Gadfly Bites 6/10/24—Play the hits!

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1. The export of opinionated voucher grouchers (a repetitive phrase if there ever was one) continues apace. Today, a…[checks notes]…researcher in the area of media psychology who resides in the best, bougiest school district in central Ohio has got some erroneous notions longstanding union talking points strong thoughts to share with Clevelanders to make sure they are against that money-stealing, public-school-ruining EdChoice program to the same degree that he is. (Cleveland.com, 6/9/24)
   
   

2. In this piece on the Battle Against Smartphones in Cincinnati-area schools, we learn, among other things, that Yondr pouches are used by comedians and rockstars to stop ticketholders’ phone use during their shows (which I take as a proxy for “it’s totally OK” “it’s awesome”), that to get Yondr pouches for every Cincinnati City Schools high school building would cost upwards of half a million dollars (which “is really nothing” in terms of cost, per the interim supe, and would be taken out of federal funding meant to be used “to help improve school conditions for learning”), that TikTok has already taught kids how to get into the pouches during the day, and that students in schools using pouches and other means to ban smartphones have also continued to evade detection and keep/use their devices during the day even without defeating the admittedly-clever technology. The latter two points are also urged by school officials to not be a deterrent to a blanket ban because they have this whole carceral process ready to go—by which an escalating series of punishments can be meted out to those caught scoffing at the new law. Hmm…. Sometimes the old tricks are the best tricks, I guess. (Cincinnati Enquirer, 6/9/24)

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