Seventh-graders will see more changes at Ironton High School than just how the school looks when they enter their senior year, educators said Thursday.

Friday, May 12, 2000

Seventh-graders will see more changes at Ironton High School than just how the school looks when they enter their senior year, educators said Thursday. By then, millions of dollars will have been used to create innovative classes, to fund financial programs and to teach parents – all to improve access to college, said Jeff Handley, director of the Ironton GEAR UP grant program.

"This is an opportunity for us to do many things for our students that we’ve never had the opportunity to do before," the former city school teacher said at a Thursday press conference and celebration.

Leslie Sawyer, the Ohio Board of Regents’ director of GEAR UP, said the grant will track students through their public school years, and provide all of them the means to keep learning.

"This partnership will encourage more young people to have high expectations, stay in school, take the challenging courses and go to college," Ms. Sawyer said.

The Ironton-based GEAR UP – Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs – six-year grant program is a collaborative effort between the Ohio Board of Regents, Ohio University Southern Campus and Ironton public schools.

Two areas in Ohio, Ironton and Cleveland, received the prestigious $7 million U.S. Department of Education grant designed to improve student access to education after high school because rural and Appalachian areas have low college attendance rates, Board of Regents officials said.

Ironton will work with a Cleveland area school district – the only other one in Ohio to receive the same award – to eliminate barriers, including financial ones, that hinder students from completing high school and from moving on to college or technical schools, Handley said.

Parent Charles Barnett said the grant’s new opportunities are good for students, and its inspiration could be what his daughter needs.

"When I was in high school, you didn’t hear about college until late," he said. "And there are not as many economic opportunities here as in other places. I know it will help them have a better outlook."

At least 100 parents gathered at Ironton High School to hear from Ohio University dignitaries and the state’s chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, Roderick Chu.

Chu called the GEAR UP grant a method of dealing with the complex issue of access to college and other education beyond high school.

It’s not only about financial issues, but concerns about cultural attitude, geographic closeness to universities and academic preparedness, Chu said.

"We dare not trivialize it," he said. "We are committed that higher education needs to work as a whole with K through 12 (grades)."