Columbus Metropolitan Club, Columbus Urban Growth Corporation, Greater Columbus Arts Council and the Ohio Arts Council

Public schools in the metropolitan area can count many achievements and successes. The community should promote those achievements while working diligently to address identified problems and issues.

Hazel Morrow-Jones found through research that when people move from one neighborhood or community to another, what they were going to seemed more important than what they were moving away from. The issue for urban schools, then, is not that the schools are driving people away, but rather that they are failing to attract people in sufficient numbers.

Schools should be marketed to potential home buyers. They must be seen as schools of choice, not of last resort. Proactive marketing of the schools is necessary because the job cannot be left to chance or to the news media. The media tend to focus on problems and failures in the schools. They tend to view the public schools as a monolithic entity and do not take adequate note of school successes and strengths. Many individual schools, teachers and students in Columbus have attained a level of achievement that would be considered outstanding in any school district in the nation. Speaker Edward Zigler suggested looking at public schools in a new way. He advocated the idea of 21st Century Schools to serve as community resource centers for the entire family, not just for children. Such schools would make the best use of existing buildings and other school facilities while meeting the needs of children and their families.

Next: Take a Broader View of Education