- Not much in the way of education news in recent days. Wonder what else reporters are talking about? Whatever it is, the pieces we do have were all posted today, which is a nice way to keep the Bites fresh. First up, Fordham is namechecked in this piece which states that a legislative panel has been named to “find a plan to pay [online] schools based on students’ course completion, for “competency” in subjects or for finishing units within a course” rather than basing payment on reported enrollment. Once they do that, I can’t wait until it gets rolled out to districts too. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 11/5/18)
- Speaking of online schools, the elected board of Columbus City Schools has decided to make use of the former headquarters of ECOT, which they bought using nearly $4 million in loose change scrounged out of dilapidated couch cushions in various district properties. Other than having six people hang out in the vacant building to let reporters come in, the actual uses still seem to be up in the air. (Columbus Dispatch, 11/5/18)
- Finally today, here is yet another piece about the “graduation crisis” in Springfield Local Schools. We covered this last week and the same mischaracterizations are included here, so nothing new. But amidst all of the bad news, however, is a ray of good news entirely unremarked upon. Somehow, the percentage of Springfield seniors not on track to graduate has gone down by almost 10 percent since the last report just one week ago. Sounds like great news to me! Why is everyone so up in arms? Keep up that pace and you’ll solve the problem before Christmas, guys. You can do it! I believe in you. (News5, Cleveland, 11/5/18)
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