The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
District adopts growth plan
Lorain City Schools has a new guiding document to improve education for students and to help the community.
On Feb. 16, the Lorain Academic Distress Commission and Board of Education held a joint meeting to review the plan. It includes “We Believe,” the 37-page electronic book published with additional information on lorainschools.org.
The meeting included a presentation about the plan with comments from CEO/Superintendent Jeff Graham, his top administrators and Lorain Education Association President Julie Garcia.
Academic Distress Commission Chairman Randall Sampson said the document is an example of “top-shelf thinking and elite doing.”
“So this is an elite plan to set the kids on a trajectory that they deserve and provide the community with all the support and parameters that they deserve,” Sampson said.
The plan involves school district culture, equity, curriculum, student supports and a Titan Improvement Process that could yield good results, Graham said.
“Once we get good at this, what we should be witnessing is approximately three years of academic growth in a school year,” Graham said. “So again, we try to focus on a few things that if we knew if we do very, very, very well, the results would be overwhelming in terms of what our students can and should be able to do.”
In more than 90 minutes of discussion, the administrators fielded questions from Sampson and ADC members Patricia O’Brien and Michele Soliz, and school board members Bill Sturgill and Mark Ballard.
Sampson, O’Brien, Soliz and ADC member Steve Cawthon voted to approve the plan, while granting the administration leeway to modify it as needed. ADC member Cel Rivera attended for part of the meeting but abstained from the vote due to leaving for a family situation.
School board members Sturgill, Ballard, Courtney Nazario and Timothy Williams also voted 4-0 to adopt the plan.
The goal
The plan states Lorain City Schools goal: “By spring 2025 and beyond all Lorain City Schools students in grades Pk-12 will be on track for college and careers upon graduation from our district. This means that within six months of graduation, our graduates will be ready to either enroll in a post-secondary institution, secure employment, enroll in an apprenticeship, or enlist in the military.
“We will do this by challenging each child in our care through the process of discovery and learning, preparing for fulfilling posthigh school paths, empowered to become a resilient, lifelong learner and contributor to society,” said the goal, as read by Garcia.
We believe
The plan includes five core beliefs:
• Healthy culture
• Equity
• Teaching/learning
• Student supports
• The Titan Improvement Process
Each of those has a related belief statement, strategies, ways to measure improvement and timelines for action steps needed.
Garcia and Graham
spoke about equity, specifically referring to Lorain’s Hispanic-Latino heritage in 44 percent of Lorain students’ families.
Carol Gottschling, executive director of human resources, talked about teaching and learning. Aretha Taylor, director of secondary curriculum and instruction outlined the process for student supports.
The Titan Improvement Process is the method for teachers to create teams, identify needs, develop strategies to meet the needs and use criteria to measure if they succeed, said Bill Ohle, director of elementary curriculum and instruction.
Ross May, executive director of strategic planning, data and process, called it the connective fabric for the plan and Lorain Schools’ teachers, principals and administrators.
They will join in a new, diverse and well-rounded district leadership team, he said. Graham added the team will know what’s going
on at the ground level, while leading with grace and love, two tenets of Lorain Schools’ reopening plan for the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Chairman reacts
“The team has done a really good job honoring what has been done in the past and building off of that and making a new or enhanced strategic plan moving forward, post COVID and dealing with COVID still,” Sampson said, speaking to The Morning Journal. “So the strategic plan is really going to be critical.”
Sampson said he loves balancing the strategic plan with the culture that the school leaders want to build and expect in Lorain.
That includes the student learning culture and support, balanced with Ohio’s continuous improvement plan required by the Ohio Department of Education.
“Finding a good balance at the local level as to how that happens, I think that’s
critical and it’s very well done by the team,” Sampson said.
The plan includes ways to measure improvement. It is not geared just for Lorain Schools as a district, but is a strategic plan implemented at the local, classroom and school level, Sampson said.
Schools will report on progress along the way, with options to individualize and personalize the plans for each building, Sampson said.
He said he is excited for Lorain Schools to use the plan as a working document. The plan is not meant to be presented for one night and then forgotten, Sampson said.
Colorful history
As a document, the plan’s graphic design was inspired by Crayola crayons. That company started with eight colors that never disappeared, but were blended to create new ones.
That reflects Lorain as a colorful community, said
Erin Graham, district director of communications and engagement .
The plan stated Lorain’s past colors its future. It referred to Superintendents Ed Branham and Tom Tucker, Graham in his first turn as superintendent, and CEO David Hardy Jr.
“The Lorain City School District has been through a lot,” the plan said. “In the last year alone, our schools have been led by three different administrations. Over the past nine years, our district has transitioned through five different strategic plans, in addition to a tide of educational legislation and altered mandates, assessments, grading systems and funding streams that have come with it.
“We not only recognize this history, but honor the contributions of the brilliant minds and hearts who have contributed to the development and advancement of our school district and strategic planning along the way — many of whom contributed to this plan today,” the plan said.