- We told you last year of the saga of a group of homeowners here in central Ohio who petitioned successfully to have their homes rezoned from one school district to another. Turns out it doesn’t take a group, but such a rezoning process can commence with even just one property owner making the request. Such is the situation now, with homeowner, sending district and state board of ed all OK with the move. Small potential hiccup: the receiving district doesn’t seem keen on it. (Columbus Dispatch, 2/6/16)
- School district officials in Athens County discussed their K-3 literacy grades on the recent partial report cards. Most officials interviewed went into some serious and interesting detail as to why they think their grades – all of them – were so bad. (Athens Messenger, 2/7/16)
- Perhaps more and better pre-K would help K-3 literacy scores in Athens County. Editors in Akron think that could work, as they opine in favor of a “big leap” in such funding statewide. (Akron Beacon Journal, 2/7/16)
- Speaking of early education, here’s news of a possible expansion of the SPARK program into Ross County. We’ve told you about SPARK before (stands for Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids) and thought that it sounded pretty good in the past. Here’s hoping that it is has equal success in Ross County. (Chillicothe Gazette, 2/5/16)
- What does it mean to find out that you actually passed the GED test you thought you’d failed two years ago? Hundreds of people in Ohio will now have that odd experience thanks to a retroactive change in cut scores. (Columbus Dispatch, 2/7/16)
- Ohio changed its rules on the use of restraints and seclusion rooms for disruptive students back in 2013. A new report from Disability Rights Ohio found some gaps in policy and procedure at both state and district level that indicates to them rule changes alone will not achieve the goal of less restraint and seclusion. (Associated Press via Dayton Daily News, 2/8/16)
