- I’m sure my long-
sufferingtenured subscribers have noted that I am not clipping stories about which schools are closed/open/remote/in-person/hybrid/winging it due to SARS-CoV-2-related issues these days, despite the fact that education reporters (and government reporters and crime reporters and sports/weather/cute pet reporters) are writing almost exclusively about that topic. It feels like too serious and personal an issue at the moment, ill-fit for my usual snark. But who knows? It may speak to me before long. In the meantime, I will say that the ingenious technology integral to the continued learning of a Springfield girl as described in this piece seems like it might prove useful beyond a special needs situation. Who’s with me? (Springfield News-Sun, 1/5/22)
- Speaking of awesome technology, here’s an update on all the cool stuff going into Ohio’s newest STEM school. This includes drone and robotics labs, a rock climbing gym, a makerspace, and an Esports arena. Ready or not, Xenia-ites, here comes the future! (Dayton Daily News, 1/5/22) Too Buck Rogers for you? How about this, then? A STEM-focused school in CMSD had a parking problem and it turned to teams of students to research, test, and design possible solutions to this real world difficulty. A decidedly practical use of STEM education’s ubiquitous “design challenge” model. Unfortunately, the difference between a standalone school like Xenia’s and a district school like CMSD’s seems to have resulted in a whole different kind of “challenge”. While students got to pitch their ideas to the district facilities team, it is those bureaucrats who will—eventually—implement whatever their preferred solution turns out to be. I am very sure that no student has ever won a “red tape challenge” before. (Cleveland.com, 1/2/22)
- Speaking of bureaucracy, community recreation facilities and programming in the city of Lakewood are actually under the control of Lakewood City Schools. That weird arrangement has, it seems, been in place for decades. Who knew? However, beef seems to have arisen around baseball fields and while this piece initially indicates some détente on the matter (I don’t really know because the novelty of the situation wore off real quick), the small-town gov-speak quoted throughout points to a whole lot of hot air and not much action so far. (Additionally, I assume that it wouldn’t be in the paper if everything was hunky-dory.) Wonder what would happen if the city wanted to take matters into its own hands? (Cleveland.com, 1/5/22)
- Awww… God bless Youngstown CEO-for-the-moment Justin Jennings. Seriously. But, also seriously: why man? (Mahoning Matters, 1/5/22)
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