APS Board restores sports, some music programs
By Jeff Gorman
DOWNTOWN AKRON — The Akron Public Schools (APS) Board of Education restored supplemental contracts for sports and music at the Jan. 22 meeting.
Due to the passage of the district’s operating levy this past November, board members were able to restore some of the cuts that were made when the levy failed in May. The board had cut $7.3 million from the district’s budget, including more than 100 jobs, sports below the high school varsity level, elementary school instrumental music programs and foreign languages in elementary and middle schools.
About a month after the cuts were made, the board decided to restore junior varsity sports because of safety and scheduling concerns. The board had said if the levy were approved in November, some of the cuts would be restored.
Several coaching positions will return, including junior varsity football and golf and freshman football, soccer, volleyball, wrestling, baseball, track, softball and basketball.
Middle school coaching positions also will be restored in soccer, wrestling, volleyball, track, softball and basketball.
Elementary school music director
positions will return, along with the middle school
positions of instrumental
music director, vocal music director and strings director.
Full-time positions that were
cut will be reconsidered in the spring.
“We are also looking
at options to restore middle school foreign language
programs,” said Superintendent Sylvester Small.
Small explained that coaches
were working on their schedules for next year, which
meant the school board needed to make a decision about
the athletic programs.
In other news, the school board
voted to revise the master plan for the school reconstruction
project. Margaret Park, Jackson and Heminger elementary
schools will close at the end of the school year.
The reasons for the closings
are declining enrollment numbers, the opening of the
Helen Arnold Community Learning Center (CLC) next fall
and the reconstruction of Innes Middle School. The closures
had previously been announced but not officially scheduled.
“We are effectively ending
the Akron busing plan,” said board member James
Hardy. “As we move back to neighborhood schools,
we must not lose sight of the fact that every child
thrives in a diverse environment.
We have self-segregated over the last 30 years.”
“The west side is probably
the most diverse area in the city,” noted board
Vice President Linda Omobien. “Still, the Buchtel
cluster is very segregated. It’s 99 percent African
American. We need to do whatever we can to keep that
area strong.”
The students that currently attend
the three schools will be dispersed to surrounding schools.
Margaret Park, located in the Summit Lake area, and
Heminger, located in Kenmore, will be used for swing
space, while the school board hasn’t yet announced
a plan for the Jackson building, located in North Akron.
In other news, Vince Duffy, of
Channel 45/49’s “NewsNight Akron”
program, presented the “Akron Newsmaker of the
Year” award to Small and the school board. Duffy
cited the passage of the levy, improved test scores
and the school reconstruction project as reasons the
school officials won the award.
In addition, board member Shelia
Smith said she should have a recommendation on the cell
phone issue at the next board meeting.
Also, at the next meeting, board
members Hardy, Omobien
and the Rev. Curtis Walker are scheduled to talk about
the effort to overhaul the state school funding system.
Before the meeting, the Joint
Board of Review met to oversee the school reconstruction
project. Members of the new Citizens Monitoring Committee
and CLC Advisory Committee were on hand to receive their
instructions.
The CLC Advisory Committee will
give recommendations to city and school officials on
the daily operations of the new buildings. The members
are Lester Carney, Holli Mallak, Greg Kalail, Stephen
Buschko, Sharon O’Connor, Teresa LeGrair, Tim
Miller, Margaret Payne and alternates Melvin Blake,
Theresa Flannery and Daniel Hayes.
The Citizens Monitoring Committee
will report to the community on the expenditure of funds
on the reconstruction project. The members are Richard
Merolla, Connie Krauss, David Moran, Joseph Siegferth,
the Rev. Melford Elliott, Robert Hahn, Allan Markey,
Julie Ann Sweet-Buntin, Shirley Washington, Michael
Witwer and alternate Edward Bollinger.
The next APS Board of Education
meeting is scheduled for Feb.12 at 5:30
p.m. at the administration building, 70 N. Broadway.
The Joint Board of Review will meet at 4 p.m.
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