Connecting Community to the Classroom

Stateof the Schools

F E B RUA RY 19, 2020

David W. James, Ed.D., superintendent

Connecting Community to the ClassroomToday’s students thrive when they are provided with meaningful, hands-on experiences that can help shape their future. At Akron Public Schools, we are grateful for the many individuals,

organizations and business partners that give our students those opportunities.

By “Connecting Community to the Classroom,” our students receive enhanced learning opportunities, strong mentors and valuable experiences. Our teachers benefit from the time

and resources of experts who join them in the classroom and help make connections between classroom lessons and real-world applications.

And our community benefits because it has access to a future workforce that is academically and socially prepared for success.

©2020 Akron Public Schools. The Akron Board of Education does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, creed or ancestry, age, gender, marital status, or disability in employment or in its education program activities.

10 N. Main St. Akron, OH 44308 330 . 761.1661Akronschools.com

Board of EducationPatrick Bravo, president

N.J. Akbar, Ph.D., vice presidentBruce Alexander

Diana C. Autry, BSN, RNDerrick Hall, Esq.

Lisa MansfieldValerie McKitrick

David W. James, Ed.D., superintendentRyan Pendleton, CFO/treasurer

2 Akron Public Schools

Dear Friends of Akron Public Schools:

Every year, I receive a gracious invitation from the Akron Press Club to give a “State of the Schools” speech. I look forward to this day because it is a great opportunity for me as superintendent to provide a report to our generous community about what is happening at Akron Public Schools.

Since I only have a limited time to talk during the speech (I asked for two hours but the Press Club politely declined), I cannot begin to cover everything we’re doing throughout the year. But I do try to give the best snapshot on what’s working, what is challenging us and what direction we are going with public education.

It is honestly difficult to give a snapshot when there are 21,000+ students in 45 schools covering 62 square miles throughout the city. While I joke about the Press Club limiting my time, I literally could talk for days about our successes, our challenges, our hopes and our dreams for the students attending Akron Public Schools.

We do our best throughout the year to share information about our district with the community— the good and the bad— so that people understand the challenges AND value that public schools have in our country. My hope is that even with all the outside political noise around public schools in America— which can be quite loud— we remain focused and continue along a path we feel is best for our students and community.

Our ultimate focus is making sure every student has a plan once he or she leaves Akron Public Schools. In order to make that possible, we launched our College & Career Academies of Akron three years ago to give our students greater insights into the world they’ll join after high school and prepare them well for college, a career or even the military. I’m not saying we didn’t offer this approach before, but with this new model, we are starting the conversations with students at much younger ages and connecting the community to the classroom to give kids access to real-life experiences and professionals in their potential career field.

I hope you find this printed piece to be a helpful complement to my speech and that it provides you with some additional information on the district. We have shared highlights from the last 12 months, provided important statistics and graphically explained how our logo and brand ties into everything we do. We find many of our friends and partners refer to these resources throughout the year when they need information about APS that is thorough and easy to understand.

Thank you to everyone who supports us in every way— our partners, staff, teachers, volunteers, parents and many others. I am proud of the direction our district is going and am excited about the opportunities for our students.

David W. James, Ed.D., superintendent

2020 State of the Schools 7 * Demographic information courtesy of State of Ohio Department of Education. All other data compiled by Akron Public Schools.

Facts Stats& 2018-19

SCHOOL SYSTEM EMPLOYEES

Administrators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Principals/Assistant principals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Full-time teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,590Operational support . . . . . . . . . . 178Instructional support . . . . . . . . . 109Clerical support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366

4,367TOTAL NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

Full-time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,799Part-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,568

$39,267Beginning teacher

$87,755Veteran teacher

with graduate training

TEACHER SALARY RANGE

STUDENTS

Elementary . . . 28Middle . . . . . . . 8Senior high . . . 9Administration buildings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

45NUMBER OF SCHOOLS AND CLCSSIZE

STAFF AND DISTRICT FUNDING AND EXPENDITURESANNUAL BUDGET

$565,030,798

DEMOGRAPHICS *

0.6%

8.4%

4.5%

8.0%

American IndianAsian or Pacific Islander

Latino

Multi Race

107 YELLOWBUSES METRO

buses/passes+ = 986,940 MILES per year to 56 SCHOOLS

Average cost per student . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,056Average cost per special education student . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $6,156

TRANSPORTATION REIMBURSEMENT & MILES

250 VEHICLES regular, nonpublic, charter and special education students in grades K – 9. TRAVEL 2,412,080 MILES ANNUALLY

TRANSPORT 8,214

143 VANS 698+ = 1,434,000MILES PER YEAR

specialeducationstudents

COST PER PUPIL*

$10,366Breakfast . . . .1,403,547Lunch . . . . . . . .2,599,801Snacks . . . . . . . . . 65,193Summer . . . . . . . 136,916

4,205,457

21,180TOTAL NUMBER 22:1 ELEMENTARY PUPIL /

TEACHER RATIO

GENERAL FUND SOURCES OF REVENUE

EXPENSES

1.49%Other expenses2.8%Capital outlay

3.13%

Supplies/ materials

Purchased services

50. 11 %Salaries

22 %20. 47 %

Benefits

REVENUE

2.5%

All other revenue

35.1% Local taxes

62.4%State aid

COLLEGE CREDITSNumber of credits earned by high school students . . . . . . . 7,764INTERNSHIPS AND JOBS Number of internship and job shadowing hours completed by students . . . . 14,373INDUSTRY CREDENTIALS EARNEDIn 2019, APS students earned 1,451 industry credentials before leaving high school, an increase of 1,500% over the 86 earned in 2018.

The top three schools for student certifications:

East CLC

429Firestone CLC

320Buchtel CLC

274

MEALS SERVED

46. 5 % Black

32 %White

RACE

APS encompasses:

624,320,000 square feet of

building space

SQUAREMILES

6 Akron Public Schools

Essential Experiences program launched for elementary studentsStudents in APS preschool and grades 1 – 5 are benefitting from a $1.2 million grant from GAR Foundation to provide meaningful experiences outside the classroom. Nearly 9,000 students will participate in programs and visit locations throughout greater Akron with real-life, hands-on opportunities that tie into their classroom learning.

King CLC named IB schoolKing CLC joins Case, Resnik, Litchfield and Firestone CLCs as an International Baccalaureate® school. Portage Path CLC, also in the Firestone cluster, is currently an IB Candidate school.

New Ellet CLC completed Ellet CLC opened in August 2019 and is the second-to-last school to be built under the district’s ambitious building project. Highlights include a new turf field (made possible by a grant from the Cleveland Browns), studios for 91.3 The Summit radio and APS video production, and a variety of collaborative learning spaces and labs.

Bridges relocated to Riedinger BuildingBridges, which provides services for students with intensive social, emotional, behavioral and communication needs, moved from Barrett School to Riedinger in 2019. Students at Bridges work with a comprehensive team to learn self-regulation and replacement behaviors and other skills before returning to their home schools. Suspension rates for students attending Bridges decreased 33% from 2017 –18 to 2018 –19.

Family Resource Centers (FRCs) established Thanks to support from United Way of Summit County, families now have access to safe, welcoming places to get information, assistance and referrals to community resources. FRCs are now open at the I PROMISE School and Robinson CLC. A center will open at Helen Arnold CLC in the spring.

2020 State of the Schools 3

Administrative and curriculum staff consolidated into one buildingAPS consolidated more than 350 staff from the Sylvester Small Administration and Conrad C. Ott Professional Development buildings into a new space at 10 N. Main St., the former site of SummaCare. This space provides significant cost savings for the district and a more welcoming environment for visitors.

College & Career Academies implemented wall-to-wall College & Career Academies of Akron went wall-to-wall at all high schools in the fall of 2019. This means students in grades 9 –12 are all enrolled in an academy pathway. The academies are already showing great progress, with significant improvements in the number of industry credentials earned and 260 company partners working with the individual schools.

Named partners announced for College & Career Academies Since February 2019, three new named partners were announced, bringing the total number of named partners to seven. New partners include: Cuyahoga Valley National Park Academy of Global Media and Marketing at Ellet CLC; FirstEnergy Academy of Emerging Technology and Information Technology at Kenmore-Garfield High School; Huntington Academy of Global Industry and Design at Buchtel CLC.

Online enrollment and document processing system launchedThe district launched online enrollment in the summer of 2019 as a way to streamline the enrollment process for families. Online enrollment helps remove barriers to enrollment, such as transportation and time conflicts, and allows families to upload documents in digital format. The district also launched a new system for current families that allows them to update their information through a password-protected portal.

Photo courtesy Akron Beacon Journal

The baseThe foundation that supports all we do

Board l District governance l Strategic direction

Grantors and fundersl Financial support l Opportunities for students

Partners l Real-life experiences l Talent pipeline

Volunteersl Mentors — time,

talent and resourcesVoters and residents

l Future growth/planningl Stable support

Our teachers and staff Excitement, energy, passion, speed and strength

Innovation l Creative and progressive curriculuml Emphasis on professional growthl Enthusiastic and highly qualified teachers

Talent l Award-winning teachersl Leaders outside of schooll Peer-to-peer support

Finances l Strong financial

stewardshipl Thoughtful

strategyl Wisdom and

understanding

Our studentsJoy, happiness, optimism, idealism, imagination, hope and friendship

Opportunitiesl Arts, extracurricular activities and athleticsl Essential Experiences and industry field tripsl Leadership and community service programs

Real-world skillsl Career exploration and professional

skill developmentl Financial literacyl Technical, soft and social skills

Plans for the futurel College prep and creditsl Industry credentialsl School-to-work programs

Learning – the basis of educationCalm, stability, trust, confidence, security, loyalty and technology

Environmentl Accepting and welcoming schools l Media centers and maker spacesl Small-group learningl State-of-the-art technology

Essential supportsl Family Resource Centersl Mentors and

community partnersl Project Rise

4 Akron Public Schools 2020 State of the Schools 5

In 2013, Akron Public Schools introduced a new logo and brand. The now-familiar colorful triangle was carefully developed to represent various facets of the district and tell a distinct story. Individually, each side of color on the logo is important. Combined, they illustrate a full spectrum of possibilities. The unseen base serves as the foundation and includes our community, friends, family, neighbors and others that support public education.

Our district continues to evolve to meet the ever-changing needs of our students. And like our logo, it has many facets that must work together to give our young people access to opportunities they never thought possible.