- I want to find the good in this story about a program aimed at connecting school/K-12 education to “economic mobility and self-sufficiency” for high schoolers, but it eludes me in the end no matter how hard I parse what is here. Part of the problem is that the print version is borderline unintelligible. Who are these kids? Why are they here? What are they learning? But a bigger part is that no effort is made to explain how programs called “Rise Up Retail” and “Rise Up Customer Service” could be valuable credentials or count as points toward graduation requirements, especially when the students themselves say their goals are to “join the tech field” and to “pursue a career in criminal justice”. Feels like some serious substance is missing. (Spectrum News 1, 10/31/22)
- I want to have some sympathy for Lorain City Schools superintendent Jeff Graham, who remains concerned about the upcoming performance audit to be conducted in his district by the Ohio Department of Education. But his complaint about the number of hours it will take him and his staff to participate in the audit rings hollow to me, especially given the lofty and important goal of emerging from more than a decade of academic distress (and all that goes along with it). And also because he still clings to his belief that the audit was supposed to be about digging into spending decisions from five years ago and not about whatever it is he’s currently doing to try and fulfill the requirements of the bill he and his elected board championed. (Chronicle-Telegram, 11/2/22)
- I want to be excited about the new report from Cleveland mayor Justin Bibb’s office, summarizing the results of his community listening tour and distilling some broad themes around future actions, but as is often the case with these things, it appears that far more teachers, community leaders, and school officials participated than did parents and students. The messages received and responses generated, as related in the report, echo that state of affairs. (Cleveland Mayor’s Office, 11/3/22)
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