- Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last two days, the big news in Ohio is that the state board of ed named a new superintendent this week. He is Paolo DeMaria, former state budget director, education advisor to two governors, high-level staffer with the Department of Education and the Board of Regents, and current principal with Education First Consulting. Whew! He has also worked on projects with us here at Fordham over the years, which the following stories note to varying degrees: Patrick O’Donnell was first to the post with the news. This is a later piece from him featuring a nicely detailed look at DeMaria’s career and puts some important questions to him on the topics of school choice, Common Core, and other hot-button issues. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 5/12/16) Gongwer’s announcement includes reaction to the pick from our own Chad Aldis. (Gongwer Ohio, 5/11/16) Chad’s comments make up part of this piece, which also features a likely-obligatory finger wag at the state board for not picking former Springfield supe David Estrop instead of DeMaria. (Springfield News Sun, 5/11/16)
- Here are a few pieces of coverage of the new state supe, not mentioning Fordham. First up, the Dayton Daily News, which also takes pains to point out that local candidates David Estrop and Tom Lasley were not selected. (Dayton Daily News, 5/11/16) The Dispatch’s initial story was perfunctory, but even this more detailed story on Paolo DeMaria smells a bit musty. It is essentially a look at DeMaria’s remarks (prepared and off-the-cuff) on school funding at a presentation before the League of Women Voters several weeks ago. (Columbus Dispatch, 5/13/16)
- Meanwhile, short-time interim state supe Lonny Rivera is not on short list for the superintendency of Washington Local Schools near Toledo. All I can guess is that those other four must all be rock stars. (Toledo Blade, 5/12/16)
- Speaking of job applicants, we got a sneak peek this week of some of the folks clamoring (well…) to become the first CEO of Youngstown City Schools. The people who spoke at this week’s public forum on the traits they want in a CEO really didn’t care: they were almost uniformly against the Youngstown Plan in its entirety. Helpful; thanks. Anywho, the sneak peek list included the current interim superintendent of the district. (I called it!) We’re all a bit confused as to whether the plan intended there to be both CEO and supe at the same time (oh the hilarity of those meeting!), but maybe this is an indication that the situation will resolve itself. If not, can you imagine the district having to go through a CEO search that yields the guy sitting in the chair next to you and THEN having to do a new supe search right after that? (Youngstown Vindicator, 5/12/16)
- Editors in Columbus opined this week in favor of the truancy bill currently being debated in the General Assembly, calling it “common-sense reform”. (Columbus Dispatch, 5/12/16)
- If you can get past the slanted notions of who “owns” kids and the money earmarked for their education and if you can get past the stale rhetoric of fighting and battling to keep said kids/money where they “belong”, there’s an interesting story here. That story is about the Cincinnati City School district spending money to promote its offerings due to all the other options out there, including private and charter schools. The main bias is the lack of “fairness” in this, but the slant and rhetoric to that effect seem to emanate mainly from the reporter. Hearing a district official admit that they are no longer a “monopoly” is refreshing, even if I imagine her shedding a little tear while doing so. The opening of the marketplace is especially real in Cincy, I think, given all that is going on there. All the more reason to applaud the district for selling what they have and working hard to expand those schools that everyone points to as good (minus the strong-arming of artists; just sayin’). Lots going on in the Queen City; could be an exciting few years to come, especially for parents and kids. No tents required! (Cincinnati Enquirer, 5/12/16)
