Columbus City Schools

November 21, 200618 yr

From SNP newspapers, 11/8/06:

Facilities Master Plan

Revised plan will take into account need, district growth

By GARTH BISHOP

Columbus Public Schools officials will keep a close eye on school buildings in the greatest need of repair or renovation as the district's Facilities Master Plan is revised. Meanwhile, another bond issue is on the horizon -- possibly as soon as next fall. An in-house committee is now reviewing the Facilities Master Plan. The revision will be one of the topics discussed at a series of four community meetings hosted by the district at Columbus high schools over the next two weeks.

The district opened two new school buildings -- Fairmoor and Parsons elementary schools -- at the beginning of this school year. Three more school buildings and two additions to the Fort Hayes High School campus are scheduled to open over winter break, and another seven are set to be done by the end of the year.

November 21, 200618 yr

From the 11/15/06 Dispatch:

PDF: Losing students

COLUMBUS PUBLIC

School closings not over?

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Jennifer Smith Richards

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The Columbus Public Schools never said they would stop at 12. And it doesn’t look like the district will: A task force that picked the 12 schools that were closed last spring has begun meeting again. Meanwhile, enrollment continues to deteriorate in some schools, leaving a handful with fewer than 200 students.

Starting at its meeting today, the Facilities Master Plan Revision Committee will help decide which new programs should be added to Columbus schools, which schools should be renovated or rebuilt as part of the district’s enormous construction project and which should be closed.

December 9, 200618 yr

From SNP newspapers, 11/22/06:

Enrollment issues again affect facilities planning

By GARTH BISHOP

As the committee studying Columbus Public Schools' Facilities Master Plan considers new buildings and innovative programs, the spectre of school closings looms over the proceedings. The district has lost almost 3,500 students during the past year, and more losses are expected this year. Last year, Columbus closed 12 school buildings to save money because of declining enrollment and other factors. Though the committee studying the Facilities Master Plan's first priority is on 21st century schools and assigning appropriate academic programs to the school buildings that have to be constructed, somewhere down the line, the committee will examine the possibility of closing more schools.

District leaders have drafted a template that can be applied to schools to determine whether it might be a good idea to close them. It is similar to the template used last year, but unlike last year, the success of buildings' academic programs will be taken into consideration. The template has eight essential criteria that each examined school must meet before being considered for closing. These include low enrollment -- under 400 for elementary schools, under 600 for middle schools and under 800 for high schools -- as well as declining enrollment during the past three years and expected further declines.

December 9, 200618 yr

From the 11/30/06 Dispatch:

GRAPHIC: Forward and back

GRAPHIC: Possible closings

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR COLUMBUS

Schools come, go on district building plan

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Bill Bush

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Columbus Public Schools proposed yesterday a reshuffling of its priorities concerning which schools to fix up or rebuild next as part of its $1.6 billion construction plan, citing changing enrollment and more pressing needs. Twelve schools would get knocked off the next segment to make room for eight new projects — including a new school to serve growing Northeast Side subdivisions. The list revising the 2002 plan was presented to a community task force that also will help decide what schools should close because of the district’s falling enrollment. Yesterday, the task force identified nine schools that could close before next school year, but that is sure to change. Any proposals for closing schools and rebuild- ing others are to be delivered to the school board by early January.

December 9, 200618 yr

Just disband the whole school system and get it over with. Privatize the whole thing and give vouchers! Time to wipe out the beurocracy.

You don't think there would be beurocracy if education was a private enterprise?

Maybe not completely eliminated, but drastically reduced. On a federal level, there would still need to be standards and oversight, but on a state and local level...why bother? Just make sure that parents can make informed decisions about where they send thier kids. Give parents apples to apples comparisons of data on how well certain schools perform. Set up a mechanism for holding underperforming schools accountable. etc...

Common sensify the whole system and make it run like a business (competively).

Joining in here a little late.

With all due respect, Brewmaster, your logic makes me ill. But in all fairness, it's not the first time I've heard the market-model argument applied to the schools.

Please please please understand that the free market model cannot be applied to public schools. Primary education is not a commodity; it is the very basis of our democracy. It is an entitlement that deserves as much energy, vision, and oh yes, MONEY as the space race, the arms race, and race for Baghdad combined (and that last one has been a pretty penny for sure).

Here's common sense: how can a private company, with advertising budgets, boards of directors, stockholders, dividends and profit-sharing POSSIBLY direct more resources toward the individual student than their public school competition when they're working with the same exact number of dollars allocated per student as the public schools?

Answer: they can't.

Charter schools serve no other purpose than to funnel public dollars into private pockets, siphon off whatever they can to pay back the investors, and provide parents with a temporary feeling that they've exercised school choice. One part of this equation gets pummeled the worst: the kids. We have lousy scores to show for the Charter schools for now. In a generation, we're going to have something much worse: kids whose education we sold off to the lowest (usually ONLY) bidder.

Don't get me wrong: I've seen some of the worst possible abuse of the public school system perpetrated by elected school boards, teacher's unions and administrations. It's horrifying, disheartening, and worth a ton of TNT in taxpayer frustration.

But in the end, with a public school district gone awry, the only party you can blame is the voters.

But be certain: there are reform-minded elements at work in every school system, and it's incumbent upon all of us--especially those of us WITHOUT kids; you guys are the only ones with the time and energy to do the heavy-lifting--to see that reformers get elected. Once the voters do the right thing, parents and kids and community leaders and volunteers must get involved if the schools can truly be saved, and you'll find all those participants active in the more successful districts. It's hard work, but it's worth it, and it's the only way we can survive as an informed democracy, assuming we're not too late in that department.

At the end of the day--and fiscal year--the private sector is motivated by one thing: making money. This is a terrible motivator when it comes to educating everybody's children.

So enough "run the schools like a business" hooey.

The private sector can't run our schools any better than it can run our military. Let's never forget that.

Rant :speech: OFF/

December 9, 200618 yr

^I haven't been convinced by the performance of the charter schools either, though they may improve over time, and they may offer some poor people a specialty school that they otherwise could not afford.

However, I definitely support school choice. If it is mandatory to attend the closest neighborhood school, then families by default self-segregate by income and race. This is a huge contributor to sprawl. And it is how we end up with home prices skyrocketing in good school districts. Government run local schools are fine for those who can afford those neighborhoods, but it is very bad for encouraging young couples to start their families in urban districts.

December 9, 200618 yr

I have absolutely no problem with school choice, so long as it's structured and implemented within the public school system.

Charter schools, in my experience, don't function on a true market model; a charter school will open up near a failing school and draw off the pupils. In practice, low-income parents don't have the resources to shop around for a school on the other side of town; they'll opt for the closest one, good or bad. Charter schools provide false hope for families like these; it's hard to think critically when you're desperate. "Anything would be better than what we got," is not a high bar, yet Charter schools are given a free pass anyway. Once the nearby public school as closed, poor folks have something even less than no choice.

The idea that elected school boards are fine for wealthy districts but not for poor ones terrifies me. This suggests that lower-income people are not capable of making decisions, and that the solution is for corporations to swoop in and run the show. If the Detroit Public Schools debacle proves anything, it's that an outside-appointed (in Detroit's case, state and mayoral) school board works no better than an elected school board. It only serves to disenfranchise the already-disenfranchised.

The ideal model empowers parents, students, teachers and administrators, and certainly that empowerment should be conditional upon success. But all of this takes funding, and the current system of school reform seems to be based on the denial of funds. And we're surprised that it's failing.

I'll say it: cities like Columbus need to hike taxes to the level of the suburbs and pour every penny's worth of the difference directly into the schools. This is the only way we can lift all the boats that need to be lifted.

And the correlation between wealthy neighborhoods and healthy schools doesn't always track; two of the priciest neighborhoods in Columbus--German Village and Victorian Village--have failing schools. The key ingredient is parental expectation. Good schools are a powerful tool for spurring growth just as bad schools are good at killing it. If we could flip the equation and implement an Apollo program for the innercity schools, everybody--poor and not so poor; families with and without children--would benefit.

Also, I'd like a pony.

December 12, 200618 yr

From the Editorial page of The Dispatch:

Let them work

Charter schools should be held to account, not hobbled with rules

Monday, December 11, 2006

Read at http://www.dispatch.com/editorials-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/12/11/20061211-A8-00.html

December 15, 200618 yr

4 more may close

Declining enrollment in city’s schools prompts recommendation by task force

BILL BUSH / COLUMBUS DISPATCH

December 14, 2006

COLUMBUS - Four Columbus Public Schools buildings housing more than 800 students should close at the end of this school year because of falling district enrollment, a task force unanimously recommended yesterday. The task force accepted Superintendent Gene Harris’ recommendation that Linmoor Middle School and Douglas Alternative, Medary and Linden Park I.G.E. Alternative elementary schools should be shuttered and their students transferred to other schools. District officials couldn’t say yesterday how much money would be saved by closing the buildings, which would be kept for potential future use. The list still must be approved by the Columbus Board of Education, and the district will hold a series of public meetings in January to hear residents respond to the recommendation.

December 19, 200618 yr

Plans have changed for Southwood renovation

ThisWeek German Village, 3/2/06

A year ago, architects were talking about how they would renovate Southwood Elementary School, including the 1960s annex, and add a new gym or cafeteria.

December 27, 200618 yr

From the 12/2/06 Dispatch:

COLUMBUS PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Downtown high school’s redesign will delay launch

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Debbie Gebolys

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The Columbus Public Schools’ new Downtown high school is undergoing design changes and won’t be ready for the start of the 2008-09 school year after all. Carole Olshavsky, the district’s senior executive of capital improvements, said yesterday that the $25.2 million project planned for Mound Street between 4 th and 5 th streets is now expected to open in January 2009.

Architects changed the exterior design of the combination career school and adult-education center after the Downtown Commission made recommendations in March. They also needed to adjust when they discovered that the original four-story school plan would require costly fire-protection upgrades. The final design calls for a three-story, 133,600-square-foot building that can accommodate 800 students in each of two half-day sessions per school day. It will be masonry with three shades of red brick and feature indoor and outdoor seating for a restaurant on 4 th Street run by the school’s culinary-arts programs.

January 12, 200718 yr

From the 12/18/06 Dispatch:

Task force to hold forums on proposed school closings

Monday, December 18, 2006

Rob Messinger

The leaders of the community task force that recommended four Columbus Public Schools to close this spring will explain how they chose them at the Board of Education meeting Tuesday. On Wednesday, the panel named three elementary schools — Douglas Alternative, Linden Park I.G.E. and Medary — and Linmoor Middle School as its choices to close in the spring.

Community forums will be held in January, before the plan is formally presented to the school board. But the panel’s co-chairmen, Floyd Jones and Alan Davidson, will present their preliminary findings at the board meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the district’s offices, 270 E. State St.

January 12, 200718 yr

From the 12/27/06 Dispatch:

Foundation giving $120,000 to start charter schools

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

The Columbus Foundation will invest $120,000 in the next three years to help pay for startup costs of KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) charter schools in Columbus. The grant — $40,000 each for 2007, 2008 and 2009 — will go to the Columbus Partnership. The partnership has pledged to raise $600,000 in startup costs for those three years. The KIPP program, which has been successful in other cities in helping at-risk students achieve, is to be in two new Columbus schools in 2008. At least one will be a middle school; the other could be a second middle school or an elementary. Plans call for five KIPP schools in Columbus, including a high school, to open in 2012.

January 12, 200718 yr

From SNP newspapers, 1/3/06:

Voucher eligibility expansion concerns CPS officials

Students from more schools now are allowed to apply for state money.

By GARTH BISHOP

The number of Columbus students who could be eligible for private-school vouchers next year has been significantly increased, and district officials are not happy. Two weeks ago, the state Legislature approved changes to the Ohio Educational Choice Scholarship Program with one big alteration: Instead of vouchers going to just students at schools that have been rated in "academic watch" or "academic emergency" -- the two lowest ratings on the state report card -- for the past three years, they can now go to students at schools that have received those ratings for two out of the past three years.

Last year, students at 35 Columbus schools and one South-Western school had the option of applying for vouchers. Because of the change, that option will be given to students at 61 Columbus schools, as well as two Groveport Madison schools and one South-Western school. This includes six schools in the Northland area: Innis, North Linden and Northtowne elementary schools and Clinton, Medina and Woodward Park middle schools. Mifflin Middle School, which draws its students from a variety of areas, is also on the list.

January 12, 200718 yr

From the 1/4/06 Dispatch:

Few attend first of four meetings on school closings

Next meeting is in area affected by plan

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Bill Bush

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The Columbus Board of Education heard from only a handful of parents last night at the first of four public meetings to discuss a plan to close four schools at the end of this school year. About 50 people attended the meeting at West High School, but about 30 of them were district employees. Eight parents spoke. None voiced concerns about a plan to alter the schedule for rebuilding and remodeling schools, which the meetings also are designed to cover.

January 12, 200718 yr

From the 1/5/07 Dispatch:

Linden leaders walk out on school forum

Critics say the district did little to deal with the issues before deciding to close buildings

Tempers flared at times last night as more than 125 people packed a meeting in South Linden to discuss the closing of four Columbus school buildings. A group of residents walked out of the meeting in disgust, including Clarence Lumpkin, sometimes referred to as the "Mayor of Linden" because of his decades of community involvement. "You never came to us and said, ‘Look, we have a problem. Let’s sit down and see what this problem is,’ " Lumpkin said before leaving. He complained that it was impossible to have a discussion when members of the public were told they had to hold comments to no longer than two minutes.

George M. Walker Jr., chairman of the South Linden Area Commission, also left the meeting, saying the only time school-district officials want to talk to Linden residents is when they’re closing their schools or wanting their votes. "You can bet there will never be (a tax levy) passed in Linden again," Walker said as he left Linden-McKinley High School, where the meeting was held.

Superintendent Gene Harris told the crowd that no one wants to close buildings, but the district’s falling enrollment requires it. Parents have choices to move their children to other schools, including charter schools, she said. Of the 3,318 students who live in the Linden area, fewer than half, about 47 percent, attend schools located there.

March 19, 200718 yr

From ThisWeek German Village, 1/4/07:

RENDERING: Architects' rendering of the Southwood Elementary addition, seen from Markison Avenue. The new entrance will be in the center connector, and the addition is to the right.

Historic Resources Commission approves Southwood

Thursday, January 4, 2007

By SUE HAGAN

ThisWeek Staff Writer

Plans to renovate and add on to Southwood Elementary School were approved late in December by the Historic Resources Commission, after months of fine tuning by architects. Problems with the entry section -- which architects are calling the "hyphen" because it is a one-story horizontal dash between the original building and the addition -- caused most of the delay, said Heidi Harendza, assistant historic preservation officer for Columbus.

"In the (previous) version, it was very simplified, very modern," she said. "It doesn't have to mimic the historic building, but it should relate to the proportions." Architect J. Blair Frier, of SEM, agreed that the hyphen took some work. "That piece was always intended to be a transition piece," he said, adding that it helps make the old and the new sections distinguishable from one another. " ... You want the (original) building to reflect its history and you should be able to read (through architectural clues) that the addition is not the original building."

Southwood is listed on the Columbus Register of Historic Properties and changes to the building must be approved by the HRC.

March 19, 200718 yr

From ThisWeek Clintonville, 1/18/07:

New school to focus on science and mathematics

Thursday, January 18, 2007

By SUE HAGAN

ThisWeek Staff Writer

Students at Metro High School know there's a lot riding on their academic efforts. After all, the new school is at the forefront of school reform efforts to prepare students to take their place in the world as scientists, mathematicians and engineers. The statistics, cited by Kathleen Sullivan, director of the Battelle Center for Mathematics and Science Education Policy, are telling:

* In 1970, half of the world's scientists and engineers were American, but by 2010, that number will drop to 15 percent.

* U.S. students rank 24th of 29 developed countries in math literacy.

* Improvement in American education has been flat for at least 30 years.

"The gap in technology poses a real risk to the future of our country," Sullivan said during a forum at the Metropolitan Club last week. Metro High School students have heard the statistics and know that their school will be watched closely as an example of a new idea in education.

March 19, 200718 yr

From the 1/19/07 Dispatch:

TASK-FORCE RECOMMENDATION

Board: Is closing 2 schools enough?

Friday, January 19, 2007

Bill Bush

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The Columbus Board of Education is poised to close two elementary schools at a meeting Tuesday, but some board members questioned yesterday whether the district is closing enough buildings given recent enrollment drops. A task force reviewing school closings recommended that Linden Park I.G.E. Alternative and Medary elementary schools be closed at the end of this school year. However, the panel backed off its preliminary recommendation to close two other buildings, Douglas Alternative Elementary and Linmoor Middle School. The panel no longer recommends closing Douglas and wants more time to consider Linmoor’s fate, said Floyd Jones, the task force’s co-chairman.

March 19, 200718 yr

LINDEN PARK I.G.E. ALTERNATIVE, MEDARY

City school board approves closing 2 elementary schools

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Bill Bush THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The Columbus Board of Education unanimously accepted the recommendation of a citizens’ task force yesterday to close two elementary schools at the end of this school year. The board voted 6-0 to close Linden Park I.G.E. Alternative and Medary elementary schools because of falling district enrollment.

The task force is scheduled to meet again at 1 p.m. today to discuss whether to keep Linmoor Middle School, 2001 Hamilton Ave., on the closure list. The meeting will be at district headquarters, 270 E. State St.

March 19, 200718 yr

From the 1/25/07 Dispatch:

GRAPHIC: School closings

Linmoor back on closing list

Plummeting enrollment at middle school is too much for Columbus task force to ignore

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Bill Bush THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

For the second time, a community task force has decided that Linmoor Middle School should close at the end of this academic year. After reviewing enrollment figures and the proposed "feeder pattern" of where Linmoor’s students would attend high school, the committee voted 7-0 yesterday to recommend that the Columbus Board of Education close the school at 2001 Hamilton Ave.

March 19, 200718 yr

From the 2/7/07 Dispatch:

Linmoor Middle is next to close in Linden area

School district already has closed four elementaries in neighborhood

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Bill Bush THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The Columbus Board of Education followed the recommendation of a citizens’ task force yesterday and voted unanimously to close Linmoor Middle School at the end of this school year. Board members acknowledged that the decision to close the school, at 2001 Hamilton Ave., would be another blow to the Linden area, which has been hit hard by school closings in the past year. The district closed three Linden elementary schools last summer: Gladstone, Brentnell Alternative Traditional and McGuffey. Last month, the board voted to close Linden Park I.G.E. Alternative Elementary at the end of this year. Linmoor makes it five of 15 closures districtwide, and board members are worried about cutting off the flow of students into Linden-McKinley High School.

March 19, 200718 yr

From the 2/8/07 Dispatch:

GRAPHIC: Opting for alternatives

COLUMBUS SCHOOLS

District in line to meet its budget

Figure on charters, vouchers about right

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Bill Bush

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Columbus Public Schools have lost more money to charter schools than expected this year, but the district’s total budget is intact because fewer students than expected left to use vouchers. The district had expected to lose about $60 million to both charter schools and vouchers in the 2006-07 school year. As of this month, Columbus is on track to lose about $59.27 million, district Budget Director Hugh Garside said. Of that amount, about $55 million in state financial aid was expected to be turned over to the charter schools, which are privately run public schools. They operate solely on the $6,500-a-year given per student from the state. The money is first given to the district, then must be transferred to the charter school where the student has enrolled.

March 19, 200718 yr

From the 2/18/07 Dispatch:

GRAPHIC: Columbus Public Schools budget

COLUMBUS SCHOOLS

Teachers unruffled by report of deficit

$12.2 million shortfall won’t spur big layoffs, district says

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Bill Bush

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Although their district is facing a projected $12.2 million deficit, the vast majority of Columbus Public Schools employees should be secure in their jobs at least through the end of next school year, an official said. "We don’t see any type of significant or widespread cuts or layoffs," district spokesman Jeff Warner said. But the district isn’t ruling out the need for a small number of layoffs within certain teaching specialties because some programs — including home economics — could be eliminated, said Mike Fulwider, another district spokesman.

March 19, 200718 yr

From ThisWeek German Village, 2/22/07:

Planning session slated for Barrett, Beck schools

Thursday, February 22, 2007

By SUE HAGAN

ThisWeek Staff Writer

Community members are invited to participate in a workshop to come up with ideas on how to eventually reuse Barrett Middle School and Beck Elementary. The workshop will be held Wednesday, Feb. 28, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Schiller Park Recreation Center, 1089 Jaeger St. It is a joint project of Columbus Public Schools, the Columbus Planning Division, the Merion Village Association and the Schumacher Place Civic Association.

Barrett closed last year, and only its athletic fields are currently being used. Students from Livingston Elementary School are being housed at Beck as their school is being renovated. CPS has no plans to use Beck once the students move back to Livingston, according to Anne Dorrian Lenzotti, district real estate director. Some ideas from the workshop will be incorporated into the amended South Side Plan, which is in progress.

March 19, 200718 yr

From ThisWeek Clintonville, 3/1/07:

Fall 2007

Indianola students to move to Everett

Thursday, March 1, 2007

By SUE HAGAN

ThisWeek Staff Writer

Students at Indianola Informal Elementary School will move next fall to the old Everett Middle School building in Victorian Village, and South High School students will move out to an as-yet undecided location. Columbus Public Schools administrators had thought both student bodies could stay put while South and Crestview Middle School (where Indianola will eventually be relocated) were being renovated.

March 19, 200718 yr

From ThisWeek German Village, 3/15/07:

PHOTO: South High School will be renovated at a cost of $34.7-million. The construction will start this summer. By David Rea/ThisWeek

RENDERING: Janitor Richard Fields keeps an interior hallway clean at South.

RENDERING: Architect's rendering of the south elevation of the addition planned for South High School. This view is looking north.

RENDERING: Architect's rendering of a renovated classroom.

RENDERING: The north elevation of the new addition during architect's schematic design phase. This view is looking south.

South renovations to begin this summer

Thursday, March 15, 2007

By SUE HAGAN

ThisWeek Staff Writer

South High School, which has been the educational focal point of the South Side for more than 80 years, will get a $34.7-million facelift over the next two years. During the process, modern features will be juxtaposed with the character of the historic building, resulting in a facility that will retain its tradition but still provide what Columbus Public Schools officials call "a 21st-century learning environment."

The new gymnasiums that will be built "are long overdue -- we need that athletic facility," he said. "Plus the fact that they're looking at installing an actual hall of fame (in the cafeteria) and display space for our archives in the entryway ... ." As many historic features of the building are being retained as possible, architects said. The red quarry tile floors will remain wherever possible, as will the ornate plaster ceilings in the auditorium and a few other rooms. Where possible, woodwork will be refinished and kept in place, and the brick and limestone exterior will be cleaned and tuck pointed.

March 27, 200718 yr

From the 3/25/07 Dispatch:

Losing school a blow for residents

Low enrollment to shutter Medary in University District

Sunday, March 25, 2007 3:46 AM

By Mark Ferenchik

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The announcement that the Columbus Public Schools will close Medary Elementary School this spring was not only a shock to students and teachers. Those in the University District neighborhood around the school also were shaken. Residents already knew that their neighborhood would lose the Indianola Alternative Elementary School to Clintonville in fall 2008, leaving the building on E. 16th Avenue vacant.

Medary's enrollment had shrunk to 140 students, the lowest of any traditional Columbus elementary school. But it was still a neighborhood school. And without that school, many feel the neighborhood is losing its soul. "Medary is like the core of this community," said Lydia Pantages, a community leader.

April 2, 200718 yr

From the 3/29/07 Dispatch:

* See a full listing of Columbus Public Schools' unspent Title I money (PDF)

Leaving 'No Child' money behind

Schools fail to use millions in aid

Funds intended for Columbus' poor schools

Thursday, March 29, 2007 5:46 AM

By Bill Bush

The Columbus Dispatch

The federal government offers extra money for low-income students each year — funds that their schools can use for more teachers, tutors and other services to help them learn. But Columbus Public Schools left millions of these dollars unspent during the 2005-06 school year, meaning the individual schools — and the targeted students — essentially lost the money. In all, the district distributed $19.5 million Title I dollars to its schools last academic year, but the schools left $3.4 million of it — 18 percent — unspent, according to a state audit. Title I money has existed for decades but is more commonly known today as No Child Left Behind grants.

July 9, 200717 yr

From ThisWeek Clintonville, 4/5/07:

RENDERING: Artist's rendering of the front elevation of Crestview Elementary.

Crestview renovations set for summer

Thursday, April 5, 2007

By SUE HAGAN

ThisWeek Staff Writer

Renovations to Crestview Middle School in Clintonville will begin this summer, to prepare the school for its conversion to a building that will house the Indianola Informal Elementary K-8 program starting in the 2009-2010 school year. The Crestview building has an auditorium and stage, and a secondary gymnasium, which Indianola will use for the dance program.

Other features of the Crestview renovation include:

* A new entrance into the lowest level will lead directly to the principal's and other central offices, and the media center will extend across the entire front of the first floor.

* Two elevators will be installed.

* The four small rooms on the fourth floor, which was added in 1926, will be renovated into two larger rooms, for life skills and a science lab.

* Two separate playgrounds will be built, one for grades K-3 and the other for older children, four basketball hoops will be installed and some outdoor classroom space planned.

* Boys' and girls' bathrooms will be available on all floors.

Indianola, which has outgrown its current building, will move to the Everett Middle School building in Victorian Village for the next two years.

July 9, 200717 yr

From the 4/6/07 Dispatch:

Columbus schools lay off 20 teachers in specialty areas

Friday, April 6, 2007 3:28 AM

By Bill Bush

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Columbus Public Schools mailed layoff notices to 20 teachers yesterday, district spokesman Michael Straughter said. The decision is based on budget constraints, enrollment and staff-allocation formulas, Straughter said. The 20 teachers represent less than a half-percent of the district's almost 4,300 teachers.

"The bottom line is we just don't feel we're going to need that many in those classifications," he said. The targeted teachers are eight in physical education, four in business, four in art, two in dance, one in vocal music and one in industrial arts, Straughter said.

July 9, 200717 yr

From the 4/15/07 Dispatch:

GRAPHIC: Goodbye to long bus ride?

CONTINGENT ON TAX INCREASE

District plans new K-8 school for city 'island'

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Bill Bush

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

It comes with a two-story family room, a secondfloor laundry, artistic lighting, a garden tub and "a New Albany lifestyle." But the feature that surprises most potential buyers about the $229,900 house and others in nearby subdivisions is that they are in the Columbus Public Schools district, said real-estate agent Paula Shepherd. "They?re expecting it to either be Westerville or New Albany" schools, she said. "They?re like, ?You?re kidding me. This is Columbus Public Schools? How could that be??

July 9, 200717 yr

From The Booster, 4/18/07:

Many charter school students return to Columbus

Some return after the charter school closes, others due to disenchantment with the charter program.

By GARTH BISHOP

The road that leads Columbus Public Schools students to charter schools is not a one-way street, district officials say. For the 2006-07 school year alone, some 1,400 students have returned to the district from charter schools, said Elaine Bell, executive director of student assistance, intervention and outreach for the district. The number of returning students during the 2005-06 school year was just under 1,300, Bell said.

Charter schools are publicly funded educational facilities that use the per-pupil state dollars "assigned" to the student. The home district loses that money when students opt to attend a charter school, sometimes even when the student returns to the district later in the year. For the current school year, CPS officials estimated in the fall that more than 3,400 students had left district schools to attend either charter or private schools.

July 9, 200717 yr

From The Booster, 4/25/07:

District begins planning for high-growth areas' needs

By GARTH BISHOP

Columbus school district officials tentatively are planning to build a new school in one of their high-growth areas, and opportunities for more could be on the way. Segment 3 of the district's Facilities Master Plan tentatively calls for a new school in the district's fast-growing northeast corner, west of New Albany. "It seems like a reasonable approach to start providing some space for kids up there that are currently having to travel eight miles on a bus to get to a Columbus public school," said Carole Olshavsky, the district's senior executive of capital improvements.

Three other parts of the district are identified as high-growth areas: the northwest corner near Hayden Run and Cosgray roads, the southwest area and the southeast corner near Canal Winchester. "The city is projecting well over 30,000 new individuals in each of those growth areas of the city ... over a 20-year time period," Olshavsky said.

Developers in the northeast corner have agreed to provide the city of Columbus with a 20-acre site for a park and a school. "The city gives the land to the schools," said Greg Davies, deputy director of the city's development department. "Then there's a 4-mill community authority that's being established, and 2 of those mills would go to the schools." The district must act quickly if it wants to take advantage of the city's offer -- the site can be used for other purposes if the district does not make a commitment to using it by the end of 2008, officials said. Though the new school is part of Segment 3 of the master plan, that segment has not yet been set in stone, Olshavsky said.

July 9, 200717 yr

From the 5/6/07 Dispatch:

Schools' local job figures unclear

Minority contractors say district construction projects aren't properly monitored

Sunday, May 6, 2007 3:52 AM

By Bill Bush

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

When the Columbus Board of Education set a goal of hiring district residents for 25 percent of all on-site work on school construction projects, no one could have imagined how perfectly things would work out. A report issued this year on how the program was going said the district had exactly met its 25 percent goal for 2006. Smoot Elford, the construction manager of the $521 million project to build or renovate 38 schools and complete 51 other repair projects, compiled a breakdown: first quarter, 25 percent; second quarter, 25 percent; third quarter, 25 percent; fourth quarter, 25 percent; and work on the separate "warm, safe and dry" program to keep the furnaces and roofs up to par on schools not currently funded for major overhauls, 25 percent.

July 9, 200717 yr

From the 5/10/07 Dispatch:

Health costs cramp district

Columbus schools' plight forces higher payments by nonteachers, staff cuts

Thursday, May 10, 2007 3:50 AM

By Bill Bush

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Soaring health-care costs are continuing to put the squeeze on Columbus Public Schools' budget, even contributing to staff cuts. Claims under the district's self-insured program have increased by about 11 percent each of the past two years, forcing about 1,300 nonteaching employees who chose a preferred-provider plan to pay for more of their prescription-drug costs, said Craig Bickley, district personnel director. "The district -- operating under a Board of Education promise to keep its general-fund expenditure growth to no more than 3 percent a year -- has been forced to reduce staff to help pay for health-care increases, said budget director Hugh Garside.

July 9, 200717 yr

From the 5/16/07 Dispatch:

Columbus schools' proposed budget: $1.2 billion

Spending blueprint sees more students leaving for charters, vouchers during 2007-08 term

Wednesday, May 16, 2007 3:34 AM

By Bill Bush

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Columbus schools would spend about $1.2 billion next school year -- about $22,800 per student -- including local, state, federal and construction-bond funds, according to Superintendent Gene Harris' budget presented yesterday. If the budget is approved by the Board of Education next month, the general fund, the discretionary part of the budget paid for by local property taxes and state aid, would grow by 3 percent next school year to $651.6 million.

Budget highlights

Details of the Columbus Public Schools' proposed budget for 2007-08:

Overview: Spending would climb 3 percent while general-fund revenue would climb 0.3 percent.

Charters/vouchers: Nearly 12 percent of the budget -- $78 million -- is slated for students who instead attend charter or private schools.

Enrollment: 52,632, down 5.5 percent from the current year

Salaries: Teachers will receive 3.25 percent raises and other employees, 3 percent; many also receive "step" increases. But overall spending on personnel services, which includes employee pay, will decline 0.4 percent because of staff reductions.

Building operations: $61.4 million, 6 percent more than the current year, though four schools are closing. Higher utility costs related to new buildings account for part of the increase, the district says.

Transportation: $48.2 million, 13.4 percent more than the current year. About $12 million is for contracted buses, which largely serve students going to charter or private schools.

Source: Columbus Public Schools

July 9, 200717 yr

From The Booster, 5/16/07:

Construction, facelifts continue on district facilities

By JENNIFER NOBLIT

An overhaul to Columbus Public Schools facilities will take 15 years, but in some areas students get to savor that new-school smell every day. Columbus residents approved a 3.46-mill bond issue in 2002 to fund two out of seven segments of a facilities plan. Work for the first segment is nearly complete. The first segment contained 19 schools -- including the newly opened Arts Impact Middle School Downtown and Shady Lane Elementary School slated to open this fall. Work on the second segment, which includes Fort Hayes High School and Indianola Alternative Elementary School, is under way.

While the entire 15-year project includes more than 60 new buildings and renovations to more than 80 schools, Warner said, the district is lucky to have a place to put students while work is done. "One of the unique things with Columbus Public Schools is since we have schools available, we can move students into those schools while their schools are being refurbished or replaced. They're there one or two years so they're in a safe location. They won't have dust falling on their heads or anything," he said.

July 9, 200717 yr

From The Booster, 5/23/07:

District enrollment drops, but revenues remain strong

The Columbus district lost another 500 students since its October count.

By JENNIFER NOBLIT

While student enrollment continues to decline, Columbus Public Schools officials last week reported millions of dollars more in revenue than expected. A five-year financial forecast from district Treasurer Michael Kinneer showed the district collected $26 million more than previously projected. The amount was a variation of 1.1 percent from October projections, he said.

A large portion of the surplus in revenue comes from real estate taxes, a increase Kinneer said was caused by a rise in property values and better-than expected collection of delinquent taxes. According to numbers from the treasurer, the district has collected $299 million in real estate taxes so far -- $29 million over projections from October. Kinneer's forecast expects real estate values to continue to increase by 1 percent each year and 3 percent in 2009, after the county's three-year revaluation effort.

July 9, 200717 yr

From the 5/25/07 Dispatch:

Columbus schools will keep promise on spending growth -- barely

Friday, May 25, 2007 3:22 AM

By Bill Bush

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Fiscal accountability was the theme of the 2004 Columbus Public Schools operating-levy campaign, but it will be creative accounting that will let the district keep its promise to limit spending growth to 3 percent a year. Under a plan endorsed by the district's Audit and Accountability Committee yesterday, the district would put off until the end of next school year recording as an expense any of the money it used to prop up its financially troubled food-services division. The five-year financial forecast that Kinneer presented last week projected that food services will owe the general fund almost $14 million by 2010. But it appears the board will keep its promise to the voters.

July 9, 200717 yr

From the 5/28/07 Dispatch:

Schools' inclusion bid fuzzy

Columbus district's recordkeeping falls short in push to involve local contractors

Monday, May 28, 2007 3:26 AM

By Bill Bush

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Records at the Ohio School Facilities Commission show that the district paid Smoot Elford Resource $128,484 in fees and $214,000 in direct hourly expenses for Smoot employees to administer the LEDE program. It has budgeted an additional $270,000 in bond money for the program. The district goal is to steer 20 percent of all construction dollars to LEDEs. Businesses qualify as LEDEs if they are either based in Franklin County or most of their employees live within the district, and they are majority-owned by people with net worths of $750,000 or less.

July 9, 200717 yr

From The Booster, 5/30/07:

PHOTO:A crowd gathers outside of Indianola Informal Alternative School Thursday evening for one last look at the school which will be closing at the end of this school year. News photo by Dan Trittschuh

Parents, alumni bid sad farewell to Indianola building

By JENNIFER NOBLIT

A large crowd dotted the lawn and even more people roamed the halls and filled the auditorium to say goodbye to a school that touched their lives. The educational program at Indianola Informal Alternative School isn't being eliminated. But it is moving to larger facilities at the former Crestview Middle School, 251 E. Weber Road, in two years. Until a renovation project at Crestview is finished, the students will move to Everett Middle School, 100 W. Fourth Ave.

July 9, 200717 yr

From ThisWeek German Village, 5/31/07:

PHOTO: Architect's rendering of the new downtown high school site plan, showing the parcel CPS plans to purchase at 190 E. Fulton St.

More land on tap for downtown high school

Thursday, May 31, 2007

By SUE HAGAN

ThisWeek Staff Writer

Columbus Public Schools plans to purchase an additional acre at the site of a planned downtown alternative high school, allowing room for green space and a bus drop-off area. The district has an agreement to buy the building and parking lot at 190 Fulton St., said Carole Olshavsky, CPS senior executive for capital improvements. The $1.05-million purchase will give CPS control of the entire block bounded by Fourth and Fifth streets on the west and east, and Mound and Fulton streets on the north and south.

In 2005, CPS purchased three acres of property there for $2.2-million. But the owner of the additional tract, Dwj Limited Liability Company, was asking $1.4-million for it at the time -- a price district officials said was well above market value. "We thought a million-four was a bit much and decided to cool our heels," said John Rosenberger, a member of the Neighborhood School Development Partnership, the volunteer panel overseeing the CPS school rebuilding effort. The downtown school, billed as an alternative high school but with a career center focus, is slated to open in late 2008. It will be 134,000 square feet in size and has a construction budget of $21-million. Machisa Design, O.A. Spencer and Triad are the architects designing the three-story building.

July 9, 200717 yr

From the 6/14/07 Dublin Villager:

Board asked to rethink Metro School policy

Thursday, June 14, 2007

By CANDACE PRESTON-COY

Villager Staff Writer

Metro High School is a first-of-its-kind public math, science and technology high school that just completed its first year. Nearly 100 freshmen from several of the 16 Franklin County districts attended. Tuition for the students attending the school pays for the day-to-day expenses, specifically salaries, while The Ohio State University and Battelle cover the major expenses. Most districts paid all $6,000 tuition for their students in the 2006-07 school year, while Worthington required full payment from parents for their children to attend Metro School.

July 9, 200717 yr

From ThisWeek West Side, 6/24/07:

CPS administrators, supervisors receive 3-percent raises

Sunday, June 24, 2007

By SUE HAGAN

ThisWeek Staff Writer

Columbus Public Schools administrators and classified supervisors will receive 3 percent cost of living raises next year, their first since both groups received 2 percent raises in the 2005-2006 school year. The CPS Board of Education approved the new compensation packages at its board meeting on Tuesday evening. Just under 600 employees are covered in the agreements, and the cost to the district's general fund will be about $1.5-million, according to spokesman Jeff Warner. He said the raises will not cause the 2007-2008 general fund budget to increase more than 3 percent over last year's spending plan; the board is expected to approve the budget on June 29.

July 9, 200717 yr

From the 6/28/07 Dispatch:

Science school showing promise

Metro freshmen liked tough classes

Thursday, June 28, 2007 3:43 AM

By Charlie Boss

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

There was no extra credit, no study hall and no grading system. The 104 freshmen could achieve only mastery -- a 90 percent or better -- in their classes. They had two hours a day of class for each subject, averaged an hour of homework a night and met weekly with advisers. The pace was fast and expectations were high at Metro High School, a public math, science, engineering and technology school in partnership with Franklin County school districts, Battelle and Ohio State University. The school is on Kenny Road near OSU.

July 9, 200717 yr

From the 7/6/07 Dispatch:

Columbus Africentric

Firing left students scrambling for credits

Friday, July 6, 2007 3:29 AM

By Simone Sebastian

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

More than 100 students had to sit through a study hall last school year instead of Spanish classes when Columbus Public Schools fired their teacher in November. Now those students -- about a quarter of the enrollment at Columbus Africentric Early College -- are retaking Spanish, and some of them will have to put off the start of sports because they didn't earn enough credits to play. District officials said they told Malyka Knapp-Smith to stay until February, the end of the semester for the year-round high school. But Knapp-Smith insists she was forced to sign a resignation letter and leave the school immediately. Either way, the district couldn't find an accredited Spanish teacher to take Knapp-Smith's place. The six classes she was to have taught were turned into study halls headed by a substitute teacher, and the students -- mostly ninth-graders -- received no credit for the year.

July 16, 200717 yr

From ThisWeek German Village, 7/12/07:

Southwood renovation work poised to begin

Thursday, July 12, 2007

SUE HAGAN

ThisWeek Staff Writer

More than a year after students were moved from Southwood Elementary School and combined with another nearby school, renovation work on the Merion Village building is finally under way. Construction fencing was erected late last week, and neighbors should see work on the site heating up, according to project managers. Tim Davis, a vice president with Smoot Construction, said that abatement of dangerous materials -- mostly ceiling tiles with some asbestos and old fluorescent light bulbs -- has been completed and "selective" demolition is taking place this week.

Davis said old ductwork is coming out, as are plumbing fixtures and electrical wiring, from both the historic 1894 building and the 1966 addition. He said the addition is to be torn down July 17. After that, the renovation of the old building and construction of a new addition will begin, likely in late July or early August.

August 23, 200717 yr

Columbus Public Schools renamed

'Columbus City School District' christens itself, unveils a modified logo

Thursday, August 23, 2007 3:42 AM

By David Conrad

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Columbus Public Schools' improved grade on the state report cards won't be the only new way of describing the district this fall. District officials are quietly phasing in a new logo and phasing out the name they've been using for more than a half-century. Instead, the district will revert to its legal name, Columbus City School District.

"Things are changing," said Superintendent Gene Harris. "We have a new (report-card) classification, and we're working very hard to bring in new programs. The logo we've been using has been the logo for many years and we just thought it's a great time to upgrade our look."

Full story at http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2007/08/23/newname.ART_ART_08-23-07_B5_4F7MMIQ.html?sid=101

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