I am one of those parents. My signature is on the list that was turned in to the School Board. I have found myself at odds with these people many times. They have many problems with managing the school, and instead of dealing with them in a manner that satisfies the public they waste their time making policies that do not help the school, and do so generally behind closed doors. If they bring back Ralph Jacobs they will prove that they are hypocrits, and should ALL be removed during the next election cycle. Donna Hubbard is a terrible superintendant who does not concrens herself with what is going on in the school, or the community. She should also be removed as superintendant. Lockland schools were once under academic warning, and thankfully that has changed, but with the board as it is now things will start to go back to where they were before. We should expect more from our schools and school boards so that we can expect more from our students.
A group of parents, including some leaders of the parent-teacher organization, asked the Lockland school board Tuesday to fire the district's only elementary principal, who is facing an assault charge.
Misty Cromer, an Arlington Heights parent, gave board members a petition she said included 94 names of parents and community members. Michelle Lind-Hatton, the PTO treasurer, said more names on another list are coming.
The petition requests that the school board not renew Ralph Jacob's contract. Jacob, 50, is accused of hitting Rhonda Holloway during an altercation in front of an Avondale home this month. According to the police report, Holloway said Jacob punched her in the mouth.
Jacob since then has been on paid administrative leave. A 2005 contract listed his base salary at $64,000. He could not be reached for comment. A court date is scheduled June 4 before Judge Melissa Powers in Hamilton County Municipal Court.
Some parents said they feared that if Jacob is acquitted, the school board may still employ him as a school leader.
"My main problem with all the charges is that this school holds a zero-tolerance policy. If a child strikes a child, how is the principal going to enforce that?" said Robin Heimann, a parent with four children in the district's schools.
Board President Kim Costanzo received the petition without comment. She said later that the board is likely to meet in June, but she did not know when the board will discuss Jacob's status.
Also during Tuesday's meeting, the board reversed itself on a decision to terminate one of two teachers. The board rehired Michael Cole, an elementary teacher, for at least a year.
But the board voted unanimously to not offer a contract to Jody McOsker, a high school science teacher who last year spoke out against changes in the district's grading policies that she said made it too easy for students to pass.
Her termination, announced last month, prompted a student sit-in that involved several dozen students.
McOsker read a statement during the meeting that continued to question decisions made by school leaders.
She said the school board rarely discussed or debated policy changes in public, and that high school teachers have no place to go if they have a dispute with the principal, Ben Hubbard, because he is the father-in-law of superintendent Donna Hubbard.
"I have chosen to voice my concerns in this public forum because I know that Lockland can be so much more, if only given the chance," McOsker said.
Donna Hubbard said afterward that teachers can complain to their union if they have problems with the principal or other district employees.
0 comments:
Post a Comment