Recordpub.com - Field Board of Education majority says 'Red flags' cited for vote

By Matt Fredmonsky
Record-Courier staff writer
A move by a three-member majority of the Field Board of Education to stop the establishment of a community school sparked a heated debate within the district this week.
Board president Linda Cooper, an 11-year board member, voted Monday with newcomers Donna Karg and Allyson Westover, elected in November, to reject $500,000 in state and federal grant money that would have helped fund the Field Academy of Creative Arts for the next two years.
School administrators have said the creative arts academy would help stabilize the district’s finances, in part, by attracting open enrollment students, who would each bring with them $5,718 in state open enrollment funds to operate the academy.
Funding was one of several issues the three board members addressed in a lengthy nt released Thursday, in which they said poor planning efforts and a lack of communication by administrators led them to the “difficult conclusion ... too many red flags were waving — threatening the academy’s potential success.”
Field elementary-level students opting to enroll in the creative arts academy would channel open enrollment funds away from the district, according to the statement.
Administrators have said, so far, 69 students were already enrolled in the academy. Those 69 students, if they are all current Field students, would funnel $394,542 to the academy, but the board members said that would amount to a loss for the district.
Field Schools Superintendent David Brobeck said he understands that concern, but he believes enough students would attend both the academy and Field schools from outside the district to provide funding for the academy.
“Our hope is that with the Falcon Academy we’ll be able to draw 70, 80 students from Portage County and Summit County to attend the school, and they would bring that open enrollment money with them,” he said.
The $500,000 grant cannot be used for teacher salaries, but the open enrollment funds brought by students would be used to cover staff costs, Brobeck said.
In the statement, the board members also questioned why the academy would include elementary grade students and not middle or high school students “where the greatest need(s) exist and from where we lose the majority of students to other schools.”
This was an issue Cooper raised during the meeting Monday, when she read from a statement saying that in recent years she has watched electives disappear at the high school level along with students who move to other open enrollment districts.
Westover made a similar statement Monday in which she also said she was not opposed to the community school.
“These types of schools have proven successful in urban and declining areas, with a focus on middle and high school students,” she said. “The Field community is neither urban nor declining, nor are we offering this academy to middle and high school.”
Brobeck said Field administrators recently visited the Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts in Akron, which accepts grades three through eight, and received praise for the Field academy plan.
“We need to start teaching kids to do things young and build capacity as they get older,” he said.
The district began looking at the now vacant Central Elementary School building in December 2008 to house a community school when board members then voted to approve applying for an initial grant to start the academy.
However, it’s been inconsistent and uncertain planning since then that have become Westover’s real concerns, she said Monday.
“Considering this school has been in the planning stages for a year and a half, and there are still so many unanswered questions in regards to finances, curriculum, staffing and parental involvement; heightens my concerns as to its stability,” she said.
But Brobeck said state approval of next year’s proposed budget for the academy and the fact it was one of seven schools in Ohio to get grant funding is proof enough the plan has merit.
“This school will succeed,” he said. “We have outstanding teachers who want to teach there. There’s very low risk for the district.”

13.	Posted by coop March 12, 2010
	hey love it,wasn't sure if anyone would get the asphalt joke. Did you hear that Tiger Woods picked up another sponsor? A Sexual enhancement pill company similar to Viagra. They call it TiAgra. Not going to tell you the second punch line. Hey "why did i move here," rural districts are discriminated against when it comes to creative arts or any electives. Its all about money. The great 8 urban districts in Ohio get the most money (per capita) and have the absolute worst test scores and graduation rates. In a real way, enrichment programs are discriminated against in rural districts because of lack of money.. The DeRolph decision recognized that education in Ohio was not fair or equitable. and tried to even the playing field with no results. Not my view, but an argument could be made that creative arts favor a small group and do not improve the Districts State test scores.