Morning Briefing: Saturday, September 14, 2024

The school report cards released Friday show improvements in multiple districts.

In today’s Morning Briefing, we dig into the state school report card findings to tell you where your district now stands. We also look at a warning issued by Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose in response to an unauthorized voter registration form discovered in Clark County.

If you have thoughts or feedback on this newsletter or other news tips, please let me know at Greg.Lynch@coxinc.com.

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The newsletter should take about 3 minutes, 31 seconds to read.

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Ohio State Report Cards: Compare how local schools performed on 2023-2024 report cards

The newest Ohio State Report Cards for schools were released yesterday.

• About the ratings: The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce uses multiple data points from public schools to determine the districts’ ratings. The five categories that go into the overall rating are achievement, gap closing, early literacy, graduation and progress.

• Highest ratings: Oakwood and Marion Local in Mercer County received the top two spots in overall rating points, both with 4.983 points overall. Marion Local got the highest rating in performance index in the state at 99.4.

• Dayton Public Schools: One of the largest school districts in the region, Dayton Public, received two stars on the report card, similar to last year.

• What they are saying: “I am very proud of the improvements we’ve seen over the last year,” said DPS superintendent Dr. David Lawrence. “While there is still work to be done, these results show that our Academic Action Plan is having a real impact and is truly improving student achievement at all levels. We look forward to advancing the Academic Action Plan this year to continue this upward momentum.”

• Statewide: Math proficiency was up over last year, improving from 53% in all grades and all students in the 2022-2023 school year to 2023-2024. However, there was no additional improvement in English Language arts.


Voter registration form written in language of Haitian migrants prompts LaRose warning

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

An unnamed government office had a voter registration form translated into the Haitian Creole language and the form was flagged by the Clark County Board of Elections, which rejected the applicant.

• Warning issued: The discovery of the unauthorized form written in the language spoken by Haitian immigrants prompted Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office to warn all 88 county boards to “be vigilant” in watching out for unauthorized forms.

• Ohio voting: Noncitizens cannot legally vote in Ohio.

• Citizen status: The entire Ohio voter registration database is cross-checked for citizenship status on an ongoing basis. According to LaRose’s office, a mandatory citizenship check of all new voter registrations has been implemented.

• What they are saying: “The Board confirmed they’ve only received one of these unauthorized forms, but they rightly recognized it as illegal and worked with my team to track down its source with the help of a county government assistance office,” said Hun Yi, director of investigations for the office’s public integrity division, in a memo to elections officials.


What to know today

• One big takeaway: Multiple school districts in the region received false threats this week of alleged violence, gun or bomb threats.

• Tip of the day: Getting tickets for ‘Hamilton?’ Watch out for resellers, Dayton Live warns.

• Big move of the day: The city of Troy and Troy Schools have made a land agreement to accommodate construction of larger buildings and community ballfields.

• Community Gem: Lucy Figner. The volunteer at the Good Neighbor House’s food pantry for more than five years said she feels useful by helping neighbors whom she didn’t realize needed help.

• Happening today: Locals are invited to sip and snack their way through Dayton’s Oregon District with the return of its signature tasting event today.

• Quote of the day: “How about we love one another?” — John Legend, on Haitian immigrants in his hometown of Springfield.

• Things to do: The 2023 Academy Award-nominated animated film “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” composed by Daniel Pemberton, will receive a symphonic treatment at the Schuster Center later this month.

• Photo of the day: After reopening under new ownership in March, Dunaways in Troy has officially opened its kitchen with elevated bar food. Reporter Natalie Jones stopped in to see what was cooking.

Credit: Natalie Jones

Credit: Natalie Jones