By Denise Smith Amos
The Cincinnati Enquirer

ELECTION GUIDE

Election Guide 2003 Cincinnati.com provides an early look at the Nov. 4 vote with help on getting you registered, lists of area candidates and the latest campaign news. And there's more to come, including candidate profiles - as we get closer to Election Day. • CPS board candidates

Too many of Cincinnati's neighborhood schools lack the educational resources and highly trained teachers to move the school system out of its "academic emergency" status.

There is an unequal distribution of resources among Cincinnati public schools, and the ones needing the most often get the least.

Budget cuts have eliminated many of the things that keep children motivated, including fine arts education and extracurricular activities.

These are just some of the concerns raised by more than a dozen parents and community observers Thursday night at the sole pre-election public debate involving the seven candidates for Cincinnati Public Schools Board of Education.

The debate drew nearly 90 people to the board's Corryville headquarters. All seven candidates - running for three board seats to be decided Nov. 4 - presented their views and offered rebuttals.

The incumbents are John J. Gilligan, Florence Newell and Rick Williams. Challenging them are Alan S. Coleman, Derry Hooks II, Robert Killins Jr. and Roy McGrath.

Several parents told the candidates that neighborhood schools lack resources, while the magnet and high-profile schools, such as Walnut Hills High, get ample resources and attention.

Two of the incumbents acknowledged that for years, magnet and specialty schools - such as those with Montessori or Paideia programs - garnered greater financial resources than regular schools, often because these schools' educational programs called for it.

Those programs also required that teachers be specially trained and certified, Williams said.

Newell said the district has taken steps to equalize per-pupil spending.

But after 20 years of inequity, Newell admitted, "It's going to take awhile for neighborhood schools to catch up."

Ruth Johnson-Watts of North Avondale cares for a nephew who attends Burton Elementary. She said she's tired of waiting.

"We've been catching up for a long time. Give us what we need now and you can fix the budget later," she said, to applause.

Gilligan defended magnet schools, saying they are the only way to meet the needs of children with special talents or skills.

When asked how they'd combat high dropout and truancy rates, the candidates had differing ideas.

Newell said making every school a community building would help students feel emotionally and physically safe enough to stay. Williams said tracking students grade-by-grade can enable schools to detect academic problems before a child drops out or gets left back a grade.

Coleman, a retired music teacher, said broader curricula, including fine arts, will keep kids interested.

Gilligan agreed.

Hooks, another retired teacher, said the board should make schools friendlier for parents, to boost involvement and ownership.

Several parents said stronger ties are needed between teachers and the neighborhoods where they teach.

Vicky Antoine, a parent-involvement coordinator at Washington Park Elementary, said teachers who don't live in the city can't appreciate some of their students' circumstances. Many send their own children to private schools.

"There seems to be a disconnect in their interests to serve the children," Antoine said.

Some in the audience clapped at a suggestion that teachers and administrators be encouraged to live in the district and send their children to public schools.

Anees Fardan of Mount Airy, a psychologist and father of two former CPS students, said there are teachers in the district who don't care.

He said some of his son's teachers in junior high and high school failed to follow through on assignments or push his son enough. They also didn't adapt to his different style of learning or relate some of their lessons to his culture, said Fardan, who is African-American.

"They're still blaming the kids," Fardan said. "They're looking at the test scores without looking at the teachers."

E-mail damos@enquirer.com