- Editors in Columbus this week opined – using Fordham as a prominent piece of evidence – in favor of strong and substantive graduation requirements. (Columbus Dispatch, 2/22/18)
- The main thrust of this piece, looking at the recent meeting of Lorain’s Community Business Schools Partnership group, is that new turnaround programs in the troubled district will likely start small and grow slowly. But I can’t tell if that mindset exists because the public suggestions they are getting about the ideal process are so timid or because there is fear of a financial catastrophe coming up that could scuttle everything. Either way, though, kind of a downer. (Northern Ohio Morning Journal, 2/21/18) But it looks like a credible first step toward change might finally have been taken. But who knows? Five months is a long time and wasn’t he already out the door back in November? (Elyria Chronicle, 2/22/18)
- It was announced this week that Kent State University would partner with Akron City Schools to create three new “college and career academies” within Firestone High School to help students move more seamlessly from high school to higher ed. These academies will cover areas such as visual and performing arts, interior design, fashion, film, aeronautics, visual and communications design, and architecture and environmental design. The best part of the plan as I see it: a summer camp component, with financial assistance, to increase awareness and understanding of what KSU has to offer and how Akron high schoolers can access it. Nice. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 2/21/18)
- I should have known it was too good to last. After a plethora of positive stories about Life Skills Centers – charter schools focused on helping non-traditional students gain academic skills and work credentials – in several Northeast Ohio cities the last several months, the tide has turned. Life Skills Center of Youngstown will close at the end of this school year after being non-renewed by its sponsor due to poor academic performance. What is most interesting is the response from Youngstown City Schools, directing Life Skills students to the district’s online program as perhaps a “better fit” than East High School or even Choffin Career Center. It’s almost like the district already knows the Life Skills students might have some experience of the district’s more “traditional” offerings (and vice versa). But I could be wrong about that. (Youngstown Vindicator, 2/22/18)
- We end the week with some much-needed good news from an unlikely source. Yahoo Entertainment News is reporting on a teacher at Dayton Leadership Academies (a charter school sponsored by Fordham, in case you didn’t know) who is a) reinforcing a family atmosphere in her classroom every day, b) always looking for new ways to engage her beloved students, and c) is a huge superhero movie nerd. After seeing the mega hit Black Panther movie on opening weekend, she greeted each and every one of her students with her version of T’Challa and Shuri’s Wakandan handshake…while wearing Black Panther’s mask! The video of her superheroic teachery nerdness has gone viral for every reason you can think of. Especially all the good reasons. Awesome teachers forever! (Yahoo Entertainment & Lifestyle, 2/22/18)
