by Miles Jung-Kilbreath
Reporter
Streetsboro -- Superintendent Tom Giovangnoli said false rumors spread on a social networking Web site about a "gang" fight at the middle school on May 1 could affect the outcome of the middle school Ohio Achievement Testing for special education students.
School Resource Officer Jim Wagner said the rumors started after a fight started at the middle school on May 1 between two students, which then escalated when four other students joined the fight. He said teachers quickly ended the fight and, per school policy, each of the six students were suspended for five days, starting on May 2.
Wagner said no criminal charges were filed by the police after the fight. But during the evening of May 1, Wagner said, postings on a social networking Web site launched false rumors that a "gang" from Euclid had entered the middle school that day with chains and had injured teachers.
Curriculum Director Agatha Van Brocklin told the School Board May 8 that because of rumors of the gang fight, around 100 students did not go to school on May 5, the first day on which students were to take the achievement tests. The district was already behind schedule on the testing because it needed a different mix of tests and forms for special education students than what the state initially sent.
The district was short on Form A, read-aloud test, according to Ohio Department of Education spokesperson Scott Blake. Blake said the Ohio Department of Education, which ordered 20,000 Form A Ohio Achievement Tests, will have printed an additional 40,000 of the forms by the time testing ends.
With the growing demand for the Form A tests, Van Brocklin said the district did not receive forms until May 2, which delayed testing of special education students at the middle school.
Due to the late arrival of the Form A tests and large number of students absent May 5, Van Brocklin said the special education students who had to make up the tests had little time to complete them by the 8 a.m. May 9 deadline.
"The one [Annual Yearly Progress] benchmark that we don't meet is in special education," Van Brocklin said. "The students who needed the most time for the test got the least amount of time on the test."
Van Brocklin said the Ohio Department of Education denied her request for an extension to continue testing past May 9.
Van Brocklin said there is no way to predict the impact of the shorter testing period on test scores until district report cards are released later this summer.
Moving past the rumors
In hopes of quashing the rumors of the gang fight, Giovangnoli said that Streetsboro Middle School Principal George Hammond recorded a message sent to middle school parents May 4 in a "burst" telephone call, which automates calling home phones, replaying the message and explaining that the spreading rumors were false.
Giovangnoli said that since the "burst" call, the district office has still been receiving "numerous" calls each day about the rumors.
Giovangnoli said the number of police officers present during student dismissal at the end of the day has increased. No incidents have occurred since May 1, he added.
When the six students suspended returned May 9, Giovangnoli said they started diversity training because racial slurs were allegedly used by "each side" during the fight.
Editor's note: Hudson Hub-Times Associate Editor Lauren Krupar contributed to this article.
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