[Ohiogift] State Board members need to still hear from gifted advocates. corrected state board emails

[anngift at aol.com]

Corrected state board emails: 


 http://www.oagc.com/files/State%20Board%20email%20addresses.9.27.13.pdf

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: anngift <anngift at aol.com>
To: Ohiogift <Ohiogift at lists.service.ohio-state.edu>
Sent: Fri, Sep 27, 2013 11:42 am
Subject: [Ohiogift] State Board members need to still hear from gifted advocates.


FYI: see the email below from the education management associations:  While I can't verify this, the word on the street is that the state superintendent has told district superintendents to start emailing state board members. Please keep emailing state board members. We need to step up our game. Please add State Superintendent Dick Ross to your list of contacts to email. His email address is superintendent at education.ohio.gov 

I will post a new advocacy alert later today. Remember, be polite, be short and to the point, but email all board members and copy in the state superintendent. 

Talking points: 

1. Eliminating all inputs such as time requirements, staff ratios, and staff qualifications lowers the bar for service to gifted children. The operating standards should first and foremost be about supporting and protecting children, not lowering the bar so that adults can game the system to make their service numbers look good even while children are not receiving proper support. 

2. There are currently very few output measures in the system that are usable for gifted students and contrary to what the education managements groups are saying, there are no accountability measures or consequences in place for districts if they fail to provide adequate services to gifted children. Unless these are in place, gifted children across the state will be hurt by the September 5 draft gifted operating standards. 

3. The General Assembly allocated over $85 million to gifted students in the budget and added language saying the funds were intended to be spent on gifted students. Despite the governor's veto on the level of gifted staff to be hired under the gifted formula, the funding formula still indicates that gifted funds should be used for gifted identification, gifted coordination, and gifted intervention specialists. As taxpayers, we want to know that the funding is used appropriately. 

Add your own personal message. Keep it short. Keep it polite. But please keep sending emails. If you sent it once, send it again. Have your spouses send something. Have your children email. You get the drift. Here is a link to state board member addresses: 

http://www.oagc.com/files/State%20Board%20email%20addresses.pdf

Thanks, 

Ann 

________________________________________________________




To:         School board members, superintendents, treasurers and other school business officials

From:    Damon Asbury, OSBA โ€” (614) 540-4000
             Tom Ash, BASA โ€” (614) 846-4080
             Barbara Shaner, OASBO โ€” (614) 325-9562

Date:     Sept. 27, 2013

Re:        Contacts Needed on Possible Gifted Mandates

We sent a โ€�Call to Actionโ€� last week concerning the Gifted Education Operating Standards scheduled to be approved at the State Board of Educationโ€�s October meeting. It has come to our attention that members of the State Board are hearing from parents of gifted children and other advocates, and they are requesting more stringent mandates on school districts for managing gifted education programs and the state funds that accompany them.

We have been told State Board members are not hearing from school districts on the issue. We are concerned that a lack of communication from school districts will lead the State Board to believe that school districts are comfortable with increased mandates for gifted education. We believe we have heard our members say that required expenditures represent more mandates.

As you know, Gov. John Kasich vetoed language that would have increased mandates on school districts for gifted education. Based on his action, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) revised the proposed operating standards to be less stringent. These two actions have sparked recent efforts by parents of gifted students and other advocates.

We believe all students should be given the opportunities they need to be successful.  However, we feel school district administrators should be given the flexibility to allocate their resources at the local level to maximize these opportunities. We also believe subgroup accountability will ensure gifted students are properly educated, or districts will suffer the consequences of public reaction and/or the possibility of sanctions by ODE.

Please contact State Board President Debe Terhar and other State Board members, then copy State Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Richard Ross on the message at superintendent at education.ohio.gov.

Click here for a list of State Board members and their contact information: State Board Members ( http://ealerts.osba-ohio.org/files/file/StateBoardContacts(1).doc )



Ohio School Boards Association
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Columbus, OH 43235
(614) 540-4000|www.ohioschoolboards.org ( http://www.ohioschoolboards.org/ ) 

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