On Friday, Aug. 13, the administration of the Columbus City Schools confirmed to CEA President Rhonda Johnson that 96 of 113 CEA members that had been given layoff notices in late April have since been issued recall notices.
Ohio charter schools enrolled nearly 90,000 of more than 1.3 million Ohio students during the 2008-2009 school year. According to the charter school “Watch List”, 26 Buckeye state charter schools that enroll more than 7,800 Ohio students could be closed by the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) at the end of the 2010-2011 school year.
The school year is waning, and principals seem to think we’re fatigued and willing to accept anything just to get the year over with. For next school year, many principals are asking our teachers to accept more students into their classrooms, or perhaps to teach more classes than the contract will allow.
The application period for Ohio’s public school districts and charter schools to join the state’s Race to the Top (RttT) application expired on Friday, Jan. 8. As of January 12, ODE reported that less than half of Ohio’s 610 traditional public school districts had joined the states RttT application, compared to two-thirds of the states 332 charter schools.
The first round of RttT applications from states is due to the USDOE by mid-January. Individual school districts can sign up to be a part of the grant by submitting a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to the state. Ohio’s MOU requires signatures from the school district’s superintendent, school board president and teacher union president to join the grant application. CEA President Rhonda Johnson has signed the MOU on behalf of the Association.
“We in Columbus already are reform-minded,” said CEA President Rhonda Johnson, referencing the Association’s intention to sign an MOU for Race to the Top funding. “We already work as a team with the administration to identify and assist our lowest achieving students. We already provide strong teacher support within our own district and have developed groundbreaking incentive programs, including financial rewards for teachers at schools that achieve high goals they set for themselves. We are a model for the nation, and we should seize this opportunity to lead reform.”
The Columbus Board of Education ratified the one-year extension of the contract with the Columbus Education Association. The one-year deal …Read the Rest
