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- The elected school board of Columbus City Schools named the members of their latest facilities task force this week. (Columbus Dispatch, 2/6/24) I was tempted to go back and check the new names against the members of the 2018 facilities task force—the one whose recommendations were entirely ignored—to see if there were any repeats. But honestly who has the time? Besides, Alissa Widman Neese of Axios has done a nice job in this piece of plotting the history of the district’s enrollment slide over the years and pointing out the many lost opportunities to downsize/consolidate/right size/close buildings in that time. (Axios Columbus, 2/8/24)
- Perhaps it’s just schadenfreude, but I was oddly pleased to learn that it’s not just charter schools that can fall afoul of zoning boards and NIMBYs. It happens to districts too, occasionally! (Toledo Blade, 2/8/24)
- I don’t know if these guys know something we don’t, but two state reps don’t want Youngstown and East Cleveland City Schools to have to complete the exit plans to end their designations of Academic Distress. They want the remaining, minimal, in-name-only state oversight of these two districts to end now, and have recently introduced new legislation to do just that. (Chronicle-Telegram, 2/74/24)
- Perhaps they’ll all find something to worry about as we get closer to the date, but as of now, most folks here in Ohio seem positively giddy about the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. To wit: Passes are now available to all fourth graders in the state to visit a long list of museums and historical sites free of charge to help boost youngsters’ interest in and knowledge of American history and Ohio’s place in it. Roll on 2026! (WKYC-TV, Cleveland, 2/8/24)
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