Trotwood's work may not ward off action
State distress panel could still take over if report card poor again.
Trotwood-Madison school officials said preliminary test scores from this spring show solid improvement, but they won’t know until mid-September’s state report card release whether the gains are enough to stave off takeover by an Academic Distress Commission.
The comments came at Thursday night’s school board meeting, where Ohio Department of Education officials presented the results of their district review from April. In that weeklong visit, an ODE-assigned team met with 180 school stakeholders and studied more than 100 documents to identify strengths and problems in Trotwood’s day-to-day operations.
Trotwood is trying to avoid becoming the third district in the state to be operated by an Academic Distress Commission. If the five-member commission is triggered, the state superintendent would appoint a three-member majority, while the school board would appoint one teacher, and Trotwood’s mayor would appoint the last member. Those appointments would have to be made within 30 days, and the group would have to hire a CEO within 60 days.
Ohio law gives that CEO “complete operational, managerial and instructional control of the district,” including the right to replace school administrators, hire new staff, choose new curriculum and set class sizes and teacher class loads.
Feedback from the April review by the state included a mix of improvement and challenges.
“You had some wonderful comments on your strengths ,” state school board member Charlotte McGuire told Trotwood officials. “The challenges are more systemic – the old cliché of making sure you’re crossing your T’s and dotting your I’s. That’s what it