The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Faith leaders show up for chat
Discussion continues with CEO Hardy
Five people from the faith community met with Lorain City Schools Chief Executive Officer David Hardy Jr. at Lorain High School.
And two of them in the media center Oct. 17 represented a Hungarian church in Westlake that hopes to aim westward for mission opportunities.
How many churches are there in the Lorain City School District? Have church leaders already dialogued with Hardy in other forums?
Or is a lack of participation an indication of a disconnect between the district and local churches?
Hardy looked around the table of folks who showed up — the Rev. Marilyn Parker-Jeffries from New Creation Baptist Church at 1929 W. 23rd St. in Lorain; the Rev. Laurie Miller from Christ Lutheran Church at 4501 Clinton Ave. in Lorain; the Rev. Tim Williams from Greater Victory Christian Ministries at 559 Reid Ave. in Lorain; and Rita and Gabe Sukola from a Seventh Day Adventist Church
“We have a heart for the community and the kids. We want to contribute any way we can, through our prayers, gifts and support.” — Gabe Sukola, church elder
in Westlake.
“We’re trying to see what we can do even from Westlake,” said Rita Sukola, a special education teacher at General Johnnie Wilson Middle School in Lorain.
“We have a heart for the community and the kids,” said Gabe Sukola, an elder involved in missions at the church. “We want to contribute any way we can, through our prayers, gifts and support.”
The Sukolas hope to be liaisons between the church and the schools, they said.
Hardy is scheduled heavily in meetings to reach as many people as possible. He said he challenged about 500 district employees in teacher groups and union leadership with two examples of questions found in Lorain classrooms, and asked them to guess the grade level.
The first example was of a paper full of multiplication tables, such as 5X6, 6X6, 7X6, etc., he said.
“What would you guess? Second or third grade?” Hardy said. “That assignment was in our 10th grade class right here in the high school.”
He addressed union leaders with a different example: How did Little Red Riding Hood know the character in the bed was not the grandmother?
“You’d think about kindergarten, right? That’s when we do that story,” Hardy said. “It was a seventh grade classroom.”
Hardy said he noticed Parker-Jeffries reacted to the statements.
“You saw my heart breaking,” Parker-Jeffries said.
“That’s a real slap in the face of reality,” Miller said. “What I hear from teachers is frustrations with parents. There is very little follow through and very little parental support. The teachers love what they’re doing, but they’re frustrated with hoping the kids will do homework and it’s not being done.”
Williams said the district addressed facility needs of students, and perhaps the building program represented low hanging fruit in that it was something leaders could impact.
While the physical environment has helped students in many ways, Williams said, the teaching and learning is more important.
Hardy said from one union he heard very clearly they want to fix the academics of the district.
“This is educational malpractice,” Hardy said. “It’s like giving aspirin for a broken ankle. There are still others who said kids continue to demonstrate poor choices and they’re disruptive in class. Most of the unions are on board, but there are still those road blocks.”
When he asked how often leaders of different unions meet to collaborate, he was told they never meet. So Hardy scheduled monthly meetings with union leaders.
“At some point there was trust broken,” Hardy said.