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Eric Gordon, CEO |
 Message from
CEO Eric S. Gordon
To CMSD Families:
Like school districts across Ohio and the nation, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District is facing incredibly difficult times. Recently, I delivered my State of the Schools Address at the City Club in Cleveland. As you read the State of the Schools Address, as well as news of some exciting things happening in our schools, I invite you to join me in your active support of CMSD in the second year of our Academic Transformation.
As we begin what has become one of the most financially challenging years in our history, it is more important than ever that we, as an entire school community, embrace the transformation of Cleveland's schools and create real, meaningful and lasting change for CMSD's children and the entire Cleveland community. We can no longer rely on Columbus or Washington to provide the funding, resources or solutions we need to transform our schools and give the children of Cleveland the quality education they deserve. I believe that the state of our schools, now and in the days ahead, depends on the investment each stakeholder in our school community is willing to make in our public schools. Working together, we must forge partnerships that say: "In Cleveland, school by school, neighborhood by neighborhood, we are banding together to provide the quality education the students of our community need now, so that they are ready to successfully and productively contribute to the prosperous Cleveland community they deserve in their future."
I also believe the achievement gap for too many cities in America has been defined around a simple premise: "Who is valuable in this society and who is not - who we have high hopes for and for whom we have no great expectations." Fortunately, I firmly believe that, in Cleveland, we value our children - not just some of our children but all our children. It is because of this strong belief I am both humbled and grateful for the opportunity to lead the Cleveland Metropolitan School District at a time of enormous challenge and a time of enormous importance and consequence to our community. Thank you for your trust in me and for your active support for the children of Cleveland.
Sincerely,
Eric S. Gordon, CEO
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Community meetings and surveys
seek feedback on budget cuts
Meetings held at East Tech and Lincoln-West on Tuesday, Oct. 18 were not the only way District officials have been gathering input on proposed CMSD budget cuts.
An online survey and phone survey, conducted this week, are providing much-needed information to assist the Board of Education in addressing the deficit at its meeting next week. As of Wednesday, Oct. 19, more than 2,600 residents had responded to the phone survey alone. Surveys are asking residents and parents to rank each of the likely cuts.
CMSD must cut $13.2 million by the end of the month, with possible targets including preschool, summer school, textbooks, administrative positions, busing, sports and extracurricular activities.
During the community meetings, CEO Eric Gordon discussed the options for budget reductions, distributed printed surveys soliciting feedback and answered concerned parents' questions. He told parents the survey responses will be tallied and used to guide choices where there is leeway or if money becomes available later. Gordon emphasized he does not want to make these cuts but has little choice.
Residents and parents are encouraged to complete the surveys available online at cmsdnet.net in English and Spanish until Tuesday, Oct. 25.
To learn more about the budget cuts the Board of Education is considering, read the recent news coverage and budget updates.
Board members will vote on the cuts at the next board meeting, 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 25. at Lincoln-West High School, 3202 West 30th St.
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CEO and mayor 'drive' walking bus
CEO Eric Gordon (above with children) and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson (right) lead a Walking School Bus of students en route to Louisa May Alcott School on Oct. 13. The Walking School Bus encourages safety, exercise and community involvement and promotes October's International Walk to School Month. To view more images of the Walking School Bus, visit Councilman Jay Westbrook's online photo album.
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U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan talks to CTAG students about the importance of education in their lives. |
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan emphasizes community partnerships
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan reminded parents, politicians, business leaders, civic groups and educators that the success of each student in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District depended on all of them, not just on the student.
In front of a packed auditorium at East Tech High School on Sept. 7, Duncan said he couldn't overemphasize the importance of community partnerships working in concert to build a better school system.
"We have to think very differently," said Duncan, whose one-day visit to Cleveland included headlining a panel discussion on public education. "Cleveland has made real progress. Your goal should be to be the best public school system in the not-too-distant future - four or five years from now. A lot of building blocks are in place."
These building blocks include various initiatives, for example, single-gender academies such as Valley View Boys' Leadership Academy and New and Innovative Schools such as MC2STEM.
CEO Eric Gordon, one of the panelists, acknowledged that CMSD had faced plenty of academic challenges in recent years. "What did we do?" Gordon told the audience. "We got better."
He echoed the sentiments of Duncan about getting more people and institutions involved in the education of Cleveland youth. Improving the schools isn't a one-person effort, he and Duncan said.
"All of us have to rally behind the effort," said Duncan, former CEO of Chicago Public Schools. "School systems can't do this by themselves."
He pointed out the dangers of not improving the schools. The city and the region risk seeing more unemployable adults enter the workforce if education isn't viewed as a high priority.
Looking at the students who sat in the front rows, Duncan reminded them of the doors a first-rate education can open for them. But in this age of robotics and ever-changing technology, a high school diploma isn't enough if they want to realize big dreams in life, he said.
"If you drop out of high school today, how many good jobs are out there for you?" Duncan asked the students.
In unison, the students shouted, "None!"
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OfficeMax makes teacher's day
with surprise delivery
 When Nicole Mucci had time to sit at her teacher's desk after hours of standing, it was in a plastic blue child's chair.
Not anymore. On Tuesday morning, Oct. 4, five OfficeMax employees from the North Olmsted store surprised Mucci when they entered her fourth-grade classroom rolling in a black fabric office chair with armrests and an adjustable seat. But the cushy chair wasn't the only gift. Mucci also received a blue vase of flowers, digital camera, new printer and various classroom supplies - all packaged in an orange OfficeMax box big enough to hold a fourth-grader. The total gift added up to $1,000 worth of OfficeMax merchandise.
"She was selected based on her positive test scores from last year and her dedication to her students. Her students consistently show growth with testing skills," said Lisa Sanders, assistant principal at Walton, a K-8 school on the corner of Fulton Road and Walton Avenue on Cleveland's West Side.
In addition to her testing strategies, Mucci collaborates with other teachers and consistently has a high attendance record. And, like many other committed teachers, she spends her own money for classroom supplies.
"This year, I spent a little over $1,000. You especially need a lot when you change grade levels," explained Mucci, who taught seventh-graders last year. Mucci started her career at Walton seven years ago as a reading teacher. She then taught middle school for four years before starting with her class of 33 fourth-graders this school year.
Through its "A Day Made Better" event, OfficeMax wants to relieve Mucci and 1,000 other teachers like her of this financial burden. In October each year, OfficeMax store employees drop in on 1,000 classrooms throughout the nation, bestowing classroom supplies on unsuspecting teachers. Since 2007, the retail giant and its nonprofit partner, Adopt-A-Classroom, have funded more than 4,500 classrooms with more than $4.5 million in grants and school supplies.
"It's great to look at the kids' faces," said John Bongiovanni, assistant store manager at the North Olmsted store. His coworkers Bill Richner, Nicole Majchszak and Becky McCrane nodded in agreement that the students' reactions are well worth the employee field trip.
Paul Cluggish, North Olmsted store manager, explained that in addition to the classroom box of goods, the school received $1,250 of supplies donated by OfficeMax customers over the past six weeks. He said each OfficeMax store is assigned a school, and the principal nominates the winning teacher.
For Mucci, her day, and quite possibly her year, was made better because now she can sit in comfort at her desk to grade papers, prepare tests and simply rest after the dismissal bell rings.
Learn more about A Day Made Better or Adopt-A-Classroom by visiting their websites.
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New schools welcome students
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Anton Grdina School |
CEO Eric Gordon stood in the sparkling, yellow-and-blue gymnasium filled with students at the new Anton Grdina School, as if conducting a pep rally. "You can't have a grand opening," Gordon told them, "unless you have what?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Giant scissors." So out came the big scissors. Gordon cut through the silky red ribbon, signaling the Aug. 30 opening of the new school building on East 71st Street in the heart of Garden Valley Estate, a neighborhood undergoing a renaissance of its own. "Sometimes I wondered if this day would ever come," Councilwoman Phyllis Cleveland said as students, faculty, staff, CMSD and state officials, parents and other guests looked on. "It took a long, long time, and it took a lot of hard work. It's finally here." The 7,200-square-foot Grdina, one of two new schools the Cleveland Metropolitan School District opened this academic year, replaced a building that had outlived its use. "Now we have a brand new building," Principal Marwa Ibrahim said. "But we are not really starting anew. We are continuing a tradition that was begun by many, many generations before." Ibrahim praised Grdina alumni, who built a tradition in the 1900s on hard work and dedication to a neighborhood school and its people. "We will continue to plan and work to give you the future you dream of," she said. "I'm certain you will match our effort, and I'm counting on you to secure your own future with the support of good teachers." The new building, designed to accommodate 540 students, is part of a partnership with the state and city, which traded the land for the building. The school has two playgrounds and can offer secure space for the community to use. The school, built on the site of a playground, cost $16 million. "And you're worth every dollar of it," Gordon told the students. He had the eighth grade and kindergarten students gather around him as he stood in the middle of the gym to cut the red ribbon. As soon as Gordon did, the audience broke into cheers. Their waiting had ended for the new Grdina, named in honor of a Yugoslav immigrant whose businesses had prospered in that area. With the official grand opening behind him, Gordon moved to the edge of the gym to shake hands with students who were filing out. One by one, the youngsters clasped hands with Gordon, and then one boy with a curious look on his face, asked: "Where did you get those big scissors?" Gordon smiled. "I don't know," he told the boy. "They just show up when I do these openings." Mound embraces green initiative  | |
Mound School |
In addition to Anton Grdina, CMSD unveiled its new Mound School on Aug. 31. The one word that Gordon repeatedly used to describe the new school was "beautiful" as he officially opened the school. "It is a beautiful, beautiful school," agreed Councilman Anthony Brancatelli, "but it's more than just a building." No one can argue. The new Mound, which accommodates 540 students, replaced a building that was CMSD's oldest - a 107-year-old brick structure little more than a block away from the $14 million, 6,300-square-foot school in the Broadway-Slavic Village area. The building construction was a partnership between CMSD, state officials, community groups such as Slavic Village Development, politicians and parents. All came together to ensure Mound remained a fixture in the southeast Cleveland neighborhood. They called Mound a cornerstone of the community, and they vowed the school would be a model of excellence, following an academic plan that focused project-based learning and parental involvement, said Thomas Grierson, Mound's principal. Grierson called Mound CMSD's first "green" school. "We want to continue this idea of being environmentally friendly not just in the magnificent work they've done on this building and not just in the curriculum we've set for our students," Grierson said, "but in our way of reaching out... by working with our community partners and making them part of what we do as a school." Gordon said the two-story school was built near the Boys & Girls Club on Broadway Avenue to continue the partnership CMSD has with the neighborhood youth center. In addition to being green, the school allows for easy access, and its parking is designed for the safe flow of cars, buses and children who use the nearby bike trail. Back to top |
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Tanique Lawson's bumper sticker campaign honors her friend. |
Student's bumper sticker raises
awareness and funds
Tanique Lawson held the winning bumper sticker she had designed in her hands as she stood in front of a whiteboard at Design Lab Early College High School and posed for a photograph.
Lawson smiled; rightly proud of her design. Yet her smile couldn't mask a hard truth: She knew the design was the product of a tragedy that no 16-year-old sophomore should have to face. Life is about highs and lows, and Lawson and her peers in teacher Anthony Simeone's design class understand that fact all too well.
It was one of those lows - the shooting death of classmate Danica "Tugga" Nelson in late August - that led to the in-class design competition and gave Lawson her artistic inspiration.
"Tugga was my friend," Lawson said. "Because of violence, we lost her, and I wanted to stop the violence. Mr. Simeone made up this idea, and I thought this would be a good way to do it."
In the competition, her classmates voted her design the best in show. Its message "Violence ... This Film Is Overrated" will appear on bumper stickers that students will sell to raise money for the Nelson family. They all wanted a tangible memory of a teenager who once sat next to them, and they all wanted to pitch in and create that memory.
So did a local businessman.
Marco Rizi, owner of Blue Print Imaging in Rocky River, heard about what Simeone's students were doing to keep Danica's memory alive. He agreed to print for free, 750 of Lawson's bumper stickers, which he delivered to Simeone's classroom.
"This was a no-brainer for me," said Rizi, the father of three daughters. He said he can only imagine what a family goes through when it loses a daughter. The sorrow is something that might never go away, which is why he wanted to chip in.
Inside the sorrow can come a gesture like Rizi's or inspiration like Lawson's. "I was thinking violence is overrated," Lawson said. "When I think of overrated, I think of movies. You know how movies are rated PG or R. I thought of this film being overrated, so violence is overrated. That's where I got the idea."
While her design is a salute to a friend, her larger purpose is to end the violence, she said. Guns and fistfights aren't the answer for everything. They don't solve problems; they only create problems.
"Because when you kill a person," Lawson said, "you don't just kill that one person; you break a lot of people's hearts, too."
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Ginn honored for his impact on
Cleveland education, football
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Ted Ginn Sr. has mentored many young men in Cleveland. |
Former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel stood next to Ted Ginn Sr. outside a Public Square restaurant Saturday afternoon, Aug. 27.
It seemed fitting that Tressel, making his first public appearance in Cleveland since he resigned in May as Ohio State University's football coach, would be downtown with Ginn for a weekend that honored the Glenville football coach. Why? Because no high school coach in Ohio sent Tressel more talent than Ginn.
Since 1997, his Tarblooders have been the gold standard for athletics in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. But building a down-on-its-fortune program into a statewide powerhouse didn't happen easily.
"I would go to St. Clair and down to Superior - all over the city - and tell kids to get on the bus because we're going to a football camp," he said. "These were kids I didn't even know. And they'd get on the bus, and I'd take them to Erie (Pa.), and the people out there would give them a T-shirt and a Bible."
He took his football players so far away from their neighborhoods that they couldn't even dream about getting back home until camp had ended.
"The first two or three days were pretty rough," said Ginn, whose program has sent Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith and eight other district students to the National Football League. "They'd call their parents. The kids didn't want to do anything."
Yet, he had long believed in a principle that guided his coaching philosophy: Kids don't care what you know until they know you care.
To Ginn, this philosophy extends beyond the football field. For as proud as Ginn is of his football program, he's even prouder of the all-boys academy, a Continuous Improvement school that bears his name. Ginn Academy opened in the Collinwood neighborhood four years ago.
With 230 students, the academy has become one of the district's most successful schools, taking at-risk youth and instilling in them a heavy dose of discipline and plenty of love.
"I did so many things different," Ginn once said in an interview for CBS News. "I did what other people didn't do. I'm going left, because if you're going right, and it's not working, you gotta do something different."
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CTAG students visit the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. |
Hurricane doesn't keep students
from visiting the King Memorial in D.C.  Forty-three male students from Cleveland didn't let Hurricane Irene ruin their once-in-a-lifetime experience of visiting Washington, D.C.
Because of Irene, the Aug. 28 unveiling of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall was postponed. The unveiling was the purpose of the student's bus trip to the nation's capital.
But the high school students didn't allow the bad weather to keep their three-day, two-night odyssey from being cancelled, said Timothy Roberts, a CMSD regional linkage coordinator, the trip organizer and one of nine chaperones.
To make the field trip possible, CMSD received support from a number of organizations, Roberts said. Turner Construction bought backpacks; the Word Church bought dress shoes; and Tri-C donated white polo shirts for each of the boys, who also wore their CTAG blazers during parts of their field trip.
The young men made an impression on everybody who saw them, and seeing the 30-foot granite statue of Rev. King made an impression on the young men, all part of the Closing the Achievement Gap (CTAG) Program.
The students also took tours of the city, which included visits to Howard University, the Pentagon, the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Washington, D.C. monuments and the home of Frederick Douglass, a fiery critic of slavery in the 1800s.
"It was something to remember," said Eric Mays II, one of 15 students from Martin Luther King Jr. High School. "There were actually people (visiting the memorial) who cried there - people there who were part of everything King stood for.
"A lot of people realize it wasn't just Martin Luther King Jr. when they put that statue up; it's him and all of his followers. So when they see the statue of him, it's really representing everybody who marched behind him."
As part of their D.C. experience, the students kept journals. Since their return to Cleveland, they are now serving as "ambassadors of change" at their respective high schools and sharing stories about their trip with fellow students.
To see photos and learn more about the trip, click here and read The Plain Dealer's coverage.
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Cleveland business group launches
mentorship program with Jane Addams  Buddy Kane always wanted The Club, the premier business group in Cleveland, to do something significant for teenagers in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Kane, The Club's general manager, put together a number of projects over the last few years that have led to various partnerships with CMSD.
Now The Club has started another: a three-year, project-based sequence in business at Jane Addams Business Careers Academy and a flagship among CMSD's Continuous Improvement schools.
"Out of our 900 members, they run most of the companies in the city," Kane said during the Aug. 31 kickoff luncheon for the 26 students in the program. "So there's going to be job opportunities available, internships available... all kinds of roads will open to these kids."
He called the one-on-one mentorships the most exciting aspect of the program, which Addams made available only to sophomores.
Each student will be assigned a business leader, whose role over the next three years will be to steer the sophomore through the challenges the student will face in the business world. The business curriculum, which only 41 schools in the country use, is a program unique to the Cleveland region.
At the luncheon, CEO Eric Gordon applauded The Club for taking a leadership role in classroom innovation. "This is a model for us," he said. "I'm really, really pleased, and that's why I made a point to be here. Everybody who knows me knows that I vote with my feet: I go where things are important."
The demands on students will be high, Gordon said. But so will their rewards. Each of them will be expected to bring dedication, professionalism and commitment to the classroom.
In return, some of the brightest minds in the region will teach the students skills and work habits that will translate to the business world, said Edwin Novinc, one of the two program instructors. They will also be introduced to some of the most successful businesspeople in the region, he noted.
"It's going to be a new way of teaching these students," Novinc said. "We've never had this before. You look at these kids; there's excitement there that we can build on."
Novinc is counting on that excitement to expand the program and drive its lectures, which will emphasize economics, marketing and management through hands-on projects. "They'll be judged by the real business world," he said. "They'll have mentors from the business world; they'll have help from the business world; they'll have presentations from the business world; and they'll visit local businesses.
"Anything a business does, they're going to learn in the next three years," he added. Back to top |
CMSD teachers pioneer
new curriculum movement This school year, CMSD's kindergarten through second-grade teachers are pioneers in Common Core, a new curriculum designed to better prepare students for college.  Common Core is the brainchild of the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers. Those organizations rolled out the curriculum two years ago. Ohio is among 48 states (Alaska and Texas are the exceptions) that are now part of the Common Core movement, which provides a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn so teachers and parents know what they must do to help schoolchildren. A concept behind Common Core is to offer fewer but more in-depth skills that expose students to educational challenges that they must understand and analyze, said CMSD teacher Sue Myers, a liaison with the district's Promoting Educator Advancement in Cleveland. Based on the Common Core standards, 60 teachers in grades K-2 spent a day in June revising the District's Scope and Sequence for English/Language Arts and Math. Earlier in the spring, 563 classroom and special education teachers and 70 academic coaches had attended 12 hours of professional development to deconstruct, or "unpack" the Common Core Standards, develop instructional units and assessments, and identify instructional resources. During the summer, a team of nine teachers (selected through an application process) worked with Julie Snypes-Rea, manager of the Department of Research & Assessment, to prepare teachers for using the Common Core standards. In August, CMSD identified Common Core champions for each school to help teachers make better use of the new curriculum and its materials. Teacher responses to the various training sessions were positive, said Karen Thompson, deputy chief of curriculum and instruction. Thompson said she heard teachers comment repeatedly: "This is the best professional development session I have ever attended." "I am glad that classroom teachers conducted the sessions. They have a realistic view of the classroom and what is needed to help us transition to the Common Core Standards." Cleveland now joins Philadelphia; Boston; Atlanta; St. Paul, Minn.; and Albuquerque, N.M., as one of six test sites to phase in the standards, which started for K-2 grades in August. The program will be expanded to grades 3-5 in fall 2012 and grades 6-12 in fall 2013. To help plan its Common Core programs, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave CMSD $500,000. CMSD and the Cleveland Teachers Union collaborated to write the grant and worked together on training and developing the standards. Back to top |
Hotel hosts a career day for students
Crowne Plaza has adopted Paul Revere School and is chipping in to help these students in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District get the most out of their education.
Hotel employees gave a $546 check and more than $300 worth of school supplies to Paul Revere Principal Charlene Hilliard the week before school started.
What the Plaza and its employees are doing for Revere, however, isn't just about dollars, said Carmen Watkins, a staff accountant at the downtown hotel and a Revere alumna. "We want the students to know there is life beyond Paul Revere," Watkins said. "I came from Paul Revere and look where I am now. You can do something with yourself."
The idea behind this public-private partnership came from Watkins. With hotel manager Steve Moran's support, Watkins reached out to Hilliard last year and asked how the hotel could help.
"I was excited and elated," Hilliard said.
Their initial talks gave birth to a corporate connection.
Last school year, the Crowne Plaza, one of CMSD's corporate partners, held a Career Day in which the hotel exposed Revere students to the hospitality industry. The students came away with a different perspective about hotels and career possibilities, Watkins explained. "They thought it was just beds," she said. "That's all they thought. They didn't realize the job aspect of it."
Hilliard appreciated the hotel's interest in Revere, a K-8 school with more than 470 students. She said seeing an alumna like Watkins give back to her school is a reminder of the quality and character of current and former students.
"Without partnerships like this one, it's difficult to have all of your needs met on every level," Hilliard said. "It's extremely important to have community partners."
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Silverman's, Housing Administration and MinuteMen provide uniforms for students The Cleveland Metropolitan School District has partnered with a variety of community organizations and local companies in recent years, including the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Administration (CMHA), Silverman's and MinuteMen. In August, CMHA offered families in its housing projects assistance that helped their children prepare for a new school year, said Berronica Steele, community center manager for Woodhill Homes. Steele said CMHA, the oldest housing authority in the country, pitched in to provide uniform vouchers for parents who live in the Central Neighborhood. "When we were searching for who would be the best vendor for our voucher system," she said, "Silverman's ended up being the best choice." Working with Silverman's Discount Stores, CMHA has been able to steer its residents to a local company with as much commitment to helping students as the housing authority. Before the start of the school year, the housing authority invited 85 families to its back-to-school rally; 63 showed up, Steele said. The housing authority told the families about the partnership with Silverman's and how that partnership could help each of them save money. Steele escorted a busload of nine families from Woodhill to Silverman's to take advantage of the store's Uniform for Kids Inc. program. "It helps because my income is limited this year," said Patrice Williams, whose two sons attend Carl & Louis Stokes Central Academy. "I don't have money to buy uniforms for them." "We'd like to make sure that our future customers are educated, and our future employees get a good education," said Alan Silverman, president of the discount store. "It's really an obligation for companies getting money from a community to give back to the community." MinuteMen donates $50,000  The Lucarelli family, owners of MinuteMen Staffing Services, gave Silverman's a check for $50,000 to offset the cost of required uniforms for families in need.
Through its Uniform for Kids Inc. program, Silverman's is matching the donation dollar for dollar. The company is also providing vouchers and offering a bounty for used uniforms, which it will inspect, clean and recycle for families who need assistance. "The schools were having trouble raising funds for students who were having difficulty buying uniforms," said Jay Lucarelli, president of MinuteMen. "We stepped in last year, and we made this a corporate decision to make this one of our main charities - not only this year, but in years to come." Back to top |
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Skipper Dave Wickham explains to students how to detect wind puffs by looking at the water's movement. |
Smooth SailingStudents learn to sail while building confidence and life skills By Cotrell Loftin The students aboard the Sea Scout listen intently as their skipper, Dave Wickham, gives them instructions about steering the boat. "Somebody tell me how a sail works," he commands. One student answers: "Like a plane's wing." Wickham answers with a big smile, "That's right! Good to see you're paying attention." Wickham is a veteran sailor. A master of nautical knowledge, he will readily share information with anyone who wishes to listen and learn. On this humid summer evening near Edgewater Marina, he is sharing his love of sailing with city youth. "We have too many kids in the city that can see the lake but haven't been on the lake."  | |
CMSD students Emmanual (hat), Micheal (black shirt) and Natalie (blue shirt) all learned to sail through Cleveland Rotary Club's Project YESS. |
Wickham addresses the issue as an instructor for Sea Scouts, a program for students ages 14 to 21 who want to learn how to sail. Sea Scouts collaborates with Project YESS, another sailing program which targets high school students and equips them with life skills they will need to succeed. Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Cleveland, Project YESS (Youth Empowered to Succeed Through Sailing) is a summer program. The big payoff at the end of the season: students embark on a three- to five-day sail working as crew members on tall ships. Project YESS is in its second year. Though it targets Cleveland Metropolitan School District students, anyone who is able to participate is invited. The program has also hosted teens from nearby Cleveland suburbs and Geauga and Lorain counties. Project YESS Chair Eileen Smotzer says such diversity allows students to learn and work with others they might not have the opportunity to work with otherwise. "Since I had never been on the lake before, I wanted to try to have fun... and learn about other people," says Emmanuel Watson, a ninth-grader at John Hay Early College. Project YESS includes a boot camp and lessons in safety, navigation and seamanship. The final session explains the relevance of nautical knowledge in military and maritime professions, as well as many other careers. Sailing programs have proven effective in developing leadership skills for high school students. "These programs have been around since the '80s," Smotzer explains, adding that the training uses a nautical setting to stress the importance of teamwork within a community. Educational components help to enrich the experience for YESS participants. John Carroll University contributes STEM-related aspects (science, technology, engineering and math), while the Great Lakes Science Center provides a focus on ecology. Project YESS teaches students to connect these components with what they learn about sailing. "Science and math are connected to being in a sailboat. You have to measure how fast the wind is going, when to change the sail, and where the wind is coming from," Watson explains. Upon graduation from the program, students have the opportunity to use their newly acquired knowledge on a tall ship. On Aug. 12, the students traveled to Chicago to sail on the Flagship Niagara, a replica of Commodore Perry's flagship. Watson was among the students on the ship. This past July, some female graduates of the program sailed on the tall ship Unicorn along the Hudson River en route to West Point in New York City. The trip took six days and five nights. Cleveland School of the Arts 10th-grader, Kani Johnson says Project YESS and sailing aboard the Unicorn were great experiences that taught her a lot about herself. She loved being part of an all-female crew and says there was much support and encouragement. "My best experience was going into the rigging at the bow (front) of the boat. I climbed onto the boom," Johnson explains. "I got to sit in the netting, and that was really nice." Not all of Johnson's experiences aboard the Unicorn were laid back and breezy. "My scariest moment was climbing the rigging," she says. "I climbed up two steps, and I was done." When tall ship crew members scale the rigging, called an "up and over," they must climb 80 feet, without a harness or a net below, to the top of the mast where they then secure themselves and step onto a foot rope, usually to stow the sails. The view from this point is similar to the view from the top of a Ferris wheel. Johnson managed to get beyond those first two steps and complete the task. "That was a big accomplishment for me. One thing I learned about myself is that I'm afraid of heights, and I can overcome it." Although Johnson enjoyed her summer of sailing, she does not see herself in a maritime profession. "But I do want to buy a boat, and I do want to keep sailing." Skipper Wickham would be proud. If you or someone you know would like to participate in Project YESS in 2012, please e-mail all inquiries to projectyess@yahoo.com. Back to top |
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Principal Ryan Durr
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New Tech East strives to achieve highest academic rating
Ryan Durr walked out the entrance to New Tech East and stopped in front of a sign.
"There it is," said Durr, the principal at New Tech. He smiled as he pointed to a multicolored banner that covered a good portion of the school's front wall.
The banner read: "New Tech East Rated Continuous Improvement on the 2010-11 Report Card."
That state rating should please any educator in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Successes like New Tech, one of 19 Continuous Improvement schools in the District, are reason to celebrate, right?
Not for Durr. He can't be satisfied, he said, when he knows two higher standards remain for New Tech to meet. Continuous Improvement is now; Effective and then Excellent are ahead.
Durr has set the bar high for this 1-year-old school. "We're going above the bar. We don't have a choice but to go above and beyond," he said.
Before classes began this year, Durr met with teachers at the school, which enrolls 120 students on the East Technical Campus at 2439 East 55th St. He wanted them to hear about the success - to enjoy it; celebrate it. At this meeting, he asked two simple questions for the teachers to answer: "What do we do to stay there? What do we do to go higher?"
The goal isn't to remain a "Continuous Improvement" school, he said.
"Our goal, of course, is Excellent, but we know we may need to take baby steps. So let's try for Effective this year," said Durr, an assistant principal at John Marshall before coming in last year to build New Tech from the ground up. New Tech is one of only two New Tech schools in the state: both of which are CMSD schools. The other is New Tech at Garrett Morgan Campus, located at 4016 Woodbine Ave.
Durr holds frequent discussions with his teachers, asking them to help him devise strategies that will improve educational performance at New Tech, which has become a magnet for District students with an interest in technology.
New Tech provides students a one-to-one computer ratio; offers a suite of high-tech editing and design software; and gives students the latest software in language curriculum. The school has also become almost paperless. Information about homework, attendance, test scores and grades are communicated online between students and teachers. Same for parents who want to monitor their children's academic progress or attendance. They can check it all online.
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Parents can help build their children's reading skills at an early age
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The earlier a child reads, the sooner he will be able to grasp other school subjects. |
Reading is fundamental, but learning to read at an early age holds the key to academic success, says Marwa Ibrahim, principal at the new Anton Grdina School.
Parents have an important role to play in developing those skills, Ibrahim said.
She explained that when children ages 4 to 6 are learning to read, they are taking the fast track to becoming better learners. "I believe that by second-grade students should have the skills to decipher all the text they come across - whether fiction, nonfiction or any type of reading," Ibrahim said. "It really is the foundation of all their work. Whether they do math, science or social studies, they have to be able to read."
But developing reading skills is hard work, and to ensure that children master the art of reading well, they'll need help from their parents, the National Institute for Literacy reports.
Educators in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District have made reading a top priority and recommend these tips that parents should use at home to support reading readiness for their young children:
- Practice the sounds of language. Read books with rhymes. Teach your child rhymes, short poems and songs. Play simple word games: How many words can you say that sound like the word "bat" or "ball"?
- Help your child take spoken words apart and put them together. Help your child separate the sounds in words, listen for beginning and ending sounds, and put separate sounds together.
- Practice the alphabet by pointing out letters wherever you see them and by reading alphabet books.
Across the District, teachers will be complementing the parents' work. In the classrooms:
- Teachers will provide opportunities for children to practice with the sounds that make up words. Children will learn to put sounds together to make words and to break words into separate sounds.
- Teachers will help children learn the alphabet and recognize letter names and shapes.
- Teachers will help children learn and use new words.
- And, teachers will read to children every day and talk to children about what the children are reading.
For parents who want more information about reading instruction, they can download the free brochure "Put Reading First, Helping Your Child to Read."
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