- If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: Budget season is silly season. And reporters are not immune. How else to explain this Gongwer piece that posits some sort of battle royale among “education groups” over two specific budget provisions? The “debate” is the same old thing: Good charter schools are good options for Ohio students and should be supported by both money and favorable policies vs. NOT. With Fordham’s Chad Aldis arguing reasonably in the affirmative, of course. Neither the details nor the timing matter much. (Gongwer Ohio, 4/17/19)
- I have read this piece four times now and I can find no evidence for the “chaos” that some folks are desperate for me to believe is running rampant in Lorain City Schools since the arrival of the Academic Distress Commission and the CEO chosen to run the district. Instead, what I see is a really great event in which Lorain administrators, teachers, and school leaders got to express their individual wish lists for best supporting students and families in their schools in front of an audience of supportive business leaders and community members who will now work with the CEO to make those wish lists a reality. Sounds like the antithesis of chaos, actually. Am I missing something? (The Morning Journal, 4/17/19) Ohhhhh… Here it is. Lorain’s elected hall monitors seem to be off the hook for sure. (Elyria Chronicle, 4/19/19)
- I have to admit being pretty pleased with the extended discussion of the importance and relevance of Ohio’s school report cards in this piece, including ways to improve both. Even if said discussion did take place in a JEOC meeting. A lengthy and protracted series of additional such meetings will, apparently, ensue. Of course. (Gongwer Ohio, 4/18/19)
- We end the week with good news, which is always nice. Longtime Gadfly Bites subscribers (thanks to all seven of you!) will no doubt remember Danya Hamad. She and her family have appeared in these clips a number of times to provide a fine (though perhaps a bit extreme) example of the boost that interdistrict open enrollment and College Credit Plus can give to student success. Danya, age 17, will this year graduate with her bachelor’s degree and will have completed her first year of law school. While CCP gets an assist here for her quick blast through undergrad, it is clearly her own drive and effort which really made it happen. If all goes according to her plan, she will sit for the state bar exam at age 19. Congratulations and continued best wishes to Danya and her family. (WBNS-TV, Columbus, 4/18/19)
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