- We start today with the good news. Briefly mentioned in Friday’s Gongwer news roundup was the seemingly super-important tidbit that college remediation rates across Ohio dropped significantly between 2010 and 2016. Tell us more, y’all. Please! (Gongwer Ohio, 8/17/18)
- North coast curmudgeon Tom Suddes can always be counted on to bring the bad news in his commentaries. He riffs on that school funding report released last week, opining in favor of all of the recommendations to “fix” the state’s school funding system. Unfortunately, he takes a curve in the middle of his rant and decides he wants “bad parenting” fixed first. Both of those are tough, uphill slogs, I imagine. I’ll leave it to you to decide which fix will be harder. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 8/18/18)
- The Dayton Daily News takes a look at local school districts who are balancing technology vs. tradition in their courses. Just to translate for you: “technology” means STEM stuff and “tradition” means cursive writing and home ec. Oddly enough, “local school districts” means high-dollar sububs. You’re welcome. (Dayton Daily News, 8/18/18)
- Finally today, we have an interesting take on the Lorain Academic Distress Commission which comes from the former district superintendent. Now this is a “news story” based on former supe’s personal blog post, so it’s basically an unmarked op-ed. But the perspective at least is interesting. He doesn’t seem particularly broken up about how things went down – a pension and a great new job will definitely take away the sting – but the things he does seem concerned about are surprising. Including the fact that he feels the ADC didn’t act quickly enough in getting a CEO set in place. Surely if they had acted too hastily, that also would have been a problem, but dude is most concerned about the timeline for fired administrators to find new gigs. (Elyria Chronicle, 8/18/18) Speaking of which, several Lorain principals whose positions were terminated by the district CEO in his governance shakeup are still employed in the district. They will be teachers in various capacities this year. Everyone seems pretty happy about this outcome, especially the head of the local teacher’s union who has some new and “unexpected” members. All this sounds like a win…for the district’s grown-ups. (Elyria Chronicle, 8/18/18)
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