Saturday, July 25, 2015

Hey Lorain!



Today's Morning Journal opened the conversation regarding the Youngstown Amendment's implications for the Lorain Schools. You can find the article here...

http://www.morningjournal.com/general-news/20150724/lorain-academic-distress-commission-mulls-two-year-deadline-improve-or-out


I believe that this is an incomplete depiction, to be kind, and have suggested further study in a letter I submitted to the author, Carol Harper, the Journal's news room, and editors. Let's hope they keep investigating, and provide a more accurate depiction of the plan. The people of Lorain should be terribly concerned, if not outraged over this issue. The text of my note is as follows...

Good morning Mrs. Harper and other interested individuals from the Journal.

I appreciate your work in informing the people of Lorain of the ramifications of HB 70 and the so-called Youngstown Amendment. I am a teacher and resident of Elyria and an educational activist very concerned about the implications of appointing a CEO to lead a district. My wife and I have attended an informational forum in Youngstown and been in contact with their Senator, Joe Schiavoni. I believe that contacting ODE representatives for information has gotten you a whitewashed version of the issues. I have attached a form provided to me by Senator Schiavoni's office that provides a more accurate depiction of the plan (see below).

The issue regarding Lorain's improvement over two years in order to avoid take-over by a CEO is a very complex issue. As the chair of your Commission stated, the tests are changing, have not been vetted or assured of their reliability and validity, which is to say they are not necessarily measuring what they claim to measure or doing so with any accuracy. This creates significant problems in identifying progress. Furthermore, if you look at the research on standardized testing, what they measure best is poverty. Look at the top 5 highest and lowest rated schools in Ohio by standardized tests scores and you will find a predictable correlation to average income. With its relative rates of poverty, urban schools like Lorain and Youngstown (among others) are at a severe disadvantage.

The Ohio Department of Education, as an arm of the Governor's office serving the Republican agenda, is presenting this plan as necessary to help children in underperforming districts. However, the amendment that instituted the plan was attached to House Bill 70 less than a day before the vote. There was no committee meeting, nor any public discussion of the plan. If it is designed to help, as the ODE would have us believe, then why did it pass through this backroom manner that seems a violation of the democratic process. Representative Driehaus of Cincinnati, a key author of the original bill, who had worked for years on its construction, voted against it because of this scenario. As a matter of fact, all Democrats and a few Republicans (including Gayle and Nathan Manning) voted against the bill.

With this sort of scenario and resistance, even within the party championing the plan, we should find ourselves a bit skeptical. The bill gives a CEO "discretion" over the school board according to your article. It should first be mentioned that this is not an elected school board, but appointed, and a CEO who only needs "high level management experience in the public or private sector" according to the bill, conceivably none in education, not even a degree. More problematic are the powers given to the CEO, the ability to throw out collective bargaining rights, which you have mentioned and which should sound familiar to Ohio voters who fought against Senate Bill 5 during Kasich's first term. But after ONE year without achieving a C, the CEO may change curriculum, replace administrators, replace a majority of staff, contract non-profit or for-profit entities to run the school, or replace it as a charter school. The bill indicates that a district may cease to exist if no buildings remain.

And here we have reached the core of the issue. The plan does nothing to spell out a path to student improvement. What it does spell out is a path to privatization, the increase of charter schools in a given district and the state. Keep in mind that Ohio's charters have not proven to be more effective, and more often are far less effective than their public counterparts.

Please look into the information I have provided here. Contact Senator Schiavoni, the Manning's, the recently dissolved Youngstown School Board, and other stakeholders. Then come back to the people of Lorain with another story.

Thank you for your time.
Matthew Jablonski

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