Leader Isaacsohn Celebrates Success of Second Urban-Appalachian Education Summit

COLUMBUS - Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati) today announced that he hosted the second-ever Urban-Appalachian Education Summit on Saturday, March 14th, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The summit brought together students, teachers, principals, superintendents, and administrators from across the state to discuss the challenges urban and Appalachian schools face and to brainstorm potential efforts to work together to advocate for public education.

“This summit represented an important opportunity to bring people together who don't normally sit in the same room. Rarely, if ever, do students, teachers, principals, superintendents, and administrators from downtown Cleveland or Cincinnati get together with folks from Warren, Ohio, and Lawrence County along the river, to talk about their shared challenges, and more importantly, shared opportunities and solutions on how to move the state forward, ” said Leader Isaacsohn.  “Moving Ohio forward means bridging urban and Appalachian communities so every student, no matter where they grow up, has access to a world-class education. While we have gotten on the wrong track in recent decades, this summit was about how we can make progress towards that goal together. There is more that unites us than divides us, and that is especially true when it comes to public education.”

Leader Isaacsohn believes that legislators should be working in concert to advocate for the shared challenges urban and Appalachian districts face. By bringing together experts and advocates from across the state, the intent of the summit was to build greater trust and partnership between our urban and Appalachian communities that can translate into actionable efforts to support the schools and students most in need across the state.

Nearly 50 students, teachers, principals, and administrators from all corners of the state attended the summit, and over a dozen school districts were represented, serving nearly 100,000 students across the state. This year’s summit also featured a keynote address from former Congressman Zack Space. Leader Isaacsohn hopes to continue these summits and expand the effort to reach more communities across the state.