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LORAIN COUNTY
AMHERST NEWS-TIMES
Thursday, April 18, 2019
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OBERLIN NEWS-TRIBUNE
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WELLINGTON ENTERPRISE
www.lcnewspapers.com
Volume 6, Issue 16
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BULLETIN BOARD Thursday, April 18 • OBERLIN: Indian musician Rajeev Taranth will perform at 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 18 at Finney Chapel, 90 North Professor St. Taranth is hailed as one of the world’s leading exponents of the sarod. The disciple of maestro Ali Akbar Khan masterfully brings the depth and rigor of the tradition of Hindustani classical music with an inspired imagination and emotional intensity to his work. Admission is $5 for the public or $2 with an Oberlin College ID. • OBERLIN: The Oberlin Brass Ensemble will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 18 at Warner Concert Hall, 77 West College St. Roland Pandolfi will lead the ensemble in movements from Handel’s “Water Music Suite,” a sonata by Gabrielli, Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Procession of the Nobles,” and selections from a new piece by Cody Gray. • OBERLIN: The Indigenous Peoples’ Day committee will meet at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 18 at the Oberlin Public Library. There will be discussion of upcoming events and possibly election of officers, especially a treasurer to register the committee as a nonprofit and help achieve other goals. • OBERLIN: Members of the Oberlin Schools Endowment Fund will talk about their courtyard garden project and others at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, April 18 at Kendal at Oberlin’s Heiser Auditorium. The Oberlin High School jazz club will provide entertainment. • NORTH RIDGEVILLE: The Women Business Owners Network will meet at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 18 at Don Mould’s Plantation, 34837 Lorain Rd. Laura Walker of Don Mould’s Plantation will give a presentation on hydrangeas. The business spotlight will be on massage therapist Alise Excell. Be sure to take dinner. Also, take business cards and literature for an exchange. BULLETIN BOARD PAGE A3
Jonathan Delozier | Amherst News-Times
Activist Susan Kaeser speaks on high-stakes school testing while Oberlin principal Michael Scott listens.
Panel weighs in on state testing JONATHAN DELOZIER REPORTER
Changes to the structure and implementation of Ohio state testing are needed, according to a panel of school officials who gathered April 9 in Amherst. Their verdict: Today’s testing environment comes with far more pressure than what they faced as students — and testing results are often used as a means of threat and sanction from the state rather than a way to help those who need it the most. The League of Women Voters of the Oberlin Area hosted the talk at Cole’s Public House on South Main Street. Invited to field questions from a moderator and audience members were Oberlin Schools superintendent David Hall, Oberlin High School principal Michael Scott,
community activist Susan Kaeser, retired schools test coordinator Gloria Buxton, and Ohio Board of Education member Kirsten Hill. Hall said standardized tests don’t take “bad days” into account, but they should. He recalled crying one day in the fourth grade during his parents’ divorce: “My teacher pulled me out of the classroom to talk to me. He was a mentor for me. I can’t even fathom taking these tests that day. I would’ve bombed the test.” Any time you have an accountability system based on test scores that don’t account for differences in student opportunity, you’re going to be biased against certain types of communities, said Kaeser, She pointed to state data that has drawn a strong correlation between between higher median
incomes and better district scores on the state’s annual report cards. A 2017 study revealed that Ohio districts that scored an A for achievement had average household median income of $70,979. As median wealth declined, so did report card grades. Districts earning B’s came in at $55,398, C’s at $42,253, D’s at $35,824, and F’s at $27,879. The Amherst Schools earned an overall B grade in the latest round of report cards and a C for achievement. According to census data, the city averaged a $68,159 median household income and nine percent poverty rate between 2013 and 2017. Over that same period, Oberlin has averaged $51,117 with a 23.5 percent poverty rate. The public schools there earned a C overall and D for achievement on its SCHOOL TESTS PAGE A2
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OBITUARIES A2 • CROSSWORD B3 • CLASSIFIEDS C3