Multi-Platinum Recording Artist, Justin Jeffre, Files Formal Complaint Against Warrensville High School, Cites Ohio Law
(Cincinnati) – After filing complaints with the Ohio Department of Education, alleging that Graduation Tests are “unfair” according to Ohio Administrative Code, and after filing a complaint with the Ohio Board of Regents, alleging that the teacher-training programs they fund bring educators into violation of the law, Cincinnati activist Justin Jeffre has now turned his sites on Warrensville High School – where administrators have taken to dismissing students early who have passed the OGTs, so everyone else can take test-prep courses that may themselves be a violation of ethical standards.
"This whole things is a huge mess,” explained Jeffre. “Our legislators can’t do anything about a school funding formula the Ohio Supreme Court has found unconstitutional on four different occasions, but somehow they have time to write convoluted laws about standardized testing. Ohio’s students are being abused by legislative red tape that has transformed the landscape of education and dumbed down Ohio schools.”
Ohio law prohibits schools from preparing kids for graduation tests when the focus of that preparation is the format of the test, as opposed to the underlying educational standards. But Warrensville High School reportedly dismisses older students early so everyone else can take classes entitled things like “Test Taking.”
“This looks like a violation of law,” explained Jeffre, “and it comes at the expense of students who lose educational opportunities while school systems teach to the test. The whole culture of test-taking in Ohio doesn’t make sense. Politicians love saying that schools need to be accountable. Now it’s time for legislators to be held accountable to the laws they put on the books.”
Jeffre does not support these laws governing standardized tests in Ohio, but he believes the only way to bring about reform is to raise awareness concerning the legislation that implements the tests in the first place. “People say the tests are fair. If so, why are schools teaching about test format?” asked Jeffre. “And why is Ohio outlawing such preparation? Something doesn’t add up. Do these exams test something other than content knowledge? Should we withhold diplomas from kids who don’t take tests well?”
“We need real school reform in Ohio,” concluded Jeffre, “and it starts with holding legislators accountable not only to implementing laws that make sense, but to upholding the Constitution they swore to protect.”
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