Week in Review 04-15-2022

EDUCATION

Before starting its first round of interviews with prospects for the state superintendent position, the State Board of Education (SBOE) decided Monday it will call a second round of interviews with finalists who can garner sufficient support from board members. The board rearranged and shortened its typical agenda for its April meeting to allow it to spend substantial time in closed-door executive session for interviews with seven previously announced candidates. Those candidates are former SBOE Vice President Steve Dackin; Perrysburg Schools Superintendent Thomas Hosler; Finn Laursen, former executive director of Christian Educators Association International; Carrollton Schools Superintendent David Quattrochi; Kimberly Richey, a former U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights official; Ronnie Tarchichi, superintendent of Pennsauken Schools in New Jersey; and Springboro Schools Superintendent Larry Hook.

State Board of Education (SBOE) Vice President Martha Manchester, who also serves as the chair of the board’s Teaching, Leading, and Learning (TLL) Committee said Monday she is planning a special meeting later this month for further discussion — and a potential vote — on the Ohio Dyslexia Guidebook. Manchester said she is also considering adding discussion time for the “Student Interactions with Peace Officers” model curriculum. No official date has been set, though Manchester said the meeting will likely take place the morning of Thursday, April 28. 

Ohio Department of Education (ODE) staff laid the groundwork this week with discussions on updating the state report card for career-technical schools, as well as the system for awarding various honors diplomas to students. 

Interim State Superintendent Stephanie Siddens recently announced that 263 Ohio schools will be honored with the Purple Star Award this school year. The award, created in 2017, recognizes schools that support students and families connected to the U.S. armed forces and the Ohio National Guard. The 2022 Class of Purple Star Schools includes 94 Ohio schools that received the award for the first time and 169 schools that earned a renewal after three years as dedicated Purple Star Schools. With the new class of honorees, the state now has 431 active Purple Star schools.

Kristen Maurer, who teaches kindergarten at Midvale Elementary School in Northeastern Ohio, was honored with the Milken Educator Award Thursday at a surprise school assembly. Maurer was presented with the national recognition, which includes an unrestricted $25,000 cash prize, by Milken Educator Awards Senior Program Director Greg Gallagher and Interim State Superintendent Stephanie Siddens. Out of over 60 recipients this school year, Maurer is the only Milken Educator Award winner from Ohio and the first from Indian Valley Local Schools, where she is a graduate herself.

REDISTRICTING/REAPPORTIONMENT

Continuing to criticize the process the Ohio Redistricting Commission has followed to send it four separate General Assembly redistricting plans, the Ohio Supreme Court Thursday struck down the latest plan by a vote of 4-3, saying it is little changed from a previously rejected plan. The Court set Friday, May 6, as the latest deadline for the commission to come up with an entirely new plan, with the plan due to the secretary of state by 9 a.m. on that date and to the Court by noon. Additionally, the Court’s order allowed for the commission to request a time extension “for good cause shown. … In sum, the [fourth] plan has not materially changed from the invalidated [third] plan. The evidence supports the finding that the [fourth] plan violates Article XI, Section 6(A), just as we found with regard to the [third] plan in League III,” the majority wrote.