FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR :

Greetings!

I'm sure you've all been following the headlines and debates regarding Governor Kasich's education initiatives as earnestly as I have. We're certainly hearing some heated discussions and strong opinions from both pro and con camps.

The purpose of the ERCO Express is not to rehash information that is readily available to our readers, however, we do cover topics that many of you may already know from ODE newsletters or other sources. We include them to remind educators, parents or community leaders of deadlines or upcoming events and to provide resources and information to many of our readers do not receive direct communications regarding community schools.

This is our last newsletter during this school year. We thank you for your contributions and look forward to working with you again next year.

J. Leonard Harding, Executive Director
jharding@ercoinc.org

SCHOOL NEWS :

This is the last newsletter for this school year. Have a safe summer!

We look forward to working with you next year!

Aaron Kinebrew, Assistant Director
akinebrew@ercoinc.org

ERCO Visits Sponsored Schools

In September 2010, Mr. Harding and Mr. Kinebrew visited each of the ERCO-sponsored schools and presented certificates of achievement to schools that raised their state report card rating. Due to the large volume of data that pictures require, we did not include all of them in our last newsletter. Below are more pictures!

Cleveland College Prep

Cleveland DBI

East Columbus DBI

New Day

North Columbus DBI

Provident Academy for Student Success

Zenith Academy

RESOURCE FOR PICKY PARENTS (and Educators, School Leaders, Counselors or Community Leaders)


Picky Parent.com is a website that invites parents, educators, school leaders, counselors or community leaders to visit their website to find resources and tips to make their students' elementary years more powerful and productive.

They offer a free download from their website, www.pickyparent.com, of single-chapter pdf documents from the Picky Parent Guide to help consider the important factors in choosing your child's school with confidence. School choice is a valuable benefit, and now you have a resource to help you navigate unknown territory.

COMMUNITY SCHOOLS ENCOURAGED TO APPLY FOR 2011 SUMMER FOOD SERVICE PROGRAM


Community schools are encouraged to consider becoming summer Food Service Program (SFSP) sponsors if they offer summer activities to low-income youth or to children living in low-income areas. Created to serve these children during the summer months, the SFSP provides cash reimbursements to sponsoring agencies that serve them nutritionally adequate meals. Children in the program are ages 1-18, or up to age 21, if they have approved Individual Education Programs (IEPs).

Organizations that wish to participate in the SFSP for the firs time this should have completed the online Potential Sponsor Survey by March 15. Returning sponsors, who were asked to complete letters of intent for 2011 in January, will find applications for renewal in the Claims Reimbursement Reporting System. Each new and returning sponsor will be required to attend a training program in March or April, and complete the application process by May 1. For more information, visit the ODE SFSP website.

CHARTER SCHOOL SPECIALISTS

Unique Roles defined in Ohio's Community School System
Click here to view.

COMMUNITY SCHOOL ANNUAL TIMELINE

The following link will provide information regarding the Community School (CS) Operations FY 2010 Annual Timeline. The timeline includes monthly deliverables and tasks in different areas from July 2009 to June 2010.
FY11 Community School Annual Timeline

SCHOOL WEBSITES

To get the most current information and news about one of our schools, connect directly to the school website:

CASTLE (Cleveland)

Cleveland College Preparatory (Cleveland)

Northeast Ohio College Preparatory (Cleveland)

Hamilton County Math and Science (Cincinnati)

King Academy Community School (Cincinnati)

Millennium Community School (Columbus)

New Day Academy and Boarding School (Euclid)

Premier Academy of Ohio (Columbus)

Providence Academy for Student Success (Columbus)

TCP World Academy (Cincinnati)

Zenith Academy (Columbus)

ZENITH ACADEMY CONTRIBUTES TO THEIR COMMUNITY

Zenith Academy, Columbus, Ohio, submitted the following article regarding their fund-raising campaign to help children with cancer in their local community.  Stefani Hatfield, a third-grade teacher, coordinated the successful campaign, collecting 373 pounds of pennies, totaling over $675.00. Congratulations Ms. Hatfield and Zenith Academy!

"This year, the students at Zenith Academy are participating in a campaign called Pennies for Patients. We are collecting pennies to help children in central Ohio with blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma. The Pennies for Patients campaign is run in collaboration with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Our school goal is to raise $500, all in pennies! The students are really excited about the campaign, which will run through March 18th.

Since 1994, millions of dollars have been raised in pennies and other spare change by more than 10 million elementary, middle and high school students throughout the country. The funds, collected during a three-week period, benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Everyone who participates is a winner!

In the Pennies for Patients campaign, the class collecting the most change in each school receives a pizza party. Prizes such as computers, electronics and sports equipment are presented to the top schools in each area. The Pennies for Patients campaign began in the Society's North Carolina Chapter in 1995."

OAA SPRING TEST ADMINISTRATION


In recent years, districts have gained more flexibility in scheduling grades 3-8 test administration within the specific window for the spring Ohio Achievement Assessments (OAA). This flexibility is particularly helpful because breaks for Easter (Sunday, April 24), Passover (which ends on Tuesday, April 26) and some spring breaks may affect district test schedules. The spring 2011 OAA test administration period will begin April 25 and end May 13. Districts may use the weeks of April 25 and May 2 for initial administration. The week of May 9 may be used for make-up testing, but not for initial administration.

With Passover ending during the first week of the test window, districts may start testing on Wednesday, April 27, or any day thereafter, as long as testing is completed before the end of the initial administration period on May 6 and in time for the district's designated pick-up deadline for test results. There are no more than three tests (reading, mathematics and science) to be administered, depending on the grade level. No matter which day testing begins, districts will have multiple days to complete initial administration.

Some districts may remember the days when the test window was very prescriptive (e.g., the OAA reading test had to be given on a Monday). This is no longer true. Districts can begin the testing on any day during the test window as long as they begin with the reading assessment, followed by mathematics and science – a sequence outlined in the No Child Left Behind Act.

It is important to remember that districts cannot use the week of May 9 for initial administration. Doing so would make it impossible to meet designated deadlines for pick-up of scorable materials and the return of test results in June would be jeopardized. The test pick-up deadlines, which have been communicated to district test coordinators, are May 6, May 9 and May 10, depending on the size of the district.

LAWS OF LIFE ESSAY LOCAL CONTEST WINNERS CAN COMPETE FOR STATEWIDE PRIZES


Ohio Partners in Character Education (OPCE) is encouraging Ohio middle and high school students to write Laws of Life essays by holding statewide competition for winners of local essay contests. OPCE will award more than $5,000 in prizes to winning students and their teachers and local sponsors. Among the awards are cash incentives to new and returning schools for levels of participation.

The Laws of Life Essay Contest challenges students to reflect on, and express in their own words, the deals and principles that guide them. Writing a Laws of Life essay meets state writing standards and can provide practice for standardized test or college entrance essays. Teachers who use the contest in their classrooms also indicate that as students learn to express their moral principles, school climate improves. Unlike other writing contests, judging focuses more on the though process and self-awareness of the writer and less on writing ability. This has allowed special needs and at-risk students to receive recognition for their essays, which is not always possible in typical essay contests.

The statewide contest is conducted in two divisions: middle school (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12). Each essay may be no more than three pages of double-spaced text. There are submission guidelines indicating the number of essays each school may submit by the May 20 deadline. Finalists and their teachers and parents will be invited to a banquet in fall 2011. The John Templeton Foundation, which began the essay contest, offers free teaching materials and resources to help students with the writing process. Questions may be directed to: info@charactereducationohio.org.

FUNDING FOR COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
Laura Steenbergen, ERCO Director of Educational Services


Governor John Kasich's plans for Ohio education focuses on providing more options for parents to consider for their children. He is proposing initiatives designed to attract and keep the best teachers and lower administrative costs. Most parents will agree that these measures will be beneficial and, in these economic times, hearing about lowering costs certainly peaks interest.

Frequently at ERCO, we hear statements or receive questions that indicate that there is not a clear understanding of where community schools receive their funding and who administers it. Below is a brief and simplistic explanation of how community schools receive money to operate.

Charter schools receive state and federal taxes to fund their operations, however, they do not receive local property taxes. In Ohio, during fiscal year 2010, the per-student allotment of $5,718 was placed in a foundation fund specifically for education. Technically, the money follows the student. When a student moves to a new school, the new school shows the student registering in their school and the former school is to remove the student's name from their roster list when the student withdraws their enrollment. Additional funds are available for special-needs students and a weighted formula is used to determine the increased allotment for the student.

Public schools receive additional funds with voter approval through local property taxes or levies. Since community schools do not receive these additional funds, they operate on less money per pupil than traditional public schools. To make up for the funding difference, community schools often seek funding from private foundations and grants.

In the pro-and-con debates over whether or not community schools depletes money from the public school district, it is frequently overlooked that because community schools do not receive local property taxes, the traditional public schools actually end up with more money per pupil to fund operations.

Many people mistakenly believe that community school 'sponsors' dole out money to the community schools that they authorize and when a school closes due to financial constraints, that the sponsor is responsible to cover the outstanding debts. In actuality, community school governing boards approve the budget and spending. A school sponsor's role is to monitor (through submission of financial reports from their community schools), alert governing boards to fiscal viability, assist with corrective action plans to put out-of-balance schools back on track, and if necessary, to oversee closure of a school that cannot continue to operate because of a lack of funds.

As previously stated, this is a very brief and simple explanation of how community schools are funded. Visit the Ohio Department of Education's website for more detailed information regarding community school funding.

PARENTS GROUPS
[Article taken from The Ohio Coalition for Quality Education website]


As stated in the article on Funding Community Schools, there is a gap between the operating dollars available for students attending public school versus community schools because community schools do not receive property taxes. Parents can help supplement that discrepancy through activities conducted through a Parent Group.

Below is an article from The Ohio Coalition for Quality Education website (www.ocqe.org) about how to build a Parent Group.

Getting Started
It all begins through a group of parent's getting together with a desire to help their children's education while supporting their school. Ask your school administrator for help to build a parent organization by distributing flyers to other parents and also to provide a room in your school for meetings. You can start with just a few parents, but building up to 25 or more helps generate more ideas and the ability to form committees to work on specific projects. Most parent groups start small and continually grow.

Organization Bylaws
You can call it a PTO or Booster Club but it's important to adopt a set of bylaws that will provide the framework for your organization. Parents will elect the officers typically for two years. Parents usually schedule meetings monthly throughout the school year taking a break for the summer months.

Parent Activities
It's easier to build a successful parent organization by scheduling a few 'fun' family activities throughout the year. Skating parties, bowling, laser tag, Christmas caroling, picnics, a 4th of July parade marching with school banners and square dances at school for parents and students are just a few ideas. Include your children in these activities to help create a sense of community. A series of 'family dinner' events several times a year will also help create a unity of purpose with the parents and children.

Fund Raisers Help Support Students and Your School
To be truly effective, it's important to organize fundraisers. Most retailers are looking for additional sale sand are willing to offer schools a percentage of sales if parents buy their products. Work with retailers like Burger King, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Target, Walmart, and local supermarkets. Ask the manager if they offer a program for school families who eat or shop at their establishment on a certain day or specific times. (Example: Friday evening between 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.) Retailers often offer 15-20% of their sales on a predetermined program.

Some parent groups have used fundraisers to sell chocolate bars and frozen food from companies. For ideas, go to your computer and Google "school fundraising ideas".

You can also raise money with food auctions such as, "Make It – Bake It – Buy It". Gifts can also be auctioned. Ask local retailers to help your school by making donations for your school auction. Contact local florists, restaurants, movie theaters, etc., for items to auction. Local merchants often like to help their neighborhood schools. It's good for their business.

Also, parents can work with school administrators to apply for grants.

Ways You Can Help Your Children & School While Building Your Parent Company
Use the money from fundraisers to pay for student field trips, help buy school books, other supplies or sport uniforms. Help support your class-sponsored student field trips to other cities. Parents can volunteer to help in school classrooms and organize a 'Teacher Appreciation' event by hosting a lunch in the schools teacher break room.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO RECEIVE OUR QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER?

Email Laura Steenbergen at lsteenbergen@ercoinc.org.

Past newsletters are available here.