Gene Harris CCS schols retires

• Gblock

  E-News Special Report

  
  
  Dear CCS staff members, supporters, and friends:
  
  On Tuesday evening, September 18, I met with the Board of Education in Executive Session to inform them of my plans to retire at the end of the current school year, on July 1, 2013.
  
  This is something that I have been considering for more than a year. This is a decision that has been made with considerable thought, prayer and conversation with my family. I have had a wonderful career in Columbus City Schools – spanning 35 years, with nearly 12 of those serving as District Superintendent.
  
  When graduating from Linden-McKinley High School in 1971, it was one of my lifelong dreams to become the superintendent of my hometown school district. I don’t think anyone could be as fulfilled and fortunate as I feel today. I chose this path for two reasons – the students and the people in the Columbus City School District. To be able to give back to a system that laid the foundation for my life, my love for learning and for who I am today, is a gift that most people never experience.
  
  Our work will continue, and one of my highest priorities over the next several months is to continue to work with the Auditor of State and the District’s Internal Auditor to resolve the ongoing statewide investigation into student attendance record keeping. I asked the Auditor of State to investigate the attendance reporting concern, and I plan to see it through and to get this challenge behind us before I leave, in July.
  
  I also want to step up our efforts to increase our engagement between our schools and the community. More than 80% of our students live in poverty, and their needs are many. Forty-two percent of our entering kindergartners need intervention services, 8,700 CCS students have a special need or disability, and we have a growing population of students whose primary language is not English (more than 95 different languages are spoken across the District). Getting every element of our community involved to help us in this important work is critical, because our schools can’t do it alone.
  
  I have already spoken with Mayor Coleman about my concerns. He has been an avid supporter of our students – and our school district, and he has expressed an interest in becoming even more active in Columbus City Schools. He has mentored some of our students and he has a true connection with them. He has his own Capital Kids program and he knows how critical it is to our future workforce to make sure every child graduates with a high quality education.
  
  Together, we have accomplished many great things for the students of CCS. A sampling of these includes:

  • District schools earning an A or B academic rating on the State of Ohio Report Card has increased from 15 in 2004 to 29 in 2011.
  • Our graduation rates have increased by more than 30 points, from only 55% in 2001 to 85.1% in 2011.
  • Twelve CCS schools were named among the nation’s best in 2010 by U.S. News and World Report.
  • We created the Higher Education Partnership to provide a single point of contact between CCS and eleven Central Ohio colleges/universities, as well as I Know I Can; designed to develop programs that boost student achievement and college readiness.
  • We established a no-cost Summer Institute to help students pass the Ohio Graduation Test.
  • We created The Virtual High School Program that enables students to earn high school credits online.
  • The District’s Seniors-to-Sophomores Program was developed, enabling high school students to earn one year of college credit from a local college or university.
  • In 2010, the District earned a Standard & Poor’s bond rating of AA, placing us among the twenty highest-rated school districts in Ohio.
  • We’ve had tremendous success with the development of our capital improvements program. To date, 39 Columbus schools have been rebuilt or substantially renovated.
  • We continue to work hard to operate as efficiently and effectively as possible, closing underutilized buildings, reducing expenditures and/or restraining budget growth by nearly $280 million over the past 11 years.
  • Secured voter approval of two operating levies and two bond issues (In 2002, voters approved a 2.96 mills levy; in 2004 a 6.95 operating levy; and in 2008 a combined bond and operating 7.85 mill levy).
  • We have invested in our children reducing K-3 average classroom size, providing new school buses and textbooks, adding critical instruction time back into the school day, and providing innovative programs such as a new international high school; two, gender-based middle schools, a K-8 international studies program, and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM)-focused schools located throughout the district.

  As part of the recent discussions with the District’s Levy Millage Committee, I introduced efforts to:

  • Expand CCS Pre K to substantially increase capacity to 50% of incoming Kindergartners and dramatically impact readiness skills
  • Create an Innovation Fund to aggressively improve persistently low-performing schools through collaborations with high-performing district and charter schools.
  • Launch a Leadership Academy with The Ohio State University to maximize principal leadership capacity to create transformational change leading to high-performing schools.

  There are many more successes in store for Columbus City Schools, our students and our staff in the future.
  
  It’s been twelve years since the District last searched for a new superintendent, and I have made a commitment to the Board of Education – and I make that same commitment to our staff and community – that I will make sure the transition to new leadership goes smoothly. I will not allow my departure to slow down our progress. We have a great leadership team, and a focused and caring staff who are committed to the students of Columbus.
  
  Thank you for the support and encouragement you have provided me throughout this exciting 35-year journey. Please know that we will keep you apprised of our progress and the efforts on the part of the Board of Education to find my successor.
  
  Respectfully,
  Gene T. Harris, Ph.D.
  Superintendent/CEO
  
  If you like CCS schools or not. If you like Gene Harris or not. She did a great job as superintendent and when compared to Public school districts of similar size and demographics..CCS schools are at the top of those lists.
• Gblock

  sorry for the typo in the title im sure you can have some fun w that tho
• OSH

  

  Already sent in my application.
• Steel Valley Football

  So is this from the attendance scandal? Didn't read it all. Or is he just retiring?
• cruiser_96

  

  She; and my wife and I think a greater deal of this has to do with what is coming down the pipe as far as 3rd graders being able to read on level is concerned.
  
  As to the attendance scandal... for me the question is when did Gene Harris find out. Getting an honest answer is probably more an exercise in futility. But my thought is her underlings could have been doing this for years before it came to her knowledge. To this day my boss at Ponderosa has NO CLUE what used to happen to those steaks, let alone the owner of the company.
  
  Lastly, people want to blame this on funding. While it may have some validity, I think we'll never get a clear picture as long as integrity is compromised.
  
  Anywho, whatevs.
• Cat Food Flambe'

  

  Gene Harris is female, actually. And yes, it's completely driven by the fact that many people within the CPS system deliberately and actively submitted falsified records for the district's financial and political gain. Were this a for-profit corporation, about two dozen people would be facing prison time, as CPS received several million dollars in state incentives from "meeting" metrics as a result of the falsification.
  
  I doubt she knew about the falsification, but she did not move decisively to resolve and clean up the mess once it came to light. Moreover, CPS will never pass another levy until she is gone - the board cancelled the levy that was appear on this November's ballot.
• Gblock

  yea i think it had mostly to do with the levy, no way it would pass with her still here and being time for a change...average span of a super is just shy of 5 years and she made it twice that. Our district went from 55% grad rate to 85 percent on her watch. she was a forward thinker and will im sure move on to a high paying job in the business world or another district.
• FatHobbit

  

  Gblock;1276483 wrote:Our district went from 55% grad rate to 85 percent on her watch.

  nice