A Solid Future for Shaker Schools

In case you haven't had time to listen to the previous 8 episodes, this episode contains the highlights of those episodes. Featuring 14 guests sharing for a total of 16 minutes and 31 seconds, these subject matter experts ranging from the Assistant Director of Buildings and Grounds, to Board members, teachers, and residents discuss why they believe that passing Issue 13 is vital for Shaker Heights...

Dr. Donna McIntyre Whyte is a long time resident of Shaker Heights. Dr. Whyte moved to Shaker in 1982, reared her family here, earned her Ph. D. at Case Western Reserve University, and now teaches at Cleveland State University. Dr. Whyte explains why she chose the elementary school (Moreland) for her children and how she became involved in the school system, beginning with service on the PTO and e...

The majority of residents of Shaker Heights do not have children in the Shaker Heights school system. For that reason, we feel it is important to hear from members of this constituency. So in this episode, we talk with four Shaker school district taxpayers, three of whom live in Shaker Heights and one who lives in the city of Cleveland (near Shaker Square) and pays Shaker Heights school taxes. Thr...

In this episode, we talk with Heather Weingart and Jeffrey Issacs, both members of the School Board for the Shaker Heights School District. I asked Heather and Jeff a series of questions relating to the financial cost of the levy as well as a number of issues associated with how the Board determined the needs to be addressed by the levy. In addition, Heather and Jeff field a number of questions po...

In this episode (Part 2 of 2 of “Conversation with Shaker Teachers”), we talk with three teachers Kelly Grahl Jill DiPiero Alesha Edwards These professionals teach in at Lomond Elementary school in Shaker Heights. We asked them to share from their experiences about the challenges they encounter in teaching in the Lomond school building. The topics we discuss include: What it’s like to teach in sch...

In this episode (Part 1 of 2 of “Conversation with Shaker Teachers”), we talk with three teachers Megan Konopinski Mercy Jenkins Tim Kalan Because these three professionals work and teach in our Shaker school buildings, we asked them to share from their experiences about the challenges they encounter in working in the existing buildings (and, in the case of Megan Konopinski, what that experience i...

In this episode, we talk with three candidates for the Shaker Heights School Board of Education who have endorsed Issue 13. In the order in which they first appear in the opening remarks on the show, they are: Pam Scott Doug Wang Andrea Boyd In this discussion, I ask each of the candidates to talk about how they came to Shaker, why this election is important, what they believe they can bring to th...

In this episode, we talk with Lora Cover, a member of the School Board for the Shaker Heights School District. I asked Lora to take us on the journey of how the Shaker Heights school board went from considering the issues associated with the school buildings' infrastructure to determining that the right course of action was to propose a levy on Shaker Heights citizens. In this discussion, Lora cov...

Sean Brown is the Assistant Director of Buildings and Grounds for the Shaker Heights School district. Employed by the school district since 1990, Sean is intimately familiar with the current state of the Shaker Heights school buildings. Sean and his team are responsible for the daily maintenance of the schools many buildings. In this episode, Sean discusses the pressing issues the school district...