Gadfly Bites 2/13/19 – Lorain famous

1. The headline of this piece says that the new(ish) president of Lorain City Schools’ elected board “seeks help” from the new(ish) governor of Ohio. I will let you guess as to what kind of solid hizzoner – the nominal head of a district operating under the aegis of an Academic Distress Commission – is looking for hizzotheroner – the actual buck-stopper-in-chief in this situation – to do him. In an additional twisty note, a blog post written by our own Jessica Poiner is quoted here. She is treated as a sort of DeWine-Whisperer. Rather than the journalist actually talking to hizzotheroner himself about the issue, that is. Which is weird. (Northern Ohio Morning Journal, 2/12/19) Meanwhile, in Youngstown City Schools – also operating under the aegis of an ADC – the elected board is spending some time honing a list of criteria it would like to have in a new district CEO. I don’t see “ability to make twisty ironic statements” in here anywhere, but the board members themselves surely have that trait down cold. Any more would probably just be confusing for folks. “Intestinal fortitude” also is not listed, but I figure that goes without saying in Youngstown. (Youngstown Vindicator, 2/13/19) Back to Lorain for a moment: One of the many many things that the elected board there objects to relates to a new(ish) teacher observation protocol in the district schools, which they characterize as onerous, intrusive, and unfair. The one example provided, while admittedly sounding a bit extreme, lacks some important details that might shed some light on the issue. Plus it seems to ignore the vast majority of teachers who apparently asked for just this kind of observation and feedback. (Northern Ohio Morning Journal, 2/11/19)

2. In nearby Amherst Exempted Village Schools, parents of high schoolers are reportedly “breathing a sigh of relief” that high school busing will likely return to the tiny district next school year. This to me is a curious reaction since high school busing was eliminated so long ago that a) no district official is even sure which year it happened, b) most of the students whose lives were impoverished without it cannot possibly remember a time when it existed, c) a number of the parents breathing that sigh were likely in high school themselves the last time it existed. Truly, the good times are rolling in Amherst…on a yellow bus! (Elyria Chronicle, 2/13/19)

3. As my dedicated Gadfly Bites subscribers know well (I love all six of you for your endless forbearance with me – or your gluttony for punishment, whichever it is that keeps you around), your humble clips compiler has been doing this gig for a long time. I try not to become jaded or more cynical than when I started out, but I am being sorely tried in these areas right now. My current vexation comes from a question that occurs nearly every day and arises from reading both the bad news and even the supposed “good news” stories that are out there. That question is: “What, exactly, goes on in Ohio’s classrooms during the long(ish) hours of the regularly-scheduled school day?” What messages do students hear from these adults with which they spend so much time? What lessons do the adults model for them day in and day out? What goals are being pursued over the long months of the school year? What knowledge is being dispensed in lesson after lesson? I am concerned with the answers these days because “Success Club” in Canton City Schools is, in this piece, being given a huge amount of credit. Credit for helping a group of kids really home in on what they want to do with their lives after high school; what paths they want to pursue; how best to pursue them; and how to augment their skills and knowledge to succeed in that pursuit. One day a week. For 90 minutes. Just like the afterschool program in Dayton we talked about on Monday which lasts a fraction of the time that proper school does yet is apparently responsible for the entire academic output of the building. And just like the seven-week Saturday reading bootcamp in Columbus which had one of its hour long sessions cancelled by snow two weeks ago, leading to fears of non-passage of the state reading test. What, in the name of Melvil Dewey’s sacred right frontal lobe, is going on in the actual school day all day every day for months and years if NOT all of these very things? (Canton Repository, 2/12/19)

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