On Monday and Tuesday of next week, the State School Board of Ohio will convene again to vote on the “5 of 8” rule that requires school districts to hire specialists in arts, music and physical education, along with librarians, guidance counselors, social workers, and nurses. The board members who favor the change have called these requirements “outdated”.
Eliminating this change will actually open the door for school districts to avoid hiring qualified individuals in these positions. Instead of having specialized arts educators in grades K-8, local school boards, in an attempt to cope with the Kasich Administration’s budget cuts to public schools, are likely to revert to the environment that precipitated this requirement, passing the responsibility of teaching these subject areas along to regular education teachers, further burdening teachers who are already dealing with decreased instructional time that is now allocated for testing, testing, and more testing.
You can read our earlier posts on this topic and listen to how outgoing school board president, Debe Terhar, effectively shut down dissenters at the last school board meeting, prompting four board members to walk out.
- AUDIO: Listen To Ohio Board President Terhar Shut Down Testimony On “5 of 8? Rule
- Is Ohio School Board Cutting The Arts & Physical Education?
- Tell The Ohio School Board To Keep The “5 of 8? Rule
- Misunderstandings About Ohio’s “5 of 8 Rule” Start With State School Board
Contact the members of the school board to let them know how important these positions are for ALL of Ohio’s children:
Ann.Jacobs@education.ohio.gov;
Kathleen.McGervey@education.ohio.gov;
a.j.wagner@education.ohio.gov;
Debe.Terhar@education.ohio.gov;
Brad.Lamb@education.ohio.gov;
Michael.Collins@education.ohio.gov;
Sarah.Fowler@education.ohio.gov;
Deborah.Cain@ode.state.oh.us;
stephanie.dodd@education.ohio.gov;
Ron.Rudduck@education.ohio.gov;
MaryRose.Oakar@education.ohio.gov;
Tess.Elshoff@ode.state.oh.us;
Joe.Farmer@education.ohio.gov;
Cathye.Flory@education.ohio.gov;
Tom.Gunlock@education.ohio.gov;
Todd.Jones@education.ohio.gov;
Mark.A.Smith@education.ohio.gov;
Rebecca.Vazquez-Skillings@education.ohio.gov;
Melanie.Bolender@education.ohio.gov
