43 Forum: Parma City Schools make the grade - 19 Action News|Cleveland, OH|News, Weather, Sports

43 Forum: Parma City Schools make the grade

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CLEVELAND (8/28/11) - The subject of this show was education.  I talked with Dr. Jeff Graham, Superintendent of the Parma City Schools. 

The district has nearly12-thousand students. 

We discussed the recent passage of a levy and the fact that seven levies before this one were voted down. 

Even with the levy's passage, the district is still going to have to cut about 4-million dollars. 

It still has pay-to-play and it has had to cut staff.  Dr. Graham says his district was able to avoid a take-over by the state with the levy's success. 

The Parma City Schools are rated Excellent by the state because it has achieved what is called 'value added' that's when students improve year-over-year sufficient enough to bump the district's grade up a notch. 

Dr Graham says his district is facing several major problems as an inner-ring suburb school system, a changing demographic and financially hard times due to the economy. 

Cuts from the state he says aren't helping.  He praised students, their parents, his staff and teachers for helping the district maintain its Excellent Rating on the Ohio Department of Education's Report Card.