Outside of Heinen’s on Lee Road today, a Shaker parent who identified herself as April held a sign displaying the message “Anyone except Lora Cover for Shaker Heights School Board” in all capital letters.
April, a parent of a Shaker graduate and a current Shaker student, said the district needs new people to serve on the board. Referring to Board of Education President Cover, she said, “She’s had four years to do her best. She’s been our leader. We made some poor, questionable decisions in the district in the last four years, and it’s time for something new. We have some other candidates that are more than qualified to do better.”
The sign is “not against Lora,” she said. “I’m just indicating that we have so many very, very talented new people coming up with some wonderful, amazing ideas.”
Cover, the only incumbent among six candidates, said she knows people have strong feelings about the schools. “I deeply respect that. I know it comes from caring so much about our kids and community,” she said.
“During my four years on the board, we’ve made significant progress on issues that matter: expanding access to pre-K, advancing equity through detracking, modernizing our facilities, and building accountability systems that keep us focused on results,” Cover said. “Those efforts take time to bear fruit, but I believe that they’re the right foundation for lasting improvement.
April said she thinks that Shaker’s four-star state rating doesn’t accurately reflect the district’s progress compared to neighboring districts. “When you’ve done the research, you will see how much progress we can do, how much more. When you compare it to other districts, our test scores — we are not doing great. It’s time for a change,” she said.
She said that the district needs to focus on educating all students equitably. “We do not educate special-needs kids at an acceptable rate. We have a lot of kids who are not being educated in the district in general, and we need to focus some attention, some financial resources, to those people,” she said.
April, who said she supports Jenny Steadman, Kate Nielson and James Reed for BOE, said she is voting “yes” on Issue 51. “I absolutely support the levy. I don’t think that financially crippling our district is going to do us any good,” she said. “We need some more money, but we need to spend that money wisely. There have been reports that we overspend administratively and when you look at the numbers compared to other districts, our board building is overstaffed. We don’t need to get rid of those positions, we just need more hands-on with the children instead of in the office.”
Said Cover, “We have so much more work to do. I’m proud of what we’ve done and remain focused on ensuring that every student in Shaker has access to an excellent, equitable education.”
