“CELEBRATE PUBLIC EDUCATION” Ceremony
When: January 24rd, 11:00am – 12:30pm
Where: The Ohio Statehouse Atrium
COLUMBUS – It’s time to “Celebrate Public Education!” Ohio public school districts serve more than 1.8 million students and employ more than 245,000 Ohioans as the largest employer in the state. Public schools are open to all children, paid for by our taxes, and governed by democratically elected public school boards. In fact, public education is the pillar of our democracy.
Let’s celebrate that!
On January 24th from 11:00am – 12:30pm, Public Education Partners (PEP) will honor the expertise, dedication and passion of public school students, teachers and leaders in school districts across the state during a PUBLIC EDUCATION WEEK ceremony at the Ohio Statehouse Atrium.
PUBLIC EDUCATION WEEK has been officially recognized throughout Ohio with formal proclamations issued by local school boards, city councils and other elected leaders. There has also been bi-partisan support at the Statehouse for PUBLIC EDUCATION WEEK. Republican and Democratic legislators in the Ohio House and Senate have issued formal proclamations in honor of this special week celebrating public education in Ohio.
The Statehouse event, appropriately named CELEBRATE PUBLIC EDUCATION, will honor teachers & students from Ohio’s Public Elementary and High Schools. Students will share Music, Writing, Poetry, Film & Video and other Classroom Projects.
East Cleveland’s Award-Winning Mighty Shaw High School Marching Band will perform in the State House Atrium to “Kick-Off” Celebrate Public Education at 10:45 am, January 24th. In just a few weeks after performing its magic at Celebrate Public Education, it’s on to the Mardi Gras in New Orleans for the highly esteemed Mighty Shaw Cardinals Marching Band!
Cincinnati Public Schools District Coordinator will share the school district’s nationally recognized Community Learning Centers “wrap around” model, integrating Cincinnati’s Public Schools with their local neighborhoods and communities in support of students and their families.
Fort Hayes Metropolitan High School’s Librarian and English teacher (Columbus Public Schools) will be sharing powerful performance poetry with talented Fort Hayes’s musicians and student poets from Fort Hayes “Poetry Slam” team.
Wickliffe Progressive Community School art teacher and students (Upper Arlington City Schools), will be presenting an incredible month-long partnership that paired 4th grade art students with community members who have Alzheimer’s disease, as reported on by the Dispatch (April 27, 2018 – Program pairs elementary students in art classes with Alzheimer’s adults).
Huy Elementary School Principal and supervisor of the Columbus Hearing Impaired Program will share the Hearing Impaired Teaching services at Huy Elementary which serve hearing impaired children from the ages of 3 – 22 years of age and offer a variety of services to meet the needs of each child, including audiological and speech services “in-house.” The teachers within the program are all highly qualified, with a wealth of knowledge of language development and Deaf Education.
“Stand Up for Public Education” High School Video Tech Broadcasting teams from Boardman Public Schools, North Canton Public Schools and Upper Sandusky Public Schools will be presenting their 1st, 2nd and 3rd place award winning videos from the Ohio School Boards “Stand Up for Public Education Video contest (Fall 2018).
Quotes from participating Teachers, District Leaders and PEP Board Members:
Jeanne Melvin, President of the Board, Public Education Partners
“I am a board member of an organization called Public Education Partners (PEP), a statewide nonprofit that was created to connect and unite advocates that support public school districts and the children and families they serve. PEP is a nonpartisan group that was formed to support publicly accountable Ohio schools for all students, to advocate for equitably funded public schools that offer a full curriculum to all children, and to help connect public education advocacy groups across the state.
Through my 36-year career as a public school teacher, I witnessed firsthand the important role that public education plays in preparing students to be successful adults. Public schools are welcoming places where people from all walks of life can send their children to learn together – schools that teach children not only how to read and write, but also how to work and play together. Public schools are what we need to help heal the deep divisions in our state and our nation.
Public school districts need to be equitably funded, so they have the necessary resources to offer a top-notch curriculum to every student. We encourage elected leaders to support legislation that would declare moratoriums on new charter schools and school voucher programs, which currently take funding and other valuable resources away from public school districts.
We ask that they work together to repeal the state takeovers of schools imposed in House Bill 70, which are undemocratic, unaccountable, and unacceptable. Our state should instead provide resources to revitalize schools as wraparound community learning centers that bring health, dental, and mental health clinics, after-school programs, and parent support programs into the neighborhood schools.
Let’s guarantee a comparable opportunity to learn for EVERY child, which includes a quality early childhood education, qualified teachers, a rich curriculum that will prepare students for college, work, and community, and equitable instructional resources.
Our kids are worth it!”
Maureen Reedy, Board Member, Public Education Partners
“As a Columbus City Schools graduate, and 30-year retired public school teacher, I believe state “takeovers” of Ohio’s public school districts are not the solution to educating our struggling children who live in poverty and trauma.
Dismantling, disrupting and turning over our public schools to private CEO’s and for-profit operators with little or no educational expertise is not the answer. State takeovers have proven disastrous in Ohio as well as across the country.
Ohio’s legislature and Governor DeWine need to fund legislation to support Ohio’s Public Schools in embracing ‘wrap-around models’ to help connect children and families in poverty and trauma recovery with community resources on site (ie. East Cleveland’s ‘wrap-around’ model and the Community Learning Center model; Cincinnati Public Schools). Lifting children up each day in school by investing in curricular resources, the arts, librarians, guidance counselors, gifted services, social workers, safety personnel, intervention specialists and school nurses for student with special needs; from specific learning disabilities to diagnosed medical conditions is the way to help our children learn and thrive. Our Public Schools are second homes for Ohio’s children, their teachers and their families. Strong, well-funded Public Schools mean healthy, safe and vibrant communities where children and their parents belong and contribute, learning and growing together.
Every cent of public funding is re-invested in strategic resources to support our children in school.
Our most important goal is for every child to reach their potential and live happy, productive lives. As we’ve witnessed here today, Celebrating Public Education, children thrive academically, socially and emotionally as they learn together, in ‘real time,’ with expert, professional teachers in their school community.”
Denyse Woods, Principal, Huy Elementary School, Columbus City Schools (Supervisor, Columbus Hearing Impaired Program – CHIP)
Britt Mickley, Kindergarten Teacher, Huy Elementary School, Columbus Hearing Impaired Program
Denyse Woods and Britt Mickley represent the Columbus Hearing Impaired Program from Columbus City Schools. Britt is in her 12th year teaching the Deaf and currently teaches Kindergarten. Denyse Woods is the Principal of Huy Elementary School and the supervisor of the Columbus Hearing Impaired Program (CHIP). Huy Elementary School is lucky to have a Principal with a background in Deaf Education who also supervises the CHIP program. Our hearing-impaired program has 235 children enrolled from Columbus, one of the 25 school districts served from Central Ohio.
We are honored to serve hearing impaired children from the ages of 3 – 22 and offer a variety of services to meet the needs of each child, including audiological and speech services “in-house.” The teachers within the program are all highly qualified, with a wealth of knowledge of language development and Deaf Education. Many of the students utilize technology such as hearing aids or cochlear implants to better access spoken language. Some students utilize American Sign Language for their communication needs. The CHIP program also has interpreting services to meet the needs of each child including: mainstreaming, inclusion, and itinerant services. We work with outside community agencies to ensure the success of each individual child.
Britt Mickley: “As a veteran educator of the Deaf, I believe in inclusive education. I believe in combining both typical and students with special needs in the same learning environment. The benefits, socially and academically, can make a positive impact on both groups of students (and co-teachers) in so many ways. Fostering this type of learning environment in the classroom should be the expectation in every public school! ”
We are honored to Celebrate Public Education and continue the hard work we put forth for our students each day!
Chris Clones – Media Director , Boardman High School
Boardman School District is very proud of our MultiMedia Program! BSTN students are creative, hard-working, and passionate about communication and video production. And while we believe Boardman is the Best– BSTN is a GREAT example of the exceptional opportunities available in Ohio Public Schools.
Our students operate cameras, edit videos, cover live sports in our football stadium and on our basketball court. They shoot musicals, band and choral concerts that are live streamed to our community. They build the graphics, they run the teleprompter…they direct and anchor the interviews during community segments with the local police chief, or the township trustees….or the local Lions Club and the Rotary. Boardman schools have supported the media program since 1990.
We are grateful for the community partners who support us as well. Boardman Township, Boardman Park, The Rotary, the Lions, the Optimists Club, …the list goes on. With their support, we are able to afford to upgrade equipment, like wireless microphones, Teleprompters, and a host of technology. It gives our students an edge, as they are exposed to high tech equipment they will find at college and even professional studios. Our community partners help make excellent programming affordable for public education.
Shelly Simon – Computer/Technology Teacher, Upper Sandusky High School
Public schools are always looking for ways to improve education for our students. Teaching at Upper Sandusky High School has allowed me to create classes in the Technology/Computer department which helps students to develop ideas from concepts, become critical thinkers, problem solvers, and collaborators. This is done by giving students the foundation, and letting them build upon it whatever interests them in the multimedia, and coding areas. Our public school has given me the freedom as an educator to decide what will best benefit our students in the area of technology.
Please join PEP and friends in the Ohio Statehouse Atrium on Jan. 24, 2019 from 11am-12:30pm to CELEBRATE PUBLIC EDUCATION!
