06-02-2025
State representatives introduce bill to ensure Lakeside seniors graduate on time
Feb. 6—State Representatives Sarah Fowler Arthur and David Thomas are co-sponsoring a bill to ensure Lakeside High School seniors to graduate on time and the district's funding is not disrupted, despite issues caused when the school's roof collapsed during the Thanksgiving weekend snowstorm.
Fowler Arthur and Thomas represent Ashtabula County in the state house.
Thomas said the concern is the district does not have enough hours planned to have seniors graduate, or to receive the correct amount of funding for the next school year.
"The bill is a waiver, which the Department of Education cannot do, it can only come from the legislature," he said.
The bill only applies to Lakeside and is only good for this instance, Thomas said.
"The legislature holds the authority," he said. "The theory is, if the Department of [Education] could do this themselves, they would do it all the time."
The goal is to have the bill up to a vote shortly, because it will require an emergency clause, and needs to be approved before the end of the school year, Thomas said.
According to Fowler Arthur's testimony in support of the bill, the district's administration was able to limit the loss of instructional time to three days.
However, two days in January with extreme wind-chills forced the district to close, putting district seniors in danger of not graduating on schedule, Fowler Arthur said in her testimony.
In addition to Fowler Arthur and Thomas, Ashtabula Area City Schools Superintendent Lisa Newsome and two others submitted testimony in favor of the bill.
Fowler Arthur and Newsome could not be reached for comment.
