- While the sample is small and unrepresentative, the details on student engagement with distance learning in Northeast Ohio as covered in this report seem pretty interesting. It includes input from districts large and small, Catholic schools, and an unnamed charter school. None of this is surprising, really, except for the fact that none of the parents interviewed appear to be teachers themselves! Which also makes this information even more important to pay attention to. (Fox8, Cleveland, 5/18/20)
- Speaking of Northeast Ohio, Patrick O’Donnell is back on the beat up there! His first piece for The 74 came out Monday and shows that he’s lost none of his keen edge. The piece covers the topic of student access to the internet at home, which has had a bright light shone upon it during pandemic-mitigation school closures everywhere in the state. A giant, pre-existing gap has been illuminated, and the CEO of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District has a plan, with the assistance of a local non-profit, to help address it for CMSD students. Charter schools in the CLE might even get to participate too. (The 74, 5/18/20)
- Staying in NEO for one more clip: Imagine that you found out mid school-year that the school building your children have been attending was not actually the correct one. And that the correct one was in a different school district. And that your children have been attending the wrong school for three years without anyone from either district noticing. And that you found out because you got a letter saying that the only way for them to remain enrolled for the rest of the school year was to pony up more than $20 K in tuition. And that the deadline for any other legal option to remain in that district had passed a few days earlier. How do you suppose you would feel? That is what happened to four families in Pepper Pike, Ohio in the last few weeks. Yes, that’s right. In the midst of a world-altering, once-in-a-century, pandemic-mitigation lockdown, your school district decides to immediately “correct an error” that’s been on the county books since 1967 to the tune of $20K out of your pocket for literally doing as they have told you to do since you moved in three years earlier. Luckily, some good sense prevailed because the immediate tuition bill has been “waived” (how generous of them), but the ultimate outcome of this ridiculous situation is still to be revealed. (Cleveland Jewish News, 5/19/20)
- In non-NEO news, I could be wrong but I think that Toledo Central Catholic High School is the first in the state to publicly commit to fully in-person classes this fall. (Toledo Blade, 5/19/20)
Did you know you can have every edition of Gadfly Bites sent directly to your Inbox? Subscribe by clicking here.
Policy Priority:
Topics:
