Posts Tagged CSU
Mayor Frank Jackson… Heart and Head Together
Posted by Roldo Bartimole in Media, Politicians on October 13, 2009
October 13, 2009… Mayor Frank Jackson answered the Plain Dealer on its criticism of his scholarship program.
Jackson tells Terry Egger, Pee Dee publisher, that he has both his “head and heart” in the right place – together.
Here’s the letter…
October 13, 2009
Mr. Terrance C.Z. Egger
President & Publisher
The Plain Dealer
1801 Superior Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44114
Dear Terry:
I hope that you are doing well and want to acknowledge that The Plain Dealer
has covered an issue over the past week that is key to the future of Cleveland: education. Based on your coverage, I felt compelled to write you this letter so that I can address statements made in your paper regarding the Cleveland Scholarships for Education and Training (CSET) program.
First, let me say that these are children, not “drop-outs” as stated in How to reach those who reject our help. It was also stated that our children “squander llife and chance.” That statement is applicable to many, including adults. It is particularly applicable to those who have no excuse because life and society have been good to them.
Finally, today’s editorial states, “Mayor Jackson’s heart was in the right place… but his head was not.” Let me assure you that my heart and head are in the same place and that is to create an environment for success for all our children and to serve all our children, no matter who they belong to.
I have said many times that the key to our success and future is the education of our young people. Traditional educational systems are focused on educating children from Kindergarten to the 12th grade. I am focused on pre-Kindergarten to a bachelor’s degree, or at minimum, to an associate’s degree.
All post-12th grade education, including community college courses, should be treated as college, which means that a young person can be successful, fail or choose to stay or leave. In either case, young people deserve the opportunity.
I have several scholarship programs because I recognize a cookie cutter approach will not work. Through money raised by employee contributions to the United Negro College Fund, the Mayor Frank G. Jackson Scholarship Fund gives out scholarships to CMSD seniors, City of Cleveland employees and City of Cleveland employees’ children who are high school seniors or undergraduates. This scholarship is competitive, including a minimum GPA of 2.5, an essay, and community service.
In addition, CMSD has an arrangement with the University of Toledo that allows CMSD graduates that meet certain criteria, including a minimum GPA of 3.0, to attend that university tuition-free. The school district is currently in conversations with Bowling Green State University, Cleveland State University and The Ohio State University to see if we can replicate the University of Toledo program.
On the other hand, the CSET program is designed specifically for CMSD graduates and Cuyahoga Community College. This program has two requirements: graduate from CMSD and apply for financial aid. Its purpose is to provide a college education opportunity for all CMSD graduates.
Much has been said in your paper about the fact that under the CSET program there is not a minimum GPA requirement and that 54% of the students did not return to Tri-C for the second year of the program. Your paper has said the program is “rife with dropouts”, implying that their lack of enrolling in Tri-C for the second year is only negative. This and similar statements largely ignore the fact that some of the students who did not return to Tri-C likely moved on to other colleges, the military or vocational training programs. While we don’t have the tracking data to prove this, I am relying on common sense to know that not all of those who didn’t return simply dropped out of college.
Your paper has suggested that I set a minimum GPA as a criterion to ensure what your paper defines as success. I will not do so. It reminds me of the times that I’ve been asked “why are we spending this money on these children.” I will not set a minimum GPA for the CSET program because I do not have any throwaway children. I will not say to any child that you are unworthy of an opportunity for higher education.
I do recognize that there are some changes that have to be made. Since beginning the program in 2008, we have identified that there are some needs that CMSD students have to address. We recognize that many CMSD graduates were unaware of the options available to them in terms of financial Cleveland Scholarships for Education & Training aid and in applying for college.
We know that many of our students need help in transitioning from high school to college and how to take advantage of the opportunities that are available to them. That is why last year, Dr. Sanders, the school board and I began developing a course for all CMSD juniors and seniors to help address these issues.
Starting with this school year, all 11th and 12th graders must take the two-year “Colleges and Careers” course in order to graduate. This course includes a strong financial literacy component and instruction on how to apply for financial aid. It provides knowledge to all CMSD juniors and seniors to help prepare them for college and understand what they have to do to be successful.
What they do when they get there is a choice they must make – that is part of the learning curve of college. The “Colleges and Careers” course is designed to help them make good choices for their own futures. CSET is designed to get them in the door. Only the students can decide what happens next. This is also true for those who are part of other scholarship programs that require a minimum GPA.
Finally, what about the 46% of the 2008 CSET recipients who are enrolled in their second year at Tri-C? The coverage in your paper has mostly dismissed this accomplishment. More than 200 young people – who might not have had the GPA or the money to go to other colleges – are in their second year of college. I am proud of them. Their families are proud of them. And we as a community should be proud of them.
I want to thank you for taking the time to read this letter and your commitment to making Cleveland a better place.
Sincerely,
Frank G. Jackson, Mayor
City of Cleveland
Ass-Backward Thinking Keeps Cleveland Back
Posted by Roldo Bartimole in Economic Development, Media on June 16, 2009
June 15, 2009… Can you sense the panic?
Certainly The Plain Dealer does. Maybe it’s leading it. Maybe it’s helping to make it up.
All you have to do is read the Sunday PD lead editorial, “Reluctant reformers,” to hear the gnashing of teeth over the dead-in-the-water Cuyahoga County reform package amid a corruption scandal.
On the next editorial page, the PD follows with a frantic op-ed column by Tom Bier, Cleveland State University’s urban affairs executive in residence. Bier’s fretting about Opportunity Corridor. Tom, calm down. Bier gets space in the PD because he talks their talk but can be cited as an independent voice, an academic voice.
He has long been earnest and urgent about the troubles of Cleveland. I respect him for this. However, I don’t see him attacking on the tremendous waste that has gone into the private sector in town. I’d like a little more balance, even on this issue.
Bier decries the desire for input by the Council members from wards through which the $350-million (a cost he doesn’t mention) road will travel from East 55th Street to Cleveland’s cultural, educational and medical center. Click here for my take on the road.
He intimates that they will pressure businesses “to employ particular people, to form partnerships or subcontract with particular other businesses, to make contributions to certain parties, and so on.”
You mean, Tom, there’s politics going here? And with only $350 million at stake?
Bier uses the word “virus,” a rather explosive word today. He’s aiming to shock. He’s really upset. He wants to “kill the virus,” I guess, of politics. Good luck there.
Politicians will play politics. Business and civic leaders play a heavy-handed game, too. No one ever says anything about killing the later virus.
So I wonder (really I don’t) if the PD will get another academic to talk about some of the drawbacks of “OPPORTUNITY” Corridor. Will there be any balance in the coverage about a road pushed by an elite committee co-headed by PD publisher Terry Egger? Or is this a done deal?
This ass-backward thinking is what keeps Cleveland back. You try to put a road – nickname it Opportunity (but never say for whom) – through an impoverished area and expect the deprived to say, please take what you want.
No need for thanks.
It won’t play that way. Someone will use the opportunity as an opportunity.
This is ass-backward because for oh so long the people left in these poverty areas haven’t been given the necessary help and opportunity by those businesses – and labor unions. So fronts now operate in cities that are essentially black controlled on the specious claims of being screwed. Somebody’s getting screwed but not those who take advantage and are allowed to take advantage by the powers that be.
So you want peace, as they say, give a little justice.
Otherwise, there is a virus alert.
Business has had plenty of government help by the city, county and state. It’s been take, take and take. Time to give a little.
Yes, some pols have used the issue to feather their and their friends businesses via front/make-believe construction and consulting firms. Get real and do something about it. Don’t use it as an excuse to charge “insular interests stall opportunity,” as the headline of Bier’s piece says.
The reform issue, as I’ve said before, needs reform. It has the stink of special interests and that’s not the way toward reform. See here for what it needs: