- Job changes continue to dominate the media coverage of Ohio education. First up, the PD posited a possible interim replacement for retiring state supe Dick Ross. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 11/9/15) This was followed by editors in Akron opining that Ross’ retirement is “an opportunity for fresh leadership”. (Akron Beacon Journal, 11/11/15) And also notice that Colleen Grady, senior policy advisor of the House Republican Caucus, will be leaving her post in the legislature and starting a similar high level post at the Ohio Department of Education on Monday. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 11/10/15)
- The Ohio School Boards Association is having a big confab in Columbus this week. The only thing reported out so far is some sort of legislative platform change that states the OSBA is in favor of prohibiting charter schools with poor grades or finances from advertising to families, among other PR limitations. (AP, via Dayton Daily News, 11/10/15)
- Editors in Cleveland yesterday opined upon the implications of Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s bucking of the national downward trend in NAEP test scores. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 11/10/15)
- Meanwhile, some high school students in the CLE are protesting district plans to split up their 1300-student high school into smaller individual programs. They mainly say it will rob students of the “traditional high school experience” and ruin the existing community feeling. But if you read down to the bottom of the piece, there may be more than just tradition on their worried minds. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 11/11/15)
- The Columbus City Schools’ board made a policy change last summer that required them to approve in advance nearly all student field trips district-wide. I am amazed that it took until November for this process to break down entirely. The angle of this piece is parents upset because their high schoolers were denied a chance to march in the city’s Veterans Day parade, as they have done for decades. But I would love to see a follow up about why this policy was put in in the first place. Cost-containment? Field trip quality control? A history of last-minute field trips that needed to change? Board members interviewed in the face of the parents’ outrage vowed swift changes to the policy, but will the original aims of the policy be tossed out as well? (Columbus Dispatch, 11/11/15)
