- In EdChoice news: [Sung to the tune of that Hamilton! song] Here Comes the Governor! (Gongwer Ohio, 2/19/20) Seriously, though, the
brutalexhaustingexhaustive schedule of conference committee hearings ended late last night with another really long session. What has been interesting is the waning interest that media outlets have shown as the same old folks have paraded the same old nonsense before the committee hour after hour. (Kudos to those districts who worked diligently to get 6 or more employees onto the witness list over time. You are legion!) The Dispatch’s coverage of yesterday’s testimony was posted hours before it ended; Gongwer’s posted even before that. (Columbus Dispatch, 2/20/20) Maybe that’s because Gongwer chose to lead with this piece instead, titled “House Willing To Bend On Income-Based Voucher Eligibility”. Oh are they now? (Gongwer Ohio, 2/20/20)
- The well-organized and
repetitivewindy voucher grouchers are not, I suspect, going to go quietly into that good night. Here is an utterly ridiculous editorial in which vouchers comprise just one of the education topics about which the ivory tower profs from Miami of Ohio are grouchy. (Cleveland.com, 2/21/20) Fordham’s study on Ohio’s voucher programs is referenced—and called rigorous—within. Rigorous…but still wrong I guess. - How about this, then? West Branch Local Schools is looking to close one of their two elementary schools in order to save money. No vouchers. No charters. No open enrollment. Just population loss, to the tune of nearly 500 students in the last ten years. That is one-and-a-half times the current population of either of the existing elementary. Sound familiar? Sorry, grouchers. You guys got a bigger problem and you’re ignoring it to your eternal detriment. (Salem News, 2/21/20)
- Not convinced? Then how about this: Kettering City Schools (yes, that Kettering) has discovered via “anecdotal accounts” and their own data analysis that “some student subgroups across the [district] are not achieving at a level equal to their peers.” And they aim to do something about it. Wow. If only there was some state-based data tool that they could have used to figure this out without having to go to all that trouble on their own. (Dayton Daily News, 2/21/20)
- Somehow, one elementary school in the chronically underperforming Lorain City Schools thinks that they are making their students college and career ready. Given the reading and math proficiency levels proudly quoted here (is that true proficiency or just test passage?), I think they should probably forget about college and career for now and work harder on the “three Rs”. (News-Herald, 2/19/20) Not to mention the fact that Lorain City Schools is actively devolving. Here we have yet another case of a district lifer with “long experience” returning to a job that the previous CEO removed them from. Mercifully it is only the high school bell schedule being affected here, but the meat of this article hints at lots more substantive changes on the way. I imagine we’ll lots of familiar names and faces from the “F-report-card days” back in the saddle soon. (Elyria Chronicle, 2/21/20)
- OK. So print journalism is a bit of a drag around here. Let’s see what’s on TV. Every third grader in this Cleveland Metropolitan School District elementary school is struggling with reading. Every. Single. One. It is six months into the school year and the reporter tells us that “help is on the way”. Volunteers. Afterschool. Led by the newsroom staff. Why don’t I feel better for those kids? (WKYC-TV, Cleveland, 2/19/20) Meanwhile, on the other channel, the Cuyahoga County Executive is touting a lot of positives up there that feel exaggerated…or at least cherry-picked. He is especially taking a lot of credit for improving graduation rates in the county. Seriously? That’s how that works? Rest easy, then, happy news consumers. All is obviously well. (News 19, Cleveland, 2/20/20)
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