Gadfly Bites 7/27/20 – How (maybe) to

1. In the discussion of whether and how to reopen schools in the fall, the spotlight falls (sort of) on private schools in central Ohio. Two schools—one Catholic high school, one secular K-12 school—which historically have had more space than kids—are the exemplars and lead the coverage about fully in-person classes. That’s the plan for now. A third school, a smaller Catholic high school, does not have the space for distancing its students and thus is (for now) planning on split in-person sessions. We don’t know what the students in this latter school will be doing for education when they are not attending in-person, but let’s hope for tuition’s sake that it’s something better than the poor distance learning substitute that Fordham’s Chad Aldis reminds us about. But you know what would have been a good place to start? A review of what those private schools did this past spring in regard to distance learning. I happen to have a deep personal knowledge of this topic in regard to one of these schools, but my phone has, as it has always done, remained silent. (Columbus Dispatch, 7/26/20) Speaking of which, we finally got some coverage of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ visit to suburban Columbus last week which actually discusses the main topic of the event: private school choice. Timely, even when appearing days after the fact. (Ohio Capital Journal, 7/27/20)
    
2. “No teacher should go back to the classroom without one… This is truly the answer.” The good doctor is quoted talking about face shields here, as he and his foundation determined during the SARS epidemic back in the day. Personally, I think it’s great that he is such an adorably nerdy guy (that bowtie!) so that his message should be readily accepted without any hesitation at all. (Cincinnati Enquirer, 7/26/20)
    
3. No nerdiness here. “Summer is the time for education leaders to learn from the lessons of last year and improve online learning for all students,” writes Ohio Excels president Lisa Gray in this opinion piece. “The key,” she concludes, “is planning now for what is likely to come.” (Lima News, 7/24/20)
    
4. Yellow Springs Exempted Village Schools is the latest to announce its classes will be fully online for first quarter of the upcoming school year. There are some details about the hourly requirements and a sketch of the schedule in this article. More to come, I’m sure. "We’ve learned so much about what it means to be online,” said the superintendent during the special Zoom-based school board meeting this weekend, “and how we can shape experiences so they’re better for both students and families.”. (Dayton 24/7 Now, 7/26/20)
    
5. Cleveland Metropolitan School District, the pioneer among school districts going fully remote for at least the first part of the school year, cancelled all fall sports too. “If it’s not safe to be in school, it’s not safe to be on the playing fields either,” said district CEO Eric Gordon. While that sitch seems like a no-brainer to me, I kinda get the impression that CEO Gordon actually means it to be a pointed and unequivocal clarification of what should probably have been clear sooner since his athletic department apparently aims to continue summer athlete workouts until the official OHSAA summer season ends on July 31. For some reason. (Cleveland.com, 7/24/20)
   

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