Gadfly Bites 1/19/24—Paradoxical or just ironic?

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1. Not much to cover on this snowy day, but what we do have is worth digging into in some depth. It concerns the 2024 priorities of the elected school board of Parma City Schools. The district, we’re told, comprises three communities: Parma, Parma Heights, and Seven Hills. The latter community has apparently been sparsely represented on the board over time, despite being home to the “most affluent” residents and the most expensive houses in the district. (Read, provides more local tax dollars to the schools.) That historical situation is termed both “paradoxical” and “ironic” here; but whatever it is, it changes now since both the president and vice president of the 2024 board are from Seven Hills for the first time. I have no idea what changes may come, but it should be interesting to follow. The possibilities are intriguing. Another interesting note: My long-suffering Bites subscribers (really, the 8 of you only have yourselves to blame for this after all these years) will recall that I expressed concern last week when Parma’s superintendent touted his new parent liaison position for resident families who chose charters and private schools. I feared that it was a thinly veiled attempt to try and entice those families away from their choices and into the district. Surely it would be easier for them to “get assistance” if they were in the fold officially. Well, in this piece we learn that the elected vice president of the board—a Seven Hills resident in her first term—has three children that attend private school. Whole lotta irony there, I reckon. Perhaps this means that the whole plan to “provide help for choice families” is actually real. Or, at a minimum, if supe does have some idea of converting choice families, I feel that he’s going to have to start with his board VP. (Cleveland.com, 1/17/24)

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