- We heard on Wednesday that the boost in rona cases across the state were a threat to in-person education. Today, we hear that schools are not proving to be a significant source of current coronavirus spread. And there’s data to back that up. That’s good news, I think, but Tales from the Homestead is proving twistier to me than the Ice Princess storyline on General Hospital. (Cleveland.com, 10/22/20)
- Perhaps buoyed by (some of) this news, Mount Vernon City Schools moved from a hybrid learning model to fully in-person education this week, a move they term “going traditional”. The decision-making process is described in detail here, including the survey preference results from both families and staff and the offer of a fully-remote option for those families not yet feeling safe enough to “go traditional” themselves. (Knox Pages, 10/22/20) Speaking of traditional, Holy Name Catholic High School in Parma has been fully in-person from the start of the school year. The principal says it’s going great. (Cleveland.com, 10/22/20)
- Meanwhile, a new Montessori school, fully in-person as you might expect, will be opening in nearby Shaker Heights in November. (News5 Cleveland, 10/20/20)
- There’s a lot of talk about math test scores in this piece, checking on the state of student performance in several central Ohio districts this year as compared to last. And a lot of talk about “balance”—that is, the balance between safety and education. (The same discussion appears in detail in the Mount Vernon story, above.) Bexley City Schools is an interesting case here—the only district included in this piece where student test scores are actually said to be up a bit from this time last year. This despite 90 percent of its students learning in a hybrid model, five percent (or 128 students in the tiny landlocked suburb) in its fully-remote (third party provider) option, and “less than two percent…enrolled in a private or charter school”. Not sure how you count the latter kids as “yours”, but that I suppose is your issue. The boost in test scores when all your kids are NOT “going traditional” is the real story as far as I can tell. (10TV news, Columbus, 10/22/20)
- Despite a shortened timeframe, an endless pandemic, an incipient recession, and an impending biennial budget process, the Ohio General Assembly seems hell-bent on fast-tracking a plan to revamp school funding in the Buckeye State during the post-election lame duck legislative session. The funding plan, as the Dispatch reports, has some significant hurdles to overcome in this mad dash for the finish line. (Columbus Dispatch, 10/22/20)
- Speaking of the pandemic (when aren’t we these days, I ask you), the head of the Ohio Manufacturers' Association opined in print that one thing hasn’t changed despite the presence of SARS-CoV-2 freakin’ everywhere: the need for need for more labor in the manufacturing sector. (What did you think he was going to say?) The critical challenges for meeting that need lie firmly at the feet of the K–12 education sector. Hey man, have you looked in Bexley recently? I hear their kids’ math scores are killer. (Cleveland.com, 10/18/20) Of course, it always helps to have industry working along with K–12 schools on this stuff. Here’s a great example from Cleveland: United Airlines is launching a fellowship program with CMSD’s Davis Aerospace and Maritime High School which will cover internships for 20 to 30 students each school year and the cost of flight training for more than 10 students. All of this could set up students—the first group of which are scheduled to graduate from Davis this year—to pursue a pilot’s license. Sounds good to me. (Cleveland.com, 10/22/20)
Policy Priority:
Topics:
