It's not the schools that are broken but the state grading system that is broken according to a group of Lima City School supporters who are working to make sure people understand that.
Lima City Schools superintendent Jill Ackerman was joined by fellow administrators, teachers, students, and community leaders to give the district a voice. A voice to combat the blatant attacks on public education coming from local, state, and federal policy makers. They all agree that Ohio House Bill 70, that legislates the state school grade card policy, is unfair and detrimental to not only the school but Lima and the surrounding area as well, and needs to be addressed and fixed.
"The grade card is not only hurting the Lima City School District, the grade card hurts the community, the City of Lima in general and the surrounding area. You know, whether it's economic development, you know job attraction whatever, we need to do what we need to do to help the school district get beyond this grade that the state has given them," said Peggy Ehora, "Our Town's Group" member.
"The community, with the legislators who ultimately are the ones that are going to have to change the system in order to make certain that they understand that this current grading system is causing real repercussions that long term will cripple public education and do incredible damage to our communities," said David Berger, Lima mayor.
School officials say the report card measures children across the board as if every child is exactly the same. Ackerman says each child is at a different level of learning when they come to them and they work to meet the needs of the student on a level they can learn. She has spoken with local state legislators about their concerns and feels a change may be coming.
"I feel fairly confident now with a lot of work that everybody's doing around the state and our legislatures, many of those legislators are listening to us, that we are going to be able to make some strides and have a more fair system, a more equitable system, of grading our work here," said Jill Ackerman, Lima City Schools superintendent.
All agree that residents and area businesses need to experience Lima City Schools to get a better understanding of how the district does impact Lima-Allen County and beyond.
