- We start out today with a great, in-depth look back at this school year as experienced in two inner-city schools in Cleveland—one Catholic, one charter—which have both been open for fully in-person learning since August. Sounds like it all went about as well as it possibly could, thus providing your periodic reminder (with a pandemic twist) that we’ve got choices here in Ohio, people. Especially in our cities. Use ‘em if you need ‘em! (The74 Million, 4/14/21)
- In up-to-the-minute news: State testing has begun in a number of Springfield-area school districts. No word on how it’s going, unfortunately. (Springfield News-Sun, 4/14/21) Progress toward graduation is going great for seniors in central Ohio, it seems, with many districts crediting pandemic-mitigation graduation requirement changes for putting them on course for Hundo P. (ABC6 News, Columbus, 4/12/21) Meanwhile, in Solon City Schools, traditionally one of the highest-performing districts in the state, the school year has been going great and the superintendent says he expects their state test scores and graduation numbers to speak for themselves. Again. (Cleveland.com, 4/12/21) Sounds like a similar story in Fulton County in far northwestern Ohio. Districts there seem unfazed by…well, anything that has gone on the last year. Even though some of their staffers express the usual dislike of standardized testing, those same folks say outright that even the minimal testing flexibilities in place—hard won by legislators and advocates during the debate over HB 67 (you know what I mean)—are not needed by their students in order to show what they know. They will simply take the tests and move on. (Fulton County Expositor, 4/13/21)
- Looking forward to the end of the school year, here’s a look at summer offerings planned in Youngstown City Schools…with a side of Mohip-bashing for old-old-times’ sake. Registration deadline for all the academics, music, fun, and more is today. (Vindy.com, 4/12/21) Not much detail on Toledo City Schools’ summer programming. Mainly because it appears that what will be offered during those four weeks will be based on who’s planning to show up. Parents and guardians have until April 30 to tell the district what they want them to provide for their kids. Courses will be built from those responses with registration for all opening in May. (Toledo Blade, 4/12/21) Not interested in a choose-your-own adventure this summer? The application window for the Toledo Museum of Art’s already-created summer courses is open right now. With scholarships available. (13ABC News, Toledo, 4/14/21)
- Looking a bit farther into the future, the odyssey of the Cupp-Patterson plan, which would revamp school funding in Ohio into the far future, took another turn this week when the current iteration of that plan was subsumed into the state budget bill currently under debate in the House of Representatives. That revised bill also included a few other education-related provisions noted here. (Cleveland.com, 4/13/21)
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