CLEVELAND — When Ohio legislators gave the go ahead to suspend state assessments and report cards, many were pleased as they thought forcing kids to take assessments during a pandemic was asking for a lot from kids.
But now, problems are surfacing from that decision.
East Cleveland, Lorain and Youngstown City Schools have been under state control for years because they've been designated as failing districts. While the goal for each has been to get out sooner than later, that window of opportunity is closed for now and may not open again until 2022. Those in Youngstown say they’re frustrated, yet hopeful.
It can be tough for K-12 students to perform well on assessments in a pandemic.
“It doesn't matter what district you're in right now, it's going to be difficult for anybody to have high achievement," said Youngstown City Schools CEO Justin Jennings.
That’s why legislators agreed to alleviate the extra stress. They suspended state assessments this past school year and temporarily did away with state district report card grades. But Youngstown Academic Distress Commission (ADC) Chair John Richard said that decision left districts like Youngstown City Schools in a catch-22.
“With the pandemic, we have been a bit frustrated because of put a hold on the report cards, overall. And of course, for the commission to no longer exist, there has to be an overall grade on the state report card of a C, and then two subsequent years of a D or higher.”
That means they have no way to get from under state control because there’s no way to measure performance and improvement.
"We’ve had ten years under an Academic Distress Commission and ten years of failure," said Pastor Kenneth Simon, who used to sit on the ADC.
Simon’s been leading the community leadership coalition on education in an effort to disband A-D-C’s altogether. He said the community has no say and no control over what happens to the district. And now that there’s no way to get off of the ADC list, he said, “It is very frustrating. It has been frustrating from the beginning. It’s just unfair for our district.”
Stuck in the middle, Richard and others have said ADC member changes, CEO changes, financial troubles and so on left the district struggling to make improvement. But within the last year and a half, he said they’ve started to make a slight turn.
“The district just negotiated a contract with its teachers, and this is the first time in seven years. There are several different subgroups we're starting to see some of the subgroups make progress in both math and reading," Jennings said.
They’ve also worked to implement literacy plans, new curriculum, opened up health clinics to address truancy and passed a levy in a community that’s struggled for some time.
While Jennings isn’t thrilled with the current scenario created by legislative decisions either, he and Richard aren’t focused on that because the legislation changes periodically leaving no resolution.
“The ultimate goal for me is not to get off the list, because we got two years of a D or two years of a C the ultimate goal is to make sure we're off the list because our scholars are getting what they need to get.”
“If we do the right things, and we love these kids the right way, then the scores will take care of themselves over time," Richard added.
So, they remain hopeful that in spite of the legislative impact, everyone will do what’s necessary to succeed in the end.
There is a bill in the Ohio Legislature that would allow a district to make a case for what they have done to improve over the years and why they're ready to be out of state control but senators have yet to move the bill further along to bring it up for a vote. Without a vote, Youngstown, Lorain and East Cleveland will have to wait at least until 2022 before they can attempt to get out.