Sunday, April 02, 2000

Public schools show off their results

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More than 10,000 at Expo

BY SARA J. BENNETT
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        Before Saturday, Thomas and Joy Roe had heard only negative things about Cincinnati Public Schools. With 4-year-old daughter Wilhelmina nearing kindergarten age, the Northside couple was getting nervous.

        So they went to the third annual Public Schools-Public Pride Expo 2000 to check out their options. They shopped around for a magnet school. They perused displays trumpeting successful science and music programs. They left feeling better — and a little surprised.

Matthew Navarre demonstrates his chess prowess. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        “I had felt kind of pessimistic, but I'm more open now,” Mr. Roe said, as he and his wife herded Wilhelmina and stroller-bound sister Margaret, 2, through a crowd at the Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center. “Being better informed helps us make major choices, so I hope a lot more people come down here. Instead of complaining about something, learn about it.”

        The Roes are just the kind of people organizers of this year's Expo hoped to reach. The event kicked off Public Education Week with a gala celebrating the achievements of public schools throughout the area.

        The goal: use marketing tools often employed by private schools to break down stereotypes and demonstrate that public schools are successful, too.

        This year's expo attracted more than 10,000 students, parents, teachers and interested community folk. They packed the downtown convention center to watch performances and look at displays by representatives of 40 school districts from Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky.

        This year was the first that schools from across the Ohio River participated. Districts from Campbell and Kenton counties in Kentucky joined districts from Hamilton, Butler, Warren and Clermont counties.

        Also new this year was a job fair where teachers and others looking for school-related work could drop off resumes. Both the job fair and the expo are unique to this area, said Jenny Walters, chairwoman of Public Schools-Public Pride, a coalition of public relations directors and community leaders from Southwest Ohio who plan events to celebrate excellence in public education.

        “Everybody in some way is touched by public education,” she said. “We think it's extremely important that people know that their tax dollars are being used wisely.”

        Everywhere visitors turned Saturday, they found students showing off the unique things they'd learned at school.

        Kids in matching outfits sang and danced. A steel drum band from Lockland High School played Caribbean music. And folks of all ages lined up to try ooey-gooey science experiments using glitter, slimy putty and colored liquid.

        At one booth, third-graders from Weigel Elementary School in Groesbeck created miniature tornadoes in bottles of blue water.

        “What kind of pressure do we have to have for a tornado?” teacher Mary Ouelette asked the kids.

        “Low!” they replied.

        “What kind of clouds form to make a tornado?”

        “Cumulus!”

        “And where do we go when there's a tornado?”

        “The basement!”

        Jane Morris of White Oak watched as daughter Lauren, 9, recited her tornado facts.

        “I'm amazed at what kids do now as opposed to what I did when I was younger,” she said. “It looks like school is a lot more fun now.”

        A few aisles away, Matthew Navarre, 11, of Deer Park, played chess with Pat Ormond, a fifth-grade teacher and organizer of Amity Elementary School's chess club.

        “The mind procedures you use in chess are very similar to the procedures you need to be successful in school,” Mr. Ormond explained.

        “And it's fun,” Matthew reminded him. “It makes your brain wake your body up.”

        Elsewhere in the noisy center, adults in suits lined up to apply for teaching jobs and other opportunities for education-related work.

        “I've only been here an hour, and I probably have about 50 resumes,” said Carole Dorn, community liaison officer for Lebanon schools. “It's wonderful. I didn't realize there were so many people looking for a job.”

        Isa Turner, 28, of Sharonville, went table to table handing out resumes and inquiring about music teacher openings.

        “It's an excellent opportunity for people like me to explore options, get their name out and network,” she said. “I also like that they have student involvement. It makes it a very relaxed atmosphere so it's not so intimidating.”

        In addition to proud parents and prospective teachers, Saturday's expo attracted several out-of-towners who are moving to the area and looking for a good school district, Ms. Walters said.

        “A lot of people just want to see what's going on,” she said. “The reason we really do this is because Public Schools-Public Pride was looking for a way to showcase the positive things going on in public schools. We find public schools often get a bad rap.”

       

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