Gadfly Bites 5/29/19 – The mysterious inner workings of the media

1. Apropos of nothing (at least, nothing that is obvious to me), Patrick O’Donnell is talking about changes to the funding mechanism for online charter schools. Changes that won’t be happening for a while, it seems. Our own Chad Aldis is briefly quoted on the complexity and the importance of the effort, but that doesn’t seem to have affected the tone of the piece at all. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 5/29/19) I can’t imagine why the Associated Press bothered to run this brief piece on Ohio’s graduation requirements and the two “dueling” plans for changes being considered by the legislature. But, a) Fordham is namechecked in it, and b) it was picked up by a million outlets across Ohio. So here I am, bringing this limp dishrag of “news” to you in the clips. (AP, via WKYC-TV, 5/28/19)

2. Let’s take a detour into some real news for a moment. Advocates for the academic distress commission paradigm under which Lorain City Schools has been operating—and improving—for a year or so have been speaking up a bit recently. The latest effort to have their voices heard and to tell their side of the story to important decision makers took place late last week. Hopefully it will not be the last time. (The Morning Journal, 5/24/19) Some folks from whom we have heard too much on this topic (if I do say so myself) are at it again this week. The elected board of Youngstown City Schools, a district also operating—and improving—under the aegis of an academic distress commission, tried this week to come up with its own plan for turning around the district’s academic woes should they actually get the chance to oversee such a thing again. Unfortunately, this report indicates members were pulling in opposite directions and taking turns suggesting their colleagues were either thinking too small or big. I don’t know what you’d call it, but it ain’t a plan. And y’all know what I call it: Too little too late. (Youngstown Vindicator, 5/28/19) Speaking of things that sound like plans, a record 516 alternatives to the current Academic Distress Commission turnaround paradigm have been proposed in various venues across Ohio. The record breaker is this brand newbie introduced in a Senate subcommittee last week. The media seem skeptical, and I don’t just mean Patrick. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 5/28/19) No one in Lorain seems to like that alternative either, although the details discussed in this piece are said to be “out of date”. (Elyria Chronicle, 5/29/19)

3. On a related note, Ohio’s War on Knowing Stuff continues apace. The latest salvo is a bill that would restore “happiness” to kids and would save the state a ton of money by eliminating a bunch of tests currently required by the state to, you know, show that kids actually know stuff. (Gongwer Ohio, 5/28/19)
4. By the time you read this, his fortunes may have taken a turn, but the Ohio contingent of competitors in the third round of the national spelling bee included a charter school student from Columbus. (Columbus Dispatch, 5/28/19)

5. Here is a rapturous story, giddy with anticipation over plans for Akron City Schools teachers to shadow folks in the business world as part of their vital professional development ahead of the full conversion of the district’s high schools to career academies (with a side order of college prep). There are only two things missing from this story, as far as I can see: mention of John Kasich, whose exact idea this was before it was blasted and belittled by the same people now loving on it; and the connection of shadowing to teacher licensure, which was I’m sure the only reason those folks opposed it the first time. (Toledo Blade, 5/27/19)

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