Panel takes on district issues

CEO Hardy hints at changes on horizon

Host Mike McIntyre issued a challenge to six panelists before a live audience while taping a “Sound of Ideas” program for a Cleveland affiliate station of National Public Radio.

Unpack in about an hour the problems and solutions to an academic distress situation that built up over 20 or 30 years at Lorain City Schools, he said.

Panelists at the taping Sept. 28 at Lorain Public Library at 351 W. 6th St. in Lorain included:

• David Hardy Jr., chief executive officer of

Lorain City Schools at 2601

Pole Ave. in Lorain.

• Henry Patterson, political science professor at Lorain County Community College and former vice chair of the first Lorain Academic

Distress Commission.

• Gloria Buxton, retired public school administrator, and mother and grandmother to Lorain City Schools students.

• Dr. William Zelei, former chair of Lorain Academic Distress Commission and former associate superintendent of Ohio Department of Education.

• Victor Leandry, executive director of El Centro De Servicios Sociales Inc. at 2800 Pearl Ave. in Lorain.

• Tony Richardson, chair of the current Lorain Academic Distress Commission.

Hardy vowed greater accountability in the classroom than ever before.

“Are people going to be happy? Absolutely not,” Hardy said. “But our kids are going to be happy.”

Hardy said his story in education began with expectations of college education established very early in his life by his parents.

When Hardy turned around a school district in Camden, N.J., he set expectations with principals. He promoted some principals to lead their buildings, he said, and others he promoted to do other work.

He claims to fight social injustice. For example,

black and Hispanic children are half as likely to be tested for giftedness as their white classmates, Hardy said.

The district can bring families to schools by making the environment warm and inviting, he said.

Buxton said her children went through Lorain Schools just fine, but she worries about her grandchildren.

She believes in starting at an end goal, such as college or trade school, and aiming young students in those directions early.

Also, the district receives $9,029 a year per student, Buxton said, asking what the district is doing with the money, since she recently found out some children are not receiving what they need.

Zelei said the district probably is not engaging children in a necessary way. And four of 10 parents of children living in the district chose to enroll their children in neighboring districts or charter schools because they do not feel their children would be well educated in Lorain, he said.

A problem is a “legacy mindset,” Zelei said, and trying to use what worked well 40 years ago during the district’s heyday. But the

same things do not work today, he said.

Patterson said he felt disappointed in the way House Bill 70 was passed, dissolving the former academic distress commission and creating a new commission with a chief executive officer. Other districts received safe harbor, but not Lorain and Youngstown, he said.

There was not enough state support, Patterson said, adding commissioners were “blindsided.” However, he is excited about Hardy’s appointment as CEO, he said.

However, Patterson does not believe Hardy has enough time to turn the district around within a timeline established by state law.

Richardson said he visits school districts across the country. Some students attend school in former warehouses, but they still perform well.

In a district with 12,000 students and demographics similar to Lorain, 73 percent of students pass college entrance examinations remediation free, Richardson said.

Leaders in Lorain need to believe it can happen here, he said. There are best practices, levers to push, so learners can learn, he said.

Leandry said the district needs to understand school culture.

He enrolled his daughter in a neighboring district, and she begged to attend Lorain Schools. And he wants her to be accustomed to diversity.

Community members were encouraged to comment as well.

Jayson Bendik, assistant principal of Horizon Science Academy at 760 Tower Blvd. in Lorain, said his mother used to say, “It’s not the obstacle that stops you; It’s your response to the obstacle that stops you.”

The No. 1 factor impacting outcomes in education is the teacher in the front of the classroom, Bendik said. He hears all of the raw stories of goings on in Lorain Schools from parents who enroll their children at Horizon, he said.

“It’s all about the front door,” Richardson said. “When you walk in the building, how do you feel?”

Joanne Eldridge, a retired director of Lorain Public Library, said it breaks her heart when getting a free library card doesn’t happen for children.

The program airs at 9 a.m. Oct. 2 at 90.3 FM WCPN, said Producer Rachel Rood.