- Despite the fact that the impaneling of one appointed member is on hold, the new Youngstown Academic Distress Commission now has a chair. Here is a brief statement from Brian Benyo on the importance of the work ahead of his commission. (Youngstown Vindicator, 12/4/15) With the chair appointed, the clock is now ticking on the appointment of a new CEO for Youngstown City Schools. Local commentator Bertram de Souza opined this weekend on his (seemingly random) choice of a county juvenile court judge as a prime candidate for CEO. The comments section is pretty entertaining, although ultimately unhelpful. The commission has 60 days to name said CEO. (Youngstown Vindicator, 12/6/15)
- Speaking of districts in academic distress and ticking clocks, Lorain City Schools is under an old-style distress commission with a deadline ahead. If a specific level of academic improvement is not reached in that time, the so-called “Youngstown Plan” will become the “Lorain Plan”. Leading the charge to avoid that situation is new-ish district supe Jeff Graham. He acknowledges the ticking clock and the stakes as he discusses a new strategy to determine the correct pace of change that can be sustained in Lorain. Not to issue spoilers, but that strategy is called a Concerns Based Adoption Model and it goes like this: Step One, show staff what an education program looks like when followed well. Step Two, through questionnaires, interviews and open-ended statements, staff members respond with attitudes and beliefs about the system. Step Three, leaders figure out how well individuals use the program, and focus training sessions on areas where training would be most useful for people who need it. (Northern Ohio Morning Journal, 12/4/15)
- The state also monitors the fiscal health of its school districts. Many districts are in “fiscal watch” due to potential budgetary concerns (low reserves, high expenditures, levy losses, etc.). Coventry Local Schools has been in “fiscal watch” for nearly two decades. They have now tipped over into “fiscal emergency” and will require the impaneling of a Fiscal Oversight Commission to help them avoid total insolvency. Kudos to whomever in the ABJ hierarchy decided to tone down the hysterical (in both senses of the word) headline that this story was first published under. (Akron Beacon Journal, 12/4/15)
- Also from Friday, the PD reported on a somewhat bizarre radio campaign that aims to get the public to ask state legislators to ignore a provision of the recently-passed charter law reform bill (HB 2). If there’s a member of the public who thinks that HB 2 needs fewer provisions rather than more, I have yet to meet ‘em. Probably because he or she is too busy listening to Foghat on AM radio. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 12/4/15)
- An editor at the Akron Beacon Journal opined in dismay this weekend over what he sees as a lack of thoroughness and/or efficiency in school funding in Ohio. (Akron Beacon Journal, 12/5/15)
- Sometimes the education press in Ohio is guilty of lumping all charter schools together for purposes of discussion. To be sure, there are similarities across the sector, but a dropout recovery school is very different from a gifted/talented school is very different from an arts-focused school. Another case in point: charter schools which are sponsored by school districts. Sometimes these are short-lived experiments (aloha, Upper Arlington) and sometimes they end in acrimony (adios, Firelands). But more often than not, they are fruitful partnerships (17% of charter schools are district-sponsored today, says my numerically-gifted colleague Aaron Churchill) which can be looked at as laboratories or perhaps as ATMs. Here’s a story about one such charter/district collaboration which is resulting in a spiffy new building for said charter school, with the district taking on all of the financial risk. Sponsors: don’t try this at home. (Sandusky Register, 12/7/15)
- Eight months after submitting their plan to the US Department of Education, a consortium of high-performing STEM schools and the districts with which they partner are still waiting to learn whether their proposed alternative to Ohio’s standardized tests will be accepted for use in the 2016-17 school year. All this even while Ohio’s standardized testing regime is still in flux. There are a number of possible reasons put forward as to why the delay may be happening, but it doesn’t really matter to one of the supes involved. It’s more about the timing. “I don’t have faith the federal government is going to come back in any sort of a quick time frame,” he says. Ouch. (Springfield News Sun, 12/4/15)
