📈 The State of Xenia Education: School Board Member Joshua Day on Ratings, Strategic Progress, and Managing Growth

As Xenia, Ohio continues to grow, the quality and direction of Xenia City Schools are top-of-mind for both long-time residents and the influx of new families moving to the area.

In this insightful interview, School Board Member Joshua Day sits down to provide a candid look at the challenges and impressive progress of the district, focusing on the core responsibilities of the board, the strategies for improving Xenia school ratings, and the impact of the city's rapid residential development.

Steering the "Cruise Ship": The Role of the Xenia School Board

School Board Member Joshua Day offered clarity on what the board actually does, noting that after getting elected, the reality hits: "Now I have to do things for four years".

The board operates from a "30,000-foot view". Their primary function is setting the high-level policy, vision, goals, and objectives for the district. They then provide the Superintendent and staff with the tools and funds controlling the "purse strings"to accomplish those goals.

• Policy Focus: High-level areas like student codes of conduct, teacher codes of conduct, and job descriptions for administrators.

• Administrative Support: They vote on funding for ideas like the highly-publicized Yonder Pouches (cell phone storage) for high school students, which was an administrative initiative supported by the board.

• Meetings & Transparency: The board meets once a month (more often than required by Ohio law) , and meetings are open to the public, though large crowds only appear during major controversial or celebratory events.

Closing the Gap: Xenia’s Plan to Boost School Ratings

One of the biggest concerns for new residents coming from wealthier communities like Miami Township, Centerville, Beaver Creek, and Bellbrook is the relatively low Xenia school rating. Day acknowledged that turning a school system is like turning a cruise ship it takes time.

However, the district is showing steady progression:

• Rating Improvement: After Ohio switched to the 5-star scoring system, Xenia was initially rated 2.5 stars. This improved to 3 stars last year, with projections for a 3.5 to 4-star rating this year.

• COVID Learning Gap: The district has successfully closed the learning gap created during the pandemic. Pre-COVID, performance on key tests (like the 3rd-grade reading guarantee) was around 70%; post-COVID, it dropped to 40%. The district is now back to its pre-COVID performance levels.

• New Strategic Focus: The school has implemented the "Science of Reading"a return to proven, effective reading instruction. Furthermore, a new strategic plan was developed this year based on extensive community feedback from business owners, homeowners, and teachers. This plan aims to graduate students with key abilities in STEM and ever-changing technology.

New Housing, New Challenges: Growth and Redistricting

With over 40% of Xenia home sales going to people moving from outside the area, the city’s residential growth is impacting the schools. These new families often settle in areas that feed into already high-performing schools like Tecumseh , which are seeing their classrooms "bursting at the seams".

Day noted that schools like Tecumseh, McKinley, and Cox often score higher because the families in those areas are "much more involved" in their children's education.

To manage this growth and prevent a widening achievement gap between different school zones (like the growing divide with schools like Shawnee), the district will soon have to face the issue of redistricting. The goal of school redistricting will be to redistribute the incoming families and resources across the city to ensure stability and improve all schools.