Community thinks district has much to do, study reveals

The Columbus Dispatch

5/7/2006

By Jennifer Smith Richards

“They better get it together, or they will be losing more and more kids.”

Thousands of Columbus Public Schools parents are gone already. But these are the voices of the ones who stayed.

They know what they don’t like about the district.

“The police are at my daughter’s school every day.”

They know what they like, too.

“The teachers are good. They are willing to do extra for (students) when they see they are struggling.”

And they’re clear on what might drive them to switch to a charter, private or suburban school: Schools don’t impose discipline and aren’t safe. Students don’t receive enough one-on-one attention. Teachers don’t communicate well enough with parents.

Parents who already have switched their kids to charter schools also cited such reasons for leaving the district.

“It’s time for Columbus Public to stand up and take back their schools.”

More than 7,000 students have left the district for charter schools. Who left, and why, has been studied by KidsOhio.org, a Columbus-based group that studies children’s issues, including interest in charter schools and vouchers.

Then, about 600 parents of current Columbus students had their turn during a detailed telephone survey that recorded their comments.

Pollsters asked parents to grade their schools and the district. They asked them what could be better and what wasn’t working.

Most of the parents, 62 percent, gave their child’s school a grade of A or B, with middle and high schools scoring, on average, closer to a C. The district overall averaged a C, too.

But for a district that already has lost thousands of students to charter schools and could lose thousands more as private-school vouchers become available, here’s the startling finding: Unless they see improvement in their child’s school, as many as 21 percent of parents said they might pull their children out of the district.

An additional 37 percent said they could become receptive to the idea in the future.

Parents’ likelihood of removing their children didn’t vary by race, income, education level or geography. It also didn’t matter whether students were making good grades.

“One in five parents of an A or B student still wants to leave,” said Martin Saperstein, president of Saperstein Associates Inc., which conducted the poll for KidsOhio.

“Schools apparently are not diagnosing individual needs and prescribing ways to meet that need.”

Mark Real, director of Kids-Ohio, said: “It doesn’t appear this (enrollment decline) is really going to slow down unless there is a concerted effort by the district.”

Superintendent Gene Harris said, “The bottom line is that we are really making progress.”

The graduation rate is on the rise, graduates are earning more scholarships, and test scores are improving, she said.

But, judging from the poll, improving the district as a whole isn’t enough.

“The goal of increasing the graduation rate is of little utility to most parents,” Saperstein said. Parents are focused on their own children, not indicators of the district’s quality.

Harris said the district is heeding parents’ advice; schools don’t want them to leave.

Soon, a new discipline program will be handed down to principals and teachers, Harris said. Requiring uniforms will be discussed, and a school for children with discipline problems is being designed.

Schools also will receive customer-service training.

One-on-one attention might be a little more difficult.

“As we close schools, we shrink our resources and potentially could have some class sizes go up. That will be a challenge,” Harris said.

The district will continue to create more specialized programs, the superintendent said, although this poll didn’t indicate parents are terribly concerned about specific plans such as single-gender schools or science-focused programs.

Harris said she knows parents like choices.

The district predicts next year’s enrollment will dip to 57,300. It fell just below 60,000 last year, significantly down from 10 years ago, when the district had more than 68,000 students.

“Columbus Public Schools are dangerous.”

“I just don’t see them doing any better unless they go back to basics.”

“Why don’t they listen to us? ”

Said Real: “You can’t change this with business as usual.”

jsmithrichards@dispatch.com

Copyright © 2006, The Columbus Dispatch