- It’s the end of the traditional school year across Ohio and that means only one thing: a dearth of actual education news in publications far and wide. As you can see. Nonetheless, we start today with a pretty interesting profile of the valedictorian of this year’s senior class at Ponitz Career Technology Center in Dayton. She is Turkan Tashtan. Her family fled Russia when she was 8 and they eventually settled in Dayton after a brief stop in Pennsylvania. She spoke no English and had never attended school before. Her educational journey included an ESL track, a Dayton charter school, and finding and choosing Ponitz for high school. She has her eye on becoming a lawyer or a business leader someday. Best of luck in everything! (Dayton Daily News, 6/2/17)
- Everything is apparently awesome – I’m talking balloons, confetti, track meets, and hot Cheetos awesome – when you’re part of the team at the Colossus of Lorain (a.k.a. the academically-distressed district’s schmancy new-ish high school). In fact, the term “academic distress” is not mentioned once in this piece – a look back at the year just completed from the perspective of first-year Lorain High School principal Robin Hopkins. She does mention that little “attendance problem” we discussed last week, but it appears more of a minor blip in the awesomeness as Ms. Hopkins tells it than the giant yawning problem the supe was describing. She also expresses what sounds like a bittersweet farewell to the OGTs. Odd. Happy summer everyone! (Northern Ohio Morning Journal, 6/4/17)
- Speaking of summer in an academically distressed school district, I invite you all to take a look at this frankly amazing-sounding summer school program in Youngstown. Concentrated catch up opportunities for every grade level, every test (second OGT reference of the day; you're welcome, Aaron!), and probably every class. Free of charge, conducted by district teachers, with transportation and meals provided. Younger kids even get a camp-like component to balance out the academic portion and a program to assist them in transitioning to the next grade. This is absolutely fantastic. No frickin’ wonder it has triple the registration of previous versions. Kudos to all involved! A productive summer is sure to result. (Youngstown Vindicator, 6/3/17)
