Gadfly Bites 7/18/25—The cell signal is strong here

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1. Here is some great coverage of Fordham’s latest research report, authored by OSU professor Dr. Jay Plasman and looking in depth at the state of career-and-technical education in Ohio. Huge thanks for the thoughtful summary. In case you missed it, the full report is here. (Daily Advocate, 7/16/25)
   
   

2. A chart from Fordham’s Ohio Education By the Numbers 2025 is reproduced and cited in this analysis from Patrick O’Donnell on the EdChoice voucher court verdict from earlier this month. It nice and all, but, honestly, you’d think we might be quoted somewhere in the text given all we have written about the misbegotten legal effort already. No matter. Something tells me we’ll be getting plenty of attention on the topic soon enough…. (The 74, 7/17/25)
   
   

3. Here’s a look at how some non-sectarian private schools in central Ohio—two of the best and bougiest in the region—are handling cellphone policy among their students and, most critically I would say, the adults who run those schools. While the thrust of the piece is what these two schools are not doing—namely, voluntarily following the same bell-to-bell ban that public schools must—my take is that what they are doing—namely, teaching by rule and example how to productively integrate smart phones into academic life—is far more important. But that’s probably just me. (Columbus Dispatch, 7/17/25)

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