State Rep., school officials give update on state of Lorain schools at community event

LORAIN — Some members of the Statehouse don't believe local control should be returned to Lorain, a state representative said Friday. "Their idea is come in, bring people from Columbus, bring people from out of state, you bring them from everywhere, and they'll come in and they'll tell you how to run a school district — into the ground — and we will be much better for it," said state Rep. Joe Miller, D-Amherst. He added later, "This isn't about students, this isn't about local control and that's a shame because public education is what keeps the democracy thriving. It allows the steps on the ladder to be reached." His comments came as part of Unity in the Community, hosted by Miller and Citizens for Lorain Schools at St. Lad's Club. The event invited Lorain residents and school staff to a cookout and informal meet-and-greet with local education officials. Amid children running between picnic tables and sliding down an inflatable slide, adults received updates on the state of Lorain Schools from the school board, some Academic Distress Commission members and Miller's point of view. While the Legislature is on break, Miller said that hasn't stopped him from contacting his counterparts in the state Senate to try and get support for House Bill 154. Introduced by Miller and Rep. Don Jones, R-Freeport, the bill looks to repeal House Bill 70, the controversial 2015 law that allowed for the takeover of Lorain, Youngstown and East Cleveland school districts, and replace it with state support for struggling districts. It passed the House 83-12 but has stalled in the Senate. It was also included in the state budget, but was replaced with the 1-year moratorium when a committee of House and Senate members were coming up with a compromise budget. He expects when HB 154 comes out of the Senate, it won't look like what was passed in the House. Earlier this month, Sen. Nathan Manning, R-North Ridgeville, said he suspected changes to House Bill 154 would come from Sen. Peggy Lehner's proposal from June. Though not formally introduced, her plan would keep the spirit of HB 70 intact — including language to lengthen the timeline for support given to struggling districts, replace academic distress commissions with school improvement commissions, trade a CEO for an improvement director, and establish a state-level school transformation board to oversee struggling districts. "It'll be up to the House to push back and try to meet somewhere in that chasm between profiting off of students, off of charter schools that are unaccountable, and public education where the teachers, the paraprofessionals, the staff and the community members care," Miller said. "That's the gap we're going to have to close, but we can get this done now if you keep up the pressure." Academic Distress Commission member Steve Cawthon, who also is a teacher at the high school, said those districts saved by the moratorium should be sending thank-you cards to Lorain. The moratorium prevented Ashtabula, Canton, Columbus, Dayton, Euclid, Lima, Mansfield, North College Hill, Painesville and Toledo schools from falling under state control within the next two years unless districts' report card scores improved. "I never was in the military," he said. "But I feel like what we've experienced with this, it's like we're brothers in battle and forever, years down the road we're going to look back on this and we're going to see each other and reminisce about going through the battles with the state and the CEO and House Bill 70 trying to fix this for our community and for our kids." He said it's time for those in Columbus to not "pussyfoot around" and fix Lorain. ADC member Diane Conibear-Xander agreed with Cawthon. School Board President Mark Ballard said he's had weekly conference calls with State Superintendent Paolo DeMaria, ADC Chair Randall Sampson and CEO David Hardy Jr. to work on developing a transition plan for the district. He thanked those gathered for all the support they've given to the schools. "Everything we're accomplishing, there's no way it could be accomplished without the help of all you all," he said. "We've still got a ways to go, but please keep up the fight, keep up the pressure until we get our schools back." Academic Distress Commission meeting Giving an update on the state of the district from her point of view, Conibear-Xander said she has told CEO David Hardy Jr. she would not support renewing his contract and suggested he start looking for other jobs. She said she has sent emails to Hardy discussing an exit or transition plan for him but has not received a response. The ADC is set to meet 4 p.m. Tuesday, expecting to adjourn immediately into an executive session to discuss the CEO evaluation criteria. Conibear-Xander said her and Cawthon's concern is the ADC chair has expressed there will be no public comment period prior to the group going into executive session. "We need new leadership in Lorain City Schools," she said. "There's a lot of healing and starting over from scratch — so a lot of things that should have been done three years ago never got done. That starts with curriculum, programming, supports that teachers need in their classroom. The leadership is top-heavy and we're not putting those resources in the classroom for students." Contact Carissa Woytach at 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.