- For the first time in a long time, the sitting governor won’t send a representative to the interviews conducted by the state board of ed with finalists for state superintendent. Read into that what you will; others are already doing so. (Columbus Dispatch, 5/7/16) Those interviews will take place this week and will be a little shorter than originally planned since the list of the top 8 candidates is now down to 7 after another withdrawal. Speaking of the folks being interviewed for state supe, Patrick O’Donnell seems to have abandoned his plans to profile every candidate once prior to the interviews. In favor of doubling up on one particular person. Can you guess who? (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 5/7/16)
- Perhaps to make up for the April e-schools piece that never made it to the online version of The D for some reason, here is a somewhat-belated take on testimony heard last week critical of the attendance practices of a particular online school. While the testifier is noted as being a former employee of the school, her level of “gruntledness” is frustratingly not noted. Surely that’s Journalism 101, isn’t it? (Columbus Dispatch, 5/9/16)
- I’m glad to know that these folks who stand to reap a lot of money helping students in Youngstown succeed were not put off forever by being rebuffed the first time they offered their help to the district. In fact, with the arrival of the new Academic Distress Commission, it seems just the right time for them to tweak their pitch and try again. Hmmm… Did that sound too cynical on my part? (Youngstown Vindicator, 5/9/16) Either way, the only other Ohio district operating under the aegis of an Academic Distress Commission is currently working hard to extricate itself from some similar (and similarly-expensive) “help”. Of course they’re doing it by spending some more money. (Northern Ohio Morning Journal, 5/8/16) Meanwhile, Youngstown’s ADC is still looking for a CEO. A public forum will be held Wednesday to gather public input. Not only will folks be able to attend live and comment aloud, but there will be “devices” on hand to allow electronic input and the event will also be webcast and accept input remotely. Nice. (Youngstown Vindicator, 5/8/16)
- You’ll recall that the phone system at the Columbus City Schools’ transportation office was reported to be so antiquated that routing was a problem, no messages could be left, nor any record of who called could be maintained. Efforts were made and money spent to try to identify and fix these shortcomings, but no results have yet been announced. According to a story over the weekend, a lot of the daily calls have to do with “where is my kid’s bus?” questions from parents. To try and help with answering these questions when they DO get through the phone maze, CCS is thinking of instituting an onboard swipe card system for students which would allow the transportation department to know who gets on which bus, when and where, and when and where they get off the bus. This will cost some serious money, but it seems that most of the “where is my kid’s bus?” questions are really “where did my kid go after he got off the bus?” questions. (Columbus Dispatch, 5/7/16)
- Finally today, Sinclair Community College registered both its youngest and oldest graduates in its history this weekend. Huge congratulations to 89-year-old Vinie Dean Walker and 14-year-old Caleb Garman. Fun story. (Springfield News Sun, 5/7/16)
