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No Bites on Monday; very little to talk about today. I wonder what education journalists are writing about these days if not Bites-worthy material? Perhaps we’ll never know. Anywho, what we’ve got today is pretty interesting, so let’s get to it!
- First up is a sad story: Dayton City Schools’ Dunbar High School had to forfeit a basketball game they had won on Friday, ending their postseason run when they all thought it would continue. The issue, it seems, is that a DECA charter school student on the team had been suspended from his school without the district being aware. He played, the Ohio High School Athletic Association learned of the issue, the win was vacated, and the other team moved on. All that is bad enough, but the responses are (to me) even sadder. The administration actually tried a legal maneuver to change the OHSAA ruling (wonder how much that cost?), which failed. Then the elected school board convened a special meeting last night and voted to ban all charter school students from district sports for the spring semester as a result of this incident. Superintendent David Lawrence said this was justified “based on the damage to our kids.” Ouch. Even worse, elected board member Joe Lacey used the situation to lash out at school choice and its supporters. “I think this [the law that allows school choice students to participate in their home district’s extracurriculars] is an example of how the legislature is quick to respond to the requests of the school choice movement,” he said, “at the expense of schools like Dayton Public Schools, without considering the effects on our students.” I doubt these knee-jerk responses will have the desired effect—in fact I could imagine those very legislators quickly reminding district leaders that a blanket ban is probably not allowed under the law—but I don’t value sports all that highly anyway, so what do I know? Honestly, it feels like the perfect catalyst for a conversation about moving all youth sports and extracurriculars out of the realm of districts all together and into the community at large. But that’s probably just me. (Dayton Daily News, 2/25/25)
- Speaking of school choice, here’s a great story about Metro Early College High School’s deepening academic connection with Ohio State University’s Agriscience program. All the details about how big-city middle schoolers get their hands dirty while learning crop science, animal husbandry, weather, and more are interesting, but the between-the-lines story is what I’m most interested in. To wit: We learn that the STEM school has recently moved into a new building and will be expanding down to elementary grades in the fall and how OSU’s connection with this awesome non-district public school option is strong and continues to grow (see what I did there?). But I still remember how Columbus City Schools found a loophole to deprive Metro of that very building they were trying to buy—by selling it to Ohio State and adding a caveat about not using it for “competing” educational activities. And while the move delayed Metro’s expansion by several years, that very partnership between the college and the college prep STEM school won out and resulted in an even stronger program for the future. At least the district will have one tiny consolation while (as I fully expect) more potential Columbus City Schools students to opt for Metro from K-12 in the coming years: Metrobots don’t typically need a lot of accommodation for sports. (Ohio State University News, 2/25/25)
- Three cheers for pulling out all the stops in the fight against tardiness and absenteeism. Akron City Schools’ Helen Arnold Community Learning Center runs what is known as The Breakfast Club, a before-school gathering for kids who had previously been chronically late to school or absent all together. There’s video games, pancakes, and even a weekly cooking lesson all overseen by a former football pro. We don’t have any academic outcome data to attest to the program’s success (there never is, is there?), and the school’s most-recent report card is not the best, but all the adults involved are really happy with it. As are the kids. And who can blame them, right? (Signal Akron, 2/26/25)
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