Gadfly Bites is back back back! Sorry about that, y’all.
- So what do we need to catch up on? Fordham’s Chad Aldis talking to the Dispatch about how interdistrict open enrollment currently works and the possibility of a borderless, statewide version of same. (Columbus Dispatch, 8/26/21) And an associate professor of public administration at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, posting on several media outlets to respond in detail to Aaron Churchill’s recent blog suggesting that school board candidates declare their political party affiliations while running for office. Prof disagrees, but only because he seems to think there’s some political positions among candidates out there that don’t fit neatly into a two-party framework and because he seems of the opinion that school boards can show the rest of representative government how to actually function regardless of party affiliation. (Governing, 9/2/21)
- I trust that neither of my loyal, long
sufferingtime Gadfly Bites subscribers wasted more than a minute on this Bishop Sycamore football story while I was gone, even though it made national headlines. Why? A) Because we all followed this exact same story the last time it happened a couple of years ago and the 508 school was called Christians of Faith. Same ending and everything. And B) Because you guys are savvy enough to know that it doesn’t matter if the Holy Spirit is on side or not, no one mucks with the high school football famiglia in Ohio without kissing all the right rings first. (Columbus Dispatch, 9/1/21) - Lakewood City Schools in suburban Cleveland seems to have declared victory over summer school stigma and the summer slide. Lots of kids, lots of learning, lots of fun. Ask anyone…who is on the payroll. (Cleveland.com, 8/25/21)
- When Romules Durant became superintendent of Toledo City Schools some years ago, he was apparently told that that the charitable support foundation meant to aid the district was busted and that he should just put it out of its misery. As you might imagine, the good doctor had a few hundred other things on his plate at the time and so the foundation just ticked over in the background. Fast forward to last week when we found out that the foundation was not only still alive but was replenishing its coffers with help from the philanthropic arm of the Owens Corning corporation. There’s probably a lot to be discussed about the arrangement—as Dr. Durant says, “we no longer continue to rely on taxpayers and burden them for each and every endeavor — developing instead a private arm with the help of private industry to support and offset” them—but I was more taken by one of the “endeavors” listed in the piece: “creating a scholarship fund for students’ transportation needs”. I’m pretty sure the taxpayers of Lucas County and all of Ohio would love to hear more about that. (Toledo Blade, 8/25/21) Speaking of which: Despite huge changes in student transportation logistics in Dayton City Schools for the new year, the start of school seems to have produced a high volume of chaos and parental chagrin once again. Two points to note: A) It doesn’t seem like charter and private school students were involved in this new mess. I don’t know if that means their experiences were better thus far, but they could hardly be worse. B) It is amazing that district officials can continue to come up with new ways to mess up, “apologize” without actually apologizing, and deflect the blame year after year. But somehow they manage it. (Dayton Daily News, 9/2/21)
- In other Dayton City Schools news that definitely falls under the header of “amazing”: The district was apparently planning to charge families 50 cents to provide Covid-mitigation facemasks to students in seventh through twelfth grades every time they forgot to bring one with them from home. It was explained in a now-deleted Facebook post that providing masks on the district’s dime “uses money that should be used for student materials and resources.” Say what now? I mean, didn’t these guys get hundreds of millions of federal Covid-mitigation dollars for just this sort of thing? And weren’t they also sitting on tens of millions in surplus state dollars before the pandemic? I, at least, am amazed at the temerity. The state stepped in shortly after this proposal was made public; as a result, the district will not be doing that thing. (Dayton Daily News, 8/7/21)
- Since we’re talking about the ‘rona now: Yesterday was the last day for schools and districts to submit a plan to the Ohio Department of Education to keep education up and running in the event of a closure or quarantine this school year. Hybrid? Fully remote? Ad hoc adaptation? Your choice! Just put it in writing. (Cleveland.com, 8/27/21) That Cleveland piece seemed to indicate about a 50/50 split among districts and schools between hybrid and fully remote plans. This piece from the Miami Valley area seems to discount the fully remote option and reads to me fairly
seat-of-the-pantsad hoc in nature. (Dayton Daily News, 8/29/21) As I read these pieces, it seems that pre-emptive quarantines are the big concern among school leaders. Random numbers of kids and teachers can be (and are already being) sent home for varying numbers of days on rolling timelines. A new program, announced by Governor DeWine last week and piloted by a number of districts in Warren County, aims to reduce or eliminate such large-scale pre-emptive quarantines. The key is rapid testing like many colleges already do. (Cincinnati Enquirer, 9/1/21) - Finally in our post-vacation catch up: Two Catholic schools in northeast Ohio last week announced a new partnership with the University of Notre Dame to strengthen their operations, culture, and education. The university’s ACE academies program will work to “increase academic achievement, boost enrollment and strengthen the…Catholic identity” of St. Anthony of Padua School in Akron and St. Augustine Catholic School in Barberton by “enhancing school leadership, curriculum, instruction, professional development, financial management and marketing.” Kudos and best wishes to all! (Catholic News Agency, 8/27/21)
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