams to go.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment | Categories: Schools and Politics
TweetStebbins: LeMaster can’t attend graduation
Mad River school superintendent Mike Eaglowski ruled today that convicted sexual felon Christopher LeMaster cannot attend graduation. Eaglowski said the district needed to send a message that LeMaster’s conduct will not be condoned by the school district.
Many GOTB commenters urged the district to take this action earlier this week.
So, readers, are you satisfied with the district’s response?
Permalink | Comments (42) | Post your comment | Categories: Student Health and Safety
TweetOur old friend surfaces in Memphis search
James A. Williams
When the news broke last week about Dayton Superintendent Percy Mack was a candidate for superintendent in Columbia, S.C., we talked a lot about whether he had been job hunting or not.
Mack insists he was not looking when Columbia’s search consultant called him, but he said he was frequently contacted by districts searching for superintendents. Just since the start of the school year, Mack said, he was contacted by districts in Wisconsin, Louisiana and Tennessee but did not respond. That’s because, Mack said, he only wants to work here in Dayton or at an urban district close to his native Georgia.
To make the point, he got out a letter he received from Memphis schools asking him to apply for superintendent there. Memphis is a huge district with more than 100,000 kids and superintendent there is a high profile and well-paying job. Mack argued if he were really just trying to springboard out of Dayton to a better job he certainly would have applied in Memphis.
Well, yesterday Memphis named its five finalists. Mack is not one of them, but guess who is? Yep, our old friend James A. Williams.
Williams was forced out as superintendent in Dayton in 1999 after a financial scandal that led the school district into some of its darkest days. But it all worked out OK for Williams, who got a $200,000 buyout and went to Montgomery County, Md., where he got an assistant superintendent job that paid even better than his superintendent gig here.
He left Montgomery County, Md., by mutual agreement, but he wasn’t out of a job long. He landed in Buffalo, N.Y., another big district, where he has been at the center of controversy again as superintendent of schools.
When Williams was in Dayton, he was constantly looking for bigger, better jobs (he interviewed, for instance, in Dallas). Now he is back in the mix for a big time superintendency.
I imagine a few people in Dayton are shaking their heads today that his problems here appear to have had little affect on his career arc.
(Image credit: Artvoice)
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment | Categories: Schools and Politics
TweetTop educator job hunt, cont.
(Gerald Dawkins, Percy Mack and Craig Witherspoon, the three candidates for superintendent in Columbia, chat prior to a community meet-and-greet Tuesday.)
All three candidates for superintendent in Columbia, S.C., including Dayton’s Percy Mack, participated in an awkward-sounding joint meet-and-greet with the public Tuesday and then interviewed with the school board. It was hard to get any feel for how they were received from the story in the State, Columbia’s newspaper.
Meanwhile, The Fordham Foundation’s Ohio Gadfly newsletter waves a fond farewell to Susan Zelman, Ohio’s superintendent of public instruction who is looking to move on after clashing with Gov. Ted Strickland. The Gadfly calls Zelman “ornery, strong-willed, and mercurial, in addition to very bright, boundlessly energetic, and quite creative.” Fordham says Ohio will miss “Dr. Z” and warns of danger on the horizon as Strickland pushes his education agenda.
(Image credit: The State newspaper)
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Schools and Politics
TweetDayton schools require union wages
The city schools will require construction companies building its new schools to pay union wages going forward — for now.
The board voted unanimously to add language to is bidding requirements at its meeting tonight. The wage rules will apply to the next three schools. The move left non-union contractors — some of whom have worked on the district’s prior projects — miffed.
“We’re very disappointed,” said Kathleen Somers, president of Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc., of the Ohio Valley, a non-union contractors group. “That vote tonight cost taxpayers a lot of money unnecessarily.”
School board President Yvonne Isaacs said the goal is to attract more local companies to the projects — companies board members hope will employ more local people and minorities to build Dayton’s new schools.
If the experiment works and the schools stay on budget, Isaacs said the rule will remain for the remaining nine schools still to be built.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Dayton and we want to make sure that we see the people actually paying the taxes have benefitted,” she said.
The district is about to begin the last phase of construction. In the first two phases, the district made no requirement for workers’ wages and projects mostly fell short of its goals for local and minority participation.
But in the last year, the Ohio School Facilities Commission gave districts more latitude to set wage rules.
Last month, the head of the company that is managing the next phase of construction for the district — Shook Construction — argued in a letter to contractors that union wages could increase local and minority participation on school building projects. Shook’s Vince Corrado said there would be little or no additional cost to the district if the bidders adjust their other costs to compensate.
Somers called that assertion “hogwash.” She said the new rule will raise construction costs and discourage local non-union companies from bidding.
“We are going to be watching closely to see if the numbers are hit,” she said.
Permalink | Comments (18) | Post your comment | Categories: School Construction
TweetShould LeMaster graduate after sex crime conviction?
Christopher LeMaster
Over in Riverside, former Stebbins High School student Christopher LeMaster pleaded guilty last month to gross sexual imposition for having sex with an unconscious fellow student. The 16-year-old girl had passed out after taking drugs and drinking alcohol at party only to find out later that LeMaster, 18, had has sex with her and that pictures of her undressed and unconscious were circulating among Stebbins students at school.
The initial report of this incident came when the girl told a Stebbins guidance counselor that she thought she had been raped. LeMaster was arrested in late February and put on “home instruction” by the school district in early March. He admitted his guilt in court on April 3 and later was sentenced to five years probation.
The girl now is home schooled and told the judge in LeMaster’s case that she had to leave Stebbins because she was the subject of so much harassment from other students. So now, LeMaster’s family wants him to be allowed to graduate with his class at Stebbins next month and school officials says they are researching the legalities of the issue before making a decision.
I have a simple question for Riverside schools. Why was LeMaster not expelled after pleading guilty to a sexual crime against another student? He is a sexual felon now and the initial report of this incident came at school. How can he possibly be allowed to continue as a Stebbins student (even if he is instructed at home) after that?
Seems like if LeMaster had been expelled in April, this wouldn’t be an issue.
Permalink | Comments (63) | Post your comment | Categories: Student Health and Safety
TweetLatest on the top educator job front
Percy Mack and Susan Zelman
Here’s the lastest on job hunts by Dayton Superintendent Percy Mack and Ohio Superintendent for Public Instruction Susan Zelman:
In Columbia, S.C., the State newspaper reports that Percy Mack and two other finalists will visit Tuesday for a whirlwind tour and interviews. Reporter Bill Robinson gave readers there some background on Mack and the other finalists in a story today. Robinson also includes a Q&A interview with Mack and the other finalists.
Meanwhile, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reportsZelman is a candidate for education dean at the University of Oregon.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetWho will sing the alma mater?
(Ted Murphy with music students at Thurgood Marshall High School)
Ted Murphy wrote an alma mater for the new Thurgood Marshall High School, but he had no one to sing it at graduation.
Last summer’s budget school district budget cuts decimated the arts at the school once known as Colonel White School for the Arts, wiping out choir there along with other arts programs across the district.
Murphy, an elementary schools music teacher for 22 of his 34 years in Dayton, hung on until the Thurgood Marshall assignment came just before summer’s end. Murphy was one of the last two music teachers in the district to get an assignment and Thurgood Marshall nearly opened with no art or music programs at all.
Last week, a consultant delivered a largely upbeat report on the district’s operations nearly a year after a devastating levy defeat brought $30 million in cuts. Linda Recio of Evergreen Solutions said the schools made great improvements over six years.
But since last summer, teachers say the cuts placed a great strain on instruction that some fear will harm the district’s run of test score gains.
At Thurgood Marshall, Murphy said the challenge of rebuilding the music program in a new building has made this the best year of his career.
Even so, the kids and the school have suffered.
Just two years ago, Superintendent Percy Mack invited Colonel White’s robust and energetic marching band to perform at his convocation speech, lauding a young director named Jamie Shelton for reviving a program that had dwindled to 12 kids.
But Shelton departed for Trotwood schools in the cuts and several of his students left the district to follow. This fall, the band was back down to about 20 kids, if you counted every dancer, drummer and flag waver. The school can’t even afford to buy them updated uniforms with its new colors.
“That’s where I am right now, starting all over again,” Murphy said. “It has really disgruntled my kids. It was a strong program and they saw it collapse around them.”
Still, Murphy is hopeful. He has begun tutoring a group of students in choral performance and for graduation, he said, someone will sing the alma mater.
Last year, Nancy Rutter’s class at Orville Wright Elementary School had music, art or gym for 45 minutes a day and several of her students took instrument lessons from the music teacher.
“This year, none of my sixth graders are in band,” she said. “The school had no concerts. All those things are gone.”
Instead, students take music, art and gym once a week each for 30 minutes. The school day is shorter and Rutter’s downtime is curtailed.
She no longer grades papers or holds phone conferences with parents during breaks. Rutter said she rarely even has time to even run to the rest room anymore.
“People are just exhausted,” she said.
Nina Ferrell, a teacher at Patterson Kennedy Elementary School, said a lack of planning time makes it harder for teachers to connect their lesson plans to state standards, which are tested on state exams. And it leaves less time for communication with students and their parents.
It’s also put many of her colleagues on edge.
“Even the younger teachers are affected,” she said. “They are stressed out, depressed and disouraged. They feel like they are not meeting the kids needs. If the levy doesn’t pass next time, it’s going to be even worse.”
A year ago this week, Dayton’s 15.17-mill levy was soundly defeated by voters prompting 428 layoffs, 208 teachers among them.
But teachers say the general public has not seen the worst cuts, as visible programs like arts faculty at Stivers School for the Arts, sports teams and high school busing were restored with outside funds.
A consultant’s report last week that gave good marks to much of the district’s management and education program left some teachers feeling that the classroom challenges they face daily have been obscured. They fear that the cuts could bring lower test scores this year and unhappy voters could defeat the next levy.
“The public needs to realize what is happening,” Ferrell said. “If I was a betting person, I would be my last dime that the scores will go down. It’s all these factors coming together. It affects the kids.”
It also affects the teachers. In March, teachers’ union president Pat Lynch told the board the cuts in planning time were running causing teachers to break down.
In fact, the district’s data shows teachers have been sick more often this school year. The average number of sick days used by teachers jumped from 6.4 in 2005-06 to 7.0 last year to a projected 7.9 this year. And long term illness of more than 20 consecutive days jumped to 67 so far this year from 50 and 62 the last two years.
“Teachers are going six straight hours with no breaks,” Lynch said. “They have no planning time so they are taking more work home. They’re tired.”
Tough working conditions probably explain why teachers were less enthusiastic about Superintendent Percy Mack’s leadership in surveys the consultant ordered, she said. While administrators rated Mack high — 97 percent in the central office and 100 percent of principals gave him top marks — only 60 percent of teachers rated him as well. Lynch said teachers might have rated Mack higher a year ago, before all the cuts.
A lot of top teachers are looking elsewhere, Ferrell said.
“If they can get out, they’re going to leave,” she said. And that is bad for the kids because they need people who are going to give 110 percent. A lot of people see no light at the end of the tunnel.”
At Orville Wright, Rutter said sixth graders need the creative outlet of music and art and the physical release of gym and recess. But now some days the only escape from the classroom is 30 minutes — 15 to eat lunch and 15 on the playground.
“There’s just so much more stress going on with them,” she said. “They need breaks from the classroom, from each other and from me.”
School board President Yvonne Isaacs said the cuts were the best way to limit the impact on the classroom and that it hurt board members to cut music, art and programs they had worked to build up. She said school leaders are listening to teacher concerns.
“There really was no easy way around this thing,” she said. “We know this is an issue this year and we have heard them loud and clear. We fully understand the impact this has had on the classroom.”
The goal of the consultant’s study was to find more ways to cut business operations to find money for the classroom, she said. But board members know a levy is needed. The study will help build the case for the November levy, Isaacs said.
“If this community wants a quality school district, we are going to need the community to stand up and help,” she said. “We fully understand the economic impact we are going through, but for the kinds of economic opportunities we want to attract to Dayton in the future we need to have an educated workforce.”
(Image credit: Ron Alvey, DDN)
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetWill Dann have time for charter suit?
Marc Dann
While Ohio’s attorney general is mired in the turmoil of his office’s scandals, will he have time to decide in just 10 days whether or not to appeal to the supreme court in Cincinnati’s lawsuit over charter school funding?
After all, it just means $50 million or so to the state’s urban districts.
Permalink | Comments (13) | Post your comment | Categories: Charter Schools and School Choice
TweetGive the people what they want?
I always liked that album.
Here’s the criticism of management consultants a school administrator once told me — you hire them, tell them what you want to hear and then they tell you what you want to hear.
I’ve even heard stories of consultants flat out telling school boards that during interviews, asking them directly if they wanted a report that builds a case for ousting the superintendent, or keeping the superintendent or passing a levy or whatever.
Evergreen Solutions consultant Linda Recio’s report on Dayton schools was pretty upbeat overall, and has some GOTB readers wondering if she just told the school board what it wanted to hear.
Here’s some additional background to help you make up your own mind:
—The situation here is not typical, in that the consultant was not hired by the school district but by a committee heavily influenced by business leaders and chaired by a businessman (Premier Health Partners President Tom Breitenbach). Dayton schools only contributed $10,000 of the $75,000 fee for Evergreen. So the report is not the completely the district’s own.
—If the district were scripting a report such as this for the public, what would school leaders want it to look like? Maybe not too much different. They might want it to outline some genuine cost savings opportunities but include lots of compliments and support for the management and no bombshells. And strong endorsements of the size and effort of the central office had to be satisfying for Superitendent Percy Mack and the board.
—Even so, some of the report certainly had to make school officials squirm. The heavy indictment of the bus system was certainly embarassing. And some of the weaknesses in food service and finance harkened to the bad old days of a decade ago when the district’s processes and controls were barely functional.
—The report also brought up some uncomfortable issues. Its recommendation that the district consider privatizing transportation and eliminate high school busing completely may not be discussions the district wants to have right now with a levy on the horizon.
—Recio’s report often recalled a 2002 study of the district by the Council of Great City Schools, which was deeply critical of the school district’s management, operations and educational program. That report was commissioned and paid for entirely by the school board (just elected Littlejohn & Co.), which at the time said it wanted straight talk about what needed to be fixed. So the board does have some track record with unfettered outside criticism.
—Recio’s report did gather some useful and interesting data. It looked at how Dayton compared with state averages and with a peer group of Akron, Canton, Columbus, Southwestern and Youngstown (I wonder why not Toledo?). Consider:
The number of students per staff in Dayton was 14.7, higher than the peer average of 14.3.
The number of students per school (510.5) also is higher than the peer average (465.2).
Using state figures, Dayton has a higher percentage of kids in poverty (17.91) and disabled kids (15.89) than peer districts (14.77 and 15.23) or the state average (5.25 and 13.48). (Note: the poverty figure is an state education department number that uses a higher standard than the common “free or reduced lunch” eligibility percentage.)
The student-teacher ratio (25.76 to 1) is higher in Dayton than any peer district and above the peer (21.62 to 1) or state (19.48 to 1) averages.
Average teacher salary ($49,346) and starting teacher pay ($30,381) are below the peer averages ($53,170 and $31,798). The state average is $52,595, and $28,191 for starting pay.
Dayton also has a large number of inexperienced teachers, with 43.7 percent having 0 to 4 years experience compared with the peer average of 23.93 percent and state average of 21.11 percent.
The ratio of administrators to students in Dayton is 200.82 to 1, compared to 167.96 to 1 for the peer group and 155.72 to 1 for the state.
Dayton gets 44.85 percent of its revenue from the state, compared to 47.85 percent for the peer group and 41.92 percent as a state average. Dayton gets less revenue per student from the state than peer districts or the state average.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetHere’s what the consultant said about Dayton
Linda Recio
Linda Recio, a consultant with the Florida-based firm Evergreen Solutions, presented her findings from a four-month study of Dayton Public Schools Thursday morning to a group of school, business and community leaders who make up a committee that is reviewing the district’s operations.
Recio was asked to report on how efficiently the district is managed and recommend possible improvements. She started with a long list of commendations for district management and said it was clear to her that the district had made major improvements since 2002. Then she went though a list of suggestions for how the district could improve.
In other cities, Recio has provided an approximate dollar figure for how much could be saved if the district enacted all the recommendations. She did not do that here. Committee chairman Tom Breitenbach asked Percy Mack to prepare an action plan for the distirct to make changes based on Recio’s report.
As best I could, I compiled a summary of Recio’s commendations and suggested changes. I tried to get everything so blog readers could get a full picture of what she highlighted. This is long, but those who want to see all the details can check it out after the jump:
Commendations
These are areas that Recio reviewed and found positives about the district:
—Superintendent Percy Mack is respected in the community.
In surveys, 97 percent of administrators, 100 percent of principals and 60 percent of teachers said they thought Mack was a strong administrator and instructive leader.
Recio said a 100 percent rating from principals was very rare. Afterward I asked teachers union President Pat Lynch about the comparatively low rating from teachers. She related it to tough working conditions for teachers this year, following $30 million in cuts, and said teachers likely would have rated Mack higher before the cuts.
—The district is not heavy with administrators.
Recio said Dayton had a higher ratio of students to administrators (200 to 1) than its peer group (168 to 1) or the state average (155 to 1). She said this figure came from last year’s numbers, prior to the budget cuts which eliminated some administrative jobs. Today the district’s ratio is probably higher, she said.
The study also suggests central office administrators spend more time in schools than in typical districts. Recio said that finding was based on survey responses from principals.
—The public information office is effective.
The report states that the district understands marketing, responds well to stakeholders and has effective truancy and count week public awareness campaigns.
—Education Services have greatly improved.
The report cites the district’s shift from 47 percent of its spending on instruction to 60 percent over five years. Recio said there is a process for examining low performing schools and a comprehensive approach to curriculum that involves teachers. She said the district is seeking to become more data driven and has good options like distance learning.
Program options like Montessori schools, arts schools, the Marshall High School academic magnet program and the Dayton Early College Academy were praised in the report.
—Financial services are generally strong.
Recio cited the district’s efficient process for budget cuts and clean audit in 2007 along with an award for financial excellent Dayton received.
—Human Resources has good recruitment materials.
The report said Dayton’s recruitment packet and employee handbook are high quality and a training program for aspiring administrators is strong.
—Facilities are well cared for.
The district has a facilities strategic plan, no portable classrooms and showed no evidence of deferred maintenance on schools, the report states. For construction, Dayton uses cost-saving prototypes for new schools and has a very low percentage of change orders on its projects (2 percent, compared to a national average of 3 percent).
Recio said the district integrates parks, recreation and community centers into its operations and uses a state of the art energy management program that saves money.
—High school busing was maintained despite cuts.
Recio praised a partnership with the city, county and RTA to keep high school busing this year, but warned that it would be hard to sustain. She also praised camera security systems on new buses.
—Safety and security shows some strengths.
The report cites the fact that no city school has ever been listed as “persistently dangerous” under No Child Left Behind for repeated violent incidents. It also cited good emergency procedures, alarms and perimeter security at schools.
—Food and nutrition serves many kids effectively.
About 60 percent of Dayton kids eat breakfast at school and 84 percent eat school lunches. Lunches are scheduled appropriately in the school day, Recio said.
—Administration technology is connected well to education technology.
The report praises Cincinnati Bell, the district’s computer contractor, for its services and flexibility.
Areas for improvement
The report cited these areas where the district needs to improve:
—Transportation is a high cost.
Dayton spends 6.9 percent of its funds on transportation, while the average district spends 5.3 percent. Bus utilization (number of seats occupied) ranges from 70 to 85 percent nationally, but for Dayton the rate is 58 percent with an average of 46 kids per bus. This is the lowest among the district’s peer group.
Dayton transports 3,800 charter school students, 1,350 private school students and about 10,000 of its own kids each day. The cost for private and charter school busing is $5 million annually. The median cost per student for busing at the district is $1,377 per student per year compared to the peer district average of $770 and the state average of $587.
Recio said the district should consider dropping high school transportation, which is not required by law, to save $1.2 million if money remains tight going forward. She said the district has too many bus stops based on parent requests rather than route efficiency, costing money. And about 449 students who live less than a mile from school rode a bus compared with 147 in the next closest peer school district (Canton). Dayton has a ratio of 2.16 buses per 100 students, well beyond the national ratio of 1.0 to 1.3 in urban areas.
District spending on overtime was $376,000 total with $232,000 coming in transportation, although Recio noted some improvements have been made. She said union contract rule changes might help reduce these costs.
About 30 buses, or 15 percent of the fleet, needs immediate replacement and Dayton should be replacing 15 to 17 buses per year. The district needs better management for the fleet.
Recio cited driver absences as a major problem, causing bus delays and missed routes and prompting complaints from teachers and principals. She also noted turnover in the job of transportation director. The district should explore outsourcing busing, she said.
—Food Services need better monitoring.
Data tracking is an issue for food service, the report states. The district does not track “meals per labor hour,” a common statistic used for comparison purposes. The food service division in November ran a negative balance of $1.5 million even though it is supposed to pay for itself through meal revenue.
The report said the district is not consistently applying fees and costs for after hours food service and catering at school and community events. Food Services also did not have a comprehensive staff allocation plan or a strategic plan aligned to the district’s goals. Comprehensive, written procedures also were not apparent.
—Finance practices could be tightened up.
The report cited a lack of documents tying instructional planning to the annual budget, but allowed this may have been caused by the deep budget cuts. The district does not post financial information in a timely or useful way on its Web site and overtime costs of $750,000 could be reduced if union rules were changed. The report also noted Dayton pays its vendors twice a week rather than every other week.
Recio said Dayton lacks some written procedures for accounting and does not consistently seek grant money to cover all costs that they could cover. Also, cash projections were not always based on current bank reconciliations, which could skew the numbers. Annual inventories of district property are not always done.
The report also noted the district showed a cash deficit last November as a result of a timing issue but should take steps to make sure the balance never shows a negative. Documentation was lacking on workers compensation and procurement was decentralized, leading to individual school orders for materials and supplies that should be ordered districtwide.
The district disaster plan needs to be better communicated and the procedures manual has not been updated since 2000.
—Facilities could be managed more efficiently
With school construction and other changes, the district must study how it uses space to be sure it is done efficiently, the report states.
Dayton has two warehouses, which is inefficient when just-in-time suppliers are available. Union rules on snow removal result in two groups of employees — custodians and grounds workers — having different responsibilities for shoveling at each school.
After hours use of school building is not handled consistently, resulting in some groups not paying the required fees. The school board should seek flexibility in seniority and overtime rules in future labor contract negotiations.
—Education services have improved but more changes could help.
Recio said instruction has improved significantly since 2002 and cuts last year left little maneuvering room going forward. But she said the central office could be better aligned to the schools for accountability.
Use of data by schools is not universal and appears optional. There also is inconsistent monitoring and reinforcement of professional development, although the report praised training programs as high quality.
Dayton has a high percentage of special education students, causing Recio to question whether kids were over-identified for the programs. The progam also has just 10 percent of kids in regular classes through inclusion, which should be the goal for all kids.
Pre-school needs coordination. Four pre-school programs currently have separate curriculum and evaluation. More effort needs to be made to link program evaluations and decisions about classroom instruction. The report also states there is no explicit plan for delegating resources to low performing schools.
The district lacks comprehensive training for new administrators and veterans, despite a good program for aspiring administrators. The district also does not have an active teacher recruitment plan or data on employee retention.
Recio urged the district to explore pay-for-performance plans for teachers, principals and administrators and said some assistant principals should be reduced to 10 or 11 month contracts to save money.
(Image credit: Allegeny, Va., schools)
Permalink | Comments (15) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetMack: Columbia job enticing, close to home
The skyline in Columbia, S.C.
City school Superintendent Percy Mack is a one of three finalists to lead the school system in Columbia, S.C.
This is the second time in seven months that Mack has been considered for a job elsewhere. In September he interviewed for superintendent in Mobile, Ala., but the school board there chose a different candidate.
Mack said the circumstances this time were much the same as with Mobile. He said he was not looking for a job but was contacted by a recruiter and decided to apply because Columbia was a quality urban school district close to his native Georgia.
Columbia, with 23,000 students and 50 schools, is larger than Dayton’s 16,000 enrollment for 31 schools, but Mack said the two systems were alike in many ways.
“The community there has done some things, kind of like what we are doing here,” he said. “They are working on a lot of things to provide support for the district from the leaders in the community. It’s almost a mirror of Dayton, but closer to home.”
Mack, 57, is a native of Savannah, Ga. and worked in suburban Atlanta before coming to Dayton in 2001. His three adult children and their families all live in Georgia.
“As I have come to know Dr. Mack, one thing I appreciate about him is he is a family man,” school board President Yvonne Isaacs said. “He loves his kids and grandkids and he frequently tries to get home to participate in their activities. The only thing that would cause him to look at leaving — and I believe this to be true — is something that would get him closer to his family.”
Mack was promoted to the top job here in 2002 when Jerrie Bascome McGill retired. Coincidentally, a consultant’s report issued Thursday largely praised the district’s improvements in management and student achievement in Mack’s tenure while recommending better practices in areas like busing, food service, finance and facilities use.
Mack will interview in Columbia on Tuesday. He makes about $140,000 annually in Dayton. School officials in Columbia have set the salary range for that job at $195,000 to $230,000.
(Image credit: Mike Muench)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetPercy Mack a finalist in Columbia, S.C.
Percy Mack
The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., is reporting the Dayton school Superintendent Percy Mack is one of three finalists to become superintendent there.
Mack was a finalist for superintendent in Mobile, Ala., in September but the board ultimately picked a different candidate. At the time, Mack said he was interested in the job because it was a large urban district close to his native state of Georgia. But he has consistently said since that time that he was not looking for another job.
Permalink | Comments (15) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
TweetReport cites busing, food service for cost savings
A consultant hired by a group of school, business and community leaders to evaluate Dayton Public Schools gave her intial report today after three months of study.
Overall, the report was complimentary in many ways, and conlsultant Linda Recio praised the school district for significant improvements in its business and educational practices since 2002.
One Recio’s goals was to identify potential costs savings. She did not come back with a dollar figure for what might be saved if her recommendations were put in place, but she identified potential savings in busing, food services, facilities use and finance.
By far the biggest poteinal savings is in the area of busing.
I will post a more complete list of the recommendations later this afternoon. But in short, Recio said the disrict’s busing system is inefficient and costly. The two biggest bombshells were these — she said the district should consider outsourcing transportation to a private company and permanently cutting high school busing if financial conditions do not improve.
She said the transportation department is too responsive to parent concerns, re-routing buses based on requests and complaints and allowing kids who live short distances from schools to ride buses at rate far beyond any comparable district. The report also cites driver absenteeism, high overtime costs, frequently late buses and too few kids riding too many buses.
Meanwhile, this may be a surprise to some readers. Recio said the district was not top heavy with administrators, citing comparisons with other districts that showed Dayton spending less on administrators and having fewer of them. The report even states that Dayton administrators are more frequently in schools than other districts.
Check back here later for more details on the recommendations.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
Tweet
