- Ohio’s STEM Learning Network is a statewide consortium of standalone, charter, district, and private schools adhering to STEM learning principals developed by Battelle, the state, and other partners. It is ten years old and poised to grow even further in both number of member schools and in topics as the arts become integrated into the paradigm. STEAM heat, indeed. (Gongwer Ohio, 7/22/16)
- Somewhat akin to the Loch Ness Monster, there’s been sighting of an actual education story on the main website of the Enquirer! The topic: details on how levy dollars earmarked for preschool expansion in the Queen City will flow should said levy pass in November. You’ll remember that two entities were considering going to the ballot separately for the money but that that recipe for dual failure was averted by an agreement between the two. This is the start of figuring out what the sharing agreement might look like and includes at least one if not two additional “partners”. Does the description of a “Trusted Entity” creating a “Preschool Expansion Organization” sound Orwellian to anyone but me? Oh, and if you’re wondering where Nessie goes when not on the main Enquirer pages, look no further than Facebook. That bastion of balance and fairness is where the real education reporting goes on. (Cincinnati Enquirer, 7/24/16)
- Editors in in Akron opined on the topic of open enrollment this weekend. It’s my policy to comment on editorials as little as possible here, so I will only say that while they ostensibly used the newish details on open enrollment in Coventry (as reported here last week) as their basis, they are grinding an old axe that that does not take into account some very specific problems in Coventry that might undercut their argument just a smidge. (Akron Beacon Journal, 7/23/16)
- We all know that newspaper reporters love to get on their soapboxes about public records. But it seems as though they sometimes get so caught up in the fight they forget why they want the records in the first place. Case in point, former Dayton Schools superintendent Lori Ward’s separation agreement. According to this story, it appears the DDN only asked for a copy of it because they heard that someone else couldn’t get it. And once they got it, THAT was the story (along with a lengthy description of how they did it). In fact, the one tidbit about the contract DDN bothered to publish is the point of this clip. Ward had a noncompete clause in her separation agreement. In it, she is specifically allowed to seek immediate employment at any Dayton-area private school but is barred from accepting employment in any Dayton-area charter school for three years. It is not stated but I assume she’s also free to flee the Gem City if she feels like it. (Dayton Daily News, 7/22/16)
