CEO plans to challenge all students

Editors note: This is Part 1 of a three-part series focusing on the Lorain Promise.

The chief executive officer for Lorain City Schools says the district commits “educational malpractice” by not challenging all students regardless of ethnicity.

As CEO David Hardy Jr. unveiled Oct. 30 the Lorain Promise at Sacred Heart Chapel, 4301 Pearl Ave. in Lorain, it included one quality missing from other plans: the power to enforce education initiatives to the scruple.

In Hardy’s plan and power structure, unmistakable lines of accountability show who is responsible for each facet of growth in the district from school climate to academic achievement. Principals carry a heavy load. “When we think about success, these are the faces we want to see successful,” Hardy said, showing a photograph of children on a large projection screen behind him. “Just take a look at those smiles. They’re happy; they’re healthy; and they want to be in school.

“But there is a thin line between success and failure. In 1994, this was a similar scene where someone lost their life. There were two gentlemen riding in a car, and they were driving to find drugs. Unfortunately,

the drug deal went bad and someone lost their life. And unfortunately, the person who took the life of another individual was a former Lorain student.

“I point that story out because we need to do something different so this is not the reality.”

Hardy said the district needs to change the way it operates, the way people think and the way people work together.

He said he wants Lorain students to compete with those from countries with the best education systems in the world.

“The jobs they will one day have will be competing with those from Singapore, those from Japan, and those from Finland,” Hardy said. “If you think about how our kids learn and who they will be competing against, we have to do something different.”

Jobs available to students by year 2026 will include health care, energy and wind, as well as mathematics and computers, and those career fields demand more than a high school diploma, he said. Meanwhile jobs in manufacturing will continue to decline.

Better preparation

Hardy said the district needs to provide more for students to prepare them.

He recommends reaching mothers and tiny children first by building relationships with them and ensuring the children are healthy.

Hardy also hopes to tear down barriers between families and schools, so they feel welcome every time they walk into a school.

The district needs to invest in early childhood education, when children are as young as three years old, so they receive literacy, math, life and social skills they need to be successful.

“To do that, we have to make sure this is an equitable experience for our young people,” Hardy said. “Because right now, our black and Latino males are more likely to end up in jail than on a college campus. We need to change that for our kids.”

Three things the district needs to improve include:

• Guiding restorative justice rather than suspensions.

• Reaching out to struggling students to provide opportunities to be successful.

• Escorting youngsters to college campus tours as early as first-grade so they can dream about what is

possible for them.

By 2022, Hardy wants all Lorain High School students to graduate with an associate degree or industry credential as they receive a high school diploma.

“To do that, we have to increase the challenge and rigor of our math and ELA classrooms, diversify the courses and opportunities for our kids to learn, and make sure they have experiences to see professions and universities as early as age five,” Hardy said.

Reorganization

The district needs to reorganize central office and the entire district, and job orders focus on one or more of five commitments, he said

There will be an office of equity and achievement, which will focus on curriculum, opportunities for children, English Language Learners, special education and gifted students, Hardy said.

Two commitments the office of equity and achievement is responsible for, in- clude investing in early scholars and preparing scholars for tomorrow’s world, he said.

The chief operation office is in charge of food and buses and making sure the district is strong, Hardy said.

A superintendent or chief of schools is responsible for making sure the schools are great and getting better every day, he said.

That office is to promote equity and prepare scholars for tomorrow, Hardy said.

Hardy said the chief people officer must find great teachers for the scholars, celebrate great teachers and evaluate how to make teachers even better.

The office is responsible for promoting equity and creating schools where adults and scholars thrive.

Hardy said the final office is one of the most important: making sure families feel welcome in school.

Two additional people serve on the leadership team: One makes sure the strategy is strong and implemented; and someone makes sure things happen on time and on schedule.

“This is a lot different from the way we operate right now as a district, because it is now putting the accountability on us for the results for your kids, for our kids,” Hardy said.

Every month, Hardy will hold administrators to metrics linked to each commitment; and they must report on progress.

If not, the district must change course and do something different, he said.

Hardy will share the data with the public, so citizens can hold the district accountable.

The first three steps in- clude:

• Between now and March, Hardy will change some of the leaders in the district.

• In January, Hardy will start the process of identifying key initiatives that will guide the 2018-19 school year.

Instead of 75 initiatives, Hardy wants to start with a very small number so the district focuses energy on the right things to push forward.

• In phase three, the district will operate two teams: one focuses on making sure this year stays great; and one looks to the next three to five years.

Hardy challenged community and business partners to attend a Nov. 20 meeting and to sign up for a commitment to help going forward.

“We can no longer have people sitting on the sideline,” he said. “We need everyone to be a part of this commitment.”

Hardy challenged parents to overcome excuses and to send students to school on time every day.

He also asked students to email the district to tell administrators what they need at TheLorainPromise@lorainschools.org

Esteban, a Lorain student who formerly attended school in Texas, said classes in the other state were more advanced, and all of the students were in advanced placement classes.

“What we did in fourth grade, I did in second,” Esteban said.

“You might be my best friend,” Hardy said. “He’s absolutely right. We have to raise the bar for all our kids.

“And it’s unfair to our community, too, because these are the leaders of our community of tomorrow.”

Hardy said he hopes parents, students and community members will rally for the district and for youngsters.

“At this time, the Lorain Promise needs you,” Hardy said.

“When we think about success, these are the faces wewant to see successful. Just take a look at those smiles. They’re happy; they’re healthy; and they want to be in school. — Lorain Schools CEO David Hardy Jr.