Gadfly Bites 4/26/23—“We have intentional efforts regarding kids”

1. Mike DeWine, Thomas B. Fordham, and Rodney Dangerfield are among the career and technical education luminaries cited in this editorial on that topic from Vindy.com. (Vindy.com, 4/23/23)
   
   

2. Meanwhile, here is some coverage of Fordham’s recent report on the academic trajectory of Ohio students over the last few years, as revealed by report card data. (Center Square, 4/24/23)
   
   

3. Meanwhile meanwhile, a dropout recovery charter school is apparently going to be booted from its borrowed digs in a Youngstown City Schools building because the district needs the space. (Or, as the superintendent puts it: “Our younger kids are alternative more than anything else and we don’t have the space for them. We need to make sure we can put them in a building where we can help them and put them back with our regular kids.”) The rhetoric is very negative, seems to actually involve money more than space (did y’all even ask that charter school for rent money before starting the eviction talk?), and appears to be part of some weird post-ADC “new normal” that we’ve been documenting in Youngstown the last few months. (Vindy.com, 4/26/23)
   
   

4. Toledo City Schools superintendent Romules Durant was touting…well, a lot of stuff that he says is great about his district during a Rotary Club luncheon earlier this week. Stuff that the rotarians—and the general public—might not be aware of. This includes “multimillion-dollar equipment” for kids to learn things on, industry certifications (or a complete associate degree or credits toward a bachelor’s degree), getting elementary schoolers “interested in industry-related fields”, and even the ability to get young kids into STEM pathways “before social media gets to them or another way that will discourage them elsewhere”. (Whatever that might mean.) The rotarians clearly ate up every word along with their lunches, especially the fact that all this awesomeness is “free” to district students. Dr. Durant summed it all up by declaring TPS represents “Public schools with private school privileges.” (Toledo Blade, 4/25/23)
   
   

5. I think perhaps Dr. D has not been to a private school recently. At least not one providing educational experiences like this. He’s a busy guy, though, with probably a lot of luncheons to attend, so it makes sense. But seriously, go Jags! (Columbus Dispatch, 4/19/23) Speaking of Wellington School, Jaguar alum Jenn Jordan will launch the first ever Montessori high school in Columbus this fall. (Y’all probably recall that I have a proud connection with Wellington and with St. Joseph Montessori K-8 School, which Jordan also attended, but I thought I’d mention it again just in case.) The new private school will have an environmental focus to go along with its one-of-a-kind learning method and will be located near the campus of Ohio Dominican University in a very cool-looking building formerly belonging to that university. I predict a lot of interest in this new and unique high school option. (Columbus Dispatch, 4/25/23)
   
   

6. There is no discussion of tuition amounts or of vouchers or scholarships or anything in either of the foregoing private school stories. Probably an important part of the discussion. This piece, however, has a lot to say on the topic of private school vouchers, especially as it’s being debated in the legislature right now. (Columbus Dispatch, 4/24/23) The discussion in the previous piece, and in this piece covering the same debate, is largely negative. Lots of stakeholders got lots of gripes about cost, eligibility, and the private schools themselves. However, the highest amount of negativity seems to me to be directed at the idea of universal vouchers/backpack funding for kids’ education which parents would control. (Gongwer Ohio, 4/25/23) However, in a recent poll conducted by Americans for Prosperity-Ohio, 53 percent of those surveyed supported the current backpack funding bill. AfP folks say it is a clear message of approval by the public for “a bold policy agenda”. Unfortunately, it adds no clarity to the grouchers’ arguments to the contrary. (The Center Square, 4/25/23)

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