Fremont schools get a D grade on state report card

FREMONT - Fremont City Schools got a D, Benton-Carroll-Salem, Danbury and Genoa's school earned Bs, and everyone else in Sandusky and Ottawa counties was awarded Cs by the state's department of education Thursday, as report cards came out for school districts across Ohio.

For the first time, schools and districts were assigned overall letter grades. The overall grade is calculated by using results in the six components: achievement, progress, gap closing, improving at-risk K-3 readers, graduation rate, and prepared for success. 

Old Fort Local Schools in Seneca County earned a B on its report card, while Bellevue City Schools was awarded a C.

FCS Superintendent Jon Detwiler said that despite the overall "D" grade, the Fremont school district had made strides compared to last year in areas such as gap closing, which measures improvements for minority, special education and socioeconomically disadvantaged students.

The district went from an F to a C this year in gap closing, Detwiler said.

Fremont City Schools' performance indicator grades included a mix of As for graduation rates, Ds for at-risk K-3 readers and prepared for success components and Fs for progress and achievement components.

Detwiler said that of the district's nine buildings, six earned a B or C grade on their report cards, and the district improved its overall scores on 19 of the 21 standardized individual tests taken by FCS students last year.

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"We're always going to try and do better," Detwiler said, adding, "We're heading in the right direction but I know we have a long way to go."

Clyde-Green Springs, Gibsonburg, Lakota and Woodmore all earned overall C grades on those districts' report cards.

In Ottawa County, Port Clinton City Schools and Put-in-Bay Local Schools also were awarded Cs.

Overall, most districts in both counties scored well on graduation rates, value-added grades and gap closing components.

Several districts earned Fs for their indicators met grades, with most recording Ds on the preparation for success component of the state report card.

Statewide, more than three-quarters of school districts received a “C” or higher, with more than a third receiving a “B” or higher. Approximately 40 percent of school buildings received a “B” or higher, according to the department of education.

BCS Superintendent Guy Parmigian said the district improved in its indicators met, performance index, and value-added grades from 2017.

He said the district struggled in the preparation for success category, where it received an F, BCS' only overall component grade below an A or B.

Parmigian noted that about half of the school districts in the state got an "F" in preparation for success, and he called it a flawed measure.

The BCS superintendent said his district was always looking to improve and ask what students need to learn best in the 21st century.

"We are very, very proud of our scores. And they are due to the hard work of our teachers and students," Parmigian said.

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Kim Schubert, Bellevue's superintendent, said in an email she understood and valued the importance of accountability measures, but said the state's report card system is "broken."

While she did not want to deter from accountability, Schubert said she could not continue to stand by and allow Bellevue's schools to be judged by an accountability system that "we all know is broken, not to mention tremendously expensive for our taxpayers. "

"Through the state accountability system our school district has been rated a 'C' which is not only absurd, it is reckless. Our kids do not arrive at our door standardized and we will not apologize for not trying to standardize them. Rather, we embrace their differences, value them and educate the whole child," Schubert said.

Statewide highlights

In a news release issued Thursday after the grades were announced, the state department of education listed statewide highlights that included:

• All subgroups of students improved their proficiency rates in English language arts, and nearly all had improvements in math performance.

• The Performance Index increased 2.6 points since 2015-2016, including a slight increase since last year. 

• The statewide promotion rate for the Third Grade Reading Guarantee is 95 percent, up from 93.9 percent last year.

•  Since 2010, the four- and five-year graduation rates have consistently improved — reaching a new high, with 84.1 percent of the class of 2017 graduating in four years and 86.1 percent of the class of 2016 graduating within five years.

• On the Prepared for Success measure, which reflects the classes of 2017 and 2016, Ohio saw 3,087 more students meet at least one measure and more than 4,987 more students meet at least one of the bonus measures when compared to last year’s report card.

• Approximately 44,285 students earned honors diplomas in 2017. 

•  Compared to last year, an additional 1,991 students earned industry-recognized credentials, and 9,758 students earned dual enrollment credits.

Full report card data for all districts can be found at education.ohio.gov/Topics/Data/Report-Card-Resources.

dacarson@gannett.com

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Twitter: @DanielCarson7