The East Cluster of schools in the Akron, Ohio, Public School System


Part of the Akron Public School System • Akron, Ohio

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

Cluster
Calendar

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

Video Corner

WAKR's Ray Horner visited Barber to see how their new handicap-accessible playground is being put to use by the students.

Watch that video here.

Karmyn has
Character

Karmyn, a sixth grader at Seiberling, has been selected as one of the Akron Beacon Journal Kids With Character.

Here is Karmyn's story.

East Sports News

Coaches
Brian Dawson has been named as boys head varsity basketball coach at East. He previously served as boys varsity assistant at East and most recently as boys head varsity coach at Kenmore.

Coach Dawson

Read additional info about the coaching changes in the City Series in this Akron Beacon Journal article.

Football
Varsity
Buchtel 15
East 13

Fri., Oct. 27
7:00 p.m.
at Warren Howland

Division III, Region 9
Computer rankings

Football web site

Junior Varsity
Sat., Oct. 28
10:00 a.m.
vs. Warren Howland
at home

Cross Country
Boys
Season concluded

Girls
Season concluded

Volleyball
Varsity
City Series Championship
East 22-13-19
Ellet 25-25-25

Div. II District
East 10-10-22
Norwayne 25-25-25
Season concluded

Junior Varsity
Season concluded

Middle School
Season concluded

Soccer
Middle School
Season concluded

East Band News

Mons. & Thurs.
After-school practices
3:08-4:00 p.m.

Fri., Oct. 27
Football at
Warren Howland
Report @ 4:30 p.m.

Parade video
Every year the band marches in the East Akron Labor Day Parade.

Here is video from this year's parade. The band appears at about the 3:15 mark.

State Report Cards

Every year the Ohio Dept. of Education issues a report card for every school in the state. Evaluated are factors such as test scores, attendance, and graduation rates.

Listed below are the report cards for the schools of the East Cluster for the 2016-17 school year.

2016-17

Barber
David Hill
Mason
Robinson
Seiberling
East High & Middle

Thank You

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

• Michael Hayes donated $1,150.00 to East to be used as needed by the band and Athletic Dept.

• The East High Alumni Assoc. donated $500.00 to support activities of East's Marine Corps JROTC program.

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

East Cluster E-mail

Looking for High School Videographers

Who are looking for scholarship money

The Ohio Attorney General's Office and the Ohio Council on Economic Education are again sponsoring the Take Action Video Contest for Ohio high school students. Contest winners can earn scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $2,500.

Students are asked to create an informational video — 58-62 seconds in length — dealing with either smartphone privacy, social network scams, or creating strong passwords. Deadline for submissions is December 8.

Complete details about the contest can be found here.

Two new bills seek to

Curb Bullying in Ohio Schools

Two new anti-bullying bills have been introduced into the Ohio Legislature: one by State Representative, David Greenspan (R-Westlake); the other, by State Senator, Sandra Williams (D-Cleveland).

Greenspan's House Bill 360 would do the following to enhance anti-bullying measures already in place in some schools:

the bully would have to attend a community service program;
the bully would have to accept counseling from the school; and
schools would have to offer tutoring to the bully so that he/she doesn't fall behind as a result of their suspension.

Williams' Senate Bills 196 and 197 would involve a six-step process:

Step one is a warning
Step two requires peer mediation
Step three requires calling a parent or guardian into the process
Step four is an in-school suspension
Step five is an out-of-school suspension
Step six would refer the case to a juvenile prosecutor.

Both legislators in both houses argee that their bills are similar are willing to work together to make one effective piece of legislation.

For some additional detail, here is video and text on Greenpsan's bill from station WDTN in Dayton, and here is the same for Williams' bills from station Fox8 in Cleveland.

College & Career Academy
Choices for East

College and Career Academies of Akron will transform our traditional high schools into innovative models that prepare students for the future and produce graduates ready to work in high-demand, sustainable career fields.

The six traditional Akron Public high schools (Buchtel, East, Ellet, Firestone, North, and the newly-merged Garfield-Kenmore) will be converting to the academy model beginning with the 2019-20 school year (today's 8th graders). North has already begun the transition.

In the academy model, students are placed in smaller learning groups and are taught with an eye towards a specific career field. Academies allow students to choose a path of study such as engineering, health care, or information technology. They will still learn math, science, English, and social studies, but will do so within the theme of their academy.

The Academies are designed to produce grads who have the job skills that area employers are seeking.

Career pathways must lead to high-demand, high-paying jobs as determined by ConxusNEO, an Akron-based non-profit whose motto is "connecting work to prosperity."

After a series of local meetings over the summer at each of the high schools, where preferences for career options were expressed, the design committee presented a finalized list of career pathways to the Akron Board of Education at its September 25 meeting.

The career pathways selected for East are:

Automotive technology
Business and entrepreneurship
Electronic engineering
Finance
Health care
Information Technology support services
Welding

Here are the career pathways for all the schools.

Class of 2018 Given
More Ways to Graduate

By new state budget bill

The 2018-19 biennial budget bill for the state of Ohio, which took effect July 1, 2017, contains some important changes in graduation requirements for members of the Class of 2018.

Up until now, in addition to accumulating a minimum of 20 course credits, this year's seniors would also have to achieve one of the following:

earn a cumulative passing score of 18 points (out of a possible 35) on seven end-of-course state tests
demonstrate workforce readiness by means of a state-approved test
achieve a certain level of scoring on either the ACT or SAT college admission exams.

However, under provisions contained in the new budget bill, if seniors do not achieve at least 18 test points, they could still graduate by meeting any two of nine other requirements:

93% attendance during their senior year
a 2.5 GPA in at least four full-year, senior-year courses
a senior-year capstone project
120 hours of senior-year work or community service
three credit hours via College Credit Plus
passage of an Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate class and exam
a level three score on each of three components of the WorkKeys test
industry credentials totaling at least three points in Ohio's system
receive an Ohio Means Jobs readiness seal.

A second provision would create a pathway to graduation for students who complete a four-course career technical training program, and are either proficient on the technical exams, earn 12 points of credentials, or work 250-plus hours with positive evaluations.

Senate Education Committee Chair, Peggy Lehner (R-Kettering), said that earning required course credits should outweigh test results, especially for this class, which has been through so much change.

"It takes several years for kids to become accustomed to a new test, and for teachers to know how to prepare students for it," said Lehner. "You'll always see kids do worse at the beginning of new tests. ...because graduation is dependent on this, that's pretty high stakes, so it seems only fair to give these kids in the beginning an opportunity."

Many educators have suggested that up to 30% of Ohio's Class of 2018 would not graduate under the existing system.

Here is some additional detail from the Ohio Dept. of Education web site.

Earn A's and B's in high school...

Earn Scholarship Money
to Attend Kent State

In some families, students earn money for getting good grades. Kent State University wants to award Akron Public School (A.P.S.) students up to $1,200 a year in scholarship money for their good grades.

Kent State, in conjunction with San Francisco-based company, Raise.me, is offering a maximum of $4,800 in scholarship money over four years to A.P.S. students who earn A's and B's in college prep and Advanced Placement classes.

A.P.S. students can start accruing scholarship credit beginning with the 2017-18 school year. And since the program is retroactive, a student can get credit for qualifying grades beginning with their ninth grade year.

For additional detail, read the Akron Beacon Journal article here.

State Report Cards Issued

for the 2016-17 school year

The Ohio Department of Education released the state's 2016-2017 school report cards on September 14.

There are six components that comprise the letter grades given to school districts and individual schools throughout the state. Those six components are:

test score achievement
performance index
closing the achievement gap
graduation rates
grades K - 3 literacy
perparation for success.

To see the grades for the schools of the East Cluster, scroll down in the left column of this web site to the "School Report Cards" posting.

The Akron Public Schools received an overall "F" grade using the six scoring components listed above. David James, Akron Schools Superintendent, stated, "No one's happy when you look at the number of indicators met."

In referring to his district's scores, Cleveland Metropolitan School District CEO, Eric Gordon, said "We have a long way to go. No one here is celebrating."

For some additional detail, here is an article and audio from radio station WCPN and here is an article from the Dayton Daily News.

Eating Healthier

at David Hill, Mason, & Seiberling

At its August 28 meeting, the Akron Board of Education accepted a grant for $174,410 to provide fresh fruit and vegetables twice a week for nine of the district's schools.

Benefiting from the grant in the East Cluster are David Hill, Mason, and Seiberling.

The grant, designated for the district's Department of Child Nutrition, was awarded by the Ohio Department of Education's Office for Child Nutrition, and follows the guidlines provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program.