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- After months of…well, who even knows what to call this facilities review process we’ve witnessed? After months of whatever this was, the elected board of Columbus City Schools voted on nine possible school building closures last night. Instead of doing it as a package, though, they voted on each building one by one, with varying outcomes and varying splits among members. (If they chose this method in an attempt to dispel the notion of arbitrary decision-making, I think this was not the way.) In the end, five school buildings were recommended for closure, as was the district’s office complex downtown. While the latter will be empty by the end of this school year, none of the schools will be shuttered until 2028 at the earliest. Four years is an eternity, and while district enrollment will assuredly continue to shrink over that time, those who oppose right-sizing district facilities will just as assuredly continue their highly emotional (just read the details of their ridiculous-sounding “protest” yesterday afternoon) and fact-free campaign that will assuredly render yesterday's votes moot, one way or another. (Columbus Dispatch, 12/17/24)
- I have never heard of Fred Ode before, but he is listed as “a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist” from northeast Ohio who is also “a former public-school math teacher” (so specific). This brief bio is part of the op-ed he penned for Cleveland.com this week, where he proffers a “fourth R” to add to reading, writing, and arithmetic: he calls it “reality”. You can read the piece yourself to see what he means by that, but regardless of the particulars, I would suggest caution to anyone (successful entrepreneur/philanthropist or not) who wants to add another “R” on the to-do list of schools that aren’t yet successful at teaching the first three. But I am neither math teacher nor entrepreneur, so maybe I just don’t understand. (Cleveland.com, 12/18/24)
- Sorry as ever to include a press release as news here in the Bites, but sometimes you have to grab the good news wherever you can find it—especially when it’s this good. The University of Dayton is rightly celebrating Jayla Treadwell, who completed her master’s degree in physician assistant practice last week and plans to stay in the Gem City to serve her neighbors there. Awesome! We can add to the kudos by pointing out that Jayla is a Dayton native; a graduate of Dayton Early College Academy (DECA), a charter school which is sponsored by our sister organization the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation; and that she has created a link between DECA and the UD PA program so that middle and high school students are exposed to it and can clearly see the pathway to success in that field for themselves. That is worth celebrating for sure. (Inside Education and Health Sciences blog, University of Dayton, 12/16/24)
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