The Cincinnati Beacon
OGT Blasted for Failure to Comply with State Fairness Guidelines
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Posted by Media Release
Multi-Platinum Recording Artist Turned Cincinnati Media Activist Files Formal Complaint and Request for Appeal
(Cincinnati)—This week, Cincinnati multi-platinum recording artist from the band 98 Degrees, former mayoral candidate, and independent media activist Justin Jeffre filed a formal complaint with the Ohio Department of Education, requesting to appeal the work of the state’s “fairness committee” regarding Ohio Graduation Tests.
“To put this bluntly, the OGT might be unfair according to Ohio law,” said Jeffre.
“Ohio Administrative Code has guidelines which dictate how to insure graduation tests are ‘fair,’” he continued. “Based on my preliminary analysis, the OGTs are riddled with violations that should be obvious to anyone with common sense.”
Jeffre’s formal complaint and request for an appeal come during the week Ohio students are required to take government-mandated, high-stakes tests to determine graduation eligibility.
“I view the entire process as a distraction,” said Jeffre. “Teachers and school administrators stand at the forefront of educating our children. But instead of working for real school reform and innovation, they are bogged down with worrying about an intrusive government test.”
Jeffre identifies the real issue as the fact that Ohio’s Supreme Court has found the State’s funding of public schools unconstitutional. “Instead of implementing more bureaucracy, like convoluted ‘fairness committees’ that appear not to follow their own guidelines, our legislators should be concerned with upholding Ohio’s constitution.”
“We need real school reform, and legislation with teeth that creates a fair system of funding so public education in Ohio can be built upon an even playing field,” argued Jeffre.
His formal complaint and request for appeal outlines several alleged violations to the “fairness guidelines” in Ohio Administrative Code. Instead of pumping more business into what Jeffre calls Ohio’s “Educational Industrial Complex,” he said teachers, students, parents, and community members need to fight for reform that matters, and not allow everyone’s attention to be distracted by government tests that dumb down curriculum under the banner of political buzz-words, like “accountability.”
Jeffre is confident that his complaint will be considered fairly by the “fairness committee,” and he predicts a hearing on the subject of his appeal to be scheduled soon.
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View the letter of complaint here.
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