The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Academic Distress Commission to dissolve March 6
The current Lorain Academic Distress Commission will dissolve March 6 after four years of working toward improvements.
So during a final meeting Feb. 24 at Lorain High School at 2600 Ashland Ave. in Lorain, Dr. William Zelei, chair of the Lorain Academic Distress Commission, provided a timeline of next events.
The five members of a new commission must be appointed between March 7 and April 7, Zelei said.
After Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction
Paolo DeMaria appoints a chair, the commission must hire a chief executive officer within 60 days to run the district.
“If you do a traditional advertising campaign and selection process, 60 days is going to be aggressive,” Zelei said.
Lorain City Schools Superintendent Dr. Jeff Graham will be in place, and the state education department team members will be available to help as well, he said.
“I would hope the district will continue to try to implement the academic recovery plan that is currently in place,” Zelei said.
Vice Chair Henry Patterson asked if the education department will pay for the search for a CEO, since the CEO salary is set and paid by the education department. State representatives, however, said they did not recall.
And Raul Ramos, a member of the commission, asked if a teacher is appointed to the commission, who pays for a substitute while the teacher attends meetings?
Commission member Frank Whitfield, appointed two years ago by then State Superintendent Dr. Richard Ross, said he enjoyed a unique role having worked with students in the district before joining academic distress commission.
“The proudest moment was working with the school board in our search for Dr. Graham, just how he’s come in and taken things to another level,” Whitfield said. “My advice to the community is to get engaged.
“Make sure in the process this is done right. Right now, figure heads are making decisions. Parents and kids are suffering in the decisions. As I shift off, my passion will not shuffle. I think as long as the public is involved, then things will be OK.
“Since I’ve been here I’ve been through three different state superintendents. Then we had three different tests. This was a perfect storm. Hang on through it.”
Patterson said his four years on the commission enabled him to know the district on a more personal level.
“I’ve been pretty vocal over the last four years,” he said. “There is always room for growth. The reality is we have kids who have challenges that come in many shapes and forms.
“The state sets standards districts like Lorain are not quite able to attain, and when we get close, they change the standards
again.”
Patterson said he appreciated a sense of urgency expressed by staff when commissioners walked through buildings.
“The bulk of what we did, we saw all the bad things, but we were able to see the good things,” he said. “It made teachers and administrators work with more purpose than they had previously.
“I didn’t think it was possible to meet the standards. In the next four years, I don’t think we’re going to meet the challenges.”
Patterson said he wanted state officials and Gov. John Kasich to visit the district and to talk to the people involved and to see first hand the challenges.
“I want to report out and say we have an excellent school board that is engaged with the community and with the district,” he said. “We have an excellent union that worked with us on contract issues. These leaders, teachers and children have a right to be proud of the Lorain City School District.”
Ramos served as a school board member for 16 years before his four years on the commission.
“I thought I knew a lot about the district,” he said. “But my god, when I got on this commission, it was a learning experience. I didn’t know half of what I thought
I knew.
“We accomplished some stuff. But if you don’t get to the end result, to me it wasn’t accomplished.”
Zelei appreciated administrative supports of executive secretary Elena Gonzalez, friendship of Patterson and Ramos, and service of formerLorain Academic Distress Commission members Dr. Cathy Dietlin and Dr. Rosa Rivera-Hainaj and current members Whitfield and Dr. John Richards who recently was appointed assistant superintendent of the state education department.
“This was an opportunity to prove that public education can work for an urban child who has situations to deal with every day that the rest of us couldn’t dream exist,” Zelei said. “It’s bittersweet. I agree with (Ramos). I’m one of those people who want it all now. I don’t want it five years from now.”
The graduation rate did not change, and Zelei said the statistic saddens him.
“I don’t believe we have been as successful as we should have been,” he said. “I worry about whether we have changed instruction enough to engage kids in class. In thinking of all this as a former language arts teacher, I think of William Shakespeare and the tragic flaw.”
“Lorain pride” in history and culture may be holding
the district back from progressing beyond a former manufacturing economic base, he said.
“People hearken back to a time that doesn’t exist any more,” Zelei said. “Take that pride into something new that might not involve manufacturing. I resist buying a new phone because I don’t want to learn a new system.”
He quoted Albert Einstein as saying a definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
What happens in Lorain classrooms needs to change, he said. But overall, he will consider his tenure on the academic distress commission as a positive experience.
As a last action, the academic distress commission voted to continue employment of two academic monitors who visit classrooms and report to the commission.
“We had a conversation, and we would like to see them remain in place,” Zelei said. “They will report to Lorain City School District and to Ohio Department of Education, since we won’t be around.”
Lorain School Board members also attended the luncheon meeting. The district honored commission members with gifts and with lifetime athletic passes at Lorain Titan sporting events.