Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Would DECA really have closed?
Last week, Ohio House speaker Jon Husted was in for an endorsement interview with the DDN editorial board in his race for the Ohio Senate against Centerville school board member John Doll. (Husted earned the paper’s endorsement.)
In the course of the conversation, Husted used the Dayton Early College Academy as an example. Husted said he pushed to change Ohio law to allow DECA to convert more easily to a charter school and if he hadn’t done so, the high scoring high school would have closed.
You may recall that the University of Dayton, which ran DECA in conjunction with Dayton schools, wanted an exemption from the district’s teacher contract when the district moved to lay off staff, including 200 teachers, in 2007. The school wanted its staff kept outside the seniority rules for layoff. Otherwise the district’s cuts would have caused a chunk of the school’s teachers to be cut loose, replaced by displaced teachers from other city high schools.
Instead, DECA dissolved its contract to operate under the city school district’s direct control and became a charter school. The only problem was Ohio had a cap on charter schools that would not allow even one new school to open. Husted pushed through the change that allowed DECA in under the cap.
But would the school have actually closed without Hustead help?
Perhaps. But maybe not. There was another choice. The school could have decided to live with the union rules and the layoffs and make the best of it. To be clear, DECA school leaders have said they were not willing to make that compromise. They said at the time (and according to Husted, they still maintain) the school would be ruined without its hand-picked teaching staff and that it would have closed if not for the option to go charter.
But would the school have really pulled the trigger and shut down if it had to stay in the district and play by the union rules? Would school leaders really have shut its doors and pointed its kids back to the city high schools many of them fled? Or would the school have made the best of a bad situation and given it a go?
I suppose this is one of those “what if” questions we will never know the answer to for certain.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment | Categories: Charter Schools and School Choice
Comments
By Curious
October 20, 2008 4:56 PM | Link to this
Question? Where I live school choice is dictated by where you live. If you live north or west of a certain area you go to the school in that area. If you want a different school you move or you go to a charter or private school. Why doesn’t Dayton use this as school choice. If the schools that students attend are closer to thier homes we could get rid of the excuse my car doesn’t run so I can’t attend any school events. Just a question, Is school choice enabling parents not being involved?By D.T.
October 15, 2008 10:26 AM | Link to this
Terri, 100% of DECA teachers are HQ and DECA lost only one teacher last year. Two staff members took administrative jobs in other buildings (Alter and Ruskin).By Terri
October 9, 2008 9:30 PM | Link to this
What is the turn over rate of teachers and staff at DECA? Are the teachers there “highly qualified” as defined by NCLB?By Dave
October 9, 2008 11:36 AM | Link to this
Considering Mr. Husted’s clear contempt for the Ohio constitution and his refusal to do anything positive about school funding, I feel this endorsement is a major blunder by the DDN.By deb
October 8, 2008 6:30 PM | Link to this
I don’t know anything about John Doll…but I don’t understand how John Hustead can earn an endorsement when he is so anti urban/public school system??????By Mary
October 8, 2008 2:11 PM | Link to this
I’l try again on submitting these comments about this topic. I thought it was tacky for the endorsement to say Hustead deserved election because he got funds for Welcome Stadium. Since when is pork barrel spending and earmarks for your district qualifications for elected office. That is why our state and country are in over their head financially. If Husted was as interested in funding the classroom as he is in stadiums, Dayton Public Schools might not have had problems funding DECA or Dayton Public School teachers.By Scott Elliott
October 8, 2008 10:54 AM | Link to this
Derailed, sorry my typo caused you distress. It’s fixed now.By DerailedTrainOfThought
October 8, 2008 10:41 AM | Link to this
Scott (know longer an education reporter) rites, “… questions we will never no the answer to for certain.” That was a well written and informative article, but my concentration vaporized into plasma with that last sentence. Ouch. Enuf sed.