Monday, December 10, 2012
Beachwood City Schools Superintendent recommends that the district not suspend the program in 2014.
Beachwood City Schools halted immediate plans to end their administration of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing Consortium Program at Monday's meeting. "In the absence of an immediate, viable replacement for the Beachwood D/HH Consortium Program, we suspend our earlier plans to recommend the termination of Beachwood's role as manager and fiscal agent" of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consortium Program at the end of the 2013-2014 school year, Superintendent Rich Markwardt recommended to the Board. "We wanted to see that anywhere the students landed would be as good as better than what we currently offer, and we didn’t find it," Markwardt said. The 50 or so community members in the room followed the announcement with a smattering of applause and …
Thursday, November 29, 2012
The state of the program will be outlined in a Dec. 3 Board of Education meeting.
A presentation about the current state of the Beachwood Deaf/Hard of Hearing Consortium Program will be Monday, Dec. 3, Beachwood City Schools announced. Earlier this week we reported that the presentation was tentatively set for Dec. 17. The presentation, set for 7:30 p.m. at the Beachwood Board of Education building, is expected to be only an update on the state of the program that will likely include many of the details released to Beachwood Patch earlier this fall, with no possible plans of action discussed yet, spokesperson Doug Levin said. "The board is not going to be asked to take any action Monday night," Levin added. "There will be no reccomendations made about the future of the program other than to maintain the program in its …
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Presentation will likely take place at mid-December meeting of the Beachwood Board of Education.
Editor's note, Nov. 28: This meeting has been scheduled for Dec. 3. See the latest story here. Though parents, alumni and community members have been discussing the future of the Beachwood Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consortium Program for weeks, the Board of Education will likely not have the program on their meeting agenda until mid-December. And even then, the presentation is expected to be only an update on the state of the program that will likely include many of the details released to Beachwood Patch earlier this fall, with no possible plans of action discussed yet, spokesperson Doug Levin said. The program's declining enrollment and increasing costs have forced the district to reevaluate its structure, Superintendent Rich Markwardt …
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Beachwood Board of Education responded to a request that a separate task force be formed to evaluate the future of the program.
The Beachwood Board of Education responded to parents and supporters of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consortium program about its future at Monday’s meeting. The consortium, whose program is administered by Beachwood City Schools, is comprised of 29 school districts, including Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights-University Heights, Twinsburg, Solon and Mayfield Heights. Supporters have gathered over 400 signatures on a petition asking the board to form a task force to evaluate the future of the program after it was brought to light that the district is considering pulling out at program administrator. “As arrogant as it sounds … we are frequently asked to do things by committee and we don’t want to have a paralysis by committee,” said Board …
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
District releases trends over past 10 years.
Beachwood City Schools released a table showing the Deaf/Hard of Hearing Consortium Program’s enrollment, costs and employment over the last ten years. The district said earlier this month that it is reevaluating its role as administrator of the program, which serves 25 students in 29 school districts. Read More: Beachwood Deaf/Hard of Hearing Program Topic Page The table in the PDF above shows ups and downs in enrollment and costs since 2002, but the difference between 2002’s cost and enrollment and this year’s is stark. Editor's Note: Employment is shown in full-time equivalent units. For example, a part-time employee who works four days a week is .8 FTEs. Follow Beachwood Patch on Twitter | Like Beachwood Patch on Facebook
Monday, September 10, 2012
Parents and community members attended the Beachwood Board of Education meeting tonight to voice support of the program, which serves students in 29 districts.
Parents and community members attended the Beachwood City Schools Board of Education meeting Monday to voice support of the deaf and hard of hearing program the district administers. Last week it was put in writing that the district is considering pulling out as the program’s fiscal officer in 2014 when a union contract was approved for educational interpreters that lasted two years, instead of three like the district’s teachers' union* contract. Our Facebook fans heard this first. Currently the program serves 25 students from a consortium of 29 public school districts, including Beachwood, Cleveland Heights-University Heights, Mayfield, Mentor, Shaker Heights, Solon and Twinsburg. Enrollment is down and the program’s costs per student – …
Len Green
5:54 pm on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Frank, are you saying you want the Beachwood program shut down? If so, you talk like a big A$$hole! more ›