- There are a handful of exceptions to the state law that says school districts must offer surplus buildings to charter schools first before any other sales can be considered. One such exception is being explored—very publicly—in tiny Poland Local School District. Officials there are working with the Port Authority to take possession of a closed elementary building—for the bargain price of $1—with the authority planning to turn around and sell it to a developer to build luxury apartments, which is the ultimate goal. This, they say (out loud and on the record), is the only way to avoid “the risk” of a charter school buying the building and creating another competitor to the district. Charming. They all know that a charter school would have to pay market price for the thing, bringing a direct cash infusion to the district’s coffers far higher than a measly buck. Thus, there is a very tortured explanation of how the apartments would ultimately have a net impact of nearly $6 million per “every door created” in the redeveloped building. (I was looking for this Youngstown suburb’s tourism bureau website so you could check the place out and see if you want to get a luxury apartment there, but I can’t seem to find it.) It seems that both taxpayers and port authority trustees are somewhat leery about this math. We’ll see how it all shakes out. (Vindy.com, 12/14/22)
- Meanwhile, in neighboring Youngstown City Schools, this nugget of information is buried at the end of a piece from yesterday’s Vindy: Deputy Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor told the elected school board about the results of Youngstown’s third-grade fall English Language Arts testing. He said that 9 percent of students are proficient in what they should know in third grade. He cautioned that the results are “only from a few months” of students being in the classroom this school year, but he also pointed out that their ultimate goal is just 24 percent proficient for the whole year anyway. You know, the target set by this same august board as the means by which to leave “academic distress” status once and for all. Translation: No worries! What was the rest of that article about? The real prize: Money. (Vindy.com, 12/15/22)
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