Today’s edition, the second following a long vacation break, covers news from 10/7 – 10/13/23.
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- I’m not entirely sure what the specific “investigation” here is, but the topic is charter schools, so the pros and cons line up exactly as you imagine they would. On the pro-side is an impressive group of Fordham- and Ohio-based voices that include our own Mike Petrilli and Chad Aldis, United Schools’ Network leader Andy Boy, and a happy USN parent whose commentary is the one that, for my money, matters most. Nice. (Real Clear Investigations, 10/11/23)
- On the con-side in the previous piece is, as you might imagine, teachers unions. Same for this blog post—on the topic of school board elections—in which a Fordham blog by Aaron Churchill is linked and quoted. (Center for the American Experiment blog, 10/12/23)
- Here are a couple of dispatches from our traditional district schools that piqued my interest. First up, coverage of something called the “Get on the Bus Tour”, in which a group of educational leaders from other districts visited Independence Primary School in northeast Ohio to see how awesome that school is. And indeed it was found to be awesome. Among the awesome things noted: “the energy” in the building, a book vending machine, and some new ways for kids to “regulate their bodies”. No word on any academic awesomeness observed, sadly. Can’t imagine why. (Cleveland.com, 10/11/23) Meanwhile, Painesville City School District leaders would like to lower their chronic absenteeism rate. They put out some ideas, although all of them sound a little vague to me (“…some different trainings and workshops for the parents to give them tools to help get their kids to school, and just generate some enthusiasm and again set these goals of what we want to accomplish together.”). We are told that the primary culprits are illness and “extended family trips”. I’m not sure how you workshop any goals to reduce those things, but I don’t run a school district, so what do I know? (The News-Herald, 10/9/23)
- Finally today, here’s a look at the Week in DEW. The biggest news as I see it is a somewhat testy lawyer shuffle, although that was apparently only interesting to the folks at Gongwer as no other outlets covered it. Bottom line: Both parties will be represented by outside council, rather than state attorneys, going forward. (Gongwer Ohio, 10/10/23) Speaking of testy, 11 members of the state board of education held a meeting on October 10 (as per previous schedule), despite the president of the board having postponed that meeting. If you think that’s weird, you should read about how the meeting actually went. (NBC4i.com, Columbus, 10/10/23) Governor DeWine was at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College on Thursday, visiting a daycare center to talk about the importance of implementing the Science of Reading in Ohio. Reporters couldn’t resist asking about the DEW lawsuit, and DeWine obliged with an answer. Until the situation is resolved, the state-level implementation of SOR, along with a lot of other important business of K-12 governance, cannot go forward. (WVXU-TV, Cincinnati, 10/12/23) Hopefully, a resolution will be forthcoming for everyone’s sake…
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