Gadfly Bites 3/25/19 – Sometimes you’re just wrong

1. Four months ago, Say Yes to Education was a firm “maybe” for expanding to Cleveland. Last week, the organization aimed at supporting urban high schoolers into college announced its first scholarship awards—full tuition to John Carroll University for five Cleveland Metropolitan Schools students due to graduate this spring. Nice. Perhaps I was too cynical about them after all. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 3/22/19) 
2. Here is a look at community service programs provided for high school students in Butler County through their schools. By which I mean district schools and one Catholic high school. It’s good as far as it goes, I guess, but perhaps the Journal-News is going to do a separate story on the other high schools in the area—you know, the ones that are not Catholic and traditional district schools. That’s cool. I can wait. (The Journal-News, 3/22/19) Although I fear that wait may be a long one. Here is a companion piece looking at “unique offerings” of schools among the same list of one Catholic school and 10 local districts. (Don’t you love how the term “laptop giveaway” makes 1-to-1 learning technology sound like bobblehead night at the ballpark?) Notwithstanding that most of these wow items don’t seem to have any direct connection with improving education quality at all, my unofficial count also says there is at least one more non-Catholic private school and 10-ish charter schools in the area. I am suspicious that they might be providing some unique learning environments too—maybe even some directed at high educational outcomes. We wait with bated breath for that coverage. (The Journal-News, 3/25/19) 
3. Here’s something interesting: students from the Miami Valley Career Technology Center took on challengers in the Business Professionals of America’s regional competition earlier this month. Students training in fields such as computer animation, desktop publishing, video production, and more earned honors and the right to move on to the state competition. Nice. And actually interesting. (Vandalia Drummer News, 3/24/19)

4. It is nice to see that editors in Youngstown are consistent in their opinions. This weekend, they opined favorably on Niles City Schools’ entry into state-mandated fiscal emergency due to some years of poor performance and to the evidence that fiscal oversight from the state—which saved the City of Niles some time back—has actually worked to right a sinking ship. (Youngstown Vindicator, 3/24/19) Finally today, speaking of money, I’m not sure what is the biggest news here: that Oakwood City Schools has been running half-million dollar deficits in its lunch programs for years (nutritious food doesn’t sell itself as well as Cheezy Doodles do, apparently), that the district has enough money in its general fund to casually fill that budget hole with backhoes full of spare cash year after year, or that no one has noticed/raised the issue before now. All of them seem pretty hard to swallow to me. (Dayton Daily News, 3/24/19)

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