- Despite what was discussed – and however heatedly that discussion was had by board members this week – I am reasonably certain that neither the number of school buses actually available to be driven (HOW MANY do they want?!) nor the ages of those vehicles are part of the ongoing problems Dayton City Schools is having with student transportation. But please carry on with your plans. (Dayton Daily News, 3/21/17)
- The Enquirer this week confirmed one half of what was rumored in a WCPO-TV piece we clipped on Monday – the Cincinnati school board voted to invoke the take-back clause of their lease agreement with the Clifton Community Arts Center. Shortly, a 365-day clock will begin to tick for the CCAC to vacate so the magnet school across the street can expand. No formal word from the board yet on whether the much-smaller and likely-in-need-of-some-work mansion next door will be offered for rent to CCAC. (Cincinnati Enquirer, 3/20/17)
- Youngstown schools’ CEO launched a new series of community input sessions this week to find out what district parents want from their schools. Unfortunately, only 1 parent showed up for the first meeting on Monday, although there were a lot of teachers. Additionally, the absence of all board members was noted. (Youngstown Vindicator, 3/21/17) Meanwhile, in tiny Frontier Local Schools in New Matamoros, Ohio, 40 parents showed up for the school board meeting this week, all apparently concerned about a realignment of elementary classes. Some threatened to leave the district via open enrollment if the 3rd/4th combo “experiment” didn’t work out for their children. (Marietta Times, 3/21/17) The second community input event in Youngstown last night had much better attendance, although I must admit the number of parents/district employees/community members is unclear. Some folks definitely covered multiple categories. Anywho, Mohip and team have their work cut out for them based on the sampling of input reported here. (Youngstown Vindicator, 3/22/17) Still no board members at last night’s Youngstown event. Here is a quick report on what they were up to instead. (Youngstown Vindicator, 3/22/17)
- Here is an interesting – if unnecessarily provocative – piece on state support for private school students in Ohio. It talks a lot about vouchers (with State Rep. Teresa Fedor referencing Fordham’s EdChoice study from last year along the way) but also a bit about other “auxiliary support” for private schools in terms of staffing and textbook purchasing, among other things. Pretty interesting stuff. (Mansfield News Journal, 3/20/17)
- Lorain schools’ dropout recovery program will apparently remain in exile in its rented church hall for another year at least. There is of course no room for them in the Colossus of Lorain (a.k.a. the district’s schmancy new high school) and the proposed alternative building the district already owns is apparently an even bigger pit than originally thought and will take a ton of money and time to be properly workable. (Northern Ohio Morning Journal, 3/20/17)
- Editors in Akron opined in praise of State Superintendent Paolo DeMaria this week because, they believe, he finally “gets it”. (Akron Beacon Journal, 3/21/17)
- It appears that Columbus City Schools is prepped for and pretty pumped about the new graduation requirements for high schoolers graduating in 2017-18 and beyond. So, why are folks trying to change them? (Columbus Dispatch, 3/21/17)
