Gadfly Bites 7/16/25—Free stuff

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1. Don’t know if you’ve noticed this yet, but the back-to-school displays have been up at several big box retailers for a couple of weeks already. I understand why the stores want to jump ahead to the first day of school; I am less clear on why school districts want to, given the chaos that Day One often brings. Case in point, Dayton City Schools is already touting its first ever all-district back-to-school bonanza event to be held on Saturday, August 2, at their big, beautiful (and underutilized) stadium complex downtown. It’s not clear to me from this coverage what the purpose of the event is, even though it does sound like fun with games and music and food trucks. It is said to be for families, students, and staff, but does not seem to be mandatory. Services to be offered include issuing student IDs (if you don’t already have one—and you need to bring one if you have it), enrollment and transfer services (if you haven’t already done that), vaccinations and physicals, and a whole host of free stuff such as school supplies, shoes, food, and haircuts. Wonder if the district will get its act together in time to give out bus schedules by August 2 also? Now that would be newsworthy. (Dayton Daily News, 7/15/25)
   
   

2. I can’t read the full text of this piece, but Lorain City Schools is apparently pleading extreme poverty this year, specifically pointing to a levy defeat back in November, and will provide no back-to-school supplies for students. Parents have been given a list and are directed to the aforementioned big box retailers to take care of it themselves. It doesn’t sound like there’s a “penalty” for non-compliance (could they even do that in the year of our lord Pedro Pascal 2025?), and the district’s Facebook page says “if you need help, we’ve got you”, so honestly what even is the point of this dictate? Sounds like pettiness, spite, and/or fearmongering to me—all of which we’ve been getting free of charge in Titan Town for many years. (The Morning Journal, 7/15/25)
   
   

3. A group of Christian schools across the state announced earlier this week that—even though they’re not subject to Ohio’s new bell-to-bell ban on cellphones in schools—they will nonetheless implement such a stricture voluntarily, due to the deleterious effect that “the pervasive presence of cell phones has on our students’ spiritual, moral, and intellectual development.” (Gongwer Ohio, 7/14/25) A non-Gongwer version of the story comes to us from the Enquirer. Glad these schools are not promising any academic outcome boosts out of it. Because that would be a real Hail Mary. (Cincinnati Enquirer, 7/15/25)

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