- We’ll lead off today with some good news. Dayton City Schools was one of two districts in the state whose academic performance put them on a path to a possible designation of “academic distress” and all that that entails in Ohio. As a preventative measure, the Ohio Department of Education offered help. To wit: “We have flooded the district with services and support, to the total of 546 days of service from our staff,” the Dayton school board was told this week. “We’re very proud to be … welcomed by Superintendent Ward, the district leadership team and the teachers and principals who are with us on a daily basis.” Sounds great. And how are things looking in the wake of all that help? “If the district continues in the vein that it is in now, with fidelity and adherence to their plan,” ODE staff told the board, “we do not foresee that more intensive supports will have to be placed upon the district.” In other words, the “Youngstown Plan” will not need to become the “Dayton Plan”. Sounds pretty good based on my summary, right? But if you read the piece all the way to the end you will see some negativity directed by a board member toward ODE, the assistance provided, and the entire academic distress designation process. So, business as usual, I guess. (Dayton Daily News, 11/19/15)
- This next piece seems to be the journalistic equivalent of CGI (think, “The Good Wife”). Upon my initial read, it appeared to be about two speakers at a luncheon – two speakers (private school leader and teachers union leader) whose opinions you would think were dissimilar but somehow found agreement in a mutual dislike of education reform (e.g. charters, Common Core, standardized testing, etc.). Upon a second read, the piece actually goes like this: Only the private school leader spoke at the luncheon (with the Akron Roundtable, which makes sense). Our intrepid journalist then interviewed the private school leader, generating some shall we say “juicier” comments than those given in the talk. The journalist then dredged up an entirely unconnected interview with the union leader and cut/pasted her comments to emphasize some points of similarity between her and the private school leader. And that’s journalism in 2015. (Akron Beacon Journal, 11/19/15)
- Back in the real/cyber world: Columbus City Schools apparently had a terrible 5 days in tech hell last week. Sounds like they did a good job in resolving a cascading series of hardware failures, slowdowns, and data transfers but it must have been awful for them. If you guys are looking for new IT support, I have a great referral. Call me. (Columbus Dispatch, 11/20/15)
