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GCSSA provides in-service opportunities for the professional growth of superintendents and provides opportunities for social interaction of members. Superintendents from Northeastern Ohio School Districts have organized to secure the benefits of working together to improve their professional effectiveness.

GCSSA was created in 1966 as a 501(c)(3) organization. There are currently 94 regular members, 51 retired members, 19 Associate and 9 Institutional members.

Past Issues

Something Good is Happening in Our Schools

As part of its mission, the Greater Cleveland Schools Superintendents’ Association features the accomplishments of a member’s school district in its monthly newsletter under the heading, “Something Good Is Happening In Our Schools”. This short article of approximately three hundred words highlights recent accomplishments of the school district and is shared with 273 school districts throughout the state.

July 2010 Article

Something Good is Happening In Our Schools By: Dr. Richard A. Markwardt Superintendent Beachwood City Schools A group of Beachwood High School students recently directed and produced a 90-minute documentary entitled From the Holocaust to Freedom: A Journey to Cleveland. The project chronicles the lives and experiences of current Beachwood-area residents who survived internment by the Nazis during World War II to migrate to the Cleveland area, establish families, and build businesses. Production of the film engaged students in a wide array of activities. Some took place during the school day, but many tasks had to be completed on weekends and during vacations. Much time was devoted to interviews of the sixteen survivors who participated in the film. Each one-to-two hour interview was taped in its entirety for the family of the person being interviewed. By doing so, the students were able to present a lasting testimonial of that individual’s experience to his/her family, one that was more complete than the edited remarks contained in the film itself. Perhaps the significance of the project can best be captured in the words of a Beachwood resident who viewed the May 27, 2010 premiere of the film at The Temple – Tifereth Israel. In an email to me, he noted “The subject is historical and personal, sensitive and powerful. The quality of the production was amazing and was professionally done in every way. It was more than a series of interviews. It truly told a story that was riveting, that related to people and places in our Greater Cleveland area. Words don’t do justice to the production.” The Beachwood City School District is indebted to the survivors who willingly shared their stories, tears, and accomplishments with us during the filming. We are also grateful to The Western Reserve Historical Society and the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage for the research and support that each extended to the project and to the members of the Beachwood High School orchestra who performed the musical score. The documentary serves as an example of what a school district can do to record the histories and accomplishments of its residents. Every community has a story that shapes its collective character. While the histories are different, the methodology used to capture them is similar. This summer, Beachwood will develop a curriculum package that will accompany the film so that other school districts can undertake similar efforts to share their own stories. July 7, 2010 issue of OSC & GCSSA News, Notes & Notices

Something Good is Happening In Our Schools

By: Dr. Richard A. Markwardt Superintendent
Beachwood City Schools

A group of Beachwood High School students recently directed and produced a 90-minute documentary entitled From the Holocaust to Freedom: A Journey to Cleveland. The project chronicles the lives and experiences of current Beachwood-area residents who survived internment by the Nazis during World War II to migrate to the Cleveland area, establish families, and build businesses.

Production of the film engaged students in a wide array of activities. Some took place during the school day, but many tasks had to be completed on weekends and during vacations. Much time was devoted to interviews of the sixteen survivors who participated in the film. Each one-to-two hour interview was taped in its entirety for the family of the person being interviewed. By doing so, the students were able to present a lasting testimonial of that individual’s experience to his/her family, one that was more complete than the edited remarks contained in the film itself.

Perhaps the significance of the project can best be captured in the words of a Beachwood resident who viewed the May 27, 2010 premiere of the film at The Temple – Tifereth Israel. In an email to me, he noted “The subject is historical and personal, sensitive and powerful. The quality of the production was amazing and was professionally done in every way. It was more than a series of interviews. It truly told a story that was riveting, that related to people and places in our Greater Cleveland area. Words don’t do justice to the production.”

The Beachwood City School District is indebted to the survivors who willingly shared their stories, tears, and accomplishments with us during the filming. We are also grateful to The Western Reserve Historical Society and the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage for the research and support that each extended to the project and to the members of the Beachwood High School orchestra who performed the musical score.

The documentary serves as an example of what a school district can do to record the histories and accomplishments of its residents. Every community has a story that shapes its collective character. While the histories are different, the methodology used to capture them is similar. This summer, Beachwood will develop a curriculum package that will accompany the film so that other school districts can undertake similar efforts to share their own stories.

July 7, 2010 issue of OSC & GCSSA News, Notes & Notices

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