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- Let’s start today with three quick-hit pieces of ridiculousness, with the unifying theme of “Does anyone care about the actual students and their education?”. First up: Lots of adult greed, ego, and foolishness appear to be on display in these court documents related to the ongoing financial mismanagement and ultimate closure of Doan Community High School in Cincinnati. (Cincinnati Enquirer, 4/16/25) Next: A former welding instructor employed by Canton City Schools owes the district more than $6,000 for parts used in restoring his own personal vehicle as an auto shop project completed by his students for a car he traded in for a profit immediately after completion. I suppose the kids got some decent hands-on experience, but the adult gets an F for that ridiculous effort. (Canon Repository, 4/15/25) Finally: Akron City Schools superintendent Michael Robinson is in hot water with all the other adults he works with and for. But that’s not the story here (feel free to read about that elsewhere, though; it is also ridiculous). For us, though, the story of the moment is that supe visited with some high schoolers last week while under a ton of rhetorical and reportorial fire—some of which referred to disparaging comments he purportedly made about the students at their school. This piece, told exclusively from the point of view of a few of the kids he met with, sounds pretty horrifying to me in the main—a classic example of an adult in power talking down to presumably-powerless young people using no filter (or magnanimity) at all. Thing is, these young people seem fully dialed in to me and are clearly taking no crap from anyone. It’s glorious. “I’m not sure if I was too satisfied with his answer,” said senior Roy Bell to one of the many conspiracy-theory-esque comments he heard. “But like I said, it was the answer I got.” If Akron City Schools is looking for a new superintendent in the near future—and if I had a vote—I’d give it to Mr. Bell in a heartbeat! (Akron Beacon Journal, 4/15/25)
- Leaders of Cleveland Metropolitan School District continue inching closer to some sort of school closure/consolidation proposal. On the upside, these are the most concrete statements they have yet made about the imperative to right-size (“We know we have too many schools,” CEO Warren Morgan said. “With strong enrollment in the buildings that we need, we’re going to be able to offer more and better opportunities.”). On the downside, there are still clearly more questions than answers about how, which, and when; and we know how easily these things can get derailed. (Signal Cleveland, 4/15/25)
- There are a ton of insights on education in this piece, in which Bluum leader Terry Ryan interviews survey and focus group guru Steve Farkas about his long career, including numerous projects in Idaho (for Bluum) and Ohio (for Fordham). Farkas’ and Ryan’s insights covers teachers, teacher educators, school leaders, parents, and more. The headliner from Farkas: “It’s impossible for traditional schools to get better” and school choice is the promise of the future. Guaranteed that some of the evidence for that straight-talking conclusion comes from right here in the Buckeye State. (Education Next, 4/16/25)
- To end on a serious note: Noor Islamic Center is suing the City of Hilliard for blocking their plans to convert a vacant office building into a variety of uses for the organization, saying planning and zoning officials used “a thin veil of nonsensical and standardless judgments” to justify the block. The lawsuit alleges discrimination as a motivation, upon which I won’t comment; but as I have discussed here several times, proposing a new private school in the city limits likely did not help endear the organization to some of their putative neighbors. (Columbus Dispatch, 4/14/25)
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