Average classified employee to get 3.85% salary increase in '09

By CANDY BROOKS

ThisWeek Staff Writer

Published: December 18, 2008 Edition: Worthington Section: News Page: 01A

The average Worthington school district classified employee will receive a 3.85-percent salary increase in 2009, but much of that raise will go toward the higher cost of health insurance. Classified employees include bus drivers, secretaries, food service workers, maintenance and ground workers, custodians, crossing guards and academic aides and assistants.

The Worthington Board of Education unanimously approved a three-year contract with the union representing classified employees at a special meeting on Dec. 11.

The contract also changes the name of the union from the Worthington Classified Association (WCA) to the Worthington Educational Support Professionals (WESP).

The contract calls for a 2.85-percent increase to the salary schedule in 2009 and 2010. The current contract expires Dec. 31.

The 442 full-time-equivalent employees receive salary plus step increases for their first 11 years of employment. The average step increase is 1 percent. That brings the average salary increase in 2009 to 3.85 percent, explained Worthington district treasurer Jeff McCuen.

Most classified employees have been with the district for more than 11 years, he said.

Negotiations for wages and insurance will re-open during 2010 to cover adjustments for 2011.

The new contract also changes the date when employees receive step increases to Sept. 1. In the past, employees have received step increases during their anniversary months.

Hourly wages in 2009 will range from $13.13 for a first-year food service worker to $34.61 for an experienced administrative secretary.

The average classified salary in 2008 was $29,100. That will increase to $29,850 next year.

To help cover a 5-percent increase in the cost of health insurance in 2009, classified workers will pay 9 percent of the cost of premiums, up 3 percent from the 6 percent paid this year.

In 2008, an employee paid $67.90 a month for a family insurance plan. The board paid $1.064.

In 2009, the employee will pay $107.29, the board $1,085.

McCuen said the cost of the contract is covered in the district's most recent five-year financial forecast, which shows the district operating in the black until 2012.

"We still anticipate being on the ballot in 2009," he said.

The board is scheduled to meet Jan. 9 to discuss ballot options.

cbrooks@thisweeknews.com

Worthington schools' 'overworked and underpaid' superintendent and treasurer get four-year contracts.

By PAMELA WILLIS Published: Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Worthington school board members approved new four-year contracts for the district superintendent and treasurer this week, giving each a 2.75 percent raise in salary.

The board met Monday, Nov. 10 at the Worthington Education Center.

Superintendent Melissa Conrath's contract gives her a 2.75 percent raise, which brings her annual salary to $145,700 the first year, with identical salary increases written in the contract for Aug. 1, 2009 and Aug. 1, 2010.

Treasurer Jeff McCuen's contract is similar, with the 2.75 percent increase bringing him to an annual salary of $115,600, with identical increases on the same dates.

* Both contracts terms are from Aug. 1 of this year through July 31, 2012.

"Both Melissa and Jeff got excellent evaluations from the board and both told us they were looking for longevity, not a high salary increase," said board President Jennifer Best. "They also got five days more vacation time."

The contracts also stated the board will "pick up and pay" the employee's share of the School Employees Retirement System contribution.

Both Conrath and McCuen were given 25 days of vacation in their new contracts.

Board member Marc Schare said the SERS pickup and other benefits made the superintendent's raise amount to almost 7 percent.

Best disagreed, saying, "I want that number checked out -- it's a 2.75 percent raise on her base salary."

McCuen said he and Conrath "didn't take any board benefit for health insurance."

"Melissa and I, in our contract, if we want to tap into the district health insurance, will each pay 100 percent of the premium," he said. "That helps to avoid a 28 percent increase in insurance costs for the board."

"Don't get me wrong, I think we are getting great value for both the superintendent and the treasurer," Schare said.

Board member Charlie Wilson said, "Anyone who complains that our superintendent and treasurer are overpaid should look at what other comparable districts pay.

"I would say these two (Conrath and McCuen) are overworked and underpaid," Wilson said.

Board member David Bressman agreed.

"It's well-known that Jeff came into the treasurer position under very difficult circumstances, when he could have gone anywhere else," he said, "and when I first met Melissa, I told her, 'Get ready for Worthington -- it's not Big Walnut.'"

Wednesday, October 8, 2008 2:25 PM By CANDY BROOKS ThisWeek Staff Writer

The Worthington Board of Education is scheduled to vote next Monday on a three-year labor contract with district teachers.

The contract granting a 2.85-percent increase in the salary schedule for each of the three years was ratified by the Worthington Education Association (WEA) Sept. 29.

"The contract was well supported," WEA president Pete Scully said on Tuesday. Eighty percent of the 778 members voted on the contract, and more than 50 percent approved, he said. He would not reveal the exact vote.

Teachers have been working without a contract since Aug. 31. Negotiations between the teachers' union and board representatives began July 31.

Besides a salary and benefits package that includes increases in deductible and premium costs for teachers, the contract also addresses issues such as teacher involvement in school changes and support for teachers who have been involuntarily reassigned.

The 2.85-percent increase is to the basic salary schedule and does not represent actual salary increases, which are generally higher than 2.85 percent and can range up to 13.9 percent.

The base salary for a teacher with a bachelor's degree and no experience will go from $36,879 in 2007 to $37,930 in 2008. A teacher making the base in 2007 gained one year of experience by 2008, and that salary would increase to $39,523, for a 7.16 percent increase.

If that same teacher attains 15 hours of college credit during his or her first year of teaching, the salary would increase to $42,001. That is a 13.9 percent increase.

A teacher with a bachelor's degree and 10 years experience last year made $36,879. With no step increase for additional training, the salary this year would be $62,308 -- a 10.7 percent increase.

Salary increases rates tend to decrease as a teacher gains experience. A teacher with a bachelor's degree only and 25 years experience earned $64,625 last year and would earn $67,132 this year. That is a 3.9 percent increase.

Under the new contract, deductibles would increase from $1,100 to $1,500 annually for a single teacher and from $2,200 to $3,000 for a family.

Singles will pay 10 percent of premiums this year, with the district picking up the rest. The percentage is to increase 2 percent for teachers in 2010.

Last year, the cost to a single teacher was $30 a month, and $75 for a family. Under the new contract, the single cost this year will be $44, the cost for a family $119.

The new wording of the contract was released to the media Tuesday. Superintendent Melissa Conrath, assistant superintendent Paul Cynkar and treasurer Jeff McCuen were out of town on Tuesday, and public information officer Vicki Gnezda was not available for comment.

The cost of the new contract to the district will probably be discussed at Monday's board meeting.

Some of the contract provisions not related to salary and benefits include:

• An assurance that teachers have a voice in the school-wide planning process known as 21st Century Renewal. A plan must be approved by no less than two-thirds of staff members.

• The rights of high school teachers to teach a sixth period (only five are required) and be paid an additional $5,000 a year.

• An allowance of 15.5 hours of release time for teachers who write Individual Education Plans (IEPs) for students with special needs. Support and training of such teachers are also addressed.

• The rights of a teacher who has been involuntarily transferred to meet with the director of human resources, association president and building administrators to discuss a plan and resources.

• The ability of the school board to offer a one-time monetary incentive to attract qualified candidates in hard-to-fill positions.

• The establishment of a technology committee to support "innovative and creative technology." The board will allocate $80,000 to the committee.

By PAMELA WILLIS Published: Thursday, October 9, 2008

Worthington teachers have ratified a new three-year negotiated contract that calls for a 2.85 percent increase to the wage scale in teachers' salaries for each year of the agreement.

The Worthington school board will vote on the tentative contract at its next board meeting, set for 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 13 at the Worthington Education Center, 200 E. Wilson Bridge Road.

The contract, which is retroactive from Sept. 1, 2008, and runs through August 31, 2011, replaces a three-year contract approved in September 2005 that called for a 3.75 percent increase in teacher's salaries.

Worthington Education Association President Pete Scully said negotiations began July 31 and ended around Sept. 7, with teachers voting to approve the contract Sept. 29.

"We worked for a while on the language, but the reason for the delay in voting was the schools being closed due to the windstorm," he said.

Scully said the requirement for ratification is "50 percent plus."

"We weren't anywhere near just 50 percent," he said. "The contract was well-supported by teachers."

Board President Jennifer Best said negotiations were "a long and difficult process."

"We have this difficult economy right now but our surrounding school districts are giving what we considered really decent raises for these tough times, so it was really hard to decide on the details," she said. "But I think it is a really good contract and I hope it shows teachers we appreciate them, but it is not excessive and it is fair to the community."

Best said the district could afford the 2.85 percent raise on the teacher's wage scale because teachers' health insurance deductibles and monthly premiums were increased.

"The deductible used to be $1,100 for a single teacher and $2,200 for families and is now $1,500 for singles and $3,000 for families, so we're getting a better rate on the insurance," she said.

Scully said the new contract calls for the district to contribute 67 percent of the annual deductible amount into each participating member's health savings account the first year, 60 percent the second year and 70 percent the third year of the contract.

Monthly premiums for teachers were raised to around $44 a month for singles, from $31.14, and to $120 a month for family coverage.

Scully said the monthly premium goes up 2 percent each year.

"An estimated family deductible will be $160 in 2010 and $213 in 2011," he said.

According to the contract, base salary for a new teacher with no experience in the first year of the contract will be $37,930. By the third year of the contract, the base salary for a new teacher will be $40,123.

The teacher's wage scale calls for step increases according to education and experience, so a teacher with 10 years of experience plus a master's degree would earn $64,447.

Scully said changes also were made to "update the contract."

"There were a lot of substantive changes in terms of dealing with work situations, with more support for teachers who have students with special needs, in training time and in time to complete (Individual Education Plans)," he said. "There is also language on our 21st-century renewal effort and on supporting members who are being reassigned or transferred."

Best said Treasurer Jeff McCuen prepared a new five-year financial forecast, which board members will discuss at next week's board meeting.

"The new forecast reflects the new contract and covers the raises and adjustments in insurance expenses," she said. "Our financial positions in other things have changed, too, so things look a little better, with a little more carryover. The changes in the employee contributions to health insurance helped us give the raises without it having a negative effect on the forecast."

Best said board members will begin preparing for negotiations with classified staff members, whose contract ends Dec. 31.

The new contract details are expected to be posted today, Oct. 8, on the district Web site, worthington.k12.oh.us.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

By Jennifer Smith Richards and Charlie Boss THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Every few years, school districts and labor unions agree on a pay raise for teachers.

But most Franklin County teachers received raises this year that are more than double those negotiated raises, which are typically worth an extra 2 percent or 3 percent. The same is true every year.

Here's how: Most teachers get automatic salary bumps that are tied to their education levels and years of experience.

In Bexley, for example, the salary of a starting teacher with a bachelor's degree would climb an average of nearly 9 percent a year during the next 10 years if current conditions did not change, moving from $34,832 to $63,743 over the span.

Bexley offers the richest "step increases" among Franklin County districts, but all public school systems in Ohio give them.

"It's only fair that people be aware of this when they're voting for school levies, rather than being deceived and thinking that most of this money is going to go to curriculum and things that will touch the students," said Ron Soldwish, a Columbus resident who addressed the Columbus school board last week.

Next month, Columbus and eight other Franklin County districts will be on the ballot with operating levies. Most of that money will be spent on salaries and benefits, the largest chunk of school budgets.

Ohio law requires districts to use a salary schedule that spells out annual raises through at least the 11th year of employment and sets the minimum salary for a new teacher with a bachelor's degree at $20,000. Many districts offer more steps, including some that include a raise at year 30.

Based on current data, a starting teacher in Franklin County would receive average raises of at least 5.9 percent through his or her 11th year. (The exception is Canal Winchester. Base salaries did not increase this year, so teachers are receiving a raise only if they are eligible for a step.)

Nationally, the average raise this year in all industries is 3.8 percent, according to Mercer, a human-resources consulting company with offices worldwide.

Unions and districts often say that the salary formula offers a level playing field for teachers. But critics say that rewarding teachers for longevity is outdated; they say performance is more important.

"Why we continue (to use it) is comfort with the status quo," said Allan Odden, a teacher-pay expert at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. "It's not strategically probably good to do. These old factors -- years of (education), experience -- isn't aligned with where we need to go."

The salary schedule was born decades ago to create equal pay for women, minorities and elementary-level teachers, who typically were paid less than peers who were male or white or taught high school.

Now, every local district's schedule is different. Some offer larger raises to newer teachers so that their pay will escalate quickly. Others shift rewards to teachers who are deep into their careers.

"There's no magic or wisdom in having it one way or the other," said Greg Scott, a Columbus lawyer who negotiates teachers' contracts on behalf of school districts. "The 'why' in every district varies."

In Groveport Madison schools, the goal was to keep employees longer, said spokeswoman Chris Bowser. So the district added extended-service payments for those who have been there for 15, 19 and 23 years.

"There were a lot of young women teaching a couple of years and then dropping out to raise families," she said.

It takes longer for teachers to reach their earning potential when districts offer pay bumps well into their careers. For instance, Columbus offers an increase at year 30.

"School boards would be more than happy to delay those payments because it's much cheaper," said Andy Jewell, a researcher with the Ohio Education Association. The union prefers larger salaries earlier in teachers' careers.

Decisions about how many steps to have and how big they should be are made at the bargaining table, but schedules aren't rewritten in a typical negotiation year, Scott said.

"We don't go to the table and say, 'How do we invent a wheel?' We go to the table and say, 'What color should we paint it?' " he said.

Starting salaries are another variable.

Columbus schools offer the highest starting salary for new teachers in the county while Bexley schools -- which paid the highest average salary last school year -- have the fourth-lowest starting salary for a teacher with a bachelor's degree. That's because Bexley typically doesn't hire first-year teachers, said Superintendent Michael Johnson.

"That's why we don't compare favorably to the lower steps," he said. "We accelerate later on. We're pretty competitive after five or six years."

Few other professions use such schedules, said Robert Heneman, a human-resources professor at Ohio State University.

"I think we're going to see it going by the wayside here in the not-too-distant future," he said, in favor of systems that pay teachers for their results.

Columbus and Reynoldsburg are experimenting with such plans.

Last year, 16 Reynoldsburg teachers earned $2,000 bonuses because their students performed "significantly higher than expectations," Superintendent Steve Dackin said.

Odden said, "Efforts to change teacher compensation are all over the country. And I don't think that ferment's going to die out."

Wednesday, October 8, 2008 2:25 PM By CANDY BROOKS ThisWeek Staff Writer

The Worthington Board of Education is scheduled to vote next Monday on a three-year labor contract with district teachers.

The contract granting a 2.85-percent increase in the salary schedule for each of the three years was ratified by the Worthington Education Association (WEA) Sept. 29.

"The contract was well supported," WEA president Pete Scully said on Tuesday. Eighty percent of the 778 members voted on the contract, and more than 50 percent approved, he said. He would not reveal the exact vote.

Teachers have been working without a contract since Aug. 31. Negotiations between the teachers' union and board representatives began July 31.

Besides a salary and benefits package that includes increases in deductible and premium costs for teachers, the contract also addresses issues such as teacher involvement in school changes and support for teachers who have been involuntarily reassigned.

The 2.85-percent increase is to the basic salary schedule and does not represent actual salary increases, which are generally higher than 2.85 percent and can range up to 13.9 percent.

The base salary for a teacher with a bachelor's degree and no experience will go from $36,879 in 2007 to $37,930 in 2008. A teacher making the base in 2007 gained one year of experience by 2008, and that salary would increase to $39,523, for a 7.16 percent increase.

If that same teacher attains 15 hours of college credit during his or her first year of teaching, the salary would increase to $42,001. That is a 13.9 percent increase.

A teacher with a bachelor's degree and 10 years experience last year made $36,879. With no step increase for additional training, the salary this year would be $62,308 -- a 10.7 percent increase.

Salary increases rates tend to decrease as a teacher gains experience. A teacher with a bachelor's degree only and 25 years experience earned $64,625 last year and would earn $67,132 this year. That is a 3.9 percent increase.

Under the new contract, deductibles would increase from $1,100 to $1,500 annually for a single teacher and from $2,200 to $3,000 for a family.

Singles will pay 10 percent of premiums this year, with the district picking up the rest. The percentage is to increase 2 percent for teachers in 2010.

Last year, the cost to a single teacher was $30 a month, and $75 for a family. Under the new contract, the single cost this year will be $44, the cost for a family $119.

The new wording of the contract was released to the media Tuesday. Superintendent Melissa Conrath, assistant superintendent Paul Cynkar and treasurer Jeff McCuen were out of town on Tuesday, and public information officer Vicki Gnezda was not available for comment.

The cost of the new contract to the district will probably be discussed at Monday's board meeting.

Some of the contract provisions not related to salary and benefits include:

• An assurance that teachers have a voice in the school-wide planning process known as 21st Century Renewal. A plan must be approved by no less than two-thirds of staff members.

• The rights of high school teachers to teach a sixth period (only five are required) and be paid an additional $5,000 a year.

• An allowance of 15.5 hours of release time for teachers who write Individual Education Plans (IEPs) for students with special needs. Support and training of such teachers are also addressed.

• The rights of a teacher who has been involuntarily transferred to meet with the director of human resources, association president and building administrators to discuss a plan and resources.

• The ability of the school board to offer a one-time monetary incentive to attract qualified candidates in hard-to-fill positions.

• The establishment of a technology committee to support "innovative and creative technology." The board will allocate $80,000 to the committee.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

By Jennifer Smith Richards and Charlie Boss THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Every few years, school districts and labor unions agree on a pay raise for teachers.

But most Franklin County teachers received raises this year that are more than double those negotiated raises, which are typically worth an extra 2 percent or 3 percent. The same is true every year.

Here's how: Most teachers get automatic salary bumps that are tied to their education levels and years of experience.

In Bexley, for example, the salary of a starting teacher with a bachelor's degree would climb an average of nearly 9 percent a year during the next 10 years if current conditions did not change, moving from $34,832 to $63,743 over the span.

Bexley offers the richest "step increases" among Franklin County districts, but all public school systems in Ohio give them.

"It's only fair that people be aware of this when they're voting for school levies, rather than being deceived and thinking that most of this money is going to go to curriculum and things that will touch the students," said Ron Soldwish, a Columbus resident who addressed the Columbus school board last week.

Next month, Columbus and eight other Franklin County districts will be on the ballot with operating levies. Most of that money will be spent on salaries and benefits, the largest chunk of school budgets.

Ohio law requires districts to use a salary schedule that spells out annual raises through at least the 11th year of employment and sets the minimum salary for a new teacher with a bachelor's degree at $20,000. Many districts offer more steps, including some that include a raise at year 30.

Based on current data, a starting teacher in Franklin County would receive average raises of at least 5.9 percent through his or her 11th year. (The exception is Canal Winchester. Base salaries did not increase this year, so teachers are receiving a raise only if they are eligible for a step.)

Nationally, the average raise this year in all industries is 3.8 percent, according to Mercer, a human-resources consulting company with offices worldwide.

Unions and districts often say that the salary formula offers a level playing field for teachers. But critics say that rewarding teachers for longevity is outdated; they say performance is more important.

"Why we continue (to use it) is comfort with the status quo," said Allan Odden, a teacher-pay expert at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. "It's not strategically probably good to do. These old factors -- years of (education), experience -- isn't aligned with where we need to go."

The salary schedule was born decades ago to create equal pay for women, minorities and elementary-level teachers, who typically were paid less than peers who were male or white or taught high school.

Now, every local district's schedule is different. Some offer larger raises to newer teachers so that their pay will escalate quickly. Others shift rewards to teachers who are deep into their careers.

"There's no magic or wisdom in having it one way or the other," said Greg Scott, a Columbus lawyer who negotiates teachers' contracts on behalf of school districts. "The 'why' in every district varies."

In Groveport Madison schools, the goal was to keep employees longer, said spokeswoman Chris Bowser. So the district added extended-service payments for those who have been there for 15, 19 and 23 years.

"There were a lot of young women teaching a couple of years and then dropping out to raise families," she said.

It takes longer for teachers to reach their earning potential when districts offer pay bumps well into their careers. For instance, Columbus offers an increase at year 30.

"School boards would be more than happy to delay those payments because it's much cheaper," said Andy Jewell, a researcher with the Ohio Education Association. The union prefers larger salaries earlier in teachers' careers.

Decisions about how many steps to have and how big they should be are made at the bargaining table, but schedules aren't rewritten in a typical negotiation year, Scott said.

"We don't go to the table and say, 'How do we invent a wheel?' We go to the table and say, 'What color should we paint it?' " he said.

Starting salaries are another variable.

Columbus schools offer the highest starting salary for new teachers in the county while Bexley schools -- which paid the highest average salary last school year -- have the fourth-lowest starting salary for a teacher with a bachelor's degree. That's because Bexley typically doesn't hire first-year teachers, said Superintendent Michael Johnson.

"That's why we don't compare favorably to the lower steps," he said. "We accelerate later on. We're pretty competitive after five or six years."

Few other professions use such schedules, said Robert Heneman, a human-resources professor at Ohio State University.

"I think we're going to see it going by the wayside here in the not-too-distant future," he said, in favor of systems that pay teachers for their results.

Columbus and Reynoldsburg are experimenting with such plans.

Last year, 16 Reynoldsburg teachers earned $2,000 bonuses because their students performed "significantly higher than expectations," Superintendent Steve Dackin said.

Odden said, "Efforts to change teacher compensation are all over the country. And I don't think that ferment's going to die out."

By PAMELA WILLIS Published: Thursday, October 9, 2008

Worthington teachers have ratified a new three-year negotiated contract that calls for a 2.85 percent increase to the wage scale in teachers' salaries for each year of the agreement.

The Worthington school board will vote on the tentative contract at its next board meeting, set for 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 13 at the Worthington Education Center, 200 E. Wilson Bridge Road.

The contract, which is retroactive from Sept. 1, 2008, and runs through August 31, 2011, replaces a three-year contract approved in September 2005 that called for a 3.75 percent increase in teacher's salaries.

Worthington Education Association President Pete Scully said negotiations began July 31 and ended around Sept. 7, with teachers voting to approve the contract Sept. 29.

"We worked for a while on the language, but the reason for the delay in voting was the schools being closed due to the windstorm," he said.

Scully said the requirement for ratification is "50 percent plus."

"We weren't anywhere near just 50 percent," he said. "The contract was well-supported by teachers."

Board President Jennifer Best said negotiations were "a long and difficult process."

"We have this difficult economy right now but our surrounding school districts are giving what we considered really decent raises for these tough times, so it was really hard to decide on the details," she said. "But I think it is a really good contract and I hope it shows teachers we appreciate them, but it is not excessive and it is fair to the community."

Best said the district could afford the 2.85 percent raise on the teacher's wage scale because teachers' health insurance deductibles and monthly premiums were increased.

"The deductible used to be $1,100 for a single teacher and $2,200 for families and is now $1,500 for singles and $3,000 for families, so we're getting a better rate on the insurance," she said.

Scully said the new contract calls for the district to contribute 67 percent of the annual deductible amount into each participating member's health savings account the first year, 60 percent the second year and 70 percent the third year of the contract.

Monthly premiums for teachers were raised to around $44 a month for singles, from $31.14, and to $120 a month for family coverage.

Scully said the monthly premium goes up 2 percent each year.

"An estimated family deductible will be $160 in 2010 and $213 in 2011," he said.

According to the contract, base salary for a new teacher with no experience in the first year of the contract will be $37,930. By the third year of the contract, the base salary for a new teacher will be $40,123.

The teacher's wage scale calls for step increases according to education and experience, so a teacher with 10 years of experience plus a master's degree would earn $64,447.

Scully said changes also were made to "update the contract."

"There were a lot of substantive changes in terms of dealing with work situations, with more support for teachers who have students with special needs, in training time and in time to complete (Individual Education Plans)," he said. "There is also language on our 21st-century renewal effort and on supporting members who are being reassigned or transferred."

Best said Treasurer Jeff McCuen prepared a new five-year financial forecast, which board members will discuss at next week's board meeting.

"The new forecast reflects the new contract and covers the raises and adjustments in insurance expenses," she said. "Our financial positions in other things have changed, too, so things look a little better, with a little more carryover. The changes in the employee contributions to health insurance helped us give the raises without it having a negative effect on the forecast."

Best said board members will begin preparing for negotiations with classified staff members, whose contract ends Dec. 31.

The new contract details are expected to be posted today, Oct. 8, on the district Web site, worthington.k12.oh.us.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 2:20 PM By CANDY BROOKS ThisWeek Staff Writer

Call it an error, a premature judgment, a breakdown in communications.

Just make sure you call the Worthington schools "excellent."

That's right. After announcing two weeks ago that the district would receive a rating of "continuous improvement" on the state report card, district administrators discovered last week that all of the complex information that goes into the rating system had not been considered.

When Jennifer Wene, director of teaching and learning, was finally able to access the complete information on the Ohio Department of Education Web site on Tuesday, Aug. 19, she made a happy discovery.

Worthington was again rated as "excellent" by the state.

"I think I screamed at the top of my lungs," she told the Worthington Board of Education on Monday. "We are thrilled to have our district recognized for some hard work."

Worthington had been rated "excellent" for several years before falling into the "continuous improvement" category last year. "Excellent" is equivalent to an "A," "continuous improvement" to a "C."

The actual numbers have not changed since the preliminary results were announced by the district two weeks ago. Worthington students still met 28 of 30 state academic standards, only missing the mark in fifth-grade mathematics and eighth-grade social studies.

The district's performance index rating is still 101.8 on a scale that considers 100-and-above as excellent.

The jump from "continuous improvement" to "excellent" is attributed to a growth factor referred to as "value added" when applied to AYP.

"Value added" takes into consideration how much each child has learned in a year.

AYP is a provision in the federal No Child Left Behind law which requires that all student subgroups be at or above annual goals or make improvements over the year before on reading, math, attendance and graduation rates.

The subgroups the state of Ohio tracks in its report card sytstem are broken into several categories. They are: African-American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, multi-racial, white, economically disadvantaged, limited English proficient and students with disabilities.

If a district fails to meet the AYP goal set by the state of Ohio in more than one of the above subgroups in reading, math, attendance or graduation rates, then the entire district is considered to have not met AYP and the district cannot be rated higher than "continuous improvement."

When Worthington administrators first looked at Worthington's AYP results two weeks ago, it was apparent that the district failed to meet AYP in four areas -- African-American reading, limited English proficient reading, and students with disabilities in reading and math.

After the "value added" factor was applied to the raw scores, it was determined that the district met AYP standards in all but students with disabilities in reading.

Wene said she realized the state was to begin factoring in "value added" this year, but did not realize that it would apply to subgroups.

The ratings for individual schools have also changed since the district first released results two weeks ago.

Now, two schools -- Bluffsview and Liberty elementary schools -- are rated "excellent with distinction," a new designation this year.

Rated "excellent" are Evening Street, Granby, Wilson Hill, Worthington Estates, Worthington Hills, and Worthington Park elementary schools; McCord Middle School and Phoenix alternative school; and both high schools.

Brookside, Colonial Hills, and Slate Hill elementary schools and Kilbourne, Perry, and Worthingway middle schools are rated "effective."

Enrollment at Worthington schools is 9,552 -- down both from last year and from this year's projections.

By PAMELA WILLIS  Published: Thursday, August 28, 2008

District enrollment seems steady as the new school year begins, although student numbers are lower than projections, officials said.

Assistant Superintendent Paul Cynkar gave an update on enrollment to the Worthington school board during its Monday, Aug. 25 meeting.

Cynkar said 9,552 students are enrolled in Worthington schools so far, down 17 from last year and down 57 from the projected number.

High school enrollment was right on projections, however, with 3,126 projected and 3,127 enrolled this year, he said.

* "Enrollment is pretty steady, but Worthington Kilbourne will start feeling the decline from the elementary schools by next year," he said. "Middle school and high school enrollment is easier to predict, but kindergarten is hard.

"We had 709 kindergarten students last year and projected 728 for this year, but we are now at 657," he said.

Cynkar said the district is "overall in pretty good shape" as far as enrollment is concerned, and school officials will not have to use Sutter Park to gain extra classrooms.

Sutter Park houses the district's preschool classrooms, but was an elementary school before 2005, when it was merged with Liberty Elementary School, due to declining enrollment at the elementary level.

That same year, the district leased 5,250 square feet of vacant space in Sutter Park to the Helping Hands Center, a therapy and education center for children ages 3-6 with developmental disabilities.

Only a few individual classes remain crowded, Cynkar said.

"We have just a few classes over the guidelines and we are working with principals to find ways to deal with the overflow," he said.

Also during this week's board meeting, a request to approve a $3,000 grant to Nationwide Children's Hospital Foundation to support cancer research, from the Worthington Educational Foundation's Gary Smith Fund, sparked discussion among board members.

Julie Keegan said donations from the fund have been given to the hospital in former years, but since the foundation is dedicated to providing school and teacher grants, board approval of the donation was considered necessary this year.

David Bressman was opposed to the idea, but said he was not trying to be like "the Grinch."

"I will not vote to support this because I don't think the donation is in the (foundation's) function to benefit students and teachers," he said. "I feel there should be some benefit back to the school district."

Board member Charlie Wilson also said he was disturbed by the donation.

"I'm troubled by laundering this money through the educational council," he said, "but I knew Gary Smith and I think he was an outstanding human being."

Marc Schare said people can donate to several funds within the foundation.

"People donate to the Gary Smith fund for a reason," he said. "When I donate to the Worthington Educational Foundation, I trust them to do what they're going to do."

The resolution for the donation was approved, with Wilson and Bressman voting against it and board President Jennifer Best, Schare and Keegan voting for the resolution.

In other board business, a new Phoenix Middle School course was proposed, dubbed Connections 2.

Jennifer Wene, director of student achievement and professional development, said the eighth-grade course concentrates on the development, continuation and expansion of critical thinking and communication skills.

The course examines the concept of wellness as it relates to health and well-being, but students focus on the "nonphysical aspects of life such as will, motivation, feelings, desires, sense of purpose, thoughts, memories and beliefs," Wene said.

The course will have an emphasis on community service learning, she said.

The next school board meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 8 at the Worthington Education Center, 200 E. Wilson Bridge Road.

By CANDACE PRESTON-COY

ThisWeek Staff Writer

Published: July 31, 2008 Edition: Westerville Section: News Page: 01A

The Westerville school district has dropped to the "continuous improvement" category on the latest round of state report cards. The Ohio Department of Education won't release the 2007-08 report cards for Ohio school districts until mid-August but districts get an advance copy of their grades prior to the public release.

Westerville City Schools missed five of the 30 indicators on the 2007-08 report card and should have remained in the "effective" category. However, Superintendent Dan Good said the district did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for the third year in a row, so it was placed in "continuous improvement" instead.

There is some good news expected when the report cards are released, said Diane Conley, Westerville's chief of academic affairs.

It appears that the Performance Index will increase this year over last year, an indication that more students are scoring at the advanced and accelerated levels and/or fewer are scoring at the limited or basic levels.

Becky Carter, Westerville's director of accountability and testing, said attendance and graduation rates are up as well.

AYP is a provision in the federal No Child Left Behind law that requires all student subgroups to be at or above annual goals or to improve over the year before in reading, math, attendance and graduation rates.

The subgroups tracked by Ohio's report card system are broken into several categories: African-American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, multi-racial, white, economically disadvantaged, limited English proficient and students with disabilities.

If a district fails to meet the AYP goals set by the state of Ohio in any of these subgroups in reading, math, attendance or graduation rates, then the entire district is considered to have not met AYP.

The same thing happened to Hilliard and Worthington last year, and will affect Dublin this year. All three should have earned "excellent" ratings on their report cards but instead dropped to "continuous improvement" because of their failure to meet AYP

"We are not satisfied where we are," Conley said.

She said district officials are working through the data to have it ready to review with principals and other district leaders at an administrative retreat.

Carter said the district missed meeting AYP goals in reading and math with three subgroups at varying grade levels: African-American, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged. The district also missed meeting math goals at the third-grade level in the limited English proficient subgroup, but did meet the goals in reading, which students in this subgroup missed last year, Carter said.

Over the summer, Good, Conley and Carter have looked at the testing data to see if there are specific areas in which students in these subgroups are having problems, Carter said. They also plan to look at other factors in a child's life outside of school, such as their eating habits or after-school care, to see how those might affect their ability to learn.

"Children are schooled in school but they are also schooled outside of school," Conley said.

"These tests are culturally rich," Good said, but if a particular culture doesn't touch on the subjects being tested, a student is at a disadvantage.

For example, Conley said, a student might know the words to the song about Johnny Appleseed but not understand the cultural experience behind the song. If a test uses Johnny Appleseed in a question, those students are lost, she said.

It could also be a language problem, Conley said, citing an example of a first-grade Hispanic boy who was addressing a Mother's Day card. His teacher asked him to write "To Mom" but the child responded that he had only one mom, not two.

As for the state indicators, the Westerville district missed the same four indicators as last year: fifth-grade math and social studies, and eighth-grade science and social studies. This year, it also missed fifth-grade science.

Carter said the good news is that eighth-grade social studies scores are up 10 percent over last year, and fifth-grade scores as a whole are also up over last year.

After receiving last year's report card, Conley said she and other curriculum staff looked at the social studies coursework and found it was not as aligned with the state standards as they thought.

To "fill in the holes" they introduced the interactive "History Alive" curriculum into grades three, four and five. They also plan to purchase licenses for online programs in science and social studies for students in grades three through 12 that can be accessed from home, she said. Those programs will incorporate educational lessons with some fun activities.

And they will look at the schools where classes did meet the indicators or AYP to see if teachers there are doing anything differently in the classroom that led to those successes, she said.

Worthington schools likely again will be rated 'continuous improvement' for a second straight year.

By PAMELA WILLIS Published: Friday, August 8, 2008

Stellar scores for the eighth year in a row should add up to "excellent" on the state report card for the Worthington City School District, but the moving target that is Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) may nix the district's chance at the top slot again, kicking it into "continuous improvement" for a second year.

Jennifer Wene, coordinator of student achievement and professional development, said preliminary state report card results show the district meeting 28 of 30 standards, with 12 of 18 buildings rated excellent and the rest "effective."

The district's performance index score is 101.9, with a graduation rate of 96.8 percent and a student attendance rate of 95.7 percent.

"We exceeded the target of 100 for the performance index for the fourth year in a row, increased the percent of students passing all sections of the Ohio Graduation Test in 10th grade and increased the graduation rate," Wene said.

* The only two state indicators the district missed this year were fifth-grade math and eighth-grade social studies.

Last year, the district passed 29 of 30 state indicators, with a performance index of 102.4, but lost the distinction of being rated excellent for the seventh year in a row when it failed AYP for the third consecutive year.

"Overall, we are pleased with our report card results," Wene said. "Our efforts paid off in some of the areas we focused on, but there are some areas we have questions about."

Some of those questions involve the subgroup performance measured by AYP -- the reason the district first dropped last year from the top slot to the third rating of continuous improvement, which is just above "academic watch" and "academic emergency."

The state will not allow any rating higher than continuous improvement if AYP proficiency targets, which go up each year, are missed for three or more consecutive years.

AYP is the cornerstone of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which mandates a goal of 100 percent proficiency in all subgroups by 2013.

Those subgroups include students with disabilities, racial and ethnic minorities, students with limited English proficiency and economically disadvantaged students.

The district did not meet the AYP reading targets this year for black students, limited English students or students with disabilities, who also missed the AYP math target.

Wene said the reading target went up by about 6 percent this year and the math target went up by about 8 percent to 11 percent.

"The African-American reading score was a surprise," she said. "That problem was not on our radar, because we didn't think we were in jeopardy of missing that target. We're always trying to reduce the achievement gap, but the groups we focused on were Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students and we showed improvement in both of those subgroups.

"One unfortunate thing AYP does is pull out groups of students as a focus, and that feels uncomfortable," she said. "We did see there is a significant difference among the students who have been in our district three years or more, or three years or less, and almost 40 percent of the African-American students have been in our district three years or less.

"It looks like we're doing poorly with that subgroup in reading," Wene said, "but we really aren't, because they just haven't been with us long enough to pass the test. By the time students reach the high school level, they are passing all the tests.

"I want to stress that if students are in Worthington schools and stay here for a period of time, their skills will grow and they will leave us at a high level of excellence," she said.

Transience may also have played a factor in the missed targets for limited English proficiency students and students with disabilities, Wene said.

"The LEP group is more transient, but some have very high English," she said. "We are trying to dig more deeply in the data for all the subgroups to try to understand the results and why we went up or down."

Wene called fifth-grade scores "a mystery," although only the math indicator wasn't met.

"We dropped about 5 percent in three areas in fifth grade and that's a lot," she said. "I know for a fact these kids are learning math, because they are performing very well in math in fourth and sixth grade. I think it may be an alignment problem and does not reflect the effectiveness of the teaching. The lessons may not be aligned well enough to the state test."

The eighth-grade social studies score was less of a mystery, because it was the one indicator the district didn't pass last year -- and failed to pass again this year.

"The social studies test was of the same design as the year before, and basically, our eighth-graders didn't perform any differently," Wene said. "One of the problems is the state social studies and science tests cover three years of content, so a fifth- or eighth-grade teacher must figure out how to teach the content of the grade level and review all the content of the two previous grade levels."

Several districts sent letters and complaints to the state superintendent last year, questioning the validity of the eighth-grade social studies test, Wene said.

"We'll continue to have more conversations about eighth-grade social studies," Wene said. "Parents should understand that it is not that their child is not learning social studies, but we may not be preparing them for that test in a way that allows them to be successful."

Most districts do not want to "teach to the test," Wene said.

"We struggle with trying not to teach to the test and I want to stress that the state tests measure the state standards, and not the relative content of our curriculum," she said. "But we will have to find out what changes we may need to make in our curriculum to get better performance in some areas."

Final state report card results will come out later this month and will be posted on the ODE Web site, ode.state.oh.us/reportcard, under the "accountability" link.

By CANDY BROOKS

ThisWeek Staff Writer

Published: July 31, 2008 Edition: Worthington Section: News Page: 01A

Worthington parents will again be charged full tuition to send their children to the Metro High School. The Worthington Board of Education voted 4-1 on Monday to permit high school students to enroll in the alternative high school, but only if their parents agree to pay the cost.

The Metro School is the state's first STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) school. It is located on the Ohio State University campus and receives support from the university and from Battelle.

All but one of 16 Franklin County districts send students to Metro. Worthington is the only district that requires parents to pick up all of the cost.

Last school year, six Worthington students were enrolled at the Metro School.

Since before the school opened two years ago, the Worthington board has made clear that it would support the school and allow students to attend, but would not shoulder any of the cost.

Last year, Worthington parents whose children attended Metro got a break when former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann ruled it unconstitutional for districts to require parents to pay to attend a public school. Worthington Superintendent Melissa Conrath worked out a deal that permitted the Worthington students to remain at Metro for the 2007-08 school year. Neither parents nor the district paid Metro.

Dann's decision was overruled by the Ohio legislature earlier this month, paving the way for the local board to again require that parents pay tuition.

This year's Metro School tuition is $6,300 per student.

Most districts cover all of the cost. Dublin pays 50 percent, and the Westerville Board of Education recently voted to pay the per-pupil base cost, leaving parents to pay approximately $800 this year.

"I don't care," said Worthington board member David Bressman in an interview on Tuesday. "Just because other districts are doing something doesn't mean we have to."

The board is simply sticking with the commitment it made to voters, he said.

Bressman said he has visited the school and believes it is doing a good job, but he would rather see district money used to support district programs such as the Linworth Alternative Program, Phoenix School, and other new programs under consideration.

Board member Charlie Wilson voted against charging parents. His motion to provide assistance for parents showing financial need was defeated.

He said he was troubled by the idea of a public school charging parents for their children to attend another public school.

For some students, the Metro School provides an ideal situation, and the board should not deny that opportunity, he said. It is not fair that only students whose parents have enough money to cover tuition be allowed to attend.

He also believes the district could be legally liable for not providing equal protection.

"I think to deny students for whom this could be the most appropriate opportunity because their parents can't afford it is a bad policy decision and perhaps actionable," he said on Tuesday.

In other actions on Monday, the board appointed Michelle Geissbuhler, Darnell Perkins, and Bob Horton to the board of trustees for the Peggy R. McConnell Center for the Arts. The city of Worthington and the Worthington Arts Council will also make appointments to the board, which will oversee the operation of the new arts center and arts programming for the community.

The Metro School, as an 'educational option,' doesn't require districts to pay for students to attend, say school leaders.

By PAMELA WILLIS Published: Wednesday, July 30, 2008

A Metro School mom's plea to Worthington school board members came too late to reconsider a proposed resolution to pay all or a portion of tuition costs for students with less money.

Board members met Monday, July 28, to approve further student participation in the Metro School -- as long as parents pick up the tab, since the board turned its thumbs down on a proposal to consider paying tuition for students in need.

Parent Marilyn Morris said she had to take a second job to afford Metro School tuition for her son.

"I'm very disappointed in tonight's proceedings," she said. "Our son is flourishing at the Metro School ... what my tax returns won't show is in order to afford Metro School, I took a night shift at a hospital. That was four nights a week I wasn't with my children.

"I hope the school district can come up with a creative way to help us through this," she said.

Morris said Gahanna and Westerville school districts both pay full tuition for Metro School students.

Westerville schools passed a resolution earlier this month, however, that requires parents to pay $735 to cover the difference between Westerville's per-pupil cost and Metro School tuition for students enrolling this fall, while agreeing to continue to pay full tuition for nine students currently enrolled in the school.

When Worthington board members approved Metro School participation for six students in 2006, parents were required to pick up the tuition.

Former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann said in September 2006 that districts "have no authority" to charge tuition for a public alternative high school, throwing Worthington into a Metro School muddle that ended with a refusal to allow any more students into the program.

During this week's meeting, Superintendent Melissa Conrath said House Bill 562 confirmed a district's right to require parents to pay.

"Due to the efforts of Reps. Kevin Bacon and Jim Hughes, the question raised by the attorney general was clarified, giving districts the right to ask parents to pay tuition for the Metro School," she said. "Because this has been clarified, we're proposing a resolution to allow more students to participate in the program, as long as the tuition cost is passed along to parents, which is what we used to do with the Christopher Program."

Conrath said six Worthington students currently attend the science school.

Board member Charlie Wilson proposed the amendment.

"It is very likely we will be sued, because a public school cannot refuse to send a student to an appropriate public school program just because his parents can't afford it," Wilson said. "The Metro School is not just for privileged or gifted kids -- many of the kids have (Individual Education Program) plans. I propose we add at the end of the resolution that the board may, at its sole discretion, provide tuition for students whose parents can't afford it.

"We could look at every student individually and could pay the part of the tuition parents can't afford," he said.

Metro School tuition currently is $6,300 per school year.

Wilson insisted the district was setting itself up for litigation.

"If we are setting ourselves up for a guaranteed lawsuit, then we should discuss not participating at all in the school," said board member David Bressman. "I was initially opposed to our participation, then changed my mind when I saw the school and when we agreed parents would pay. Then Marc Dann changed the rules and we as a board were harassed and intimidated by a certain Metro School parent.

"Now we're going back to participating, but you want to add slippery slope language to require us to pay tuition for poorer students?" he said. "Where do we draw the line on public programs that could be best for children, if they are $20,000 per year?"

Wilson said his basic point was "we are a public school system and the Metro School is a public school system."

Treasurer Jeff McCuen and Conrath said Metro School is not a "public school."

"The Metro School is an educational option, not a public school program," McCuen said.

"Metro School, by the new legislation, is an educational option," Conrath said. "Another educational option would be foreign travel, but parents have to pick up the cost for that travel."

During a Metro School discussion earlier in the year, McCuen said Worthington is on the state funding guarantee, due to declining enrollment, so any state dollars that would follow a student to another school are not all state dollars, they are taxpayer dollars.

The next school board meeting is set for 7:30 p.m. Aug. 11 at the Worthington Education Center, 200 E. Wilson Bridge Road.

The current three-year contract, which expires in August, gave teachers a 3.75 percent raise but increased insurance deductibles.

By PAMELA WILLIS Published: Wednesday, July 2, 2008

The teachers union and district board members soon will begin formal negotiations to iron out a new teachers contract before the end of August.

Worthington school board members went behind closed doors June 23 after a regular board meeting to "prepare for negotiations with public employees," according to the agenda, and held similar closed-door sessions after board meetings in May and June.

The Worthington Education Association's current three-year contract expires Aug. 31.

Education association President Pete Scully said Monday, June 30 that four dates are scheduled for formal negotiations: one in July and three in August.

* "We've met with board members a few times, but actual negotiations begin at the end of July," he said. "We spend a lot of time gathering information from our members, and we are in negotiations on behalf of our members, not on behalf of ourselves.

"We hope to have a new contract by the end of August," he said.

Board members approved the last three-year contract in August 2005, which gave teachers a 3.75 percent increase to the wage scale, along with a benefit package that gave administrators a 3.25 percent salary increase.

The contract also called for higher health insurance deductibles for teachers -- $1,100 for single coverage and $2,200 deductible for family coverage -- and higher monthly premiums -- $54 for family coverage and $22 for single coverage.

Board members offset some of the deductible cost, however, by agreeing to contribute 70 percent of the deductible to each member's tax-free Health Savings Account once a year for three years.

That contract replaced the one-year contract in which teachers agreed to a 1 percent salary increase to recognize the district's financial woes in 2004.

Scully declined to comment on bargaining procedure, and Superintendent Melissa Conrath was not available for comment this week.

When the current contract was approved, then Superintendent Rick Fenton said the district used an "interest-based bargaining approach" that encourages each side to identify issues, then both sides collectively identify possible options or solutions to address the issues.

Career-based classes and two courses pioneered at the Phoenix School are among those proposed by teachers.

By PAMELA WILLIS Published: Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Worthington teachers outlined new course proposals and textbook adoptions for middle school and high school students at this week's school board meeting.

Two of the proposed middle school courses already are successful at Phoenix Middle School -- maybe too successful.

The board of Education met Monday, May 5 at the Worthington Education Center.

Jennifer Wene, director of teaching and learning, introduced two Phoenix teachers, Robert Estice and Beth Cullinan, who described Connections and Global Cultures, classes introduced at Phoenix this year.

Estice said Connections helps students develop "basic techniques of analysis and the concepts involved in clear thinking."

He said a few students may have learned the concepts in Connections a little too well.

"We had a bus driver come in because one our kids told her there was a 'flaw in her logic' when she reprimanded him for something that happened on the bus," he said. "I had to talk to the kids about using their powers for good, not evil.

"We talk about how to organize your thoughts and how to use critical reasoning to look at issues being studied in other courses as well as current ethical and social issues," he said. "Right now, we're looking at the hot-button issues in the presidential election."

Cullinan said Global Cultures is designed to help students develop an understanding of the connections between their own lives and modern cultures of the world.

Two new Career-Based Intervention courses were proposed for Thomas Worthington High School, to extend the courses to grades 11 and 12.

Teacher Mary Beth Pierce said the courses are designed for students who are at risk academically or disadvantaged, or both.

"It is a career-technical program designed to improve academic competence, develop employability skills, implement a career plan and help students participate in work-based learning opportunities," she said. "By expanding CBI to 11th and 12th grade, we're hoping to get the kids extra credits and to cover the employment piece better, which is crucial to student success."

Pierce said the CBI courses currently offered to ninth- and 10th-graders introduce concepts such as independently living that would be better taught in 11th and 12th grades.

Other proposed courses were Applied English: Stagecraft, which would realign the current Stagecraft course at Worthington Kilbourne High School with the high school language arts standards; African-American Studies at Thomas Worthington High School, in which students would "investigate the conventions of African-American literature"; and Media and Communications, a middle school course that would help students develop "21st-century electronics and communications skills."

Teachers also proposed to change the name of the Business Foundations course to Personal Financial Management, to better fit the course content.

Business teacher Janelle Hebert talked about the textbook being recommended for the financial management course, Personal Financial Literacy.

"We are so passionate about teaching financial literacy," Hebert said. "We recognize the lack in our society today in knowledge of financial management and we want to teach these important skills to as many students as we can."

Nancy Charlton, social studies curriculum leader, said teachers asked students to check out a few new history textbooks.

"We wanted textbooks that would engage our students, so we had students look over American history and world history books and asked them to give us their opinions on which were more interesting," she said. "We passed out the books at Perry and Worthingway (middle schools) and the kids' ideas helped us make a good selection of books.

"These are nothing like the books we were used to in eighth and ninth grade," she said. "We can show an interactive video and our students can interact with the French Revolution."

The books the students liked best and teachers recommended to board members are American History: Beginnings Through Reconstruction and World History: Patterns of Interaction, for grades eight and nine, respectively.

Wene said the new textbooks will be on display at the Old Worthington Library, the Northwest Library, the Worthington Park Library and at the Worthington Education Center until the adoptions are acted upon by the board at the next meeting, set for 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 19 at the Worthington Education Center, 200 E. Wilson Bridge Road.

By PAMELA WILLIS Published: Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Worthington Treasurer Jeff McCuen has received a prestigious financial award with a $1,000 scholarship attached, which will be given to seniors from Worthington Kilbourne and Thomas Worthington high schools.

McCuen received the Rich Unger Professionalism Award for "exemplary professionalism in publications, public relations and training" at the Monday, May 5 meeting of the Worthington school board.

David Varda, executive director of Ohio Association of School Business Officials, which sponsors the award with American Fidelity Assurance Co., gave McCuen the award at the beginning of the board meeting.

"We give a series of awards to school treasurers we believe have exceeded their normal duties," he said. "Rich Unger was executive director of OASBO for seven years and he exemplified professionalism."

McCuen was nominated by Tracy DeMatteo, district director of financial operations, and an OASBO board member.

"I'm very excited to help present this award, and I didn't nominate Jeff because he's my boss," she said. "I thought of Jeff for this award because he is very involved with a lot of professional groups and gives back to his community by presenting at workshops and giving courses for school treasurers."

DeMatteo said McCuen has served as seminar director for support staff seminars in the central region of OASBO, as secretary of the central chapter, and organizes the golf fundraiser every year. He also assisted OASBO in school finance course development.

As a member of the Government Finance Officers Association, McCuen was elected to the board and served the association as treasurer, president-elect and president, DeMatteo said.

"Jeff has also served our profession as a member of the Auditor of State Central Ohio Regional Advisory Board," she said. "Jeff has written and presented courses for the State of Ohio Treasurer Center for Public Investment Management program and he serves on the Tax Practice Committee for the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants.

"Most recently, Jeff has been asked by our legislators to apply for the State of Ohio School Employees Healthcare Board position," DeMatteo said.

McCuen said he was "humbled and honored to accept the award.

"I had a chance to work with Rich Unger, and I am honored to accept this award," he said. "I very much enjoy teaching school finance.

"As far as the scholarship, I've been in contact with the Worthington Rotary Club and the scholarship will be split between the two high schools," he said. "The runner-ups to the Rotary scholarships will receive this scholarship."

McCuen was hired by the district in August 2007 after serving 13 years as assistant treasurer for Dublin City Schools.

By PAMELA WILLIS Published: Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Worthington eighth-graders can register now and through the summer months for the district's new International Business Academy, which will open this fall at Worthington Kilbourne High School.

The alternative school is a four-year career path through high school, with an emphasis on partnerships with business, industry and higher education.

"Parents should know the school is also a college-prep program," said business teacher Susan Kucharek, one of the creators of the school. "Students will meet all their college requirements. We also have a partnership with Columbus State (Community College) and some of the courses we offer will be through Columbus State as a dual enrollment option.

"Students will take the courses at our school and get college credits at reduced fees, so they could be on their way to a two-year degree," she said.

Kucharek said she hopes at least 25 students will enroll in the International Business Academy.

"The academy is different from a traditional high school because this group of kids will move through courses together and they will have that support system as a plus, to get to know their classmates better," she said. "They will also get to know teachers better while taking courses that focus on a business as a career.

"Students will have four years to explore various business fields and a lot of hands-on experience in working with the business community," she said. "It will be real-life learning, so that students can make informed decisions on what type of business they want to go in to, and they will have work experience to take with them."

Kucharek said the curriculum will provide a "rigorous and relevant interdisciplinary curriculum in the areas of business, culture, language and technology" along with the core academic areas of English, math and social studies.

The school will have partnerships with schools such as the Columbus Japanese Language School and the Columbus Contemporary Chinese Language School.

Kucharek is scheduled to travel to China with Superintendent Melissa Conrath from May 19-24, through the Chinese Language School, to visit schools and gather information on international study.

All students enrolled in the academy will take four years of a foreign language and have the opportunity to participate in enrichment activities that include online forums, videoconferencing, field trips, interaction with mentors and participation in Business Professionals of America, Kucharek said.

"Students will learn core academics but also be required to participate in internship programs," Kucharek said. "In their junior year, they will have a 45-hour internship at a local business, and in their senior year, for what we're calling the capstone project, they would spend a semester working closely with a business and exploring the 21st-century challenges of that business.

"They will implement a plan to overcome or deal with any challenges they identify," she said. "So they might come up with a marketing plan or might help the business communicate more effectively with their customers."

Kucharek said students can contact their guidance counselors to receive an application for the academy.

For more information, call the school office at 614-883-2550.

Thursday, May 1, 2008 7:30 PM By TOM SHEEHAN ThisWeek Contributor

Four residents sharply criticized Worthington school officials and the board of education Monday night, accusing them of eliminating the Home BASE program.

The residents said the program taught students such skills as working together by building affordable housing in Columbus, similar to what Habitat for Humanity does.

"I'm very upset about this," said Pam Bluem of Gallop Drive, whose son was enrolled in the Home BASE program in the 2006-07 school year.

She called her son's experience a "real-world, hands-on learning education" and challenged the school board to give her legitimate reasons for eliminating the program.

"Does this board really want to be part of allowing this award-winning program to be eliminated?" she asked board members at the meeting at Kilbourne High School.

No board members responded during the meeting to remarks from Bluem and three other parents. They told the board that more than 200 students were enrolled in Home BASE during the past decade and they helped build 10 homes.

After the meeting, Superintendent Melissa Conrath said, "It's a program where issues arose about a year ago. ... We suspended the program for the remainder of the (current school) year. There still are some unresolved issues with the program."

Conrath declined to discuss those issues, although the parents said earlier during the meeting that school officials had given a variety of reasons for axing the program, including legal issues and low enrollment.

The program will not be offered to seniors for the 2008-09 school year, and Conrath said it is undecided if it will continue in future years.

Also Monday, board member Charlie Wilson voted against accepting 11 donations totalling about $47,000 to Worthington schools. The other four board members approved the donations.

Wilson said he doesn't oppose donations, but was concerned donations from PTAs for computer equipment overwhelmingly favored the wealthier schools.

He said all the schools should be treated equally through such donations. Seven of the donations accepted by the board Monday night were from PTAs or PTOs for computer equipment for schools.

"How do we address (this issue) based on the wealth of the parents. ... In a public school system, this just bothers me," he said.

The Worthington Hills PTA donated the most money ($15,000) to its school for computer equipment. The Brookside PTA donated $2,500 for its school.

Board member David Bressman voted with the majority on accepting the donations.

"I think I as a parent should have a right to make a donation to the school of my choice," Bressman said in noting that he didn't think it was a matter of being inequitable to certain schools.

Wilson said he hopes the board will take a further look at how such donations are handled.

The board also hired James Carpenter to be principal of Worthington Estates Elementary School. He was given a two-year contract, effective Aug. 1, and will be paid $95,164 a year.

Carpenter, currently a principal at Wayne Elementary School in Wooster, Ohio, has a master of education in administration degree from Cleveland State University. He and his family attended Monday's meeting and he was welcomed by several board members.

Larry Griffin, choral director at Kilbourne High School, received a Board of Education Impact Award at Monday's meeting. Griffin was recognized for his efforts to showcase the excellence of the high school choir. Earlier in the evening, visitors watched a video of the choir working with the choral group Vocal Impact to learn to sing vocal jazz. That effort was supported by a $2,000 grant from the Columbus Jazz Arts Group.

A Columbus Dispatch Editorial

Think tank says education money should be linked directly to student needs.  Friday, March 21, 2008 3:01 AM

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education-reform think tank that favors school choice, has an idea for reducing the inequities that plague public-school funding: Give each child, not each school district, the funding he or she needs.

That would require a shift in power from school-district central offices to school principals, presenting an enormous political challenge.

Funding public schools fairly is a challenge because of the built-in inequities between two classes of children: those who come to school prepared and those held back by poverty, disability and other barriers.

Ohio attempts to address that inequity by giving more money to districts that have more poor and disabled children or those still learning English, but the results are far from satisfactory.

Critics contend that school districts with lots of needy children receive extra funds from the state but often don't make sure the aid gets to the neediest students. In large districts, the amount spent to educate each student can vary widely from building to building, and the highest per-pupil spending often is found at schools with the fewest needy students.

One reason is that teacher contracts allow placement of teachers to be governed largely by seniority. In an ideal world, the best and most-experienced teachers would teach the hardest-to-reach students. In reality, experienced teachers are likely to gravitate to the schools that are relatively successful.

Because salaries account for more than 80 percent of budgets, schools with more-experienced teachers have higher per-pupil spending than those with less-senior teachers.

So-called weighted student funding could upend that scenario, because extra money would be divided among schools, based on students. Each child would be assigned a weight, with money allotted for characteristics such as low income or a special-education need. That money would follow weighted children to whatever public schools they enroll in, whether traditional district schools or a charter schools. Each school building's budget would be determined by the students it has, not by a central-office administrator.

In the system advocated by Fordham, principals would have the authority to decide how those dollars are spent. They could woo the best teachers and hire the specialists or extra hands they require to meet their students' needs.

This could be difficult change for schools accustomed to large payrolls. With a larger portion of state aid going to the poorest schools, the schools with fewer needy children might no longer be able to afford top-end staffs. The Fordham report speaks of a gradual transition to ease such dislocations. It is available on the Web at http://edexcellence.net

Ohio has been trying for years to create an equitable system of funding. Fresh ideas always are needed.

Median income barely beats inflation since 1969

Monday, March 17, 2008 3:05 AM

FROM THE BEACON JOURNAL VIA AP AKRON -- Ohio's middle-class families are sliding down the nation's economic ladder with incomes that aren't keeping pace with the rising costs of higher education and health care.

Ohio ranks 32nd with a median household income of $44,532, based on 2006 data, the most recent year available. Adjusted for inflation, that's only $431 more than the median household income in 1969, according to the newspaper's analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.

The economic slide in Ohio coincides with the loss of tens of thousands of good-paying manufacturing jobs in the auto, rubber and steel industries.

The addition of more women in the workplace hasn't been enough to help improve household incomes because hourly wages have dropped, the newspaper said. In Ohio, median earnings for workers ages 20 to 64 have slid 7.5 percent since 1969.

Lagging incomes aren't the only threat to the middle class, said Amy Hanauer, executive director of Policy Matters Ohio, a Cleveland economic-research organization.

"Being middle class means being able to own your home, access to health care for you and your family, and being able to send your kids to college," Hanauer said.

But achieving those goals, plus a secure retirement, is increasingly out of reach because costs have gone up much faster than incomes, she said.

That's especially true of higher education in Ohio, which last year had the fifth-highest tuition and fees -- averaging $8,445 -- among states with four-year public universities, according to the College Board's Trends in College Pricing.

This year, because of a state-mandated tuition freeze, Ohio has dropped to seventh-highest.

But for many Ohioans, the cost remains high.

At the University of Akron, for example, the annual cost for a full-time student living on campus more than tripled within a generation: from $5,622 in the 1989-90 school year to $17,254 today, the newspaper said.

For many students, going deep into debt is the only way to pay for college. That makes it even more difficult to get into the middle class, Hanauer said.

"Loans are not a fair way to ask young people to start out their adult lives," she said, "particularly not huge loans that are going to take years to repay at the same time that you're trying to gather together the down payment for a house that is going to be difficult to afford, and at the same time you may be in a job that is less likely to be offering health benefits than in the past."

Ohio's overall health costs have increased slightly more than the national average, said William Hayes, president of the Health Policy Institute of Ohio, a Columbus nonprofit research center.

Per-capita spending on health care in Ohio more than doubled to $5,725 between 1991 and 2004, an average annual increase of 6 percent, compared with a national increase of 5.5 percent a year, Hayes said.

Out-of-pocket costs are increasing faster, Hayes said. That's because employers are shifting more of the cost to their employees.

"You're having a trade-off -- health care or wages," Hayes said.

Worthington Schools Newsletter:

Curriculum should include life lessons

By DENNIS Laycock, ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR

NHS axing remains source of frustration

Thursday, February 21, 2008 3:25 AM By Charlie Boss THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Worthington students might get more out of their high schools this fall, from learning to be a physical therapist to starting their own business.

Administrators and teachers are presenting plans tonight for special programs that would create smaller learning communities at the district's two high schools and alternative program.

By doing so, the district hopes to personalize the high-school experience for Worthington students, Assistant Superintendent Paul Cynkar said.

The meeting is at 7 p.m. in the Worthington Kilbourne auditorium.

Employing a similar process that led to the creation this school year of the Phoenix Middle School, the district asked high-school teachers last fall for ideas.

"It's tapping into their expertise," Cynkar said. "They know what the students need."

Administrators will use feedback from tonight's meeting to present recommendations to the school board next month. Multiple programs could be chosen and start this fall, Cynkar said.

Teachers are presenting the following proposals:

• Authentic Learning Through Technology at Linworth Alternative:

This would expand the alternative high school's self-motivated approach to education, employing more technology.

Students would use a variety of digital formats including blogs, podcasts and video and audio recordings. Classes would include Electronic Portfolio Production and Digital Storytelling.

• Worthington Supplemental Credit Recovery at Rockbridge Academy:

The program is designed to keep at-risk students from dropping out.

At the Rockbridge Academy, students would work on online lessons at their own pace with teachers on hand to provide support and one-on-one academic help. Teachers would monitor academic progress each week.

This program, to be housed at Thomas Worthington, would operate in seven-week sessions, with meetings twice a week after school.

• Entrepreneurship Academy at Thomas Worthington:

Students would learn firsthand about starting a business.

The project would be part of the academy's four-year program, in which students would move together as a group in core subjects such as English, math and social studies.

By their senior year, participants would take an Exploring Entrepreneurship course, learning more about how to start a business.

• Exercise Science, Sports and Recreation, Health Care Career Pathway Academy at Thomas Worthington:

Under this proposal, the academy would serve as a gateway to these occupations and allow teens to earn college credits in the area of interest.

Concentrations would include exercise science, sports recreational health care, rehabilitation and treatment, health appraisal and fitness testing and nutrition and weight management.

Students would take courses in their field of interest, as well as core subjects, and would participate in a mentorship by their senior year.

• International Business Academy at Worthington Kilbourne High School:

Students interested in business and foreign languages would be the target of the four-year academy.

The group would move through high school as a class, with all students having the same math, English and social-studies teachers. Other courses would be specific to the academy, and students would take the same foreign language all four years.

By their junior year, participants would be required to take part in an internship; in their senior year, they would develop and carry out a business-related project.

Plan will be unveiled in the fall; superintendent wants lawmakers' help

Wednesday, February 20, 2008 2:57 AM By Encarnacion Pyle THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Ohio Superintendent Susan T. Zelman says the plan is not related to Gov. Ted Strickland's proposal to name a director to oversee the Department of Education. As she and the state school board fight to keep their powers, Superintendent Susan T. Zelman challenged lawmakers yesterday to help move Ohio from being the "good-enough state" to the best when it comes to educating children.

She said that, in the fall, the state Board of Education would recommend changes in everything from curriculum to school funding to help Ohio rise to the top.

"We need to have the political will to bring (pre-kindergarten to 12th grade) to the next level," she said. "We can no longer be the good-enough state."

Her staff said the plan being worked out has nothing to do with Strickland's attempt to pick a director to oversee the Department of Education instead of leaving that authority with the Board of Education.

The plan Strickland announced in his State of the State address two weeks ago is similar to what he did with Ohio's college system last year. Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut reports directly to the governor instead of the Board of Regents, which hired his predecessors.

Speaking yesterday at a state economic-education summit at the Hyatt Regency, Zelman praised the state's rise to seventh in the nation in an annual ranking of quality measures by Education Week after years of being stuck in the middle. In a morning discussion, she and six other state and business leaders discussed ways the state could invest in education and work-force development to turn around Ohio's ailing economy.

Zelman said the state board's plan is still being drafted but ideas include changing the curriculum to deal with new technology, lengthening the school day and year, and measuring students' critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The board also is examining better ways to recruit and pay teachers, school-funding reform and the use of social workers to help students move toward graduation.

"Historically, education in Ohio has been put together in little pieces," J.C. Benton, Ohio Department of Education spokesman, said after the event. "This year, the board is working on a set of legislative and budgeting recommendations to be acted on in December."

Education, business and government officials have stepped up their efforts to revive the state's economy through education, but the panelists yesterday said more needs to be done.

"We know that the single greatest indication of what a person will earn is their level of educational attainment," Fingerhut said. "It's the same with the state."

In the coming months, the regents will unveil:

• A master plan for the new University System of Ohio that will set policy goals for Ohio's two- and four-year colleges and ask them to cooperate more.

• Easier ways for students to get everything from their high-school equivalence diploma to a doctorate. The regents plan to put new emphasis on the state's adult career and technical schools, which they are taking over from the Department of Education to reflect the colleges' expertise in helping working adults go back to school. The regents also are devising a new system of "stackable certificates" so that students can convert precollege training certificates into college credit.

• The Ohio Skills Bank: A joint venture with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and other agencies to determine what skills Ohio companies need in employees and whether the state schools are training graduates with those qualifications.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

CANDY BROOKS ThisWeek Staff Writer

Creating "schools within schools" at Worthington's high schools will be the topic of a public forum set for Thursday, Nov. 21, at Worthington Kilbourne High School.

Teams of teachers from Kilbourne, Thomas Worthington, the Linworth Alternative Program and the Rockbridge Academy will present five proposals for innovative small learning communities that might be developed at those schools as early as next school year.

The program will be from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Everyone in attendance will be invited to provide feedback to school officials, who will determine which of the programs should be pursued.

This year, the district started the Phoenix Middle School, an alternative program located within the walls of Perry Middle School, and Project Lead the Way, a pre-engineering program for high school students.

Teams of high school teachers have been working together this year to develop more programs designed to offer choice to students "and to personalize and improve the high school experience," according to a written explanation provided by the district.

The proposals are Authentic Learning Through Technology, at Linworth; Supplemental Credit Recovery, Rockbridge; Entrepreneurship Academy, Thomas Worthington; Exercise Science, Sports and Recreation Health Care Career Pathway, Thomas Worthington; and International Business Academy, Worthington Kilbourne.

* What do elementary school students need to thrive in a global society? That's what Worthington leaders hope to discover.

By PAMELA WILLIS Published: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 9:09 AM EST

Worthington's elementary school principals are looking to the future as they ponder "Worthington 2020: Creating Tomorrow for All Students."

A panel of principals will discuss their visions for 21st-century student success and ideas for incorporating 21st-century learning in the district's elementary schools from 7 to 9 p.m. next Wednesday, Feb. 27, at the Worthington Education Center, 200 E. Wilson Bridge Road.

Director of Elementary Education Mark Glasbrenner said the panel discussion is by invitation only, with principals inviting a few parents and staff from each school.

"We've invited about 100 people to the discussion, but once the principals come up with plans for any definite changes in the elementary program, we'll schedule an open public forum to get feedback from the community," he said.

* Before the discussion, the group will listen to a keynote address by Graham Cochran, assistant professor and leader of new personnel development at Ohio State University.

Glasbrenner said Cochran's specialties include organizational development, training and development, leadership, team building and the 21st-century workforce.

A comprehensive review of the district's elementary program has been ongoing since last summer, Glasbrenner said.

"Although our program is excellent by most standards, it has not changed much over the past 10 years," he said.

Glasbrenner said administrators researched material by "educational futurists," such as The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman, On Common Ground by Richard DuFour, Robert Eaker and Rebecca DuFour, and Breakthrough by Michael Fulton.

They also held several community engagement sessions, asking parents, students and teachers questions such as "What do elementary students need to thrive in a global society?" and "What would an elementary school look like where students are passionate about learning?"

"The principals have been working with their staff members to determine what 21st-century learning really looks like and what action plans they would need to incorporate positive changes into the elementary program," Glasbrenner said.

One of the themes that emerged from last year's community sessions was delivery, which would mean meeting each student's individual needs, allow for small classes and include grouping students by learning styles.

Other themes were ensuring teacher qualification and ongoing professional development; updating technology; creating more open spaces and lab space in buildings; encouraging tolerance, cultural awareness and understanding; emphasizing critical thinking, problem-solving and creativity; and increasing parent involvement and support along with community involvement.

Glasbrenner said the panel discussion will be an update from the principals on where they are in the planning process for changes that could be implemented as early as next school year.

By PAMELA WILLIS Published: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 9:09 AM EST

Offering Worthington high school students options for a "school within a school" or a small learning community is the goal behind five proposals being presented at a public forum this week.

The high school public forum will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, in the auditorium at Worthington Kilbourne High School, 1499 Hard Road.

Each presentation will last about 20 minutes, said Assistant Superintendent Paul Cynkar, followed by a 10-minute question-and-answer session.

Cynkar said groups of staff members from Thomas Worthington and Worthington Kilbourne high schools, along with Linworth Alternative School and Rockbridge Academy, will present proposals for innovative programs that could be implemented as early as the fall.

"The proposals would create a school within a school, a small learning community or option within a school," he said. "Staff members asked kids, 'What are you passionate about, or what are you interested in,' and tried to work with that.

"We were looking for creative and innovative ways to improve our high schools, and the success of the Phoenix School and getting teachers to submit proposals for alternative middle schools motivated us to offer that opportunity to the high school staff members," Cynkar said.

Cynkar said school staff members researched the concept of small learning communities and the creation of innovative programs within larger, comprehensive high schools as a way to offer more choices to students and to personalize and improve the high school experience.

"The proposals emphasize teacher collaboration focused on student learning and offer relevant and interactive learning activities, applied to real-world experiences, that students can understand and use while preparing for college and careers," he said. "The proposals also involve businesses and community members as partners."

The proposals include the Entrepreneurship Academy, presented by Thomas Worthington business teachers; Exercise Science, Sports and Recreation Health Career Pathway, presented by Thomas Worthington physical education and family and consumer science teachers; the International Business Academy, presented by Worthington Kilbourne teachers; Three I Alternative or Imbedded, Infused and Integrated: Authentic Learning through Technology, presented by Linworth Alternative teachers; and the Worthington Supplemental Credit Recovery Program, presented by staff members from Rockbridge Academy.

Cynkar said the Entrepreneurship Business Academy would be for students "who have a passion for business and want to be entrepreneurs, in college or as a career."

The Exercise Science program will teach information about health care, exercise science and sports and recreation "for those students interested in fields related to wellness and health care," Cynkar said.

The International Business Academy will "combine business culture, language and technology with core academic subjects," Cynkar said.

"Business is one of the most popular majors in college, and for kids who want to apply to the 21st-century 'world is flat' ideas about business, they would basically take the regular course of study with strategic business classes along the way," he said.

Linworth's proposal would mean "accelerating the use of technology in all classes," Cynkar said.

"Students would learn to use technology in all phases of learning everyday subjects, from research to data gathering to video presentations and storytelling," he said.

The Credit Recovery Program would allow students to recover credit in failed classes.

"It would be an afterschool program from 3 to 6 p.m., where students could sign up and pay tuition to take classes online through Jefferson E-School," Cynkar said. "It would be for students who have failed a class or couldn't fit certain classes into their regular schedule."

Feedback forms will be distributed to those in attendance at the forum, Cynkar said.

The proposals also will be posted on the district Web site, worthington.k12.oh.us.

"We'd like to get some idea of board support for the proposals in the next few months, so that some of the ideas could be implemented in the 2008-09 school year," he said.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

CANDY BROOKS ThisWeek Staff Writer

Worthington voters may see a school levy on the ballot in May 2009, but the debate has already started.

At the request of the Worthington Board of Education, treasurer Jeff McCuen, during a special meeting on Monday, outlined the types and sizes of levies that may be needed to offset a projected 2011 deficit.

While some board members have mentioned a levy on the ballot as early as this fall, board president Jennifer Best said on Monday that a spring ballot next year is more likely.

"We have not passed a levy during a presidential election since 1972," McCuen said.

McCuen said that a 6.4-mill property tax levy would cost the owner of a $200,000 house an additional $392 a year. A 7.9-mill levy would cost the same property owner $483.87.

If the board opts to place an income tax levy on the ballot, a family with a $65,000 a year income would pay $487.50 to raise the same amount as a 6.4-mill property tax levy, or $650 to raise the same amount as a 7.9-milll levy.

Those are the amounts McCuen projects could be needed. More exact figures will be available in May, after the new five-year projections are issued.

"Is this a reasonable amount for the Worthington community?" McCuen asked.

He did not have to wait long for an answer. Several community members were ready with criticism of district spending, particularly for the amount the board pays for health insurance for teachers and staff.

The charge was led by South Street resident Bob Stinner, who said that when residents realize how much the board is paying for health insurance for teachers, they will not approve a levy.

Until the board negotiates a new contract with teachers, the board should not even discuss going to the voters, he said. The current negotiated agreement expires July 31, and negotiations should begin soon.

"You're putting the cart before the horse," he said. "We don't know what the budget is going to be. We're telling you, we're not going to accept it."

Resident Stefanie Haueisen agreed.

"For the past two decades, the union has taken everything from this town," she said. "You've got to start saying 'no.'"

In coming to the 2011 deficit figure, McCuen said he assumed teachers would receive a 1.5-percent annual increase to the base salary over the next three years, and that the cost of health care would increase 20 percent each year.

Currently, the average teacher's salary is $54,000 a year, he said. With benefits, that figure is $68,000 to $74,000.

Abramo Ottolenghi, former board member and veteran of many levy debates, defended the district and said those criticizing the board and the teachers' union did not represent all of the community.

"Schools are one reason we are where we are," Ottolenghi said. "We have not heard from people who brought their kids here because of the quality of the schools."

Thursday, February 14, 2008

CANDY BROOKS
ThisWeek Staff Writer

Parents of Worthington students who attend the Metro School will no longer have to foot the bill.

By a vote of 3-2, the Worthington Board of Education on Monday voted to pay the tuition for the six students from the district who currently attend the alternative math and science school located near the Ohio State University campus.

The students will be permitted to finish their high school years at the school, with the district picking up the cost of tuition, which is currently approximately $6,100 a year per student.

No current eighth-graders from Worthington will be allowed to start at the school next year, according to the agreement approved on Monday.

Board member Charlie Wilson said he hoped the board would reconsider extending the opportunity to students in the future. He wondered why the district was singling itself out by not offering the program to new students.

Dublin covers half of the payment for its Metro students. The rest of the districts in Franklin County pay the full tuition cost for students to attend the school, which was formed by a consortium of county districts and is supported by Battelle and Ohio State.

The Worthington board two years age decided to permit students to enroll at the school, but only if parents agreed to pay the tuition.

That worked well until September, when Attorney General Marc Dann ruled that parents may not be charged tuition for their children's public education.

To allow Worthington's students to stay for the remainder of the school year, Superintendent of Schools Melissa Conrath worked out a deal to pay this year's tuition with in-kind payments, such as allowing Metro teachers to attend Worthington teacher training programs.

The agreement included a provision that the board consider "a mutually beneficial relationship," she said.

Board president Jennifer Best said it would be "inhumane" to not permit the students to continue to attend the school, but board members Marc Schare and David Bressman refused to vote to pay the tuition.

Bressman said the $30,000-plus that the district pays each year could instead benefit "every kid in the district."

"We have a lot of things we could use this money for," he said.

Several Metro parents and one student asked the board to pay the tuition at Monday's meeting.

"I love it," said Metro sophomore Alex Perry, who said he tried classes at Thomas Worthington. They were not a good fit, he said.

"I need to be more engaged with teachers and classes," he told the board.

District: Successful levy by '09 necessary

* The exact timing and the amount are undecided, but Worthington schools officials say the district will fall into a deficit without ballot action.

By PAMELA WILLIS

Ohio high-school students already can take college courses for dual credit, but the program has fizzled because public schools don't promote it, Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut said yesterday.

The result: Only 2 percent of the state's high-school students jumped at the chance to earn college credit free. Guidance counselors say the demand for Post-Secondary Enrollment Options has been low.

That's one reason Gov. Ted Strickland proposed another high school/college blend Wednesday, Fingerhut said.

The 10-year-old Post-Secondary program "has been very popular with students and parents who have taken advantage of it. But it has been extremely underutilized in the state," he said.

Strickland's proposed Seniors to Sophomores plan has a key difference: It would put students on college campuses full time. The current plan allows students to take as many college courses as their high schools allow, but most still take classes with their peers.

Fingerhut said the Post-Secondary program will be "blended" with the new initiative, which will start this fall with colleges and high schools that choose to be partners. Eventually, it would be available to every senior in the state.

Fingerhut would not say yesterday how much it would cost, how many students it would serve or which schools would participate in the first year. But he said the money will come, at least in part, from existing state funds that follow each student to his or her public school.

That already has the state's largest teachers union bristling.

"We would be concerned if the Seniors to Sophomores program would inadvertently devalue 12th grade, or if it would divert funds from the public high school," Ohio Education Association spokeswoman Michele Prater said in an e-mail. "We should bolster the 12th-grade experience to benefit all students."

Students would benefit by getting an early, free start on college. The advantage for colleges is less clear. The funding for the current program doesn't typically cover the cost of tuition, colleges say.

"We get an opportunity to work with really great students who have done a lot of good things in their high school," said Michele Brown, who oversees dual enrollment at Ohio State University. "It gives them a chance to try Ohio State out to see if maybe it's a good fit after high school."

The governor's plan would be open, at first, only to public-school students, who account for the vast majority of enrollees in the current program. About 1,000 of the more than 12,000 participants in Post-Secondary Options attend private schools.

In some districts, there hasn't been high demand, guidance counselors say.

Columbus, the largest district in the state, with more than 55,000 students, has about 90 enrolled in college courses through the state program.

Ten other districts have more enrolled than Columbus. Cleveland, with more than 500 enrolled in college courses, easily tops the list.

Guidance counselors say students like the idea of taking college classes during high school, but young people also want to stay at their home school to play sports, take other courses or be with their friends.

"There is a social cost to it," said Linda Knicely, guidance counselor at Canal Winchester High School, where 10 students are dual-enrollment. "You can't be at two places at once."

The Post-Secondary program lets students try to schedule college courses around classes or activities at the high school. Fingerhut said families and schools should be able to work something out to do the same with Seniors to Sophomores.

"If there's a will to make this happen, you can make this happen," he said. "The only thing that stands as a barrier is the bureaucratic system."

High schools are readying presentations on the nuts and bolts of the Post-Secondary program for next school year. Counselors anticipate large numbers at the gatherings, but typically, few students sign up.

About 150 families and students attended an event last year at Gahanna Lincoln High School, but only 25 enrolled this year, said Jenny Savakinas, who directs the school's guidance department.

"It comes down to personal choices," she said. "Oftentimes, they are so busy, they don't always do the program."

Reynoldsburg High School senior Zach Evans was able to take an honors calculus class at OSU last semester but couldn't fit another college course into his schedule.

Still, Evans said, the college experience will be invaluable this fall when he arrives at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana.

"I'll have that experience fresh in my mind when I go off to college," Evans said.

Dispatch reporter Catherine Candisky contributed to this story.

State of the State Strickland unveils his plan of action

Thursday, January 31, 2008

CANDY BROOKS
ThisWeek Staff Writer

Worthington schools could someday be powered by solar roof panels, according to a report made to the Worthington Board of Education on Monday.

Residents Abramo Ottolenghi and Gregg Kuss recommended that panels be installed as each school's roof is replaced in the future.

Currently, no central Ohio schools are solar powered.

"I am very optimistic it should be possible to go ahead with these programs to the benefit of the district," Ottolenghi said.

While the cost of panel installation might be prohibitive to the schools, private investors could purchase and install the panels, then sell the power to the schools at a reduced cost.

Those investors, unlike public or nonprofit entities, could benefit by taking advantage of tax credits that may eventually become available through the state. Grants may also become available, Kuss said.

He owns a company called Energy Designs, located in Westerville. He lives in Worthington.

He said he would be able to form a group of investors willing to install the solar panels.

"Investors can step in and do what you can't do as a nonprofit," Kuss said.

The district would essentially rent the roof to a private business, which would sell the power to the district at a cost to be negotiated. After the investors recouped their cost plus a negotiated profit, they would sell the panels to the district for a price to be determined in the contract.

According to Ottolenghi, a retired professor of microbiology, the technology exists to put what amounts to roof shingles directly on roofs. The panels have the ability to produce electricity even on cloudy days.

A key to the public-private partnership is the approval of state regulations providing the tax credits, depreciation and energy credit benefits to make the arrangement worthwhile to private investors.

Ottolenghi said he and Kuss have discussed Senate Bill 221, the energy bill, with state representative Kevin Bacon.

Ottolenghi said he hopes school officials are prepared practically and intellectually when the time comes to replace the next school roof.

"The long-range benefits can be great," he said.

An earlier version of a solar panel was installed on Worthington's Bluffsview Elementary School many years ago. It provides a negligible amount of energy, serving primarily as a learning tool.

Similar panels are also on Worthingway Middle School and Wilson Hill Elementary.

In other matters at Monday's meeting, the board:

Heard a report on schools in China by board member Charlie Wilson and Colonial Hills teacher Jill Carter, who traveled there last summer. Carter teaches Mandarin during her lunch hours at Colonial Hills, and both would like to see the language and Chinese culture taught in Worthington.

Voted 4-1 to provide busing to two children to Our Lady of Peace School, even though the siblings live outside the district. The bus will pick them up at the home of their grandparents, who live on San Bonita Drive in the Worthington school district. Recent changes to Ohio law permit a district to provide transportation to students living outside the district, but the law does not require it. Board member David Bressman called the practice "a slippery slope."

Board member, teacher bring back insight from China

* Board member Charlie Wilson and Colonial Hills teacher Jill Carter say the district should 'step up' and teach Mandarin.

By PAMELA WILLIS

Thursday, January 17, 2008

CANDY BROOKS ThisWeek Staff Writer By Giles Clement/ThisWeek

Julie Keegan and Charlie Wilson were sworn as members of the Worthington school board by treasurer Jeff McCuen on Jan. 14.

The Worthington Board of Education started the year with two new members Monday night.

Keegan and Wilson were elected in November. Wilson was appointed to the board last February, replacing Gary Tyack. Monday was Keegan's first meeting. She replaces Robert Horton, who did not seek reelection.

The board also appointed representatives to boards and commissions on Monday.

The Ohio School Boards Association legislative liaison will be Wilson and delegate and alternate delegate to the boards' annual meeting will be Best and Bressman.

Serving on the student achievement committee will be Wilson and Keegan; the shared solutions committee, which works with the Worthington Education Association, Marc Schare and Keegan; and liaison to Partners for Citizenship and Character, Bressman.

Appointed to the finance committee were Best and Schare; as liaison to the Worthington Educational Foundation, Keegan; and liaison to the Worthington Libraries board, Best.

Appointed as the board representative to the Metropolitan Educational Council was Bressman; to the personnel committee, Schare and Bressman; and to the communications committee, Best and Wilson.

In other actions, the board commended Colonial Hills first-grade teacher Jamie Lipp for attaining national board certification, which is considered the most prestigious credential a teacher can earn.

The board also authorized paying her $1,000 for attaining certification. That payment is required by the board's contract with the teachers' union.

The board also approved high school curriculum proposals for 2008-08.

New course proposals are Principles of Engineering, which is designed to help students understand the field of engineering and is the second in the series of pre-engineering coursework in the Project Lead the Way program, and English 2 American Literature, to be offered to Thomas Worthington and Linworth campus students.

Approved as a second-year pilot was Introduction to Engineering, the first in a four-year sequence in the Project Lead the Way program.

Approved third-year pilot courses were Spanish 5, which focuses on connecting students to their community through service, and Yoga and Stress Reduction, designed for juniors as a choice in fulfilling their second physical education credit.

Natural Systems Science was adopted. It was developed to fulfill the third-year science requirement or to provide an opportunity for a fourth year of science study.

Residents now may speak at the beginning of each school board meeting.

By PAMELA WILLIS Published: Tuesday, January 15, 2008

 A trio of young redheads were at the Worthington school board meeting to welcome Julie Keegan to the first meeting of the year.

The newly elected Keegan, along with formerly appointed and newly elected Charlie Wilson, was sworn in Monday, Jan. 14, to begin a four-year term on the board.

Three of Keegan's children -- Josh, 14; Quinn, 9; and Layne, 6 -- took turns walking up to look at their mother's official nameplate before the meeting, then sat quietly with their dad, Mike, and their grandparents, Jerry and Merci Katz, as Keegan was sworn in. Keegan's other daughter, Casey, 12, was unable to attend.

"After having been on the other side of the table, I'm just excited to be able to play a part in the future of this district," Keegan said.

* Wilson also had a family member on hand to support him: his wife, Melonie Buller.

Board member Jennifer Best was elected president of the board, and David Bressman was elected vice president.

After the appointments, board member Marc Schare pointed out a change in the agenda that could encourage more public participation.

"We've made a key change by moving visitor comments to the beginning of the meeting," Schare said. "Any citizen who wants to address the board no longer has to wait a long time to do it. I hope this demonstrates to the community that we will give visitor comments a high priority as we start 2008."

The board recognized Colonial Hills Elementary School teacher Jamie Lipp for attaining National Board Certification.

"This certification is the most prestigious credential a teacher can earn," Schare said. "This is a big deal -- and to get this certification in her fifth year of teaching is a really big deal."

To earn certification, teachers demonstrate their knowledge and skills through an extensive year-long series of performance-based assessments, including portfolios of student work, videotapes of classroom performance and rigorous analysis of their classroom teaching, Schare said.

Teachers also complete assessment exercises designed to probe their depth of knowledge, he said.

Lipp said Karen Groff, district coordinator of staff development, encouraged her to seek board certification.

"Karen Groff put the seed in my head my first year of teaching," Lipp said. "I had to wait until I had taught three years, and it was a lot of work, time and effort, but it has made me a better teacher. I don't just think about what I'm doing, but why I'm doing it."

Colonial Hills Principal George Joseph said he knew Lipp was a good teacher when he hired her five years ago.

"She was definitely the best candidate we had, and she has proven that, five years later," he said.

The next school board meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 28 at the Worthington Education Center, 200 E. Wilson Bridge Road.

There's room to improve, Ohio schools officials say

Thursday, January 10, 2008 3:01 AM By Catherine Candisky THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

"Ten years ago, you would have found us in the middle of most states," said Mitchell Chester, senior associate superintendent of Ohio schools.

Ohio earned a B-minus, tied for the second-highest grade, and a numeric score placing it seventh in Education Week's annual rankings of how well states are educating children.

"We do have challenges, not least of which is closing those achievement gaps," Chester said.

The report showed a persistent gap in achievement between poor and higher-income students in Ohio, and the state showed little progress in addressing that disparity.

"The issue continues to be how to educate our poorest, neediest children. We have yet to figure it out," said Terry Ryan, vice president for Ohio Programs & Policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.

Chester said the report also highlighted another problem in Ohio: too few students taking Advanced Placement courses.

In 40 percent of Ohio high schools, not a single student is taking an Advanced Placement course. In another 25 percent, fewer than 10 students are taking such a rigorous curriculum, he said.

The publication's 12th-annual "Quality Counts" report gave Ohio high marks for academic standards that detail what students should know at the end of each school year and tests that assess whether those benchmarks are met.

Like the nation as a whole, Ohio earned its lowest grade for student academic performance. Nonetheless, Ohio students scored above the national average on math and reading tests, ranking 14th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The report found Ohio students still face many challenges, some of which are beyond the control of educators.

The state ranked 25th in the nation in a "chances for success" index, which measures economic and other factors known to influence student achievement. That is slightly higher than last year's ranking.

For instance, Ohio students are less likely to have a parent with a college degree or a full-time job, compared with the nation. Income levels in Ohio fall below the national average as does the percentage of adults with college degrees.

Children in Massachusetts have the best shot at success; the state earned the only A in that category. Mississippi students face the most hurdles.

This year's report highlighted efforts to improving the teaching profession, including an examination of how teachers are evaluated and how much they are paid.

Ohio, which ranked 14th in the nation in that category, was among 10 states where public school teachers earn as much as workers in comparable professions, such as accounting and nursing, the report found.

In 40 other states and the District of Columbia, teacher earnings didn't reach the parity mark.

Nationwide, U.S. teachers earn 88 cents for every dollar paid to individuals in comparable professions, the report found.

"Quality teaching matters more to student learning than anything else schools do," said Christopher Swanson, lead researcher for Education Week. "Yet the importance of teachers is not adequately reflected in either their salaries or their career trajectories over time, and it is clear that states could be doing far more to address the issue."