Gadfly Bites 2/19/21 – “Let’s be real about this.”

1. Fordham’s Chad Aldis appeared on the redefinED podcast with host Matt Ladner, talking about the state of interdistrict open enrollment in the Buckeye State. An excellent discussion on an important topic. (redefinED, 2/18/21) How serendipitous, then, that the elected school board of Washington Local Schools in suburban Toledo voted just this week to finally open their borders to outside students via open enrollment. Or is it just a coincidence? You decide. (Toledo Blade, 2/17/21)
    
2. Franklinton High School, a charter school, on Columbus’ west side has been conducting classes fully in-person all school year. Administrators, teachers, and students all seem very happy—and comfortable—with how it’s gone. I assume that the lack of note in the piece that FHS is a charter—a school that literally anyone can attend should they be looking for…oh I don’t know…an alternative to the default—was deliberate. But then, I get more cranked off about those omissions than most people so I could just be overreacting. (10TV News, Columbus, 2/17/21) Speaking of “the default”, here’s a look at Columbus City Schools’ busing woes as explained by a high-up in the transportation department. Social distancing rules leads the list of lamentations, followed closely by the need to bus charter and private school students. (WOSU-FM, Columbus, 2/18/21) As we noted here earlier this week, at least one charter school in Columbus has been forced to curtail its school day due to new limitations forced on it by the district’s transportation issues. In response, the president of the local teachers union said that it is “outrageous” that districts are required to transport those kids at all and called for an end to it. To which I respond: “Be careful what you wish for, dude…” (ABC6 News, Columbus, 2/18/21)
    
3. I have been a little baffled over the ongoing discussion of “snow days” which have blanketed Ohio news media much as snow has blanketed the ground over the last few weeks. Surely all schools in the state are able to turn bad roads into a virtual day at the drop of a hat…if they’re not already scheduled to be virtual in the first place. I mean: are schools literally considering cancelling scheduled remote days so kids can go sledding? Answer: Apparently so. Luckily, the Ohio Department of Education is here to answer such burning questions. In fact, ODE took to the media just today to remind us all that those schools which submitted remote learning plans to the state back in the fall were automatically considered to have met the state rules for minimum hours of instruction this year. Thus, they have the flexibility to call off school due to weather concerns (even on remote days), vaccination days, and even screen-free sledding “mental health” days and not have to give those lost (yeah, I’m sure someone’s got another word for these which with which I am not presently au fait) hours. For the 15 or so percent of schools that didn’t submit such a plan, snow sorry. (Dayton Daily News, 2/19/21)
    
4. Updates from the School Reopening Two-Step currently underway in Ohio. Following Governor DeWine’s clarification of the definition of hybrid learning—plus his solid assurance that the agreements districts signed for a March 1 reopening were not in fact “flexible”—Akron City Schools seems to be rethinking its previous determination to stick with “Remote Plus” for the foreseeable future (Akron Beacon Journal, 2/17/21) Editors in Cincinnati are the on the same page as the governor, opining today that “a deal’s a deal” and that all district school building should open up by March 1. (Cincinnati Enquirer, 2/19/21) Meanwhile, officials in Brooklyn City Schools in Cuyahoga County have made a fantastic, amazing, never-before-revealed discovery: some kids thrive in a remote learning environment. As a result of this earth-shattering revelation which no one else has ever figured out before, the district is creating a permanent digital learning academy for high schoolers staring this fall. There’s some description of it, including references to a small “hybrid” element (“a twist”, as it is termed). And officials there are hoping to attract back to the district 25 students that they know for sure live in their borders but attend “other schools”. They probably know the names and addresses of “our kids” too and can reach out to them directly to let them know the great news personally. And clearly. And with great enthusiasm. As with Item 2, above, the term “charter school” is (deliberately, I figure) not used here, but I reckon that’s for a completely different reason. (Cleveland.com, 2/18/21)
    
5. Finally this week, y’all know how much I love love love discovering new news outlets from which to clip education stories. You also know how much I love love love when the dingy status quo of the education blob gets some brand new dings. If so, then you will know that I was over the moon—literally, running around the room shouting with glee—upon perusing the following two piece from a brand-spanking-new Cleveland-based news site called The Land. First up: This look at the Partnership Catholic schools in Cleveland, whose enrollments are up in this pandemic-disheveled school year. While the uptick is mainly attributed to their fully in-person learning models, if you read all the way through (and especially the parents’ detailed descriptions of their journeys to land at these schools), you will see that there’s more to it than that. I was initially inclined to dislike the inclusion of the Eeyore-like gloominess of the status-quo-apologist, but the juxtaposition of those inane and blinkered comments (it is presented as incontrovertible that CMSD needs a ton more money to serve fewer students) with the real world clarity of parents who endured poor service for their children from district schools for years and who now see happiness, hard work, and improved report cards (a mom who was shamed by other parents for leaving her district said, “I think every day I feel a little less guilty.”) makes the piece sing even more loudly than it would otherwise. Beautiful and important. (The Land, 2/16/21) That same dichotomy plays out in this Land opinion piece from a couple of weeks ago, written by another CMSD parent—one who had not at that point opted to move schools. In it, she cites a plethora of data, including the results of the regular parent surveys sent out by the district, to bolster her point that a majority of district students were being poorly served by the fully-remote learning model in place for nearly a year and noting that she had been “accused of not supporting teachers” when she expressed these concerns publicly. (The Land, 2/9/21) Several things have changed in CMSD since this letter was published—not least of which is today’s announcement that the district would indeed start phasing students back for some portion of in-person learning starting March 1—but the preceding year must be reckoned with no matter what. Apologists, accusers, and parental-blamers have a lot of work ahead of them, if I do say so myself. (Cleveland.com, 2/19/21) 

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