So sorry to miss you all on Friday. Unavoidable. Back again to jumpstart your week with some krazy klips.
- Don’t you love it when you’re reading along in an education news story and you’re thinking, “This sounds great. I can’t wait to clip this as a good news piece about some aspect of K-12 education working like it should.” (No? Only me? Weird.) I was feeling that way during this TV news piece from northwest Ohio looking at Washington Local Schools’ four week summer camp for students in kindergarten to third grade. It sounds pretty good, according to the district intervention specialist quoted: “We have phonological awareness, we have Orton-Gillingham, we have rhyme time, we have recess, then we have lunch…” There’s cool field trips to the zoo and the science museum. Learning and fun. Unfortunately, those rare instances are usually marred by The Twist. It comes at the end here, courtesy of the same intervention specialist, “We don't have assessments that we have to give, we don't have that weight on our shoulders and it's amazing to see all the staff. We are all feeling lightweight and we can interact with the kids and just teach them.” After that, I went back and reread the thing and noted there was a lot of foreshadowing of The Twist already in there from the start. Not learning and fun but “fun learning”. When will I learn, eh? (WTOL-TV, Toledo, 7/20/22)
- Meanwhile, in one of the highest of all high dollar suburbs in Ohio, a middle school principal has some…advice for parents as the summer wanes. “They’re the most fabulous children in the whole wide world,” she said “with a slight chuckle” (so adds the reporter), speaking of 11- to 13-year-old kids. “One minute they think you’re everything and the next minute they’re like, ‘Sure you're just horrible’.” Charming indeed. Madam Principal also pointed out to the reporter that once school starts, those kids will be “exploring new buildings, new friends and new hormones.” Really paints a picture, don’t you think? I’m not hearing a lot about math or history or science in there. Does anyone running a school care about this stuff anymore? Interestingly, if you read on to see what a sample of the little darlings of New Albany are really thinking about for next year, it does seem quite a bit more mundane to me. (10TV News, Columbus, 7/20/22)
- Finally today, the elected board of tiny Toronto City Schools down along the Ohio River voted this week to amend the district dress code for next year to “reflect changing times”. While expressing the hope that both were just “a passing fad”, the leaders voted 4-1 to approve dyed hair of “various colors” and wearing blue jeans with holes in them…as long as those holes are below the knee only. (The Herald-Star, 7/22/22)
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