More students at Cincinnati Public Schools are safe, disciplined and academically successful, Superintendent J. Michael Brandt said Monday.
Suspensions in 1996-97 were down 22.5 percent from the previous year, and expulsions decreased 24.1 percent. The average score on the ACT college entrance exam increased from 19.5 to 19.6.
At a news conference, Mr. Brandt credited innovative teaching methods and learning programs, better security and a Saturday and summer school program called Project Succeed with helping bring about some of those improvements.
For the 1997-98 school year, which starts today, the goal is to continue to improve in the areas of achievement, safety, discipline and service. To that end, the school has:
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Added five new kindergarten-through-eighth-grade schools: Cheviot, Gamble, Central Fairmount, North Fairmount and Westwood.
- Added eight new team-based schools, including Hughes Center and Swifton Primary. The goal is to have 40 by 2000.
- Implemented a districtwide code of conduct that gives administrators a broader range of progressive disciplinary options, addresses gang activity and bans CD players, cellular phones and beepers.
Mr. Brandt also said he wants to continue to "decentralize" the district, allowing more spending and management decisions to be made at the school level.
"In an atmosphere of scarce resources, the people closest to the schools should be making the decisions about how that money should be spent, not me."
Academic achievement continues to be the No. 1 priority area, Mr. Brandt said. It is hoped that continued improvement in that area will mean improvement in another: attendance.
The average high school student attendance rate in 1995-96 was 84.6 percent. The target for 1997 was 85 percent. Of the students who were seniors in October 1995, 66.7 percent graduated the following August.
That's still too low, Mr. Brandt said.
"We know that in this district, if a child fails once before grade eight, he is 35 percent more likely to drop out. If he fails twice, he's 70 percent more likely to drop out . . . what haunts me is we're losing too many kids," Mr. Brandt said.
He's optimistic, however, that changing teaching methods will help boost attendance.
