- A guest commentary ran under Chad Aldis’ byline in the ABJ this weekend, extolling the virtues of HB 2/charter law reform in Ohio. Particularly interesting for the rundown of all the “parents of success” involved in the long process. (Akron Beacon Journal, 10/18/15)
- Speaking of charter schools in Ohio, remember the sponsor evaluations that were preliminarily issued and then rescinded by the department of education earlier this year? Well, those evaluations still must be done and a new advisory group has been impaneled to advise the department. And the troublesome question of how to rank large online schools within a sponsor’s portfolio remains. Chad is among the voices advocating for the importance of rating sponsors the right way. The most important reforms of HB 2 are, he says, “premised on this [evaluation] system working.” (Columbus Dispatch, 10/18/15)
- A guest commentary ran under Chad Aldis’ byline in the PD this weekend, discussing the ways in which Ohio’s new $71 million Community Schools Program grant could materially improve the charter school sector in Ohio…if used correctly. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 10/18/15)
- Editors in Cleveland decided to “balance” Chad’s commentary with an opinion piece of their own on the same subject. Let’s just say they took a novel swerve in presenting their dissent. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 10/18/15) Meanwhile, the Blade’s Marilou Johanek opined in frustration over everything to do with charter schools, including a similar “swerve”. (Toledo Blade, 10/17/15)
- That “swerve” mentioned above is the conflation of the $71 million CSP grant with the so-called “Youngstown Plan” (really just a sharpening of Ohio’s Academic Distress Commission protocols currently focused fairly tightly on Youngstown). We first heard of the “Youngstown Swerve” on last week’s “All Sides with Ann Fisher” show – as fait accompli, of course – and I daresay the conference call in which that theory was trotted out had other participants, as noted above. But holding on to semi-reality for just a few more moments, the denial of an injunction against the start of the new ADC protocols in Y’town led two local legislators to unveil their full alternative to those protocols publicly last week. Check out all of the details in this very well-done story from a local television station. This new plan is to be introduced as parallel legislation in the House and Senate later this week. (WKBN-TV, Youngstown, 10/16/15) Commentary from the Vindy’s Bertram de Souza is blunt and to-the-point on this topic. The Youngstown Schools have failed and the State of Ohio (via the new ADC) must be the means by which that fact is changed. (Youngstown Vindicator, 10/18/15)
- While this sounds at first like the kind of story a journalist might send an intern to research and write, I urge you to carefully read this full accounting of all the candidates running for four open seats on the Akron City Schools’ Board of Education this year. With great skill and a deft touch, Doug Livingston sketches a portrait of life in Akron that is equal parts sad, shocking, and hilarious. A clear model of
insular small townbig urban life here in Flyover Land. (Akron Beacon Journal, 10/18/15)
