The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
High school in transition
LHS director named, school moves to academies, board mulls levy
Lorain High School will transition to academies that will ensure all graduates earn an associate’s degree or industry credential with their high school diploma by 2022.
Meanwhile, the school will have a new executive director for the 2018-2019 school year.
Lorain City Schools needs money, but it remains unclear is the city school board will put a levy on the ballot later this year or in 2019.
The day after Lorain High School graduated 440 students, the issues came up June 6 in separate meetings.
High school transition
At least 38 people came to the high school Performing Arts Center, where Lorain City Schools CEO David Hardy Jr. hosted an hour-long meeting to explain the transitions coming to Lorain High.
The Titan Academy, Success Academy, Early College and grades 10, 11 and 12 will continue in the 2018-2019 school year, Hardy said.
After that, Titan Academy will evolve and students will enter tracks for the new Arts and Media Academy, Civic Engagement and Social Justice Academy and Success Academy for the 2019-2020 school year.
In the 2020-2021 school year, Lorain High will add a STEM Academy for students interested in science, technology, engineering and math. By the end of the 2021-2022 school year, each student will graduate with an associate’s degree or industry credential, Hardy said.
The transition is just getting started, Hardy said.
To create the new academy tracks, there will be a brainstorming period and planning period within the school district leadership, parents and community, Hardy said. In those times, there will be visits to exceptional schools and invitations for experts to visit Lorain, with communication to build community buy-in and for scholars to help with the planning, he said.
The ideas will incubate for up to 12 weeks, but Academy models will be ready for public review on the target date of Jan. 15, 2019.
There are some more changes coming for Lorain High next year:
At least one new guidance counselor will be added. In a question-andanswer time, parents asked about availability of guidance counselors to speak to students and parents.
There will be a homecoming
festival in the 20182019 school year with a parade to celebrate the students.
An Academic Hall of Honor will be created to recognize student scholarship. And the Lorain High dress code will be simplified and enforced.
High school leadership
Cleveland native Daniel L. Garvey will return to northeast Ohio to serve as executive director of secondary academies and leader of Lorain High.
Fluent in English and Spanish, Garvey most recently served as the general director of schools for Universidad Central del Este, in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic.
“As a current school administrator with diverse experiences in U.S. education and internationally, I am passionate about leading responsibly within an international environment,
embracing multiculturalism and engaging stakeholders to solve problems,” Garvey said.
An alumnus of Ohio State University, Garvey has a master’s degree in educational leadership from Columbia University and an post-graduate degree in executive management from Barna Management School.
Hardy on June 6 announced Garvey would join the school administrative team. The full announcement is posted at lorainschools.org.
Levy or not?
The Lorain City School Board of Education met June 6 with members Tony Dimacchia, Mark Ballard, Timothy Williams and Bill Sturgill attending.
On June 18 they will consider resolutions asking the Lorain County Auditor’s Office for financial information about a possible school levy as early as the November
ballot.
There is no guarantee the board will put the issue to a district-wide vote.
The board members spent at least 30 minutes discussing their concerns that they have no line of communication with Hardy.
District Treasurer Joshua Hill, who also serves as chief strategy and innovation officer for the district, served as the “punching bag” for the board, Dimacchia said.
At times Hill agreed with the board members.
“We have no communication with the CEO,” Williams said. “I agree,” Hill said. “We just have zero,” Williams said.
The board members acknowledged Hardy publicly has stated changes in Lorain City Schools will not cost additional money.
Williams argued the board members, as elected officials, would be reckless
in asking taxpayers for more money when they don’t have a clear understanding of what Hardy is adding or changing, or how he is paying for provisions within The Lorain Promise, the academic turnaround plan.
“We’re approaching a level of recklessness that’s unnecessary,” Williams said. That is by design and discretion because Hardy has not presented his plans to the board, Williams said. He described the level of communication as ineffective, inefficient and inappropriate.
When they ask questions, the board members said they are referred to information posted on the Lorain City Schools website.
Documents are posted online for the public, Hill said, but Dimacchia countered that the public is not making a decision whether to put a levy on the ballot or not.