- A new report on the status of Youngstown City Schools’ turnaround efforts was released on Friday. There are some positives, to be sure, but the negatives are kinda big and kinda troubling. They seem to indicate that reforms pushed by the Academic Distress Commission and CEO Krish Mohip, no matter how good, are not filtering down to the classroom level. The focus on “teaching and learning” seems to be fuzzy after more than two years. (Youngstown Vindicator, 6/9/18)
- Speaking of school districts operating under the aegis of an Academic Distress Commission, Lorain City Schools announced another new hire last week. He is Kenan Bishop, a veteran of several highly regarded northeast Ohio charter schools (a term which is absent from this story, interestingly). His title: chief equity and achievement officer. Seems that Lorainians are trying to plow the same furrow as Youngstowners, as noted above. For the sake of district students, let’s hope Lorain can get there, and do so quickly. (Northern Ohio Morning Journal, 6/8/18) Meanwhile, the ongoing series of Q & As between the Chronicle and Lorain CEO David Hardy continues. This week’s edition could be an entry in the “All the Wrong Questions” YA book series by Lemony Snicket, I think, but it does include a couple of good chuckles and even a tiny nugget of actual information. (Elyria Chronicle, 6/10/18)
- In non-ADC news: What could be a better laboratory for STEM education than a construction site? And when that construction site happens to be for one of your own new school buildings, you’ve got a ready-made pipeline for your students to learn, don’t you? Well, if you’re Chillicothe City Schools, the answer is just for one of your students. And just in the summer. And just for “a lot of observation work”. But it’s the opportunity that counts in STEM, right? (Chillicothe Gazette, 6/10/18)
- Finally today: Springfield’s 32nd annual Peace Camp for kids. Now more than ever, you know. (Springfield News-Sun, 6/10/18)
