- The Dispatch published an interesting piece this weekend discussing the lack of district superintendents who are female and people of color in Ohio. They interview outgoing Reynoldsburg supe Tina Thomas-Manning, an African-American woman, who talks about her difficulties in reaching the position. In the end, the discussion focuses almost solely on women vs. men and the people of color part of the question kind of fades away. I can’t wait to see the D’s analysis of how the numbers shake out for charter school leaders. I’ll just hold my breath while I wait for that one to be published… (Columbus Dispatch, 7/2/17)
- Dispatch editors, meanwhile, were opining on the ongoing kerfuffle between Ohio’s largest online school and just about every entity of state government. Kinda like trying to hit a moving target. (Columbus Dispatch, 7/2/17)
- Editors in Youngstown this weekend were opining on district CEO Krish Mohip at the start of his second year in charge. Seems generally favorable, with some uphill battles yet to come. (Youngstown Vindicator, 7/2/17)
- Finally today, we have a set of profiles of recent high school graduates from various Stark County High Schools. Each story is individual (even the one about the quadruplets!) and each says a lot about the specific backgrounds, needs, and interests of the students. But I ask you to read carefully and see if there are any statewide education policies that appear to play vital roles in the educational lives and successes of these kids. I know that all three of my loyal Gadfly Bites subscribers are supportive of the types student-centric policies that break out from the status quo and are discussed regularly in these clips in perhaps some esoteric ways, so I’d just hope that folks who are not fully onboard with such education reform ideas might read this story and get the concrete message that seems to me to be screaming out of this piece. What’s the message? That CTE can mean great training and real careers; that online schooling can mean the difference between staying on track and falling irretrievably behind; that strong graduation requirements mean not letting kids with challenges just drift toward a worthless diploma because it’s easy for the adults; or that school choice can mean opening up the world to kids who might only know the schools their parents knew. Only the most important messages that I think need to be out there. (Canton Repository, 7/1/17)
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