Lakewood Schools 2005-2006 Report Card

[Dee Martinez]

Mr Call.

Congratulations on a great link. I hope everyone takes a look at this.
What Brunswick has done, with 5 yr "emegency" levies, is the equivalent of taking out an ARM. In 2011, nearly 12 mills of revenue dry up. If they don't get a levy passed, the bomb goes off in 3 fiscal yrs. Wow!

[sharon kinsella]

David Anderson -

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Your post was well thought out and right on the money.

Bill Call -

The reason I moved back to Lakewood with my two younger kids, was the quality of the teachers in the Lakewood schools.

I have a lot of friends in academia and who teach junion and senior high. The one piece of information I received, time and again, was the quality of the Lakewood teachers was of the highest caliber.

My kids are high achievers and thrived in Lakewood schools and they have returned to Lakewood, degrees in hand, and careers thriving.

If Lakewood wants to attract high achievers, we must have high performers.

My point? If you cut benefits, salaries etc. for teachers, they will go elsewhere. They are career professionals and should be treated with high regard for the difficult job they do. They are entrusted with the most important task in American, fostering a love for learning in our kids.

The answers that you always come up with is cutting benefits and salaries for employees - bad idea.

[Bill Call]

Mr Call.

Congratulations on a great link. I hope everyone takes a look at this.
What Brunswick has done, with 5 yr "emegency" levies, is the equivalent of taking out an ARM. In 2011, nearly 12 mills of revenue dry up. If they don't get a levy passed, the bomb goes off in 3 fiscal yrs. Wow!

If Brunswick does not CUT taxes the district will have a surplus in 2011.

If Lakewood does not RAISE taxes the district will have a $20 million dollar deficit in 2011.

Which district is in the stronger fiscal position?

It is disappointing, but not surprising, that none of the school board candidates are talking about the coming fiscal train wreck.

Are you ready for a 5% property tax rate?

[Kevin Galvin]

.

Public schools must be the schools of choice for all. If not, those who can’t leave won’t be able to participate in any economy, in any society. We can’t leave large urban districts to continue to deteriorate. It’s a human capital issue, yes. But this is really the civil rights issue of the 21st Century.

Mr. Anderson,

While your comment may be a great idea, how do you convince an individual family with means to sacrifice THEIR OWN children to get the ball rolling? How do you convince the Cleveland --fill in the blank-- cop, firefighter, judge, teacher that they should let their child be sent from Munn Rd. to Glenville so that the system will improve?

An interesting twist that I see is that the people of "lesser" means find a way to move to Lakewood, Parma, or Fairview to get their kids out of Cleveland schools. The biggest reason being is that it now comes down to eight or ten grand a year per child for St. Ed's/St. Ignatius or (and this kind of mixes in with the sub-prime fiasco) buy a no money down in Lakewood.

I, personally, don't know ANYONE, with children in Cleveland schools, who are not trying to figure out a way to get their kids out of their current schools.

[David Anderson]

Thanks for the reply/exchange, Kevin.

I don't consider the section of my previous post which you quoted as an "idea." There is no idea there but rather me going about a statement/opinion.

I purposefully left "ideas" out of that post. But since you asked ...

Your comments about how to keep families from leaving or attracting others back hits the nail on the head. What can the Cleveland or any other large urban school district (and possibly inner-ring districts) offer by way of a valuable education that prepares young adults for success during and after high school?

My Idea - Immediately open Associate's Degree high schools with the capacity to handle every qualified student - passed all five portions of the Ohio Graduation Test and the Compass college admission exam. If a ninth or 10th grade student passes all OGT components (Cleveland currently has 2,000 in these grades who have) give the Compass exam. Those who pass should be offered Associate's Degree coursework with the expectation that the student will earn this two-year degree by the time they graduate from high school. Remedial coursework should be given to all who fail the Compass exam with the expectation that they would be entered in the Associate's Degree program upon passage.

Many Cleveland students earn college credit by taking courses at CSU, Tri-C and others. However, if the student fails to go back and complete college these credits are worthless and a waste of taxpayer money.

Cleveland's schools has a High Tech Academy at Tri-C Metro through which 60 students from a dozen high schools are placed in a part-time Associate's Degree program. About six every year actually complete the entire program and earn their Assoiciate's along with their high school diploma.

It can be done and students are capable.

A high school diploma is irrelevant in today's world.


Requirements - The short list.

1) Change in Ohio law concerning the reimbursement of funds to public school districts that offer college level coursework.
2) Make adjunct college professors out of Cleveland teachers.
3) As stated before, dedicate buildings to this purpose alone.
4) Ensure that Associate's Degree coursework is linked to four-year programs and the needs of business and industry.


Impact - The short list.

1) Provide the minimum credential to enter the workforce.
2) Enhance the students' earning potential from $20,000 (high school diploma only) to $27,000 (two-year degree).
3) Effectively cut in half the cost of a four-year college degree. CSU and other public universities bend over backwards to attract Associate's Degreed applicants.
4) Immediately impact the outlook of an individual family who may not have any members who have earned a high school diploma let alone a college degree. We've just changed a family for generations.
5) Enhance the overall education attainment rate of the city of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County and Northeast Ohio.
6) Dramatically cut the amount of social services and federal support required by individuals and families who cannot earn or learn their way out of poverty.
7) Slowly turn the tide of low expectations and give K-9th graders something to shoot for during their last 2+ years of high school.

This is an idea I've been feeding to many education players here in Cleveland (in and out of the District). I would welcome your response.

[sharon kinsella]

David -

I think your idea is brilliant.

Eric Fingerhut is now on the State Board of Ed - I'd bet he'd be interested in hearing about this.

[Kevin Galvin]

[quote="David Anderson"]
[


Requirements - The short list.

1) Change in Ohio law concerning the reimbursement of funds to public school districts that offer college level coursework.
2) Make adjunct college professors out of Cleveland teachers.
3) As stated before, dedicate buildings to this purpose alone.
4) Ensure that Associate's Degree coursework is linked to four-year programs and the needs of business and industry.

Mr. Anderson,

I love it. My favorite is #3 in your requirement list above. It would be great if hard-working students who are there to learn know that they can "Graduate" to the high school reserved for real students. The kids there could walk the halls without being concerned for their safety. It could be a true first step towards keeping quality students. Once a pilot program was started, perhaps there could be schools where kids had to earn their way in at all levels. The students at those schools would have to behave in order to stay. I think that this would be tremendous for the many Cleveland kids who could succeed if they weren't just trying to survive.

One of the reasons that private schools can maintain control is that they can boot the misfits out and the public schools have to take them. It would seem a great step if Cleveland could do the same. It may actually get to the point where more and more schools could be reserved for the good students and the troublemakers would be forced to attend the few schools designated. I'm just guessing, but it would seem security costs would decrease as well because heavier security would be placed in the schools based on the students enrolled.

The only other thing I would like to see is that the the school board understands that not all students are cut out for college. It's important that all of them can do basic math, handle a checkbook, and communicate properly. These kids can also be taught that there is no shame in being a plumber, electrician, roofer, or garbage man. While they may not have the allure of other professions, they are certainly not going to be outsourced. There may be a few people with art history degrees wondering where they are going to get the money to pay the plumber when the four year old flushes his sister's doll at 7am on Labor day.

[David Anderson]

Kevin -

You're right, not all students are cut out for college. However, 90% of the fastest growing job opportunities require at least a meaningful two-year degree. I just came from a meeting of the North Coast Consortium of College Tech Prep which deals with this issue directly. More than 2,000 Cuyahoga County students are earning career and technical credits along with the courses needed for a high school diploma allowing graduates to enter the workforce directly after high school. My belief is that we need to integrate post high school options - tech prep as well as two-year curriculum - into the pubic high school model.

To add to your private school comment, any Cleveland high school principal will tell you that enrollment goes up in the second semester because students formerly in the public system who opted for a charter/private school are being kicked-out and returning to the public system (not all the money follows). Cleveland also has specific schools for disruptive students. But, there's disruptive then there's DISRUPTIVE.

At any rate, I appreciate the feedback. This is sort of what I do for a living so your thoughts are valuable to me.