Our current extremely low state standards in Ohio state that for every 1,000 elementary students, schools must have in place five of the following eight specialists: art, music, counselor, school nurse, librarian/media specialist, visiting teacher, social worker, or physical education.
Now Ohio wants to end even these low standards.
Eliminating these guidelines will likely lead to even more programs being eliminated from Ohio schools.
4 state school board members walked out this morning when discussion was delayed.
Board President Debe Terhar started off the day by announcing that public testimony would be delayed.
Terhar was asked to explain why people who had taken the day off from work would not be allowed to testify and Tehar said nothing. At this point, four board members walked out.
Testimony is ongoing now. The hashtag to follow on Twitter is #Ohio5of8.
Here are the e-mail addresses to contact the Ohio Board of Education members:
At large members are:
- Tess.Elshoff@ode.state.oh.us
- Joe.Farmer@education.ohio.gov
- Tom.Gunlock@education.ohio.gov
- Todd.Jones@education.ohio.gov
- Mark.A.Smith@education.ohio.gov
- Rebecca.Vazquez-Skillings@education.ohio.gov
- Melanie.Bolender@education.ohio.gov
---
David Akadjian is the author of The Little Book of Revolution: A Distributive Strategy for Democracy.