- Ed Week takes a look at Ohio Governor John Kasich’s education record and tries to extrapolate what a President Kasich might do in that regard. Lots of in-state voices are heard in discussion, including our own Chad Aldis. (Education Week, 4/11/16)
- The judges of the 7th District appeals court were true to their word in rendering an “expedited” verdict in the Youngstown school board’s appeal over the definition of the word “teacher”. They announced on Saturday that “teacher” means “current/daily classroom teacher”, as has every other court/judge involved in this thing, and ordered the board president to appoint one of those to the Youngstown Academic Distress Commission by Monday…as in today. (Youngstown Vindicator, 4/9/16) As if they felt they needed to define the word “Monday” for some reason, the judges reiterated first thing this morning that that means “appoint someone by 4:00 pm on Monday”…as in today. (Youngstown Vindicator, 4/11/16) Crack Vindy reporters note that the prez is in Boston today for a conference. Fun. Crack Vindy editors probably had a nice quiet weekend as they likely locked down this op-ed on the topic long before the verdict arrived. (Youngstown Vindicator, 4/10/16)
- You’ve all heard the accusations, right? Because Governor Kasich is running for president he’s not fully on the job here in Ohio. Blah blah blah. If that’s true, how do we explain the steady stream of governor’s appointments to boards and commissions that appear in Gongwer almost daily? Eh? And how do we explain the governor’s full knowledge of this bill to tighten restrictions on e-school attendance, as told to us by the bill’s sponsor? (Columbus Dispatch, 4/9/16) I jest, of course. Governor Kasich’s State of the State address in Marietta last week not only gave him a chance to catch up with the leader of the minority party in the state senate, it also gave the rest of us a chance to see that Kasich is fully engaged in the Buckeye State despite his busy campaign schedule. Case in point: his call in said speech for a plan to get more STEAM into the state’s STEM schools, by adding the arts. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 4/9/16)
- We end today with a pair of stories from Columbus City Schools. As we’ve noted recently, the size and shape of a new levy is being hammered out by means of seemingly-exhaustive public comment – surveys, meetings, trial balloons, testimony, etc. To wit: the results of a district-wide survey show that the public is overwhelmingly uninterested in “unusual” grade level groupings for its schools and would prefer schools grouped by traditional grade levels. You know: K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. I can only conclude from this that someone left off “one room schoolhouse” as an option or else that would have been a runaway favorite, since we Columbusites like “tradition” so much. (Columbus Dispatch, 4/9/16) As usual with Gadfly Bites, readers are safe to assume there is an “other shoe” with stories like this. And here it is. (Columbus Dispatch, 4/10/16)
