OHIO EDUCATION NEWS

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By the time he was 45, Geoffrey Mearns had already put a member of New York's Gambino crime family behind bars, convicted Terry Nichols for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing and built a reputation as one of the top trial attorneys in Cleveland.

Clearly, he had career options.

But one he hadn't considered arose in 2005 while Mearns was a partner at the high-profile law firm of Baker Hostetler. A "headhunter," trolling for candidates to become dean of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University, asked Mearns if he was interested.

Known primarily for producing local lawyers and judges, but nationally unranked, CSU was shoring up its academic reputation amid weak passage rates on the state bar exam.

Mearns' decision to sign on was motivated by a combination of traits that have influenced just about every line on his lengthy resume: Competitiveness, a family background in public service and an affinity for the law.

He bristles at any suggestion that CSU was a step down for someone at the top of his game.

Continue reading "CSU's law dean, Geoffrey Mearns, finds success and satisfaction in academia" »

A year ago today, suspended student Asa Coon returned to his downtown Cleveland high school and opened fire. The 14-year-old wounded two teachers and two fellow students before killing himself.

For those with no direct connection to SuccessTech Academy, the memory of that tragedy may have dimmed. But newly released student surveys show the city's schools are full of confrontation, fear and alienation, warning signs that more trouble could follow.

In some schools, more than 60 percent of students don't feel safe, physically or emotionally. Students across the city called bullying and teasing the norm and said classmates are ready to fight at the drop of any perceived insult.

The surveys, conducted in February, were aimed at preventing further violence and break down the "conditions for learning" in each building. Chief Academic Officer Eric Gordon called the findings alarming and said they will help the district decide how to ration counseling and other strained services to help troubled students.

"If we do everything I think we can do, we can change lives," said Gordon, who will head up the planning.

The surveys helped form the basis for a broader assessment of the schools' social services, conducted by the American Institutes for Research in Washington, D.C. The report, released in August, found the district overwhelmed by problems stemming from the poverty and violence permeating many homes and neighborhoods.

Continue reading "One year after SuccessTech tragedy, survey finds fear, confrontation are rife in schools" »

CLEVELAND -- Tomorrow will mark one year since Asa Coon opened fire in SuccessTech Academy.

The troubled 14-year-old boy wounded two teachers and two fellow students, then killed himself.

The sad anniversary finds the school district trying to shore up counseling and other social services that are overwhelmed in its buildings. A team in each school is focusing on recently released student surveys that show high levels of confrontation, fear and alienation.

The American Institutes of Research in Washington, D.C. conducted the surveys after the SuccessTech shootings. The results helped form the basis for an alarming report on the state of district social services that was released in August.

The consultants also will guide talk of solutions, for a $322,000 fee paid by the Cleveland and George Gund foundations. The district paid $337,000 for the earlier study.

Chief Academic Officer Eric Gordon said outside supervision will ensure that the district does not misinterpret the study and slide back into old practices.

"If we do everything I think we can do, we can change lives," Gordon said.

A Bedford Heights electrical contractor has been indicted in an alleged school-construction billing scam that authorities describe as the largest of its type in state history.

A Cuyahoga County grand jury returned a 105-count indictment against R.J. Martin Electrical Contracting Inc. and its president, Paul Cunningham, on charges that include theft, money laundering, tampering with records and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.

The indictment, filed Wednesday, stems from work done between 2002 and 2007 in the Cleveland and Lakewood public schools. Prosecutors are still investigating work the firm billed to the Garfield Heights schools as well as at school districts in Lake, Stark, Summit, Richland, Lorain and Erie counties.

The alleged overbilling in Cleveland and Lakewood amounted to nearly $200,000, the indictment alleges.

"This was a theft not just from the numerous school districts involved, but from every homeowner who pays the property taxes that support those districts," Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason said.

If convicted, Cunningham, 47, of Strongsville, could be sentenced to more than 200 years in prison, and he and the company could be fined more than $500,000, prosecutors said.

"We strongly feel we did nothing wrong," John Riling, the firm's vice president of estimating and sales, said Wednesday.

Continue reading "Bedford Heights contractor indicted on 105 counts in school billing scam" »

Willie Wallace Jr. and his wife Brenda were planning a little getaway to mark their 22nd wedding anniversary.

But that would mean missing a meeting at Monticello Middle School in Cleveland Heights, where their daughter Kyana would be given a new laptop computer to take home.

"Her eyes got all teary," Wallace said as he sat next to eighth-grader Kyana in the school library last week, the anniversary celebration delayed for a bit.

"These laptops are all they've been talking about since school started," he said. "To say they're excited would be downplaying it."

Monticello is the pilot school for a program that will provide an Apple MacBook laptop to every middle and high school student in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights district over the next five years.

Continue reading "Cleveland Heights-University Heights tests plan to give laptop to every student" »

MENTOR -- Mentor schools notified parents of precautions taken at various school facilities after the district had its fourth case of a highly contagious, antibiotic-resistant staph infection.

A student at Lake Elementary School was treated last weekend for the infection. Other cases have occurred at Shore Junior High School and Mentor High School.

School officials said they sanitized the school and disinfected the gym, media area and athletic facilities.

Officials said they have no indication that the student got the infection at school but are taking precautions to prevent it from spreading.

Students should be told not to share any personal items that come in contact with skin, such as towels, razors and wristbands, school personnel said.

For more information the infection -- known as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA -- and its symptoms, go to the Lake County Health District's Web site.

MAYFIELD HEIGHTS -- Colleges and college students -- much like retirees -- are especially vulnerable in the upheaval of the financial markets recently because both rely on savings and investments.

Eric Fingerhut, Ohio's chancellor of higher education, cautioned today forum at Landerhaven that the full impact of the crisis isn't known yet.

Of concern are access to student loans, college endowment funds, credit for building projects and short-term accounts that held operating cash for many colleges.

"We haven't heard a lot yet," Fingerhut said, explaining that experts in his office are constantly checking with the state's colleges to see how they are faring. "You don't want to assess it in the depths of this thing. Let's give it a little bit of time."

Cleveland State University President Michael Schwartz said he feels for small private colleges that rely heavily on their endowments. Those funds saw great growth in recent years, but this year it will be hard not to take a hit.

CSU just started construction of a new education building and a university center. Those projects will go on because the university already secured bonds to pay for them, but Schwartz said CSU may have to hold off on some dorm projects until the bond markets settle down.

SOLON -- Vibhuti Krishna, 13, of Solon, is among the 30 national finalists in the middle-school science competition sponsored by the Society for Science & the Public. The finalists will compete in Washington, D.C., later this month for $40,000 in scholarships and awards.

The finalists were chosen from among more than 75,000 students who entered science fairs nationwide during the last school year. Vibhuti, the only Ohio student to make the finals, competed initially in the Northeastern Ohio Science and Engineering Fair.

The title of her project: " 'Eye' am Aware! A Study on Microorganisms in Eyewash Stations."

The daughter of Drs. Jyoti and Sangeeta Krishna, Vibhuti also is interested in medicine as a career.