Interim Columbus schools head talks with the NAACP
Columbus City Schools interim Superintendent Angela Chapman visited the Columbus chapter of the NAACP on Monday, telling members her administration is focused on student achievement and addressing issues in the district.
Chapman addressed the group and received submitted questions from NAACP President Nana Watson, who described the interim superintendent as an “ambitious system leader and an innovator for change” during the event at Trinity Baptist Church in the King-lincoln
Bronzeville neighborhood.
Chapman said students in the district “hear the negative news and talk in the community” about the Columbus schools, and said adults in the community need to invest in the district.
“Unfortunately they’ve been told that CCS is ‘less than’ and so they must be too,” Chapman said. “I’m here to tell you as a proud CCS parent and leader that that is the farthest from the truth and we need your help to change that mindset.”
Chapman took over as the district’s interim superintendent on Jan. 1 after Superintendent Talisa Dixon announced in December that she would be retiring at the end of the academic year. Chapman was brought in by Dixon in 2019 and until recently had been the chief transformation and leadership officer in Columbus City Schools, the state’s largest district with about 47,000 students.
The district officially began its search process for a permanent superintendent at a board meeting last week.
Here are three takeaways from Chapman’s visit to the NAACP Columbus chapter:
Prioritizing graduation, attendance, early literacy
Chapman said her administration is prioritizing reducing the district’s stu
dent absentee rate and improving early literacy skills.
She said the COVID-19 pandemic led to a high level of disruption nationwide and in Columbus, and the district saw adbescelinnteeseiinsmea.rhlyelirteardamcyinainsdtriantciorena’ssegsoianl is to ensure students graduate, she said.
“Our team is certainly committed to rolling up their sleeves, jumping in the trenches and making sure that we are coming up with creative solutions to meet our students where they are,” Chapman said.
The district has around 80% graduation and attendance rates, according to Ohio Department of Education data.
Columbus City Schools saw a 10.5% improvement in overall state reading scores in 2021-22 compared to previous year, and to the state’s 7.9% increase, The Dispatch previously reported. The district exceeded its own goal for the 2021-22 school year with a 33.5% third grade reading proficiency compared to 29.4%, according to state report cards.
Chapman also said the district wanted to address the attendance rate, which she said ties into graduation and attendance rates. She said that regular attendance in elementary school improves students’ chances of being able to read at wgrhaodemilsesveml oarnedthtahnaetigdhitstdraicyts ostfusdchenotosl a year are 53% less likely to graduate.
“It’s not all about what the teacher is teaching and the standards, it is about getting them to school,” Chapman said. “Half the battle is showing up each day.
Every school will have air conditioning next year
Chapman said that Columbus schools have been “in the limelight” over facility issues but said that for the 2023-24 school year, all 131 school buildings will have air conditioning. hea“tsdoatyhiins caoumguinsgt ofralsl,ewptheemnbwere, whaevweilal not have to worry about air conditioning because those needs will be addressed,” Chapman said.
The condition of Columbus City school buildings was a major issue in the recent negotiations, strike and contract settlement with the Columbus Education
Association, a 4,500-member union that represents teachers, librarians, nurses, counselors, psychologists and other education professionals.
The approved contract stipulates all student learning areas will be climate controlled no later than the start of the 2025-2026 school year, including installation of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning in buildings currently witholyuot nhlvyahca,vaenpdairntiabluhildviancg.s that current
Chapman said other large-scale investments would require taking the issue to the ballot with a levy, a decision that falls with the district’s Board of Education.
Chapman weighs in on ‘reading wars’
Chapman was asked if the district was considering reimplementing “reading recovery,” which is also known as balanced literacy, into the curriculum. Balanced literacy is at the heart of the “reading wars” discussion, a decades-long debate over the best way to teach children to read.
Balanced literacy gives children strategies to decipher unfamiliar words such as looking at a picture or the context of the known words in a sentence. These are called cues, and while sounding the word out can be one way of figuring out a word, it’s only supposed to be used as a measure of last resort. whtichheiostahlesromcaeltlhedod“,thsteruscciteunrecde olifterreaacdy-, ing,” teaches students to break words down into their phonemes or sounds.
Chapman said while public opinion shifts on the subject, an “abundance of research” demonstrates structured literacy is better than balanced literacy in teaching children to read.
“We are providing our teachers with the skills they need to equip them so that they can be informed as practitioners,” Chapman said. “So at they end of the day, when they are sitting down with their students, they know they can pull out this tool.” ceisvihnegslaeidxiadilsterticrtsintsrtariuncintogrsthaartecraenhelp teach elementary educators the science of reading. Last month, Gov. Mike Dewine’s included $64 million in his proposed budget for approved curricula that follow the science of reading. @Colebehr_report Cbehrens@dispatch.com