- First things first: Looks like a deal was reached between Akron City Schools and its teachers union at some point over the weekend. A strike has been averted and school is on today. Yay. (Cleveland.com, 1/9/23)
- Hopefully transportation is working OK up there in Akron. Because it sure ain’t going well over in Dayton. The district has been hit with a non-compliance finding by the Ohio Department of Education, largely related to the (non) transportation of charter school students on more than 50 days so far this school year. (WHIO-TV, Dayton, 1/6/23) Meanwhile, on the same topic, there’s good news and bad news from the first week of new routes in Reynoldsburg City Schools. The good news: Looks like all district schools were teaching in person every day last week, which—even in a four-day post-holiday week—is an improvement over the last three months of 2022. The bad news: Looks like lots of late pick ups and drop offs throughout the district all week, for which no solution is readily proffered. And this piece doesn’t even cover charter/private/STEM students. (10TV News, Columbus, 1/7/23)
- Future student transportation notwithstanding, this story about a charter school purchasing a historic church building in downtown Columbus—while allowing the longstanding congregation to remain—is nothing but good news. Unless of course you’re a newspaper reporter. (Columbus Dispatch, 1/6/23)
- Speaking of newspaper reporters: It seems that the Dispatch’s Megan Henry got tons of information to help guide her understanding of what IEPs are and how they work in schools (or don’t work, as the case may be) for this piece. Feels like there are still some outstanding questions even after this coverage, but that might just be me. (Columbus Dispatch, 1/8/23)
- Perhaps parents of students with Individualized Education Plans (a.k.a. IEPs) in northeast Ohio will be happy to hear that the Julie Billiart School is planning a fourth campus in Brecksville. This Catholic school focuses specifically on serving students with special needs and has done so for years. Not only do they accept students using the Jon Peterson and Ohio Autism Scholarships, they say so prominently in their announcement. Nice! (Diocese of Cleveland, 1/9/23)
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