- Everyone and her brother are talking about Cleveland this week. Can’t figure why. But be that as it may: there is some love for the Breakthrough Charter School Network buried deep in this piece on the Cleveland Plan. (Hechinger Report via Huffington Post, 7/20/16) The love for Columbus-based and Fordham-sponsored United Schools Network is front and center in this piece (which I am deplorably late in covering). It is a love letter from a USN teacher to her school, her kids, and her job. Lovely. (Education Post, 7/18/16)
- Among other agenda items, the Dayton City Schools board of education this week touted Belmont School, which was named one of 37 “bright spots” across the country by the White House Task Force on New Americans. Specifically, the task force lauded the school for its Welcome Belmont program, which aims to integrate students of different backgrounds by pairing native-born students and incoming immigrant students for the year. The school plans to double participation in the coming year. Kudos. (Dayton Daily News, 7/20/16)
- Ohio’s largest online school – and particularly the current kerfuffle over their attendance audit – remained on the minds of editors in Columbus. They opined this week that Governor Kasich could (and should) put an end to the kerfuffle. (Columbus Dispatch, 7/21/16)
- School Choice Ohio got a huge win in the Ohio Supreme Court this week in its long-standing case against Springfield City Schools for the means (and the motives) by which they sought to withhold student directory information from SCO. Details on the case come from the sharp minds of serious legal nerds. Why yes, you CAN watch oral arguments in the case from that link. Why do you ask? (Ohio Court News, 7/21/16) Here’s a more down-to-earth report on the decision, including comments from SCO and district officials. (Springfield News Sun, 7/21/16)
- Here is a story about a summer reading boot camp of sorts in Youngstown called “Freedom School”. We all know that Y’town needs all the help it can get in terms of education and I’m usually supportive of anything that gets kids reading. So I guess I’ll have to refrain from commenting on the “outside the box” methods Freedom School uses, as detailed here. (Youngstown Vindicator, 7/22/16)
- Ohio’s Dropout Prevention and Recovery Study Committee had a deadline of August 1 to submit a plan to the legislature to overhaul/improve this area of K-12 education. However, the committee voted Wednesday to send instead a report that outlines plans to continue its work following concerns from members that they didn't have enough time to gather information, let alone find answers. New deadline is February. Ish. (Gongwer Ohio, 7/21/16)
