Collect all six of participating Skyline restaurants while supplies last addiction will charge the supply by Billy Cunningham, the Great American and read Spaceball off tonight, thank god, and they're going to rest today. Got the Pirates in town Friday, Saturday and Sunday, then off on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday in Cleveland, off on Thursday. Last three games in Saint Louis. One game out of the playoffs. We'll see what happens. But plus Bengals on Monday night against
the Rams. All kind of good stuff going on. And as you know, the governor is with us yesterday and I had some reports he's doing much better today. So this is the second time the governor has had COVID and he seems to be in pretty good shape and we wish him the best. And in the studio with me now is Ironetta Wright, who's the superintendent, the head person at the Cincinnati Public Schools. And Ironetta Wright, good to have you in the studio, and welcome to the Bill Cunningham Show. Thank
you for having me, glad to be here. Let's talk about some of the issues. Number one, the test scores and Cincinnati Public Schools we're not good. I don't know if they've been up and down a little bit. What do you attribute to the fact that, over a number of years, test scores in Cincinnati, not just under your administration, you've been here about a year and a half or two years, but they tend to be in
the f category or below failing. Why is that well? I think that there are a lot of different factors that we look at as we think about the accountability system. I think it's important that we are looking at how our students are truly assessed and what we're assessing our students on on the accountability system has changed quite a bit over the last several years. And then we know, just as the district was really beginning to see some pretty good strides and
progress, COVID happened. And from there it's really trying to get back now to that pre COVID work so that we can make sure that we're seeing the outcomes that we want to see for our students. Now goal, of course, to everybody to pass everybody's happy long periods of time. Urban districts, a lot of poor whites, a lot of poor black kids have more difficulties in education than other isn't it true that parents, mothers and fathers are the
first teachers, the last teachers, and the best teachers. And in a sense, no one can be blamed for failing schools if the kids shows up not able to read, not able to come to school. What part the bad parents play in this? Well, I think that you know, when you're talking about the specific populations that you're talking about, you're talking about norms
that are outside of just what's happening in a day to day basis. Many of the challenges that we see with students, especially when you're talking about urban students, are talking about rural students as well, is that there is a difference in terms of how families and some of the challenges that they're dealing with in terms of the family, and so thinking about that, it looks different when you start to work with school many of the students. You're right,
there are many students that don't come to school already on great levels. So it causes teachers and additional staff members that are working with them to really have to work even more specifically with the students to try to get them to the level that they need to be during the time that they have with them. So I think that parents parents. You know, I often say that parents they do the best that they can, and they do the best that they
know how to do. So it's not necessarily my responsibility to say that a parent is a bad parent or not a bad parent. What I want all parents to do is make sure that when they send their kids to us, they share with them, do what you should do while you're there, They find a place for them to do their homework in the afternoon, They give them the necessary support that they can, and that's a part of our be
Present initiative. That's one of the reasons that we're talking about be present because for years, especially when you look at just the poverty rate in Cincinnati as a whole, when you're thinking about that and then you're looking at how that looks in school buildings, we have many families that are working two or three jobs, trying to make ends meet, and they don't necessarily know what they
can do to be present. Now, that's not all of our families, and I don't want to say that there is that's all of the families that are in the district, but a vast majority of them, they are working, doing the best that they can, and so we want to make sure that we're partners with them and their children's education. All Ronata, did I read that forty seven percent of the students are chronically absent? Forty seven percent
this year? I think actually the number. I think the number this year is forty two, but that's accurate, and believe it or not, that is an improvement over last year. That's a seven percentage point improvement over where we were last year. Across the state, the goal is about twenty percent, and so we have all of the urban school issues that urban school districts and urban communities have, and that's one of the reasons that this year we're
really taking a concerted focus around chronic absenteeism. And we also believe that it's important that we do that in partnership with the community because that's not just a school based issue, it's a community issue as well. How is a community how is the city of Cincinnati going to support us to make sure that if students are not in school, that we're doing what's necessary to get them to
the school building. If you overt chronically absent, I can't imagine when they do show up for school, how far behind they are and the behavioral issues. And to me, that's a family that's a cultural problem more than an education. If they don't show up to be educated, they got little chance. And so what what can you do as a leader in Cincinnati to say this is unacceptable. We can't have forty two forty five percent not showing up.
We can't have these kind of results. And so is there's something as superintendent can do with parents? And if you're sixteen years old, that's different than a six year old. You've got a six or seven year old in the first second grade, they're not showing up, that's on the parent. If the sixteen year old's not showing up, that's on the kid. So
what can you do to motivate them to actually come to school? I think before we get to motivation, I think we can actually define what it means to be chronically absent and chronic absenteeism is defined as being out of school ten percent of the school year, so for us, that's about eighteen days. I think it's important that we share with students and we share with families that any absence, whether it's an excuse absence or an unexcused absence, counts against
them being chronically absent, and so making sure that they understand. You know, if you take off a day a month, or if you take off two days a month, by the end of the year you're not feeling well, you have a headache, you have a running nose, you have a stomach ache. By the end of the year, you will be chronically absent. That does not mean that every student that has been chronically absent has not
been successful. When you think about just the example that I just use, two days a month gets you to chronic absenteeism, but it doesn't put you necessarily in a place where you can't be academically successful. So I think that's the first. We want to educate our parents, our students, the community
around what it means to be chronically absent. I think the second is we want to make sure that we are communicating with parents early and often about attendance, making sure that they understand that students need to be in school, but not only do they need to be in school. If you're planning a vacation, we publicize our calendar much earlier. The calendar is online for two years. Make sure you're reviewing the calendar before you plan vacation in the middle of
the school year. If a student is working and they're a working student, there is a period of time that they should not work because they have school. The other thing is making sure that when there is an issue and we see it starting, because as the school year progresses, it's when we also
see that the numbers begin to increase in terms of the attendance. We want to make sure that we're doing attendance intervention meetings and planning with families, really trying to get to the root cause of what's causing the attendance, what's causing the challenge. Even with the challenges that we had last year with transportation, some would have thought that our chronic absenteeism would have been higher. We actually
had a decline. So it's not where we want to be, but it's moving in the right direction, and I believe it's because we're really taking an intensive focus on it all. Right, another right, superintendent of schools in Cincinnati yesterday Children's Hospital, which is a great facility run by my good friend, doctor Michael Fisher, said that all the staff have got to wear masks.
Do you see a time when once again, even though masks don't work, even though masks are irrelevant, even though masks are harmful to children, that you may require staff to wear masks. I think it would be difficult for me to answer that right off, just with me and you, because
that's a decision that I would do in partnership with the school board. I will share based on what I understand that did happen at Children's It's not just about the expectations of the concerns around COVID, but there are a lot of different issues in terms of medical issues that they were looking to cover and prepare for as well. I'm hopeful that we don't go back to that space because I think that we want our students to have an opportunity to interact and to
engage without them currier against them. Basically, well, I think it depends on the situation. It depends on whether or not if there is an increase, if someone has actually had a virus and they feel like they would be more comfortable wearing a mask, I feel like they should have the opportunity to do that, absolutely, but not mandatory. It depends on the situation.
Now, what about tuition? Right now, my friends and Columbus have put together that anyone and Cincinnati or elsewhere can get about eight thousand dollars to send
their kid to a private school. Many times it's a Catholic school that's a first, second, or third grader, or go to LaSalle or go to Mall or whatever it might be. What impact has the tuition program had and attendance at CPS, Well, Billy, you know that I am definitely a public school educator, so I support all funding going to public school students,
to support the funding to support the overall work that's happening with children. When parents are selecting to go to a private institution, that's their choice to do that. But I don't think that public dollars should be used to do that. But it is. It is. That's correct. But you ask me what I think, and that is actually what I think. Is it hurting
the schools? I haven't seen it yet. It's just started. In terms of our enrollment right now, our enrollment is pretty steady with where it was last year, So we would have to really go through this year spend some more time looking at whether or not it has had a great impact on us.
But do you understand that from a Columbus perspective, most of the people that run state government are from like Bucyrus and Aida, and they look at Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland is not necessarily in a positive fashion, and they say that if parents can get a tuition voucher and take that to Saint Susannah or take that to our Lady of Victory and get eight thousand dollars of taxpayer money, that do you have a concern that may I use the term the
cream of the crop of schools and Cincinnati are gonna lose the top twenty percent because you can go into a more functional environment, which is a Catholic grade school. I have a concern about it across the board because as the budget happened for us this year, the House budget and the Senate budget were not the same, and in order for us to get an addition the additional funding that we did receive, which was about twelve million dollars, the way that
that was done was to agree to this universal vouchers. So ultimately, it's taking money from public school students, is taking money from students in the greatest need. So there is not a time that I would agree with public dollars going to fund a child going to a private school, whether that is a child that those that anyone would consider to be the highest performing child, or whether that's a child that's more challenged. I don't support it. Thirty five
hundred kids or so I read that report, are homeless. I can't imagine educational achievement of a seven, eight, nine, ten year old who's homeless, living on the streets. What special programs do you have in CPS to
help an eight year old girl who's homeless. So we do. We do our work through a program called Project Connect, and through Project Connect, it allows us to really work with families, to work with our agencies that are within the city to make sure that we're working to help our families get sheltered. Just recently, we had a presentation at a joint meeting that we had with the city Council and our school board, and one of the things that
we're shared is that we see more students right now that are unsheltered. Over a hundred students in our district right now sheltered. So essentially that means that these would be students that would be living in a car, or they may be living on the streets, and so we do intensive work with them.
Do follow up with the families. We provide vouchers for them in terms of clothing vouchers, in terms of food vouchers through working with our partners, we work with the Free Store Food Bank to make sure that there's food that's provided for them. We provide what they need in terms of uniforms, and then we also want to make sure that academically everything that we can provide for them.
All of our schools our community learning centers, so that gives opportunity for students to be at school longer sometimes so they're getting additional services that way as well. And one of the things that we notice is with our students, our homeless students, and this was just shared last week in that meeting, that we see a higher percentage of our homeless students that are graduating than the national average, and so that really says that we are doing some intensive work.
That work is lit by one of our team members, Rebecca Beach, and she's been doing it for a long time and has a heart for the population. I think one of the things that we want to address in the city is there is a need for affordable housing and so as we think about even our homeless families, that are able to get vouchers for a property, They're not able to necessarily find a property where they're able to use the voucher
for that to happen, right right, correct now. Issue one's coming up in about five or six weeks, and many on the Republican conservative side, I think it's evil if the school systems are making referrals to plan parenthood or transgender rights. What is if I'm at went through high school, and I'm a sixteen year old girl, and women have babies, men do not have babies, and a girl comes and she's pregnant. Would you notify the parents
of that sixteen year old girl that she's pregnant. So, I think we have policies and processes that are in place for what we can share what we cannot share. A part of this information came up because the concern was not necessarily about students that were pregnant as much as it was about students that were identifying with an alternative lifestyle. And there is a responsibility that educators have if there's something that's harmful in the Code of Ethics, they have to report that.
However, in terms of looking at this particular scenario, it's not one that's been determined harmful. So if a child is in trouble in any way, if they're looking at self harm or any of those kinds of things, then we are required to do follow up and follow up with the parents. Outside of that, not so much if a child shows up and says I'm a boy and I want to be a girl, and there's a clinic inside the high school, or would you notify the parent that a student of tender
years wants to become a transgender? Would you notify parents' guardians? Even with our clinics that are in our high schools, they have to have parent permission to go to the clinic, So that child wouldn't be able to go to the clinic and start any services or any of those things without their being parent noticed and parent permission. But once they get there, would you make a
referral to planned parenthood for an abortion without notifying the parent? In terms of thinking about what needs to happen next for the child, I think that collectively their privacy expectations around working with children and working with families as well, and so it would really be important to make sure that we acknowledge what's in our policy for that and we follow the policies in the guide Lives. Yes or no, I know that's your question. I know that's your question. Yes
or no, I know that's your question. So you can't say yes or no in terms of thinking about the specific question that you're asking. You know, it depends on the circumstances. It depends on the situation. I don't have enough information to know that answer. I don't know whether or not that child is a child that has been a product of incests, if they have had a challenge, if they have been a victim of some sort. So I can't just say yes, I would do this, or know that I
wouldn't, because it very much depends on the circumstance. Now we have a terrible situation on the southern border, and millions and millions of illegals are pouring across the southern border, and Governor Abbot is declared in an invasion. We don't know what's happening. I imagine CPS is not like New York or Los Angeles, but I would assume there's hundreds or many individuals who may show up
for education at the age of ten or twelve without educational achievement. In the background to give them the opportunity to be able to read and to think critically. Do you have special if we have a duty legally to educate everyone that shows up your respective of status, because that's the law. How good or bad is it if you have to educate a thousand kids from Nicaragua who show up in the public schools without any educational background, what do you do with
them? I think that's one of the examples, a very specific example. I'm glad you shared that because that's one of the examples of what makes an urban school district very different than a suburban school district because everyone that comes you know, when we think about Cincinnati, there has been an increase since COVID of families that are coming into sin Sinnati that are from different places. And so even in our own school district, we've seen about a forty percent increase
in our English language learning families. And that's what we call them, our families that are bilingual or multi lingual families. And you're right, we have an expectation and a requirement to make sure that the children are served, and so we work with them in a variety of ways. We bring them in.
We do as required by the state as well. There is a language testing that goes along with it, so that we really can try to get an idea of where the students are, where they were performing in their own language, so that we can get them the level of support that they need and work to get them to proficiency. Social promotion, let's say you're twelve years old and you're performing at a second or third grade level. You can't put a twelve year old and the third grade. So is social promotion a
fact at CPS. By know what I mean, you promote the kid to the next grade level even though educationally they're not there. So last year we actually had an update in our policy because during the time of COVID there was a change in the policy. The goal was to promote as many students as possible through COVID. Last year we had an update in our policy where we've gone back to really looking at the requirements that students need to meet in order
for them to be promoted. I think that there are some outlying situations like the one that you're talking about, and so in those kinds of examples, we would work with students, we would work with families get a really good idea of where the students are, do individualized planning for them so that we're
able to get them on track. I mean, there are a lot of different reasons that you wouldn't want a twelve year old is that should be in the sixth or seventh grade in a class with a third grader, And so it's important that we think through that and that we're working with the students and the families and the teachers to get that done well astly. What's the ats So our graduation rate right now, it's about eighty five percent across the district
and a slight improvement we do expect moving into next year. I do think it's important that we clarify what graduation rate means because our students that come to school every day. To your earlier question about attendance, our students that come to school every day. Our schools do a great job of making sure that those students are promoted. They work with them. If they're students that are
behind, they work with those students as well. But when you think about graduation rate, this is an area of education for our community as well. It's not just the students that are in the building. It depends on when students started in ninth grade. So if a child starts in the ninth grade and they move away, and they move outside of Ohio and we don't know where they are, those students count against that school and the district's graduation rate.
So it's really important for families to know and for the community to know. Most of the students that we have challenges with our students that move away, that they move, they don't give us any information. We don't know where they are. We have not been able to find them, so they count against us. As long as we can't say that this child went from location X to location why then they count against that particular school. And that
is that's the national way that it's done. And so it's important that families understand that. A right gam many questions for me about sports, politics, world capitals, something else confused you over the years. I just want to make sure the next time you go to Sawgrass you hit the ball from me. I've played there once or twice, and that's your kind of your home airy Jacksonville, Duval right, I know how much you love Duvall I do
really, And then you went to Detroit. Don't you like Cincinnati? And Cincinnati better than Jacksonville. Listen, I love Cincinnati, but Jacksonville is home for me. There there are many things that remind me very much of Jacksonville and Cincinnati, but I love it here, but Jacksonville is home. I run out, all right. Thank you very much for coming on the Bill
Cunningham Show. Thank you for having me. Let's continue. Bill Cunningham News Radio seven hundred w l W join the reddits for the final homes.