Gadfly Bites 6/26/24—Unvarnished

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1. This is a weird one, but a hit’s a hit. A blog from Fordham’s Jessica Poiner—analyzing a decline in the number of newly licensed teachers over the last decade—is quoted (but not linked, tut tut, News 5!) in this piece. The story goes on to assert that a Cleveland-area non-profit is working to change that dynamic. Except the Step Forward program, laudable as it is, is focused on childcare workers and not K-12 classroom teachers. Odd. (News 5 Cleveland, 6/25/24)
   
   

2. A comment from our Aaron Churchill is paraphrased—ever so briefly—in this piece looking at the proposed “voucher accountability” bill currently pending in a legislative committee. (Dayton Daily News, 6/24/24)
   
   

3. Finally, in further Fordham news, bossman Chad Aldis testified in the House Primary and Secondary Education Committee yesterday. He was positive on a number of aspects of SB 168, including its primary purpose of deregulating many aspects of K-12 education. He was, however, far less bullish on some of the amendments added on by the committee. For example, he called a provision to place a hold on sponsor evaluations for the 2024-2025 school year “a step backward” for charter schools in Ohio after years of improvement. “Now is not the time to back off on some of the requirements that played a role…in improvement of the quality of the sector that is now delivering the best education it ever has.” he said. (Gongwer Ohio, 6/25/24) You can read his full testimony here, and read Fordham’s media statement specifically on the sponsor evaluation proposal here.
   
   

4. Moving on from Fordham news, but staying in the realm of charter schools: Northeastern Local School District has managed to convince a judge that Rolling Hills school is simultaneously not an unused facility while also being in imminent need of demolition. This despite the district having tried to sell the intact building to someone else (by which I mean any buyer that is not a charter school) in December. That little auction didn’t work because of a due diligence problem (we’re shocked!), but now that a competitor charter school operator is ready to hand them dough and open for business in August, the bulldozers can’t fire up fast enough. I’m sure that legal wrangling continues, but it could all be moot even if the charter school wins now that the temporary restraining order on demo has been lifted. (Springfield News-Sun, 6/24/24)
   
   

5. The final recommendations of the Columbus City Schools Facilities Task Force were unveiled at the school board meeting last night. The list is smaller than what was previously discussed, closures/consolidations will save far less money than originally hoped (even if they all happen), and simply starting to take action on the recommendations will reportedly take many years. The board took no votes last night and plans to think about it long and hard before any further steps are taken. The one surprise: A recommendation to close the district’s downtown HQ and move central office to the former ECOT building on South High Street. A charming turn, and a much-belated effort to recoup some of $3.5 million spite purchase investment on that boondoggle building. (Columbus Dispatch, 6/25/24)
   
   

6. This is a story from February, just now being published by Ideastream. I don’t know why that is, but I have a theory. On its surface, this is a lovely descriptive piece about a small, community-run nonprofit providing tutoring, STEM club, English language instruction, and more for Spanish-speaking families in Painesville. But the details that lurk beneath that surface are not lovely at all, in my estimation. Allow me to strip off the journalistic varnish for you, and tell the tale: Painesville has been a destination for migrant farmworkers from Mexico and Latin America, we are told, for more than 30 years. That includes lots of kids with limited (or no) English and spotty formal education who pop into (and out of) Painesville City Schools at different times of the year. However, even after three decades of this predictable and well-understood pattern, the school district appears unable to do very little to actually serve the academic needs of these children. For many years, the director of a small non-profit support organization in the area “was watching the state of Ohio school report card for the Painesville schools and the very dismal rankings” (you and me, too, boss) and worked to provide whatever minimal action she could to help the children learn English and math and science along with supporting their families’ other important needs. (You know: food, shelter, clothing, legal assistance, etc.) Despite all of the money, state and local support, highly-credentialed staff, the devastation of those pandemic-disrupted school years, and (frankly) the bedrock requirement to actually serve the students who came to them, Painesville City Schools threw up their hands (“We have the lion’s share of the poverty and economic disadvantage in the county,” says the district supe by way of explanation. “And so we have always had massive gaps to close with our kids.” Understanding, but never actually doing that job.) chose to reach out to this very modest third party entity to actually do the work that his district has failed to do. It is, as you can probably imagine, not enough. All of the volunteers that work for HOLA Ohio are awesome, the director is a rockstar, the families are just like yours and mine, and the kids are precious. Tutoring nights are hugely popular and draw a big crowd because of the awesomeness and because of the immense need. But volunteers are limited, time is short, the funding is small, and Painesville City Schools’ academic outcomes still suck. You can’t varnish that truth, Ideastream. The schools are failing these students and families and no amount of heart can fix that. Something’s got to change. (Ideastream Public Media, 6/24/24)
   
   

7. For decades, we are told, Akron City Schools has contracted with individual van drivers to transport homeless students and students with special needs. Each one is a separate contractor, each one owns their own vehicle, and each controls their own schedules (“I like my independence, I like the ability to control my time and I have the ability to take on more kids as I see fit, not when somebody dictates it to me.”). Believing there is more efficiency to be had in conducting this work—including district, charter, and private school students across the areas—the district has been trying out contracting with two private companies over the last year. But the independent drivers want it stopped, and for things to go back to the same old way they have been done since the 1970s. And it looks like the elected school board will soon vote to go along with that demand. (Fox 8 News, Cleveland, 6/24/24)

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