Sheffield-Sheffield Lake Schools lays off only gifted intervention specialist as it changes gifted teaching model

Sheffield-Sheffield Lake Schools' only gifted intervention specialist was laid off Monday night in a close vote by school board members. Eric Ruble taught reading and writing to students identified as gifted in fifth through eighth grade. Superintendent Mike Cook said Ruble was laid off not because he wasn't a good teacher, but to save money and allow for the district to implement changes to the gifted model in the district. Cook said gifted classes are not going away, but they are instead being expanded beyond English. About 50 teachers have taken training for it, and Cook said they are prepared to offer gifted services. Teachers did 60 hours of professional development training to prepare to teach gifted children in classes. But parents, students and former students expressed concern to Sheffield-Sheffield Lake's school board that gifted students would begin to fall through the cracks as teachers take on more responsibility handling regular and gifted classes. Andrew Smith, social worker for the district as well as the president of the teachers association, said Ruble is an expert in his field and a great employee. "Mr. Ruble has outstanding evaluations," Smith said. "Not a deficiency in his file. He believes in the district. He brought his daughter in to be enrolled in the system. ... Creating balance in the system gives an intervention specialist a critical role. It's not time to cut yet. It's not time to cut yet." Cook said Ruble is licensed in social studies but not in English language arts, which means a licensed teacher must be paired with him for classes. If there was a social studies opening, Ruble could jump into the position, but Cook said there are no current openings. Cook said he also approached two other teachers to see if they would be willing to move so Cook could go into social studies, but they were not interested. Sheila Lopez, a school board member, said the decision didn't have anything to with Ruble, but that they had to be fiscally responsible. "It is fiscally responsible for us to do what we need to do," Lopez said. "We've had to make hard cuts so many times that I've been on this board and it's never an easy decision. It's absolutely never easy to do. We did not go into this lightly." Ruble was present at the meeting and thanked Cook for his efforts. Ruble said he brought new ideas into the program and offered an extra support and challenge to gifted students in multiple grade levels. He's been with the district for 13 years. Maddie Camp, a 2017 graduate of the district, was in Ruble's gifted classes. She told the board that in other classes she often felt bored and unchallenged. She said the only time she was consistently challenged was in middle school in Ruble's class. Camp said it was the hardest class she ever took and that she would not be the writer she is now if it wasn't for him. Other students echoed her thoughts including incoming eighth-grader Grace Hicks who said Ruble challenged her to become a better student when outside classes were too easy for her. With Ruble gone, Hicks said she worries that gifted students will be forgotten. Ruble's daughter, Lauren Ruble, is now a student at Otterbein University. She was in gifted classes at Sheffield and, while choking back tears, said no one teacher can take on what her dad does. The school district lost $355,000 in Gov. Mike DeWine's budget cuts for this fiscal year due to the coronavirus pandemic shutdowns. It is projecting that Sheffield-Sheffield Lake will lose another $355,000 for the next fiscal year but the state has not released exactly what next year's cuts will be. Although the district received $255,000 from the federal CARES Act, Treasurer Michael Pissini said it's not enough to offset what the district will lose. After community members spoke their piece, Cook said he's confident the teachers will be able to pick up gifted services. Teachers write the Written Education Plans for gifted services, and Cook said he's sure they will also be able to implement them. Of the five school board members, three of them voted yes to laying off Ruble's position. Two, President Pat Czech and Member Sandra Jensen, voted no. It's possible that more positions could be reduced at the district. Cook said in a Facebook post last week that with budget reductions and possible changes to what the next school year will look like, some staff members were notified that their positions may be reduced. The post has since been taken down from Facebook but is still available on the district's website. Cook said the district would wait to see what the governor announces before then, but that staffing changes may be needed to offset potential budget reductions from the state. Contact Laina Yost at (440) 329-7121 or lyost@chroniclet.com.