John Eby on our Schools

Garry Smith, Madisonville asked:

Every City Council election candidates preach about better schools in the City of Cincinnati. In the past when I have raised concerns about the public school system to City Council members, I have always been told by City Council members that is an issue for the board of education. It seems once candidates are elected to City Council the priority of our public schools is passed off to the board of education. If you are elected, what is your specific plan to have City Council to be more directly involved in the public school system issues?


My Response:

Thanks for the question. It is clearly one that has generated great debate, heated discussions, controversy, and much drama throughout major cities in America. It has yielded significant positive results for the cities that have made a change so that school boards, city council, and the mayor work together. Your question asks what will candidates do if elected to council? To frame the question in a larger context, "Should the mayor take over running the public school system?

My campaign has consistently stated that people living in or moving to Cincinnati want three things.

• Clean safe streets.
• Quality educational opportunities.
• Affordable market-rate housing.

I add a fourth "pillar" to these-economic development that will mean better jobs and better services for all Cincinnatians. I share your concern that our children need world class educational opportunities.

As a good first step I propose that the Cincinnati School Board and City Council continue to meet once each quarter for educational summits to address the problems plaguing our public school system.

A non comprehensive list of agenda items should include:

• Improving poor test score performance
• Reducing taxpayer frustration with school levies
• Ending scandalous financial mismanagement of funds ($79 million dollar shortfall)
• Increasing accountability on hiring and firing of teachers and school administrators
• Ending bureaucratic red tape
• Reduce the growing segregation of our schools
• Restoring the faith of our citizens that our schools are properly educating our children for their place in a competitive world wide marketplace.

These issues can and must be addressed by the school board, city council, and the mayor. Otherwise we will find our children and our city being left behind. I believe that these quarterly summits can help the school board, city council, and the mayor to understand each other better. What we really need is to have the school board, city council, and mayor formulating a way for the school to succeed.

We need to have a Vision that leads us to being a world class school system that will not accept the current mediocrity which is driving families away from the city schools. We need an Intentionality that includes long term planning, budgeting, and the best uses of our best human resources. We need Accountability so that a clear chain of command is established and followed. There needs to be real consequences for not achieving the goals/ benchmarks that are set for our school administrators, teachers, and school board. I have already advocated for wellness centers, health recreational facilities, and mentoring /tutoring after school programs in our schools.

We also need to look at ways to improve administrative practices and teaching in the schools. These should include ideas such as:

• Better principal training
• Differential pay for teachers
• Incentive pay for teachers who agree to teach in the toughest schools and raise scores
• Closing our lowest performing schools
• Rewarding great teaching and terminating bad teaching
• Putting the needs of students first.

Ultimately, the people of Cincinnati will have to decide if they want the mayor to take over running the schools and appoint a qualified school chancellor as has been done in Boston, Chicago, New York, and Albuquerque.

There are some concerns such as:

• Parents and the public feeling shut out of the process if they can't elect board members
• the fear of politicizing schools
• Political patronage jobs for those who may not be qualified.
  

Some argue that there are also advantages in mayoral takeovers that include:

• Better financial management
• More school choice
• More security
• More corporate cooperation through in-kind donations, mentoring and funding.
  

Let me be clear - I do not support a Mayoral take over at this time. However; Economically, Socially and Politically we need to address these issues NOW so that our schools will improve.

This isn't an "isolated" issue. I have asked you to imagine a greater Cincinnati. This issue is part of the fabric, the weaving of many issues that affect the daily quality of life of many of our citizens. Kenneth Wong, education professor at Brown University, emphatically states, "In order to make cities more competitive mayors (I would add city councils) can no longer just revitalize downtown, or build bigger buildings or a museum, or an aquarium." More mayors and city councils are seeing poor performing schools as a hindrance to economic development. Albuquerque mayor Martin Chavez put his political career on the line vowing to turn around the city schools. He said, "No city can be successful if its school system isn't fully successful."

As a proud graduate of Western Hills High School I want our public school system to succeed. I will commit myself to the necessary changes that will allow for success to happen. I want the city council, the school board, and the mayor to work toward achieving this goal. We need "Doers" on council. We need council members who will do the work that is necessary to overcome the pessimism, the naysayers, and the inertia that has caused us to lower our expectations, to think less of our city, less of our abilities to make a difference. I'm a doer. I believe in the greatness that was, is, and can be Cincinnati. This is why I stayed in Cincinnati to raise my children. We must elect doers. I will bring my faith, vision, imagination, and ingenuity to Council.