Gadfly Bites 5/20/22—Definitely running out of things to celebrate

1. Just once I wish one of our hard working journalists would attempt to follow the logic of the sentences they quote from interviewees. And perhaps ask some follow up questions. Case in point is how the stated goal of “improving college readiness” can logically connect to spending tens of thousands of charitable dollars to transport K-12 students to school when the state already gives the district millions of dollars to do that job every year. There are other questionable spending targets here based on the goal, but that one leaped out at me first. (Toledo Blade, 5/18/22) Speaking of this exact issue, Chad Aldis was interviewed by a high school student from suburban Cleveland on the topic of transportation for students utilizing interdistrict open enrollment. From firsthand experience, she seems amenable to some big improvements in student transportation. (IdeaStream Public Media, 5/20/22)
    
2. This is not the worst list of district ESSER funding priorities, I suppose, but it only accounts for about 1/3 of the ginormous total. I daresay the revamped weight rooms, upgraded stage curtains, and bougie synthetic turf portion of the list will be coming along shortly to gobble up another big chunk. (Akron Beacon Journal, 5/19/22) At the same time, school funding experts such as Georgetown’s Marguerite Roza, Ohio State University professor Vladimir Kogan, and Fordham’s Chad Aldis, have some very specific advice about what schools should and should not be planning to spend that largesse upon. (Columbus Dispatch, 5/20/22)
   
   
3. Staying on topic, elected leaders of Columbus City Schools want more than half a billion dollars more from taxpayers to build some new schools and renovate others. This is another one of those pieces where I wish the reporter had tried to trace the logic and asked some follow ups. To wit: “This process is about building communities of learning that effectuate the portrait that allows our students to be portrait ready,” said elected school board president Jennifer Adair out loud and on the record, “to have rigorous education and opportunities, educationally and career-wise.” First, what does any of that even mean—either semantically or logically? Second, why does any of it cost $117,000 more per kid (as my rudimentary math indicates) than is already being spent? (10 TV News, Columbus, 5/19/22)
   
   
4. I can find no logic whatsoever to justify either this “generous” donation to one Toledo City Schools high school or the enthusiastic response to it. I fear we are running desperately low on genuine things to celebrate. (Toledo Blade, 5/19/22)
   
   
5. And speaking of celebrations (were we?), officials in Hamilton City Schools in southwest Ohio are talking a very big game in this piece. They have solved the previously-nonexistent Covid slide, they say, and even provide a smidge of data to back themselves up. They are ready to do it again next year and the year after that too…if the money is available. (Local 12 News, Cincinnati, 5/19/22) Meanwhile, Lakota Local Schools are celebrating the first graduating class of their online academy (started pre-pandemic), including “academic star” Zoey Chappell, who went from zero to techie in less than three years of solely online learning. She’ll be doing some cyber security work for 5/3 Bank over the summer before heading to Rochester Institute of Technology in the fall. Hopefully someone in the IT department will change all the district passwords after she’s gone. Just sayin’. (Dayton Daily News, 5/19/22)

Did you know you can have every edition of Gadfly Bites sent directly to your Inbox? Subscribe by clicking here.