- In case you missed it, Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump visited Cleveland yesterday and spoke at a charter school in the city. The candidate’s remarks were mainly about education plans and promises should we elect him to the top office. This is really the only coverage I could find that stuck to the education theme. But if that’s what it takes to bring the Beacon Journal’s ace inkhound Doug “Dog” Livingston back onto these clips, then so be it! Welcome back, buddy! We missed your brass and sass. (Akron Beacon Journal, 9/9/16). Doug’s been out of the education reporting game for a while, covering politics (bleurgh) for the ABJ instead, so he probably hasn’t had an opportunity to read Fordham’s recent downbeat report on Ohio’s EdChoice voucher program. These folks have read it, and framed the candidate’s call for expanded vouchers with it…like a shroud. First, the Standard Examiner out of Ogden, Utah. (Standard Examiner, 9/8/16). Second, the Villages Suntimes News out of Dog knows where. (Villages Suntimes, 9/8/16). As per usual, the candidate didn’t exactly stick to one theme, and a couple of his national security-related comments took over the Dispatch’s coverage. But the education stuff is in there. (Columbus Dispatch, 9/8/16). There was a ton of pre-visit spin flying through the electronic press even before the candidate arrived in Cleveland. It was all about charter schools; guess they forgot about our EdChoice report. A prime example of the spinning hurricane of stories is this one from the PD, focusing on the company which runs the Cleveland charter school in question. All the other pre-event pieces are similar, since they used the same source on which to base their stories. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 9/8/16)
- Presciently, editors in Akron opined on the topic of charter sponsor evaluations earlier this week. (Akron Beacon Journal, 9/6/16)
- I wanted to lead with these Youngstown pieces today but they got trumped by other things. First up, editors in Youngstown opined yesterday in full support of the new Youngstown Strategic Plan and of the CEO in charge of making it happen. (Youngstown Vindicator, 9/8/16) One of the goals of the plan is increased parent involvement in schools, and the onus for making this happen falls on the district and its staff. To wit: Percentage of schools hosting at least two parent activities per month in 2015-16 = 0 percent. The goal for 2016-17 = 80 percent. Lofty. In what is probably a good sign, Kirkmere Elementary is already leading the way. Here is a nice report on the second annual Muffins for Mom event, with the Vindy reporter noting the connection to the Strategic Plan. (Youngstown Vindicator, 9/9/16)
