School may seek grant

By HAROLD GWIN

gwin@vindy.com

youngstown

The treasurer of Mollie Kessler School, an East Wood Street charter school serving learning-disabled children, said the school is considering seeking new state School Improvement Grant money to help improve academic performance.

“We are looking at it, and we are considering it,” said Leslie Brown.

The Ohio Department of Education announced Friday that the U.S. Department of Education has approved Ohio’s application for $132.3 million in School Improvement Grant (stimulus) funds to be made available to help struggling schools improve academics.

Applying for the funds is a competitive process, and 33 area schools are eligible to apply, but five in Youngstown have been given priority application status based on academic performance and/or graduation rates.

Two are city schools: East High School and Odyssey: School of Possibilities. Superintendent Wendy Webb was unavailable to comment.

The others are charter schools: Mollie Kessler, Mahoning Valley Opportunity Center and Summit Academy Middle School. David Maccali, opportunity center superintendent, couldn’t be reached to comment. Deb Skul, chief academic officer for Summit Academy Management, which runs a number of Ohio charter schools, said its Youngstown school won’t be applying for funds.

Schools can apply for three-year grants totaling between $50,000 and $500,000, but getting a grant will require some major changes.

They must apply under one of four “intervention models.”

The Turnaround Model requires replacing the principal and terminating the staff, with no more than 50 percent of the staff being rehired. The new principal is given flexibility in staffing, school calendar and budgeting.

The Restart Model converts a school or closes and reopens a school under a charter-school operator, a charter-management organization or educational-management organization selected through a review process.

The School Closure Model reassigns students to higher-achieving schools within the district.

The Transformation Model replaces the principal and works to increase teacher and school-leader effectiveness, institutes comprehensive instructional reforms and requires increased learning time and the creation of a community- oriented school.

Brown said Mollie Kessler, with 64 students in grades one through eight, is considering the Transformation Model.