Schools leader: Bad grade doesn’t define district
Toledo Public has seen success stories, growth, say officials.
Toledo Public Schools Superintendent Romules Durant wants Toledoans to look past a single letter grade.
Durant on Tuesday hosted his third annual State of the District, using his preferred format of interviews with TPS officials and community members on couches in the Rogers High School auditorium. The event came about a month after the state released its annual school report cards, on which TPS was given an F.
Test scores and poverty are deeply intertwined, a point educators in high poverty areas are quick to point out. But Durant spent little time on Tuesday bemoaning the challenges facing the district, and instead tried to frame the Toledo district as one offering valuable options for students and the community.
Through the interviews and promotional videos that served as interludes, Durant and TPS staff tried to create their own narrative about the district. They highlighted increased graduation rates, improved thirdgrade reading levels, thematic high schools that are in high demand, increased career tech programs, and a reversal of a years-long enrollment slide as evidence that the Toledo school system is making gains in many areas.
Hammering home that message takes on increased importance this year, as TPS has two ballot issues before voters in November. Both are renewal levies, and failure at the polls could mean a return to the days of budget cuts that improved state funding and enrollment levels had halted in recent years.
Treasurer Ryan Stechschulte said the district has a number of efficiency programs under way to save time and money, including the implementation of new purchasing software for teachers.
“This will allow them to spend more time in the classroom, instead of filling out paperwork,” he said.
The district also re-evaluated the data it reported to the state regarding its career tech programs, he said, and realized it was under-reporting the usage of those programs. That increased state funding for TPS career tech programs by $3 million a year.
Toledo, like Ohio’s other large, metro districts, does poorly on standardized tests.
But TPS officials said that behind the letter grade are success stories. For instance, the district has increased its graduation rate from 64 percent to 79 percent since 2014, and that growth has occurred across demographic groups, said James Gault, director of curriculum and instruction.
“That puts us right on the cusp of increasing our letter grades,” he said.
At the district’s thematic high schools, such as the Toledo Technology Academy, graduation rates are at 99 percent, with a waiting list to get into the schools.
There’s such a demand, Durant said, that some students travel great distances just to get to the thematic high schools, and that’s something he takes into account when he considers whether to cancel school when it snows.
“We have students traveling an hour just to come to our high schools,” he said.
The district also has made major growth in the percentage of students passing the third-grade reading tests, despite how far behind most Toledo children are when they enter kindergarten, Durant said.
During Tuesday’s event, a number of staff and students who have received awards or made major accomplishments were recognized, such as Mona Al-Hayani from Toledo Early College High School, who was named Ohio’s 2019 Teacher of the Year, or Zoe Flores from Toledo Technology Academy, who was accepted into Harvard University.
Durant also focused on partnerships with businesses and nonprofits such as the United Way, and the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, and the district’s focus on placing students in internships to prepare them to enter the work force. He pointed to the new Aerospace & Natural Science Academy of Toledo at Toledo Express Airport as an example of a program that is graduating students and getting them directly into careers.
“We educate you here, we get you a job here, and we want you to live here,” he said.