- Members of the Editorial Board of Cleveland.com weighed in on the topic of third grade retention this weekend. They are mixed in their opinions, still, which one assumes is why they needed to publish a roundtable rather than a single editorial. But since one member of the board cites a blog by our own Jessica Poiner as the bedrock for her opinion that “Ohio should continue retention mandates”, I will be happy to call this piece a big ol’ win. (Cleveland.com, 5/20/23)
- Typical Dayton City Schools. The elected school board voted last week to keep the district’s only all-girls school intact and active for another year, adding two additional grade levels to it. This is the third possible version of how the school would be configured for next school year to be publicly discussed, although a) it is the only one that kept the current school model intact, which means that school families didn’t know whether they were going to have their school to return to next year until literally the end of the current school year, and b) it doesn’t seem to address the supposed problem of underutilization of the building that all the other iterations were meant to address. (Dayton Daily News, 5/22/23)
- Signal Cleveland gives us a sneaky peak into new CMSD CEO Warren Morgan’s plans for his first 100 days on the job. You can read all the details of the “listening and learning” work in front of him in the piece, including how one student leader feels about it all. But I am fascinated by the evolution of the phrase “take inventory” in the piece. To be clear, I’m sure it only means one thing in the plan, but the reporter takes us on quite a journey with it. At first, it sounds like a physical inventory, to which I thought “huh, wonder what’s that about?” Then it morphs into a “culture audit”, which, fair enough, probably matters quite a bit. But then it ends up being described as “school and community safety audits,” which would consist specifically of “building and facility checks, reviews of emergency drills, and assessing the distribution of security staff.” Not exactly groundbreaking to me and probably not as big a deal perhaps as those other things it might have meant. Additionally, it should be noted that dude starts on July 1, so whatever this listening and learning turns out to include will be happening during the summer. Probably a nice quiet time for such work, but who will even be around to listen to? Ultimately, I am unimpressed by this plan, but I suppose I am not the audience for any of it anyway. (Signal Cleveland, 5/18/23)
- Over in Toledo City Schools, here’s some coverage of the district’s Amazing Shake competition, held last week. Yep. It refers to handshaking, just like you thought it did. And that’s not all! Come on down, kiddos! You’re the next contestant on…. (Toledo Blade, 5/19/23)
- Despite the elimination or non-filling of more than 60 staff positions next year, Twinsburg City Schools will still be seeking additional revenue to fill a projected budget hole of, it seems, gargantuan proportions. (Akron Beacon Journal, 5/22/23)
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