- Folks in Lorain are keeping their eyes firmly on the future, it seems. Members of the ADC are looking to replace the CEO with an interim ASAP. They are said to have “a sense of optimism” going forward. Personally, I can’t imagine why. (The Morning Journal, 11/26/19) Meanwhile, in Youngstown, the trend is backward. To wit: an attempt by the elected school board to turn back the clock to a time before the previous CEO denied use of district funds to fight HB 70 in court. Let’s hope the current folks hold the line on that ridiculousness (Vindy.com, 11/27/19)
- Speaking of lawyering up, the Ohio village called Hills and Dales voted to avail itself of legal counsel in the case of Plain Local Schools vs. district property transfers, of which we have talked at length in these clips recently. Ironically, while the village is named in the district’s legal filings (and is lawyering up out of an abundance of caution), it is one of the few entities in a 75 mile radius NOT actually being sued. Situation developing, as they say. (Canton Repository, 11/26/19)
- Back in the real world, transportation troubles for one charter school family in Columbus continue unabated. Actually, things sound a little worse if that’s possible. (WSYX-TV, Columbus, 11/26/19)
- Sunrise Academy, a private school in Hilliard, is working on a schoolwide project to help the community learn more about the Muslim faith practiced by most of its students, families, and teachers. This is lovely in itself, but 8-year-old Yusuf and his classmates’ efforts to convince folks that “We’re smart” and “We’re kind people” take on an extra poignancy when you recall that this is the school whose expansion Hilliard City Council put a limit on by means of official vote. If that open house for the new, limited-size school doesn’t turn out to be really awkward, I know by whose efforts that will have been achieved. (Columbus Dispatch, 11/26/19)
- With absolutely no context or backup, the ABJ confidently asserts that there’s nothing to see at Buchtel High School in Akron City Schools. The school’s inability to permanently fill teaching positions and heavy reliance on long term substitutes is the result of a “national teacher shortage”. Like the district is helpless against a tide that someone else created and someone else will have to solve. How convenient. The details we do get, however, tell a different story. They seem to indicate that most of the teachers they do hire at Buchtel quickly leave to go somewhere else. Somewhere “better”. That is not a shortage; that is a systemic failure with a local basis and, likely, a local solution. What we also get here is a whole lot of detail on how bad the situation is from the perspective of students and parents. I was particularly struck by the first-hand observations of senior Drew Oliver, who recounted multiple classes over multiple years in vital subjects like biology and math where, she said, “I literally felt like we were on our own.” Imagine if your own kid came home with that story. Now THAT trend is a real problem. (Akron Beacon Journal, 11/25/19)
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