A school cluster in Akron, Ohio, which in the spirit of school clusters should have open lines of communication from school to school to help teachers talk to each other, has in three decades met so infrequently that no one from the school can remember ever doing so.

"Ninety percent of the rationale for clustering is to create communication among the schools," said Professor Dorothy Shipps. "And if that doesn't happen, then a good deal of the benefit of clustering goes out the window.

Shipps said that because elementary, middle and high school teachers within a cluster do not talk to one another, teachers have to guess about where to start teaching their new classes.

The article, entitled "Butchel Struggling with Cluster Concept" appeared in the edition of the Ohio.com.

Published Tuesday, Sep. 18, 2001