TOLEDO, Ohio -
An investigation is underway at Toledo Public Schools after questions of changing student attendance records have come to light. TPS Superintendent Jerome Pecko is looking into the practice of manipulating attendance data to improve state report card scores.
A district review reveals that students who fall into the "habitual truancy" category are not included when data is compiled for annual report cards.
Superintendent Pecko tells us he discovered that the district had a practice of removing those students and then immediately re-enrolling them.
The superintendent says he instigated the review after hearing news reports about the questionable procedures at Columbus City Schools.
"If the rating drops, it's not a good thing for the school district, but I have to say we have been involved in a major transformation," Pecko says. "Consider what we're doing as really a part of that. When we find out that there is something that is questionable, we're going to engage it, and we're going to try to get to the bottom of it."
The district has asked state education officials for an opinion as to whether Toledo schools violated any state rules.
The official review could take four weeks to complete.
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