The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
CEO reveals Lorain Promise
Hardy proposing a new day in Lorain education
David Hardy Jr. is challenging Lorain to provide students with tools to take advantage of a world full of opportunity.
Hardy, the chief executive officer hired in August to run Lorain City Schools, released a draft of The Lorain Promise Oct. 22 online at www.lorainschools.org/tlp.
The Lorain Promise begins with a vision statement: “Lorain City Schools empowers every scholar to unlock their potential and realize their dreams.”
Each scholar must be “cared for, challenged and ready for success in college, career and life,”
Hardy wrote.
Shared values include: scholars first; one for all; experience joy; expect excellence; collaborate with integrity; and take pride, according to the plan.
Hardy intends to meet with the community in two sessions to explain the plan.
A first meeting unveiling the Lorain Promise for the Spanish speaking community is 5:30 p.m. Oct. 30 at Sacred Heart Chapel at 4301 Pearl Ave. in Lorain.
A second meeting unveiling the Lorain Promise in English is 5:30 p.m. Nov. 1 at a Performing Arts Center of Lorain High School at 2600 Ashland Ave. in Lorain. Park on the Pole Avenue side of the building.
Then Hardy expects the plan to be approved by Nov. 7 by Lorain Academic Distress Commission, he said.
What follows is much hard work, Hardy said.
“Any time there is a plan or direction that is developed, it could easily look very good on paper,” Hardy said. “The challenge then is to take that plan and make it a lived experience for everyone within this community. And that takes a lot of work. It forces some tough conversations. It empowers folks that may have been silent, and that might rub some other folks a way that they’re not used to being rubbed.
“It will force conversations that we may not have had,” Hardy said. “All of that is positive at the end of the day. But it’s also change. And sometimes when change is among us or improvements are needed, it’s not always easy for people to just flip a switch and turn it on. We’re in the business for people, and as humans it takes time for people to embrace another direction.”
He’s proposing a new day in Lorain education.
“In this situation I think actually we’re taking a plan and making it the way we do work, versus something additional to our work,” Hardy said. “I think it’s an opportunity to simplify our game plan.”
The community tasked Hardy with ending duplication of services aimed at the acquiring the same results, he said.
So the plan outlines what will be done, as well as why and how it aligns with academic outcomes and culture change, he said.
“The plan becomes something that is lived,” Hardy said. “That will probably feel different.
“Everything in the organization of this plan will be directly aligned to the organization and its structure. I will speak to more
of that on Nov. 1,” Hardy said. “But you will have an opportunity to see how all of these things connect in a very coherent way all the way down to the impact that this plan will have on teaching and learning in every one of our classrooms.”
Lorain Schools Superintendent Dr. Jeff Graham is working on special projects outlined to embolden going forward, Hardy said.
For example, improving early childhood, collective district wide food services, and transporting kids across the city, he said. Some of those bigger projects are part of Graham’s responsibilities at this point, he said.
Hardy and Lorain Schools Treasurer Josh Hill are handling an $800,000 shortfall in a self-funded insurance program for Lorain Schools employees.
“That is something I inherited,” Hardy said. “We are in the midst of making some — I think — vast improvements. We are looking at the directions we should go, given the circumstances that were kind of handed to me. I’m confident that will be in a much better place than we have been.”
Hardy has not let go of any personnel, he said. Though some people have chosen to leave the district, he said.
“I have not told anyone to leave the district,” Hardy said. “However, over the next few weeks and after the unveiling of the plan there will be further conversations around how we will be organized here in the administration building and how that organization will impact how we’re structured at school sites. There will be changes. We will be reorganizing. Will there be people that are moving into different seats within the organization? Absolutely. But at the same time I think the bigger message I want to make sure I convey is that the work that needs to get done to change the results for scholars, starts with changing the actions and functions of adults.
“And for our scholars the emphasis is on elevating those expectations of what we believe and see in young people,” Hardy said. “If we really want different outcomes for our scholars, we need to change outcomes and inputs from our adults.”