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Trotwood-Madison School District In Review By State

Trotwood-Madison School District Superintendent Kevin A. Bell says he looks forward to hearing recommendations from the state department of education district review team.
Trotwood-Madison School District

The state department of education is investigating the Trotwood-Madison City School District’s academic performance. A review team was in town last week because the district is considered “at risk.”

Trotwood-Madison superintendent Kevin A. Bell is glad to have an outsider’s view of his district.

“It’s more than just a cursory snapshot look to say ‘oh, well, we looked at some test scores, boy this doesn’t look good. Therefore we’re going to write a whole litany of recommendations.’ It’s more thorough than that,” Bell said.

He says being involved in day-to-day operations can sometimes make him and his staff lose what he calls a “laser-like sight” on problems within the schools. Though Bell says he can point to one big reason that could explain low assessment scores: kids hopping from district to district.

“That breaks up learning for young people,” he said. “It just puts them more at risk as far as did I learn everything that I needed to learn by the time I got to third grade? Taking the third grade reading test, but I’ve also maybe hit five different schools along my kindergarten through third grade continua.”

He says about a quarter of his students move in and out of the district each year. The state review team met with staff, parents, students and community members. Dayton Public Schools is also under review. There’s no set date for the release of recommendations for either district.

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