PARMA, Ohio — The Parma City School District plans to discontinue its Parma Academy of Gifted Enrichment, also known as PAGE, at the end of the 2025-2026 school year, and it has several parents and students upset.
The PAGE program is designed for third through sixth graders, according to the district's website. It's comprised of only a handful of teachers and is based out of Parma Park Elementary.
"The experience has been amazing. The teachers are so accepting and kind, and they teach everything slow enough so people can understand it, but fast enough so we don't get bored after we finish it," Samantha Fearing said.
Samantha is a PAGE student who has been in the program for three years.
Her friends, Rosalie Cochran and Nathalia Jamenez, are in the program, too.
Rosalie said she appreciates the educational opportunities that keep her on track.
"We also get to do book clubs where we get to pick out of four books and we have slides that we get to fill out and do stuff on, so it's not just reading the book and getting it over with," Rosalie said.
Nathalia told me she enjoys coding and robotics, which she has been able to learn through PAGE.
"Very fun experience," she said.
Unfortunately for this trio, PAGE is on the chopping block.
A spokesperson for the school district told me, "This decision was based on several factors, including financial considerations, consistently low enrollment, and concerns about students’ limited access to a broader group of same-age peers. While the standalone PAGE program will end, gifted services will not. Students currently enrolled in PAGE will continue to receive gifted support and services next school year within their home elementary or middle school buildings. In addition, students will have access to a variety of enrichment opportunities, honors coursework, and the option to participate in district STEM programs."
PAGE families were notified of the decision on Jan. 10, according to the district.
"I'd be separated from many of my friends. I've been separated from friends before. I've moved schools twice so far, one from my preschool and one from when I was in second grade, and I hate losing my friends because usually then we get out of touch," Samantha said.
Marcus Mitchell said he and his wife were notified while getting on the highway on Jan. 10.
"My wife read it to me. We stayed quiet for like 30 minutes. I felt it, that little bubble of all the emotions and trying not to tell my kid like this is why we suddenly changed. It's a big loss and it's not just about him. It's not just about these kids. It's all the kids in this district that need something to cling on to where it's okay to be different," Mitchell said.
His son is currently in fourth grade and in his second year of the PAGE program.
Mitchell described the difference from traditional learning to the PAGE program as "night and day."
"It was a lot of boredom, a lot of going out of his way, having trouble in the classroom just because he wasn't stimulated enough. He's a very smart kid. In our house, we have a rule that it's okay to be weird and in the school, he's surrounded by a bunch of weirdos and that's in a complimentary way like they learn different, they do things differently and they help each other in that way and it's probably the coolest thing," Mitchell said.
Mitchell added that a PAGE classroom offers a different level of acceptance, respect, and love that he didn't see his son experiencing in the traditional realm.
He was hoping his son would finish the program through sixth grade, and was optimistic that it would then be extended to seventh and eighth-graders.
"This is home for us," Mitchell said.
He said his family has felt stuck in a spiral ever since being notified about the discontinuation of PAGE, wondering why and how this decision came to be without having in-depth conversations with families.
The school district did host an informational session on Feb. 10, where parents were able to ask questions about the transition process and learn more about the gifted programming that will be available at their child's home school building.
However, the handful of PAGE parents I met with on Sunday didn't feel as if that meeting provided them with clear-cut answers.
"The biggest shortcoming is just the communication. Everything that's happened has been because we've pushed and we've asked and we've fought for it and that's not okay. Like, I shouldn't have to ask you why you made a decision. It should have been explained, and we shouldn't be begging you to meet with us. You should've had that already. When we ask you questions, give us full answers, not some half-baked idea that you think is gonna appease me," Mitchell said.
Jamie Knapp, another PAGE parent, is also frustrated and wants a deeper conversation with the school district.
"We don't feel heard. We don't feel valued as members of this Parma school community, you know, this program has been a gift for our children. They are thriving, you know, back in a traditional classroom it didn't look that way and to see that with the program ending that we might have to go back to a traditional classroom, it's frustrating for us as parents and it's scary for our children," Knapp said.
She told me the program has been wonderful for her daughter, despite only having experienced it for a year.
"We were looking forward to so many more, you know, getting up all the way to sixth grade. She really enjoys going to school now. She really is just thriving this year. She's found friendships. She's found a teacher who adores her and truly understands her as an individual," Knapp said.
Knapp said she doesn't feel like a traditional classroom will meet the emotional-social learning needs her daughter needs, nor are there enough Parma teachers trained to educate gifted children.
She and Mitchell plan to keep fighting the school district on this decision in hopes of reconsideration.
"We continue to show up. We continue to go to board meetings. We're asking tough questions. We want a conversation. We want to do what's best for our children. We understand that yes, we are facing deficits in this district, but ultimately it's about the children, and we want these children to have a safe school place to go to," Knapp said.
Knapp feels like to this point, "We seem to get a lot of copied and pasted email answers. We've been getting, you know, different answers from the superintendent about reasons for the cuts whether it's salary, whether it's declining enrollment, but they're not very specific answers."
Moving forward, Mitchell said he wants to see the Board of Education act independently from the district's superintendent.
"I don't want them to just take what the administration says and back it up. I want them to ask the hard questions, but then follow up on that, not just go, 'Oh, okay,'" Mitchell said on Sunday. "I want them to stand up for our kids because this can't just be about the kids in PAGE. This has to be about every kid in this district and having high expectations shouldn't be a ridiculous thing. From Dr. Hunt and the administration, I want them to make sense of what they're doing. You're asking for more money with a levy? Give us a reason to think that's gonna work."
The next Parma school board meeting is scheduled for Feb. 26.
