Charter schools not a goal, CEO says

But could be if low scores don’t change

Despite rumors to the contrary, the Lorain City Schools administration does not want the district to convert to charter schools, said CEO David Hardy Jr.

But change needs to happen sooner rather than later for Lorain Schools, or charter schools will be part of the conversation, Hardy said.

Low performing schools may see radical changes coming with the goal of boosting academics, he said.

On Dec. 19, Hardy hosted the monthly Community Business School Partnership meeting.

The meetings generally include small-group discussion on any number of ways to improve Lorain Schools by teaming up with agencies providing social services and conducting business across the community.

Hardy outlined four potential priorities for the 2019-2020 school year and asked participants to rank them in order of importance.

The school administration will continue to gather feedback about the priorities and introduce them at the February 2019 Town Hall Meeting, Hardy said.

The draft priorities are:

• Improve standards driven education.

• Execute on The Lorain Way 2.0. That is an addendum to the The Lorain Promise academic turnaround plan, which outlines expectations for staff and the need to improve communications with the community, especially Spanish speakers.

• Create a culture of learning.

• Create a system of excellent schools.

Charter schools

Discussing the last of the four, Hardy spoke about the possibility of charter

schools — and the need for radical improvement to avoid becoming that kind of system.

“There’s been a lot of talk and continued talk about us turning into a charter school,” he said. “To this day, I still get approached and asked, so you’re turning this all into a charter school, right?

“I continue to say, no,” Hardy said. “That’s been my consistent response.”

But there are things in the schools that are not improving at the rate that they need to, Hardy said.

By year five of the situation in academic distress, charter schools will be part of the conversation for Lorain City Schools, he said.

Lorain needs to put something in place to avoid that possibility, Hardy said.

“This idea of creating a system of excellent schools is just that,” he said.

Speaking to state officials last week, Hardy said he wants to create a pathway of improvement to focus on the things most important in schools every single day.

He cited the Cleveland Plan as an example of a way to create sustainable improvement for Cleveland schools and avoid largescale state intervention.

“I want to do the same thing so we don’t go down this road,” because at the end of five years, charter schools could be the next step, Hardy said.

The idea is to create a portfolio of schools to show which ones are doing well and which ones are struggling, and then doing something about those that are

low performing, he said.

“So the idea is, if we’re able to say our lowest performing schools are not doing well, here are the set of interventions we will create so that we can fix it before we have to go to that ‘C’ word,” Hardy said. “So in the system, it’s the idea of, if you’re high performing, keep being high performing.

“If you’re in the middle, we’re going to give you supports. If you’re low performing, we’re going to do something very drastic, very different.”

That could include changing the length of the school day or school year, or having staff reapply for positions, Hardy said.

“All of those things are on the table so that people realize we can change

IF YOU GO: COMMUNITY BUSINESS SCHOOLS PARTNERSHIP

The Lorain City Schools Community Business School Partnership meetings generally take place at 8 a.m. the third Wednesday of the month at the entrance schools internally before we have to go to the outside,” he said.

Other items

The meeting included an update on the Lorain City Schools Big Board, which is a spreadsheet that includes numerical ratings academics, efforts and behavior for all Lorain schools.

As of Dec. 19, Lorain High School had the lowest overall score at 1.38; Toni Morrison Elementary was highest at 2.63, on a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being the foyer of the Performing Arts Center of Lorain High School, 2600 Ashland Ave. The meetings are open to the public.

highest rating.

Participants also had small-group discussions about improving ways for teachers and administrators to listen to the student voices and gather ideas from them.

In January, Lorain residents will begin seeing the PKQ, or Promises Kept Quarterly, an informational magazine that will be delivered to homes.

The inaugural issue was produced by the district’s media and communications team.