Chang, the East High mascot

East Cluster Newsletter

Chang, the East High mascot

East Cluster of the Akron Public School System   •   Akron, Ohio


East High       East Middle       Barber CLC       David Hill CLC       Mason CLC       Seiberling CLC
 

Cluster
Calendar

Click on the calendar below to see a list of events relating to the schools of the East Cluster.



East Cluster Sports


News
July 29 was City Series Football Media Day. Here a summary of that event.

♦ On July 1 the Ohio High School Athletic Assoc. (OHSAA) issued season calendars for the following fall sports: Cross-country
Football
Volleyball

♦ On June 23 the OHSAA announced the division breakdowns for the 2025-26 basketball season.

The East girls will remain in Division IV while the boys will move up from Division IV to Division III.

♦ On June 12 the OHSAA announced changes to the state football playoffs for the 2025 football season.

The major change is that the number of playoff qualifiers for each region will be reduced from 16 to 12.

As stated below, East will remain in region 9 of Division III.

♦ The OHSAA announced on May 1 the division breakdowns for the 2025 football season.

East will remain in region 9 of Division III.


Coaches
Here is an interview with head football coach Marques Hayes as he discusses the upcoming season.


Football
Varsity
Akron Beacon Journal 2025 preview

East 7
Nordonia 39

Fri., Sept. 5
7:00 p.m.
at Canton South

Fri., Sept. 12
7:00 p.m.
at Hoban

Junior Varsity
Bedford 35
East 0

Sat., Aug. 30
10:00 a.m.
vs. Nordonia
at East

Middle School
East 14
Massillon 34

Wed., Sept. 3
5:30 p.m.
at Bedford


Cross Country
Boys
Thurs., Sept. 4
5:00 p.m.
vs. Garfield
at Goodyear Metro Park

Girls
Thurs., Sept. 4
5:00 p.m.
vs. Garfield
at Goodyear Metro Park


Volleyball
Varsity
Wed., Sept. 3
6:00 p.m.
vs. East Canton
at East

Junior Varsity
Wed., Sept. 3
4:45 p.m.
vs. East Canton
at East

Middle School
Wed., Sept. 10
4:30 p.m.
vs. Litchfield
at East




Thank You

Thanks to the following organizations and individuals who made contributions to the schools of the East Cluster:

Dave & Daniel Duma of Duma Meats donated $1,000 worth of Butterball turkeys to Barber to use for the Turkey Bingo portion of Family Math Night.

Michael Hayes donated $1,200 to East to be used as follows:
▪ $600 for the Athletic Dept.;
▪ $600 for the Marine Corps JROTC program.

First Presbyterian Church of Hudson donated $700, to Barber to use for activities for Teacher Appreciation Week.

Michael Hayes donated $250 to East for away-game meals for the football team.

The City of Joy Enrichment Center donated $1,000, to Barber to purchase items for Barber's Cave, an area set aside for the teachers.

DonorsChoose.org donated a rolling bookcase and books, valued at $189.37, to Seiberling.

DonorsChoose.org donated schools supplies, valued at $189.03, to Seiberling.

The Barbershop Harmony Society donated $150 for the Music Dept. East.

• The following donated items of clothing, valued at $242, for students in need at East:
Igor Ljevaja;
Fred Hawkins;
Officer Auchberger.

Kristie Schartiger donated $100 to the JRTOC drill team at East.

Myers Tire Supply donated 545 pairs of Nitrile gloves for use by the Auto Tech students at East. Value of the donation is $14,037.



State Report Cards

Every year the Ohio Dept. of Education (ODoE) issues a report card for every public school and school district in the state.

Over the years, ODoE has changed the grading system from a series of vague categories, to a letter grade, and now to a five-star rating system — the kind of rating system you might see when asked about your most recent pizza or the promptness of your latest Amazon delivery.

Here is the report card for the Akron Public School District for the most recently-completed school year. Below are the report cards for each of the East Cluster schools.

NOTE: The report cards for the 2024-25 school year are scheduled to be released on September 15.

2023-24
Barber
David Hill
Mason
Seiberling
East High & Middle



Local College Info

Academic calendars

Univ. of Akron
Kent State
Stark State

Campus news

Buchtelite
Kent Stater
Stark State News

Campus tours

Univ. of Akron
Kent State
Stark State
Walsh Univ.

Admissions

Univ. of Akron
Kent State
Stark State
Walsh Univ.



Contact Us

If you have questions, comments, or suggestions regarding this web site or its contents, send us an e-mail.

East Cluster E-mail

e-mail in motion



 

Honoring Frank Williams

Hall of Fame inductee

Frank Williams, East High Class of 1962, is being inducted into the Akron Public Schools Athletics Hall of Fame for his achievements in track and field while in high school.   The induction ceremony will be held on October 18.

Among his accomplishments: Williams tied for first place in the high jump at both the 1961 and 1962 Ohio High School State Meet finals.

Williams was also an outstanding forward on the basketball team at East and at Goodyear Junior High.

Williams, along with fellow East grad Frank Thompson, were members of the 1963-64 basketball team at the University of Akron which was runner-up in the NCAA College Division National Tournament.

Note: Even though they are being inducted for efforts at other schools, both Mike Buckner and Chuck Shuman are East grads.

Frank Williams in 1962   Frank Williams today



4 Cluster schools will be

Serving Up Better Nutrition

At its August 28 meeting the Akron Board of Education accepted a grant of $572,225.90 from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Program.

The purpose of the grant is to provide fresh fruits and vegetables twice a week to selected elementary schools in the district.

All four East Cluster elementary schools — Barber, David Hill, Mason, and Seiberling — will be participants in the program.



Akron Public Schools
Facing Shortages

The Akron Public School System is facing a shortage of teachers, of resource officers, and of students.

At its August 11 meeting, the Akron Board of Education announced that it is experiencing a total shortage of 162 educators across 47 of the district's buildings.   This number affects 8% of all classroom positions.

This staffing shortage assumes greater urgency since the first day of school is August 21.

Also of concern to the Board is the fact that enrollment in the district has decreased by 697 students since the 2020-21 school year.

Here is a detailed explanation of the situation.


At the same Board meeting, the school district and the City of Akron were unable to reach an agreement on a contract for resource officers for the district's high and middle schools.

The resource officer program has traditionally employed a total of 14 members of the Akron Police Department.

The impasse exists because the Board wants building principals to have the authority to keep resource officers out of their buildings under certain circumstances and to also have the ability to completely remove an officer from the program.

Here is additional detail about that situation.

8/18/25 UPDATE:
Here's one problem solved.   The school district and the city have agreed on a two-year contract to restore school resource officers to the district's high and middle schools.

East school resource officer, Officer Paul Achberger

 


Fore !!

This year's John Stanley Memorial Golf Outing, hosted by the East High Alumni Association, will take place on Saturday, August 23, at Mayfair Country Club.

Here are the details as of now.

 


Welcome to East

Below are nine of the educators who will be new to East C.L.C. for the 2025-26 school year.

Senorita Berkhouse • Spanish teacher

Mr. Bomba • 8th Grade Academy Principal

Mr. Cecil • KeyBank Academy instructor

Mr. Cope • Health / Phys. Ed. teacher

Mrs. Darrin • Grades 6-12 vocal music teacher

Mr. Doll • 8th grade English-Language Arts

Mr. Farrance • Middle school Intervention Specialist
(and East grad)

Mrs. Pancoast • Freshman seminar

Mrs. Willoughby • Middle school Intervention Unit

 


No More Cinders !

New track installed at East

Thanks to a grant awarded in the amount of $100,000 to the Akron Public Schools from Dick's Sporting Goods Foundation and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, the battered dirt and cinder running track at East has been excavated and replaced with a rubberized, all-weather track.

The work was done by Vasco Sports Contractors of Massillon.

The first synthetic, all-weather track was developed in the mid 1950s, and the first time one was used in the Olympics was in 1968 at Mexico City.   So you see, East is a little behind the curve but happy to catch up.

Below are some pictures of the newly-installed track.   Quite an improvement!

View no. 1      View no. 2      View no. 3

View no. 4      View no. 5      View no. 6

 


See Who's Running

for Akron Board of Education

As of the August 6 deadline, nine candidates have filed with the Summit County Board of Elections to run for the four available seats on the Akron Board of Education in this year's general election.

Election day is Tuesday, November 4.

Need to register to vote?   Need to request an absentee ballot?   Need to find out where to vote in person?   All this information is available on the Board of Elections web site.

Here are the nine school board candidates.



Akron Public Schools, Finney
Settle Lawsuit

Vyrone Finney Former East principal, Vyrone Finney, and the Akron Public Schools have settled Finney's wrongful termination lawsuit for $250,000.

Finney was fired from the school district in 2023 after being charged with hitting a student in the face.   He was acquited of criminal charges but was fired for violating district policy.

Finney will receive only $50,000 of the settlement amout with the remainder going to his attorney.

 


East Akron Landmarks
Demolished

The wrecking crews have been busy in East Akron lately.

The Goodyear, formerly East Akron, YMCA has been demolished.   The 1950 building served decades of East Akron and Goodyear Heights families.   There are currently no plans in place for the now-vacant property.

Also currently being demolished is the former Goodyear Junior High/Goodyear Middle School/original East High School building.   The structure was opened in 1918 and sat at 49 N. Martha Ave.

That site will be used to construct an affordable housing complex.

E. Akron YMCA demolition

East HS / Goodyear MS demolition

 


Honoring Seiberling Retirees

Pictured below are retiring Seiberling teachers, Felicia Cosper, Barb Fisher, Margaret Ruppert, and Lorine Napoli.

 


 

Valuable School Info

Some important things to know for the 2025-26 school year:

Akron Public
Schools


Registration & enrollment

School start &
end times


School meals

School supplies

Cell phone policy

Safety & security

School
transportation


College & Career
Academies


Graduation requirements

Parents' handbook

Ohio Dept. of
Higher Education


Home Access
Center




News
from the
Superintendent

S Mary Outley

Meet the
new Superintendent


Super's convocation address

Super's
weekly update




Akron
Board of
Education

General info

Members

Latest
meeting agenda


Meetings
livestreamed


New Board
president




Standardized
Testing
info

test takers

ACT
Testing dates
& deadlines


Practice tests

Advanced
Placement

Testing dates

SAT
Testing dates
& deadlines


Practice tests

PSAT
PSAT 8 & 9 info

PSAT 10 info



Looking Ahead

College & Career

Some overlooked scholarship opportunities

College
alternatives




Some
Recent
Stories

Alternatives
to college


Dr. Palmer
visits East


East Class
of 2025


Farewell to
Robinson


Making Akron
Possible


Remember
Hotchkiss?


Zips Affordability Scholarship



Homework
Helpers

math students

Dictionary.com

Discovery Educ.

Info Please

Khan Academy

Math.com



Aids to Deal
with Bullying

The BULLY Project

Kind Campaign

National Bullying
Prevention Center


Sit With Us

stopbullying.gov

StopCyberbullying



East
Cluster
Resources

For a list of resources helpful to residents of the East Cluster neighborhoods , click here.

where to?



Alumni
News

class reunion

East High Alumni Association
golf outing

East High Alumni
Association web site

Facebook
Alumni Group



East High       East Middle       Barber CLC       David Hill CLC       Mason CLC       Seiberling CLC
 

Reporting on the news of the East Cluster since 2002.

Hope you learned something new while visiting our web site.

Last updated:
8/30/2025

Michael T. Hayes
— Web Manager —

Site E-mail