Current staff member to take over Chief Family Officer duties

LORAIN — An internal candidate will replace the district's chief family officer. Jeff Keruski, director of scholar and family engagement, will assume the responsibilities of the chief family office, CEO Greg Ring confirmed Tuesday evening. He replaces Arliss Prass, whose contract expired when former CEO David Hardy Jr. left the district. Keruski will not assume a "chief" title, as the district is moving away from those monikers in new or revised positions, Ring said. That will included when a new human resources director is hired to replace the chief people officer, he said. Ring said the details of Keruski's new position, including any salary changes, are still being worked out. Listening session No. 1 Ring held his first listening session Tuesday evening at Longfellow Middle School. They are the first CEO-led meetings held in the district in almost four months — Hardy's last Town Hall was for the State of the District in September. Ring answered questions from the handful of parents and community members gathered in the middle school's auditorium, including providing his plans for standards-based grading, building administration and Title I funds. The district made a significant switch to standards-based grading for preschool through eighth grades during the 2018-19 school year. Rolled out in mid-September 2018, the change from A to F grades to a numbers-based system left some educators, and parents, scratching their heads. After more than a year on the new system, parents and students are still confused. Standards-based grading removes letter grades, placing the preschool through second-grade classes on a 1-3 scale and third through eighth grade on a 1-5 scale. It is meant to illustrate if a student has mastered subject components based on the quality of work, not the quantity or average of assignment or test scores. Ring said he is planning on creating two districtwide committees, one for middle schools and one for elementary schools. They will include teachers and building leaders. "Based on what I heard, especially at the K-5 level, I'm not sure that were were diligent in the way we rolled this out a couple years ago," Ring said. He said any changes coming out of those committees would probably be for next school year. Additionally, Ring said he is looking to use Title I funds for tutors. Under Hardy, Title funds were pooled with other grants to pay for instructional costs throughout the district — rather than individual Title teachers. In March, then-treasurer Josh Hill explained a percentage of Title funds were used to pay a portion all teachers in the district, as well as former Chief Family Officer Arliss Prass' salary and benefits; at the time more than $175,000 was budgeted for her out of the pool. "I feel very strongly that we should reallocate Title I dollars back to tutors and we need to get those dollars closer to the kids," he said. "In a school district that struggles, particularly with reading and literacy, I think it's real important that we get as much help as we can." Speaking on the budget, when questioned about whether each elementary school will keep three administrators — two deans and a principal — he said Lorain is "possibly the only school district in the state of Ohio that has as many administrators as we have." Except for the buildings with vacancies, each middle and elementary school has at least three administrators. At the high school there are 13 listed in the administration team: executive director Rae Bastock, four lower directors, a liaison with Titan College and seven deans. According to the Fiscal Year 2019 Cupp report, the district has 90 administrators, with an average salary of more than $95,700. According to the Fiscal Year 2016 Cupp report — before its state takeover — the district had 65 administrators, with an average salary of more than $85,600. The Cupp report, compiled annually by the Ohio Department of Education, includes administrative assistants, superintendents, deputy superintendents, principals, assistant principals, supervisors, education and directors in its administrator category. Ring said he will be coming out with recommendations in the next few weeks. "When it comes to financial sustainability for the future of the district, I think we really have to take a hard look at how many administrators we have in the schools," he said. Other concerns included whether the district should move away from student uniforms, scrap ANET testing in favor of MAP/NWEA literacy measures and how to deal with attendance, as the district has the worst attendance in the county. Ring said these are issues he is still looking into. The next listening session is 6 p.m. Thursday at Southview Middle School, 2321 Fairless Drive. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com. Follow her on Twitter @CWoytach.