Akron Public Schools’ program to help low-income students prepare for college has been defunded.
The U.S. Department of Education has canceled roughly $3.6 million of the $7 million it had promised to give Akron over seven years for the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program grant, better known as GEAR UP.
The federal agency also stopped funding to four other Ohio GEAR UP programs, including the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, the Educational Service Center of Northeast Ohio and the Ohio Department of Higher Education, according to federal officials.
Yvonne Culver, director of school counseling and student wellness for Akron Public Schools, said the grant was ended prematurely because the district included diversity, equity and inclusion components in its grant application five years ago when the federal agency encouraged DEI. She said the district unsuccessfully tried to tell federal officials that the Akron school board dismantled its diversity, equity and inclusion office and initiatives.
In Akron, the GEAR UP grant began in 2021 to help low-income and first-generation students by exposing them to college and career readiness activities, mentoring, college visits, summer programs and cultural events. Some of the roughly 1,500 students who began the AIM HIGH Akron GEAR UP program in middle school are now sophomores and juniors.
Students at North High School created a video about how the GEAR UP program has helped prepare them for college by exposing them to new people and different college campuses and teaching them communication and life skills that they already use daily. They hoped the video would help change federal officials’ decision.
But federal officials denied the district’s appeal and ended the funding on Sept. 30.
The Akron school board on Oct. 6 cut four student success coaches and the AIM HIGH Akron GEAR UP manager, citing the lack of funding. The board then hired former GEAR UP manager Jazzmon Britton to fill an academy coach position in the college and career field with an annual salary of $93,315, which will come from the district’s main operating fund. The board also hired former student success coaches Timothy Anderson, Karrie Snavely and Audrey Stallman as substitute teachers and substitute tutors at $145.30 per day.
The board also approved changing the funding source for a portion of Culver’s salary and the funding source for the salary of Eric Fletcher, college access program manager, from the GEAR UP grant to Title IV funding, which is designated for increasing student achievement and well-being.
Project Graduation Really Achieves Dreams Akron, better known as Project GRAD Akron, served as the lead partner on the GEAR UP program and could also face staffing reductions.
District officials say they continue to seek alternative ways, such as other grants and creating an abbreviated program, to provide similar GEAR UP program services to students.
U.S. Reps. Shontel Brown of Warrensville Heights, Emilia Sykes of Akron, Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, Joyce Beatty of Columbus and Greg Landsman of Cincinnati have sent a joint letter to the U.S. Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon to call for the reversal of the GEAR UP grant cuts, which they estimated to represent more than $28 million in Ohio and impact more than 16,000 Ohio students.
Reach Akron Beacon Journal education writer Kelli Weir at 330-580-8339 or kweir@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Trump administration cuts GEAR UP grant for 1,500 Akron Public Schools students
Reporting by Kelli Weir, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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