Education

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio State University is rebuilding its database of people who are texted about campus emergencies, so parents who want to keep being notified will have to have students put them back into the system.

The Columbus Dispatch reports Ohio State is starting a new brand new list so alerts will stop going to thousands of graduates across the country. University Director of Emergency Management Bob Armstrong says if there are too many people, there's a greater chance of slowing the system and delaying urgent messages.

The September 2011 installment of SOCHE TALKS featuring Jeff Firestone, from the University of Dayton on Flyer Enterprise.

The SOCHE Talks are a collaboration with the Southwest Ohio Council for Higher Education. In this monthly series we’ll hear from faculty and staff from areas colleges and universities on a wide variety of subjects. It's an effort to bring Miami Valley research and thinking into the public arena – a way to enlighten the world with local knowledge.

CLEVELAND (AP) - Some Ohio teachers are missing the first days of classes in August to avoid penalties to their retirement payments.

The Plain Dealer in Cleveland reports state law requires full-time teachers who retire and are rehired to forfeit retirement payments for the month if they return less than 60 days after retiring. If an employee works in June, the Ohio's State Teacher Retirement System considers the retirement date to be July.

Ohio public schools have seen their graduation rates drop as districts nationwide move to a new federal formula for calculating students who finish high school.

For example, Dayton public schools have a 2010 graduation rate around 59 percent under the new formula, though the state's current calculation puts the district's graduation rate above 84 percent.