- I’m not sure I follow all the arguments here, but let me see if I can summarize. Dayton City Schools, which is sitting on more than $100 million in surplus money and has this year been trying desperately to spend that dosh (on things like staff raises, contingency-riddled capital projects, bus contracts, and more), now wants to borrow $40 million additional dollars for more building/renovating/maintenance/etc. The arguments for doing this include the “cheaper” cost of borrowing thanks to their new bond rating bump (which they were giving for, you guessed it, saving money and building up their surplus) and because state funding is “too unpredictable” for them to count on. Man, where’s Robin Leach when you need him? (Dayton Daily News, 11/19/19)
- Speaking of money (and when aren’t we, really?), Escuela SMART, the only Spanish language school in Toledo, received a generous donation from a mother-and-son pair of salespeople at a local car dealership. They donated a portion of their own commissions on cars they sold during Hispanic Heritage Month. A lovely gesture indeed, marred in my mind only by the recent horrible history of Escuela SMART, a former charter school which was “bought out” by Toledo City Schools in order to foreclose on growing competition. The happy, smiley version of that so-called “merger” is included here, along with a few remnants of the ugly reality of the process toward the end. (La Prensa Toledo, 11/19/19)
- And speaking of charter schools (those that are still charter schools, despite the heavily-moneyed haters), here’s an interesting look at a new venture for some Menlo Park Academy students—creating advertising signs for a local grocery story. Gifted AND artistic. Nice. That school must be looking more like a
takeovermerger target every day. Just sayin’. (Freshwater Cleveland, 11/18/19)
- I can just imagine the advertising for this event: “How much does standardized testing suck? Come to this public meeting and tell us!” Some folks obliged, focusing specifically on the state’s Third Grade Reading test and the grade retention requirement for non-passage. The tone of this piece shares some similarities with the latter part of the La Prensa piece, if you ask me. Of course, no one has asked. But I live in hope. (WTOL-TV, Toledo, 11/18/19)
- Finally today, more money! Cleveland State University received a big grant from the Ohio Department of Education to train and certify more teachers to lead college courses for high schoolers via the College Credit Plus program. Nice. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 11/19/19)
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