- Patrick O’Donnell wrote up a summary of the statewide ESSA listening tour. His take: educators and parents who contributed to the discussions say there has been too much change in education recently. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 11/15/16)
- Perhaps in concert with the above, perhaps coincidentally, a brace of district superintendents (a clutch? a raft? an inspiration? a horde?) held a rally in Columbus yesterday to call for an end to one of those changes: specifically, they want to block Ohio’s new graduation requirements before they have even been fully implemented. Coverage was fairly gratifying for them, but varied a bit in content. The Enquirer spoke only to the supes and to state Sen. Peggy Lehner on the issue. (Cincinnati Enquirer, 11/15/16) The Dispatch focused primarily on the supes and Sen. Lehner, but got a few state board of education members (also meeting in Columbus that day, how convenient) on the record as well. (Columbus Dispatch, 11/15/16) Ever-thorough, the Plain Dealer started with a summary of the graduation requirement situation as presented by the Ohio Department of Education during the state board meeting. Nice. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 11/15/16) This was followed by a relatively drama-free discussion of possible actions to address the “situation”, focused on the state board, who get to make any actual decision. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 11/15/16) The supes’ event is represented on the PD site mainly by a link to some moody video on YouTube. Finally (for now), the statewide public media piece focused only on the supes and (thematically) features the only photos of the event I’ve seen from their perspective, looking out on the crowd. (Statehouse News Bureau, 11/15/16)
- Speaking of public media, here is a friendly reminder from one outlet that there’s likely no reprieve for Lorain City Schools from the creation of a new CEO-style Academic Distress Commission there. CEO, party of 2. (WKSU-FM, Kent, 11/13/16)
- And speaking of ADC districts – just when you thought Youngstown’s busing woes couldn’t get any more woeful, there’s this. Day One of a new afterschool program designed to help underperforming students went totally wrong when a data fail caused a bunch of participants to be ferried back to the bus garage in the dark for their parents to have to come and fetch them. (WKBN-TV, Youngstown, 11/14/16)
- Newark City Schools wants to keep its charter school and is appealing its woeful sponsor rating. Oh the irony. (Newark Advocate, 11/10/16)
- Louisville teachers are still on the picket lines and with their hopes of a quick strike gone, the usual rhetoric and jockeying for position have begun in earnest. Here is a commentary from a district mom (“mommentary”?) who is not best pleased at the above-referenced tactics being aimed at her. (Canton Repository, 11/16/16)
- "That's what happens in small towns… People chip in." Perhaps he means teeth? Trimble Local Schools in Athens County has been under financial oversight by the state of Ohio for many years. Long ago, they put forward the idea of selling all the trees on district property in order to generate a little more money. I’m assuming that all those trees are now long gone, because their biggest current fundraiser – profiled in the Dispatch this week in apparent violation of the first rule of these things – appears to be having people volunteer to be beaten up for money. (Columbus Dispatch, 11/14/16)
- Speaking of money, a small gaggle of district superintendents (a congregation? a sleuth? a coalition? a clowder? we need to nail this down people!) have been complaining to the Lima News about College Credit Plus. Specifically, how much less it seems to cost other districts than it does them. (Lima News, 11/14/16)
- I’m not sure how one goes about getting nominated – let alone winning – in this reader-decided “Person of the Month” lark on the PD’s website, but I can definitely get behind October’s winner. She is the vice principal of Urban Community School, a small Catholic school in the CLE, who talks lovingly and positively of the diversity of the families in her building. Nice. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 11/14/16)
