- Fordham’s Chad Aldis was a guest on The Ron Ponder Show in Canton yesterday, talking about third grade reading, as were OEA’s new president and a member of the state board of education talking separately about Common Core. The audio for Chad’s segment is here. If you’re interested, you can find the others at this link. Just click on the “audio vault” tab and look for the June 30 segments. (WHBC radio, Canton)
- OEA’s new president Becky Higgins also called in to public radio in Cleveland yesterday, noting that she was on her way to Denver for the NEA annual convention, where she expected Common Core to dominate the agenda. Her take on CCSS in Ohio? She firmly supports the standards and is “cautiously optimistic” that districts statewide will allow a one year safe harbor provision before teachers are evaluated based on PARCC exam scores. (IdeaStream radio, Cleveland)
- Editors in Youngstown opine most strongly on the difficult job ahead for the new academic distress commission chair overseeing Youngstown City Schools’ attempt to climb out of the achievement basement. (Youngstown Vindicator)
- Speaking of oversight by the state, Monroe schools are almost out from under their fiscal oversight after nearly two years. Just a few more things to button up….like figuring out how to forward mail in the summer from dormant school buildings to central office. Hope they can crack that code soon. (Middletown Journal-News)
- And speaking of district finances, sounds like a tense meeting of the school board in cash-strapped Richmond Heights yesterday. The board wants to cut 7 teachers and a secretary to bring down expenses. A roomful of teachers countered with 1 HR person, 1 assistant principal, the maintenance supervisor, and the athletic director. I’m sure it was that last one that led the board to say “whoa, hold up” and table the whole thing until next month. (Willoughby News Herald)
- The teachers union in Reynoldsburg is still up in arms about the new contract offer proposed last month by district administration (merit pay, cash in lieu of health insurance, etc.). Apparently their street-corner protest last week wasn’t enough, so they’ve filed an unfair labor practices complaint against the district (TMI in their online FAQ) and marched again yesterday…the same day they were supposed to return to negotiations with the district and a federal mediator. Yikes. (ThisWeek News/Reynoldsburg News)
