During the facilities panel meeting at Columbus City Schools on Saturday, attendees were presented information about the chronic decline in enrollment as students progress through grades. According to the most recent data provided from the Ohio Department of Education, the 2013/14 school year started with 4,856 entering kindergarteners, and about half as many students — 2,409 — entering the twelfth grade. Those numbers suggest that CCS has highest rate of enrollment decline in the state.
Even when compared to other schools in the “Urban 8”, the district’s figures stand out:
Absent exit surveys in schools, the reasons for the enrollment decline are undefined. To address this, I conducted an independent poll through Survey Monkey to collect data from families who have left the district. The families asked to complete a questionnaire were families with children formerly enrolled in Columbus City Schools, who intentionally moved those children to other districts, charter schools, and/or private schools.
Respondents selected up to five options to identify, “The reason my family left CCS.”
The most common answer was “Administrative problems.”
“Low expectations” was the next most frequently identified reason, followed by “Accountability to parents.”
Also scoring highly was the “Other” category; respondents listed reasons for departure including rejection from lottery choices, student safety, “system protecting the system rather than the child,” and “district dysfunction from top down” :
When asked the open-ended question of what the district could have done to retain these families, the responses were:
“Columbus City Schools treats parents as if we are the problem. When we tried to work with district level personnel on various topics, we were repeatedly talked down to as if we were incompetent and our voice and opinions did not matter. Columbus City [Schools] personnel were rude, impatient and hostile.”
“Parents and community members should feel welcomed by a district. We felt like we were in a constant battle with the district.”
“The levy was a sham, poorly thought out, only benefitting those who wanted to make money off the taxpayers. It was supported by a weak Union President and Superintendent who would not stand up to the Mayor and others to offer true change for the benefit of our children. I could no longer support a district run by puppets for those who only wanted to make money off our children’s educational experiences.”
“Offer better options for high school. The available spots in good high schools are slim and the lottery system stinks.”
“No one is accountable to families. Teachers are accountable to principals, principals to supervisors and supervisors to downtown.”
“It’s not okay for administrators to lie to parents, that’s not ‘Public Relations’. It’s reasonable for parents to expect that ALL children (not just the “gifted”/wealthy) will be in organized, productive classrooms, but CCS never delivers.”
“Truly put child first and if (CCS) had asked what would have been best for child, they would have taken other actions – instead they said the followed the process and dismissed the internal problem. We felt in private school we switched to we would have a voice they would listen to if any problems arose . . . but problems haven’t arisen.”
“Self respect. It’s tolerance of poor behavior, lack of teacher support and lack of resources was intolerable. Money is poorly allocated to low performers who are still low performing and not those schools with committed parents, teachers, students who seek and find success despite limitations.”
“Give the teachers the entire curriculum from the beginning and not leave them wondering from week to week what they would be teaching. (Yes, I did have a teacher tell me this, during parent teacher conferences) . . . Give the administration more power to discipline unruly children, instead these kids were taking up valuable teaching time with their classroom antics.”
“Put in place an administration that is actually family/parent friendly. Both schools my children were enrolled in at CCS had principals that did not want to deal with parents. They were more worried about having a “stellar” reputation within the community than admitting their could actually be some issues that needed work . . . Do not coddle and separate the gifted and talented children from the rest of the school population. Then, do not also reward those children and rub it in the faces of the rest of the school.”
“Expanded successful schools (CAHS) to allow for qualified students to enroll vs. giving students whose school closed first choice regardless of academic performance. Allowing students to remain in their lottery feeder pattern with their schoolmates instead of having to face starting fresh at every transition to a new building (elementary, middle, high) Providing more rigorous classes with high expectations of students. Spending money in the classroom instead of on consultants.”
“Implement protocols for safe and manageable classrooms so learning could actually happen. Also make the LD tutor actually tutor. Those things would have kept us there and it seems like they should be no brainers.”
“Fired the principle, very incompetent, self absorbed and lacked interest in the children overall. Worried about my childs quality of education and opportunities while progressing to middle school, high school. You only get one shot (in a child’s education)”
The last question is based on an assumption that any public school district wishes to retain families; that may not be the case in Columbus. If CCS does wish to retain families and serve the public, the responses suggest it will have to take actions other than facility improvement.
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