Gadfly Bites 2/6/19 – Learning called off on account of snow

1. This week’s Dayton City Schools board meeting was supposed to be about reading and reviewing a draft strategic plan for future awesomeness. While that did occur, some on the board were more concerned that all would be for naught if the district gets a crappy report card for the third year in a row and falls into Academic Distress. The discussion on that score (“anti-takeover measures”, don’t you know?) was far more interesting if you ask me. (Dayton Daily News, 2/5/19) A busy day in Dayton yesterday as the former CEO of Microsoft (no, not THAT former CEO; the other one) came to visit the Dayton City Club and everyone talked about how much awesomeness is already extant in Montgomery County in terms of education and attainment and how much more there could be with the right money and the right programs. Note that we’re talking about the whole county. Not Dayton by itself. Just sayin’. (Dayton Daily News, 2/5/19)

2. Columbus City Schools’ efforts to improve third grade reading test scores apparently took a cold, wet blow last week due to the big winter storm that rolled through here. Not because of the cancelled school days, mind you, but because of the cancellation of an extra reading bootcamp session scheduled for Saturday. The school board already seems resigned to another “F” on its state report card as a result. Seems a bit of an overreaction to me, but I guess if one day of teacher training can apparently turn Dayton City Schools around, one day of extra reading practice could probably do the same for Columbus. But if we accept this, of course, it begs the question of what both districts have been doing for the last fifteen years. (Columbus Dispatch, 2/5/19)

3. A visit by a U.S. Representative to the local career center was a big hit this week in Springfield. According to the News-Sun report, “Career tech is changing the way Springfield readies the next generation of workers.” Read for yourself to see if you agree. Personally, I have some follow up questions. (Springfield News-Sun, 2/6/19)

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