Dublin City Schools Superintendent Should Show Humility, Compassion, and Adaptability, Not Hubris
Its one thing to exercise power via the brute force of authority. Its another to exercise power judiciously. Marschausen smacks of the former when he should teach DCS kids the latter.
Because of continued growth north between U.S. Route 33 and Dublin Road (and the lack of land for new homes anywhere else), Dublin City Schools (DCS) has to shift the boundaries of its schools. It already has redrawn the boundaries for the elementary and middle schools, which was easier given how many of those schools there are and the unimportance those schools play in the lives of students compared to high school. By mid-November, DCS will finish the redistricting of the high school boundaries. The word on the Dublin street is that neighborhoods in between Dublin Road and the Scioto River will be redistricted from Coffman to Scioto. Question: will ANY Jerome families be pushed to Scioto, or will only Coffman families face the move? It would be unfair if only Coffman families had to pay the price of overgrowth.
As it happens, I live in one of those neighborhoods (Amberleigh) between Dublin Road and the river. Per DCS, kids currently at a high school won’t be forced to move to a new high school, but busing will not be provided to them. Fortunately, my last kid is a freshman at Coffman, so will be grandfathered to remain at Coffman for his last three years of high school. Assuming he passes the driver’s examination next August, logistics won’t be an issue because he’ll be able to drive himself to school. Thus, the redistricting doesn’t affect me. Well, it will impact me and any other family in those neighborhoods financially, as discussed below.
The three high schools—Jerome, Coffman, and Scioto—are viewed very differently by DCS families and higher education. Jerome is considered the most academically strong school followed by Coffman, with Scioto being deemed the least attractive school academically. U.S. News & World Reports ranks the three schools nationally as the 497th (97.22/100 points), 1,299th (92.74/100), and 3,348th (81.3/100) best, respectfully. That explains why parents worry about being moved to Scioto.
Anecdotally, that perception is supported by the number of elite college admissions coming out of each school, as well as national merit finalists in which Jerome had twenty-nine, Coffman had seven, and Scioto had zero in the Class of 2025. College admission offices simply view each school differently, so a 4.0 at Jerome is viewed more positively than a 4.0 at Scioto. In sports, Jerome and Coffman teams do far better than Scioto teams across categories. Thus, few families want their kids to go to Scioto. I have no way of proving it, but would my oldest kid have been accepted to her elite college choice had her transcript come from Scioto versus Coffman? Would my middle kid been accepted into the business school at her college and gotten the generous merit package from her college if she had done what she did at Scioto instead of Coffman? Those questions will be real for hundreds of families who bought a home purposefully in Coffman’s territory.
In fact, I can say with some level of confidence that few families decided to buy houses in locations so their kids go could to Scioto. Families renting apartments all along Sawmill Road may have, but they had few choices given the lack of affordable apartments in the Coffman or Jerome areas. They just wanted to escape Columbus Public Schools, so were more than happy to land at Scioto. The corollary is also true: most families bought homes so their kids could attend Jerome or Coffman. I know of at least one Coffman family who bought a second home in Jerome's territory so their kids could go to Jerome, with their plan partially foiled when their second kid refused to attend Jerome because all of her friends and sports teammates from elementary and middle school were going to Coffman. I’m already hearing rumors that several families are looking to rent or buy second apartments or homes so they can keep both kids at Coffman.
Unless they can finagle the second home thing and not get caught, I know several families just in my neighborhood who will be forced to send siblings to two different high schools. That reality isn’t just a daily logistics or academic decline issue for them. Every Friday night those parents will be forced to split up to attend each son’s football game, thereby missing half of their kids’ games, with the same issue likely happening during the basketball season. Brothers who talked for years about being teammates will now be competitors. The same goes for families whose kids play other sports that could occur at the same time. That just stinks.
Then there is the financial hit that will be taken by those of us redistricted from Coffman to Scioto. If schools didn’t matter, real estate brokers wouldn’t highlight which school your kids would attend when selling houses. I expect the data to show that prices obtained in the neighborhoods redistricted from Coffman to Scioto will be lower due to being a Scioto neighborhood instead of a Coffman one. I know of one family selling their home now who has gotten asked if their home may be subject to the Coffman-to-Scioto move. High school location matters no matter what DCS leadership says.
That brings me to DCS Superintendent Dr. John Marschausen. He penned a letter recently titled, “Leading Thoughts On When a Parent’s Fight Becomes a Child’s Burden," that is frankly offensive. In the letter, Marschausen writes:
This community is full of parents who dedicate themselves to their children’s success, and that support is a huge part of what makes our district so special.
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This past year brought changes at the elementary and middle school levels, and I want to acknowledge the difficult conversations and emotions that have surfaced. We also witnessed parents actively working to reverse the changes—sometimes even promising their children that they would be able to “fix” the new school boundaries.
This resistance, while born from love and a desire to protect, can unintentionally set children up for disappointment. When we fight every battle on their behalf, we risk teaching them that problems can always be solved to our liking. The reality is that change is inevitable, and we will not always get our way. As research from the American Psychological Association shows, a parent’s attitude toward change directly influences how a child approaches, experiences, and remembers it. Family support plays a critical role in how children learn to cope with stress and uncertainty. When parents model positive coping strategies and a growth mindset, they foster resilience in their children.
This is why, despite doctors’ notes, psychologists’ requests, and legal appeals we have received, our district has made no exceptions to the new attendance boundaries. Consistency is key to a fair and stable system. All students will attend the school to which they are assigned.
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In Dublin, many parents already take this long view, and the results are encouraging. When parents embrace change and reassure their children of a positive outcome, students adapt more quickly, form friendships, and integrate smoothly into their new school environment. Research confirms this: when students feel their school is supportive and their parents are positively engaged, they are more likely to attend consistently, earn stronger grades, develop better social skills, and thrive.
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Let’s model resilience, adaptability, and optimism. By supporting our children through transitions, we empower them to grow into capable, well-adjusted adults. They are watching how we handle change—and our example may be the most important lesson we ever teach.
In case you missed Marschausen’s unsubtle message, here it is: don’t be a parent who isn’t dedicated to their children’s success or who doesn’t take the long view..who actively works to reverse our decisions…who goes against the American Psychological Association research by opposing change thereby causing anxiety and stress in their kids…who doesn’t model resilience, adaptability, and optimism…who doesn’t empower their kids to grow into capable, well-adjusted adults. More succinctly, Marschausen is saying “Don’t be a bad parent. Do what we say.” Marschausen glosses over the sibling separation, the academic and sports differences between the schools, and the real estate hit that will be suffered by hundreds of families. And this is one of the people Ohio Governor Mike DeWine named to the commission to recommend pretend property tax reform. Think he’ll represent taxpayers? I’m not very hopeful.
Now, I don’t know the guy, so have no idea if he has kids and if his family ever faced what many Dublin families are facing. I’ve heard he is not a fan of parents and having to deal with them. I know he gets paid at least $195,000 per year, gets his pension contribution paid by DCS taxpayers (we pay both our share as his employer and his share as an employee), and, if the DCS Board of Education continued the practice, he is getting $200,000 placed into an account for every year over his five year contract as Superintendent. This last perquisite is why DCS superintendents last around five years, as they hit the ceiling on that account so cash out with their cool $1,000,000 payout. The Board of Education should have included an editor in his deal to make sure he didn’t issue offensive letters like the one above.
Change is a fact of life. That is true. Dealing with change is a key skill. Learning to fight for things that matter to you also is a vital skill needed to thrive in life. Imagine how much change wouldn’t have occurred if people over history didn’t stand up to the dictates thrown at them by leaders. Yes, DCS redistricting isn’t anywhere near the level of civil rights or courage in war, but it likely is the first bump in the road many Dublin kids have faced in their fortunate lives. Why is teaching them to fight for something they care about and to use legal means in the fight equivalent to being a bad parent? Isn’t that good parenting?
Instead of lecturing down to parents about APA research and accusing them of bad parenting, why isn’t Marschausen approaching the redistricting process with an ounce of humility and compassion for the damage done to families because of the need to redistrict? He won’t be impacted by it and it won’t cost him a dime, so why not humbly and respectfully navigate the process knowing that parents will do everything they can to get the result that they deem is best for their kids? DCS spin aside, being at Scioto instead of Coffman is NOT best for DCS kids (see basic supply and demand concepts if you are confused). Marschausen should be the one who reticently accepts the fight that comes with hard change and his high paid position. The outcome likely will be the same, but it won’t involve telling parents to shut up, telling their kids to deal, and forcing them to buy new school sweatshirts.
And what about being adaptable? Why separate siblings? How many kids are we really talking about in which an older sibling will be grandfathered into Coffman, as a younger sibling gets pushed over to Scioto? Can the system not handle those rare families as they matriculate? The vast majority of impacted families surely won’t fall under the separate the siblings issue, so why not show compassion for those families who do and make it work? It is one thing to exercise power without a smidgen of adaptability via brute force of authority. It is another to exercise power judiciously and wisely. Marschausen smacks of the former when he should teach DCS kids the lesson of the latter.
P.S. Speaking of education, did you see the news about the teacher who referred to her student as a dictator because of his conservative views? I feel for the kid having spent most of my law schools years and thereafter unfairly labeled entirely due to my conservative views. I remember at the end of my last year of law school when we voted on various “most likely…” questions for the student newspaper that I won more designations than anyone else. While the first one was flattering (Person I’d least like to try a case against), the second one (Person I’d least like to have as a judge) was not, but it was the third one that was just insulting.
I had won the “Person most likely to kick a homeless person on the ground” entirely due to being the only outspoken conservative in my class and president of The Federalist Society chapter (homelessness had never come up in any class). At the time, I served on a local arts non-profit board of directors, donating my time, money, and talent to helping the group do outreach via the arts to disadvantaged kids in Columbus. I didn’t trumpet that work, but I shouldn’t have had to. My classmates knew I was an unapologetic conservative and, to them, that automatically meant I was a racist, sexist, homophobe, xenophobe, and, apparently, kicker of the homeless. I suspect my experience, like so many conservatives, is why we are winning the fight for America’s soul—name calling just bounces off us at this point. Hopefully that kid being bullied by his teacher becomes another passionate, strong voice for our movement.