2008 Middletown homecoming
Crash at Miller Lane Olive Garden
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Dayton school district gets good report card
Blog: Here's what the consultant said
Friday, May 02, 2008
DAYTON — An independent report on the efficiency of Dayton Public Schools has found several strengths, including:
• Superintendent Percy Mack is respected in the community.
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• The district is not heavy with administrators.
• Education Services have greatly improved.
One area for improvement is the district?s transportation system.
Meanwhile, Mack is a one of three finalists to lead the school system in Columbia, S.C.
The Columbia district, which is larger than Dayton?s, is closer to his native Georgia.
A consultant gives the city schools high marks for recent improvements but suggests potentially controversial changes in busing to save money.
Linda Recio, of Florida-based Evergreen Solutions, on Thursday, May 1, reported her findings to a committee of school, business and community leaders after four months of study.
The school district is generally well managed and has made great strides over the past six years but could save money through changes to busing, food services, finance and facilities use, Recio said. Her report did not suggest how much could be saved if all the recommendations were put in place.
"This is a day we've been working toward," school board President Yvonne Isaacs said. "Now we can see where we can improve and see where we can take more resources and channel them into the classroom."
The district expects to place a new levy on the November ballot. Last May, a 15.17-mill levy was soundly defeated and the district made $30 million in cuts.
Recio hit busing especially hard, saying the district spends more of its budget on busing than the average district, has fewer children on buses and spends more per child for transportation. High driver absenteeism was cited as a major problem, causing many late buses, overtime costs and uncovered routes.
Among proposed remedies, Recio said the district should consider outsourcing busing, eliminating high school busing and limiting exceptions for bus stop locations based on parent requests and complaints. Other recommendations included:
• Better tracking of statistics and budget for food services.
• More careful monitoring of bank accounts and cash projections.
• A review of special education to see if too many children are incorrectly placed in the program.
• An exploration of pay-for-performance for teachers, principals and administrators.
Tom Breitenbach, president of Premier Health Partners and the committee chairman, said the report had a lot of good news for Dayton.
"The district has made some very good decisions in the last several years," he said. "This has really resulted in our closing the gap between ourselves and the state averages and the average of urban districts. We want to accelerate our progress. One way to do that is to take resources from the non-instructional side and take it toward instruction."
Breitenbach asked Superintendent Percy Mack to begin crafting an action plan based on the report.
