Gadfly Bites 7/30/25—The round file

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1. Following on from Monday’s theme, here’s a few more items from the “what the heck are the adults that run schools thinking?!” file. There’s no details given on how much the switch to individually-packaged fruits and veggies in new Earth-friendly wrappings will cost the schools who have to buy them because all other options have been discontinued, but all I could think of when reading about the school lunch purveyor patting themselves on the back about making the no-doubt costly switch was: I’m pretty sure cucumbers and kiwis and jicama already come in their own biodegradable packaging; no extra charge. (Columbus Dispatch, 7/29/25)
   
   

2. Despite the facts that the district is under state fiscal oversight, is operating with an interim superintendent and a “fill in” treasurer, and that only three board members were in attendance to vote, cash-strapped Trimble Local Schools took the first step toward putting a 1 percent earned income tax levy on the November ballot during a meeting last week. (WOUB-FM, Athens, 7/28/25) In this coverage of the same meeting, the only two “witnesses” quoted directly—both in favor of the income tax vs. a property tax—are the wife of an elected board member (who voted for the income tax, unsurprisingly) and a consultant who is working with the district to try and eliminate its giant deficit (who of course couldn’t officially vote for the income tax but sounds like he would have if he could have, also unsurprisingly). We do hear that one unnamed and unquoted citizen spoke up to suggest that district administrators should be held responsible for the errors that allowed the massive debt to occur, and that the interim supe responded to insist that it’s more important to look forward than to look back. “We’ll let the [fiscal emergency] commission handle what has happened in the past,” he said, out loud and on the record. “But we as a community have to focus on where we’re at now and how we’re going to move forward.” Charming. (Athens Independent, 7/24/25)
   
   

3. Big Walnut Local Schools announced this week it would eliminate all student instructional and extracurricular fees beginning this fall, saying that it wants to provide “fiscal relief” to hard-pressed district families. It’s not every fee, superintendent Ryan McLane stresses with some sadness, but many of the most common ones, including band, choir, athletics, and other extracurricular activities. He credits his treasurer’s “careful planning” and good district stewardship for being able to provide this relief. However, McLane also says (out loud and on the record) that “Academics are our top priority, but for our kids, it’s not the driving motivation that gets them excited about coming in the doors every day.” It’s Chess Club, isn’t it, boss? (NBC4 News, Columbus, 7/29/25)
   
   

4. By way of contrast, here’s a nice look at a new all-boys private school that will open in Akron on August 21. Dreams Academy will serve boys in grades K-2 and will (of course) accept students using EdChoice Scholarships. The school is run by longtime Akron residents active in the community and will have a strong religious foundation along with academic rigor intended to help boost the skills and confidence of young Black boys who, school leaders say, are too often left to fall through the cracks in other schools. “Our boys are failing and dying at a rapid rate, and our children, even in kindergarten, are being diagnosed with anxiety,” said founding principal Monique Swain. “And so my desire and my goal for these boys is to find ways to speak to their hearts and to keep encouraging them that they are leaders and that they are wonderfully made. I want them to find ways as early as kindergarten to help them find their purpose.” Phew. This sounds pretty good to me, and maybe this clip belongs in a different, and better, file than the others. (Cleveland.com, 7/29/25)

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