Gadfly Bites 7/28/21—August might be an illusion

We’re back after a week’s vacation. Let’s get caught up!

1. Folks up in Sandusky seem to be going through a delayed process of reckoning with the passage of the state budget bill earlier this month, and specifically with the reality that the Fair(ly inaccurately named) School Funding Plan might not be the golden ticket they thought it would be. To wit: The headline of this piece reads “School funding is improved, experts say”. In truth, there is only one actual “expert” quoted, and “improved” seems solely to mean “more”. As one district treasurer puts it with perfect economy: “Always thrilled when it goes that way.” (Sandusky Register, 7/27/21) The editorial board’s initially-positive opinion piece runs out of hype pretty quickly. And it’s only 325 words long. (Sandusky Register, 7/26/21) In this piece on the topic from central Ohio, the only folks who seem happy are the private school reps talking about voucher improvements changes enacted in the budget. Although the district reps quoted do seem a little more chirpy when they are talking about suing the state over those vouchers. Sounds like the Fair(ly agitating) School Funding Plan to me. (ThisWeek News, 7/22/21)
    
2. Apologies for clipping what is basically a press release here, but there are two reasons I am doing so. First up is because I thought I knew all of the online charter schools in Ohio. Apparently that’s not the case. The second is that I wonder why GOAL Digital Academy is recruiting new students so prominently just now. Hmmm… (Richland Source, 7/23/21)
   
   

3. Long-time Gadfly Bites subscribers (love to all 10 of you!) will recall that your humble clips compiler dislikes sports stuff (ew) and yet still persevered through endless discussion around and eventual implementation of something called “competitive balance” a few years ago. The goal of the effort was to take into account the ways in which school choice changed the landscape for athletic competition and to level the playing field (hah! See what I did there?) among various types of schools. Especially the ever-tendentious district/private divide. In what is the first of a five-part (?!) series, Massillon Independent reporter Chris Easterling seems determined to show folks like me that we didn’t suffer enough during the previous tedious and protracted discussions of (and reporting on) the topic and also that whatever fairness outcomes were intended, the so-called “competitive balance” plan has not in fact lived up to either portion of its moniker. (Massillon Independent, via Cincinnati Enquirer, 7/26/21) Think I’m exaggerating? How else do we explain that part three of the series includes a quote and a reference to a 2020 blog by Fordham’s own Chad Aldis on the topic of interdistrict open enrollment, as part of its 1,320 word treatise on how open enrollment destroys interferes with both the “competitive” and the “balance” portions of the plan? (Massillon Independent, via Cincinnati Enquirer, 7/28/21)
    
4. Looks like “summer school” or whatever we’re allowed to call it (and you’ll see several options in the following pieces) is pretty much over already and July still has a few days left in it per my calendar. August is probably just a figment of my imagination. You can check out coverage of summer programming from Cincinnati City Schools… (Cincinnati Enquirer, 7/25/21) …from Columbus City Schools… (Columbus Dispatch, 7/23/21) …and from the Akron City Schools’ Camp Invention, which at least included a virtual component for families who wanted it. (The 74, 7/27/21) As I read these, the emphasis here appears to have been overwhelmingly enrichment, social-emotional activities, and fun stuff. And the providers were super successful at it—ask anyone. Personally, I was hoping for some direct indication of whether/how students were caught up to grade level in math, reading, and the like. Not seeing this in the coverage (or, indeed, seeing the opposite in some cases), I am forced to consider the following options: A) Perhaps remediation was not needed at all, regardless of what I thought, despite more than a year of worries to the contrary. B) Perhaps remediation was a far easier matter than I thought—despite two school years’ worth of Covid learning disruption—and thus not worth discussing in the paper at all. C) Or perhaps kids just had a fantastic time larking around on the playground and going on field trips with their friends and were sent home each afternoon with a reminder that “volleyball has some geometry and some physics in it, you know.” I have one option I am leaning toward more than the other two at the moment. However, there is far more detail on academic activities amongst the camp stuff in this coverage of “Summer Launch” at Fordham-sponsored Dayton Leadership Academies. (Teach For America One Day blog, 7/20/21) So it is possible that your humble clips provider is simply clueless on this topic and that I don’t know at all what I’m talking about here. Whichever it is, I will note that, right or wrong, time will definitely tell.
   
   

5. Meanwhile, a group of community leaders in northeast Ohio agitating for more accountability for students’ academic results among the adults who run Youngstown City Schools. Some very dispiriting GPA data is provided by the group (to say nothing of test scores) along with their ultimate goal: “It is time that we have an outcome-based system that is transparent, and those in that system, everybody, is held accountable for the outcomes.” Phew. Glad I’m not the only one! (Vindy.com, 7/27/21)

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