Thomas Ott, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cleveland School District has admitted intimidating and threatening a school psychologist who criticized Chief Executive Officer Eugene Sanders’ new academic reform plan.

Luigina DiNardo-Rose spoke at a school board meeting in March, criticizing a part of the plan that would force teachers at her high school, Lincoln-West, to reapply for jobs with the district. The board approved the “transformation plan” that night.

According to a complaint filed with the State Employment Relations Board, Dinardo-Rose’s supervisor, Linda Neiheiser, called her into an office six days later and told her that several district administrators wanted her to “reconsider” the remarks. The complaint says Neiheiser told DiNardo-Rose that making similar comments could trigger an investigation for insubordination.

The district settled the complaint Aug. 30, a month after the employment relations board referred the complaint to mediation. In the settlement, the district admits threatening and intimidating DiNardo-Rose and promises not to interfere with employees who criticize operations in the future.

District spokeswoman Roseann Canfora did not want to discuss details of the case.

“She had a right to file a complaint,” Canfora said. “We respect the outcome of that process.”

Read More

Story Compliments Of The Plain Dealer

With enrollment shriveling to fewer than 50,000 students already, and a projection that it could slide to barely 35,000 by 2017, there’s no need for the more than 90 schools currently in the system, according to a draft proposal by Bill Prenosil, a school facilities commission planner.

The district’s transformation plan, which is to go into effect next month, slashed 15 buildings this year. Prenosil wants still more on the chopping block, to bring the district to just 63 buildings.

Not all of the state commission’s ideas make perfect sense. For instance, the state includes the former Margaret Spellacy Junior High on its closure list although it was recently renovated to accommodate the all-male Ginn Academy. Closing it now would be a waste of money and work.

story compliments of Cleveland.com

read more

More than 600 teachers at 22 Cleveland public schools will not have to reapply for their jobs.

An arbitrator ruled Wednesday evening that the teacher contract prohibits schools Chief Executive Eugene Sanders from implementing that key part of his transformation plan, which will launch in August. The decision is final.

“The Cleveland Teachers Union has always been willing to partner with the district on the implementation of reform,” CTU President David Quolke said in a prepared statement. “This decision does not derail the transformation plan, but it does help to ensure a smoother school opening for Cleveland’s students.”

A news release from the district said the decision denies it the “ability to ensure that the right teachers are assigned to school models that align best with their skills and competencies.”

“While we are disappointed at the arbitration ruling, we remain unwavering in our commitment to do whatever it takes to carry out the goals of the academic transformation plan,” Sanders said in the release.

The plan, approved by the school board in March, aims to create school-by-school reform, offer more education options for families and demand more accountability of employees.

The 14 elementary and eight high schools had been identified as poor performers, mostly based on low test scores. Sanders wanted the power to handpick their staffs over the summer. Teachers who were not chosen to remain in the targeted schools would have been assigned elsewhere in the district.

But the contract has a step-by-step procedure that must be followed when making changes in problem schools. Ultimately, that can result in what’s called reconstitution, in which a new principal, parents and a union representative assemble a new staff after interviewing teacher applicants.

Changing the assignment system is one of many issues on the table in contract negotiations going on now. The current agreement officially expired Wednesday, though its terms remain in effect.

In the meantime, the district will start making changes in 12 of the targeted schools. They’ve recently been awarded a total of about $9 million in federal School Improvement Grants for the coming school year, with two more years of similar funding to follow.

But the money comes with strings attached, leaving a huge question mark over exactly how staffing changes will be accomplished.

Read more…

The closing of 16 Cleveland schools will begin long before the last person leaves and locks the door.

A more gradual process starts Saturday when transition teams representing the 14 elementary buildings on the list meet at Harvey Rice Elementary School on East 116th Street.

The closings are part of a “transformation plan” designed to use buildings efficiently and invest scarce resources in improving academics.

The transition teams — each with about 15 members representing staff and families — will get together weekly through the summer, discussing proper farewells for their old schools and concerns they have about where students go in August. District officials will work with the teams and take their comments into consideration.

The district will decide later how to smooth the move from East and South high schools. Planning is complicated because older students are more likely to take advantage of rules that allow them to choose high schools throughout the city.

“We want to have solid numbers, solid ideas of where kids will be going,” said Clifford Hayes, head of an office created to manage the closings. Besides holding ultimate authority over the transition teams, he will take responsibility for students’ building assignments and transferring books, records and other property.

Read Full Story

Article courtesy cleveland.com

Schools chief Eugene Sanders has begun reconfiguring a central office that he promises will get leaner and help schools improve, not hinder them.

 The first step was to cut the number of cabinet-level officers from seven to five. Step 2 starts next week when the first of all-new job descriptions are posted and employees get a chance to reapply.

A central office staff of nearly 400 will shrink, Sanders said Friday after releasing more details of the reorganization, which will occur over the next few months. But he said he is not certain yet how much the staff will shrink.

“We are trying to identify areas of duplication and identify areas where the work could be merged,” Sanders said. “There will be less people here at the start of the school year than are here now.”

The restructuring is part of Sanders’ “transformation plan,” designed to cut expenses and invest remaining money in academic improvements. The district has closed 16 buildings and is considering laying off hundreds of teachers and other union employees.

The five surviving cabinet positions are chief academic officer, chief of staff, chief financial officer, chief operating officer and chief innovation officer, responsible for new theme schools and district-sponsored charter schools. Chiefs of communication and security will drop in status, reporting to the chief of staff and chief operating officer, respectively.

Read Full Story

Article courtesy cleveland.com

Cleveland school officials are staying true to their promise of transformation — at least when it comes to letting students know where they will attend classes in the fall.

Assignments for all of the nearly 50,000 students will be available Saturday at the Convention Center, during a fair that showcases the city’s public schools. Notices will be sent home from school with students whose families don’t attend.

In the past, students often have received assignments just before the start of classes in August, Chief Executive Officer Eugene Sanders says.

This year, officials scurried so families of students set to be displaced by the closing of 16 schools — part of an academic “transformation plan” — would know early where children are headed. Officials said they wanted to give families time to seek alternatives, including transfer to other Cleveland public schools.

Critics, mindful of history, questioned whether the district would get the job done. School board member Rashida Abdulhaqq is not convinced it was done well.

“I’ll wait and see,” she said.

Read Full Story

Article courtesy cleveland.com

The Cleveland schools have picked up another $2 million to launch an academic “transformation” plan, but the district says it still needs many times that amount for takeoff.

The Cleveland Foundation made the award Tuesday, adding to $750,000 that it pledged late last year. The money will go for start-up expenses, including curriculum packages, academic “coaches,” teacher training and technology.

The George Gund Foundation agreed last month to contribute $2.5 million, with another $4 million to come if the plan makes satisfactory progress. But the money from the foundations is only a fraction of $72 million that schools chief Eugene Sanders has said is required.

Sanders would spread the expenses over three years. He hopes to raise $24 million for the 2010-11 school year, nearly half of it before classes begin.

Read Full Story

Article courtesy cleveland.com

After months of meetings, a lot of behind-the-scenes cobbling, bursts of community anguish and a couple of major revisions, the Cleveland school board has approved a district “transformation plan.”

Now can district leaders tie up scores of loose ends in time to smoothly launch a multitude of changes this fall? Administrators insist they can, but teachers aren’t so sure.

The school board voted 8-1 Tuesday to approve Chief Executive Officer Eugene Sanders’ blueprint for raising low test scores and a 54 percent graduation rate. Rashida Abdulhaqq voted no, saying she thought many of the details remained sketchy.

Sanders’ document lays out building-by-building strategies, including closing or moving 16 schools. The district will shutter 14 elementary schools and two high schools — more than 10 percent of its facilities — after classes end in June.

Read Full Story

Article courtesy cleveland.com

The George Gund Foundation will give $2.5 million to help launch a Cleveland schools “transformation plan” and will add another $4 million over the next two years if it likes what it sees.

 The full commitment would give the struggling district a good jump on raising nearly $72 million that officials say they need for a top-to-bottom reshaping of instruction and operations. The money would pay three years’ worth of start-up expenses that include training, technology, materials and consulting.

Gund’s initial grant, its largest ever for education, is dependent on the school board approving the plan March 9. The board delayed voting this month so it could tweak a list of 18 schools to be closed or moved.

The foundation is urging the board to approve the plan, move ahead with the closings and focus on new ways to educate children.

“The very human tendency to think of the future in terms of the past is very disabling,” Gund Executive Director David Abbott said in an interview at the foundation’s downtown headquarters. “The world has changed so much.”

Schools chief Eugene Sanders is counting on the federal government, philanthropy and business to provide the bulk of the start-up funds. He hopes to amass at least $11 million for the first year.

Cleveland schools CEO Eugene Sanders will field questions at 11 a.m. about his transformation plan for the district.

To watch and chat live, scroll down. Or, pose your questions beforehand by commenting on this post.

Reporter Tom Ott, who covers the Cleveland schools, and Sharon Broussard, an associate editor of The Plain Dealer’s editorial pages, will lead the discussion.

Story compliments of Cleveland.com

Read more