- Our own Chad Aldis was a member of the panel discussing charter schools at the Columbus Metropolitan Club forum on Wednesday of this week. First coverage of the event was from a business/politics news aggregator in New Zealand! No, Chad doesn’t have that kind of juice, but StateAuditor! Man (leader of the panel) does. (Foreign Affairs Publisher, NZ, 9/15/16) For event coverage closer to home, check out Gongwer. (Gongwer Ohio, 9/14/16) If no-holds-barred full video is more your style, look no further than here. (Columbus Metropolitan Club YouTube channel, 9/14/16)
- Earlier the same day, the US Department of Education finally released the $71 million Charter School Program grant that Ohio won many months ago. As you’ll no doubt recall, the release of the funds was put on hold when questions arose in regard to the application. As a result of those questions – and the answers provided by the state – Ohio’s grant award was declared “high risk” and a number of new conditions were placed upon it. Chad and others tell you all about it in the following pieces from the Dispatch (Columbus Dispatch, 9/15/16), the Beacon Journal (Akron Beacon Journal, 9/14/16) and Gongwer (Gongwer Ohio, 9/14/16). Can I nominate Doug “Watchdog” Livingston for “CSP compliance monitor” now?
- Also this week, school report cards were released by the Ohio Department of Education. I’ll spare you the pre-release clips where everyone was predicting gloom, doom, and way lower results across the board. Mainly because that’s what happened, pretty much. So instead I’ll fast-forward to the post-release commentary. Each of the following pieces include “the sky is not actually falling” comments from our own Chad Aldis among the interviewees. Check out Gongwer (Gongwer Ohio, 9/15/16), the Enquirer (Cincinnati Enquirer, 9/15/16), and the Plain Dealer (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 9/14/16).
- To add to the info mix, here is coverage of the previous two topics without Chad’s input. You can read about the CSP grant release in the Enquirer (Cincinnati Enquirer, 9/14/16) and the Plain Dealer. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 9/14/16) You can read about the local report card results in the Plain Dealer (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 9/15/16), the Dispatch (Columbus Dispatch, 9/15/16), and the Daily News. (Dayton Daily News, 9/15/16) All three big city districts have levies on the ballot, but that fact is only mentioned in the Cleveland story. All three have significant charter school sectors as well, but charter performance is only mentioned – largely positively – in the Columbus story. Folks in Dayton are breathing a sigh of relief as their student progress grade was an “A” for 2015-16, halting the clock for at least a year on the possibility that the district will be placed under the aegis of an Academic Distress Commission.
- Speaking of ADC districts, what does Youngstown CEO Krish Mohip have to say about his district’s report card? “I think it’s a good baseline for us to look at the data and build a plan.” Sounds right. (Youngstown Vindicator, 9/15/16). In related news, it could be a couple of months of feedback/revision process for Mohip’s strategic plan for the district. So says the head of the Academic Distress Commission. Let's hope it doesn't take that long. (Youngstown Vindicator, 9/15/16)
