Buckeye Reporter

We want to welcome our newest Board of Education Member, Mr. Mark Ruda!

Ruda, who will be serving a four-year term, shared many of his plans and goals for the future of the district.

“My goals as a new board member are easier said than done,” he described. “I want to do everything I can to raise the proficiency rates of all our students. I would like this district to be A-rated and make not only kids that graduate from the Parma City Schools to be proud of their schools but also make it attractive for younger families to move into these cities. I would like kids that graduate from our schools, that decide to go into teaching, to want to be teachers at the schools they went to. That sense of pride and community again is long overdue.”

In addition, Ruda said he would like to eliminate the current COVID- 19 mandates, such as masks and contact tracing, so teachers can get back to doing what they do best, teaching.

He shared that he wanted to run for the Board of Education for a few reasons.

“There was my opposition to Issue 10, my feelings on the handling of virtual learning/school closures of last year, the mask mandates, and my feelings about where our school system is ranked in the state, but those all led me to the same conclusion,” Ruda expressed. “I could either complain about what I see as being wrong or I could try to become part of the solution to these problems I see. I feel as though it is long past due for our communities to come together.”

Furthermore, he shared, “I really didn’t like the messaging of ‘east/west divide’. I don’t like the idea of cementing divide into our communities for the next 30+ years. I think this mindset needs to change. When it came to the school closures and masking issues, I watched not only my kids, but other kids I know struggle with their schoolwork and fall into what can only be described as a form of depression over the isolation and struggles they were facing. While I don’t blame our school officials for that (that blame rests with the politicians in Columbus). I did want to make sure I could be a part of saying ‘never again’ to doing this to our kids.”

Ruda, who is a proud graduate of Parma Senior High School, Class of 1992, recently moved to Seven Hills with his family after being a life-long resident of Parma. After graduation, he honed his skills as an autobody technician and earned his certification as a structural technician. Ruda worked for a local Parma-based small business, A Touch of Class Auto Body, for over 17 years. He has been a parishioner at St. Francis de Sales Church since childhood. Two of Ruda’s three children currently attend the Parma City Schools.

“My time at PSHS there were a number of great memories,” he reflected. “Our football team finally getting a win against Rhodes after not winning a single game for years. The one pep rally where the students and staff played donkey ball (basketball while riding on donkeys), the talent shows, and plays put on by the Drama Department. But the thing that sticks out the most, and the one thing I would never have guessed I would remember 30+ years later were the teachers. I had teachers that made you want to learn. Teachers like Mr. Swinger, Ms. Roy, and even Mr. Dolcini (the tennis coach/English teacher that used tennis balls to keep you paying attention in class), made you want to challenge yourself and be a better version of yourself. Teachers that took a general interest in students and not just in their schoolwork but what you should and could be as an adult. Oh, and of course, Mr. Ondo. The one hall monitor that made every student absolutely terrified of him, yet love and respect him at the exact same time.”

Ruda has a passion for giving back to the community as well as being very active in his children’s extracurricular activities. He is a former CYO girls basketball coach at St. Anthony of Padua and a former volunteer leader of the YMCA’s Adventure Princesses youth program for 4 years.

“It’s important to give back to your community because it’s where you live; it’s part of who you are,” he expressed. “Too many people get hung up on national politics or even state issues but the reality is, what happens locally has the biggest impact on your life. At some point, everyone wants to make a difference in society and if more people realized that it’s the little things locally that have the biggest impact, you can leave your community a better place than it was left for you.”

Welcome, Mr. Mark Ruda!

Original source can be found here.