- We’re back after a holiday break and cleaning up a little bit of old news. Fordham’s Chad Aldis was among the folks talking to Gongwer about HB 583, the education Christmas stocking bill. It was signed into law by Governor DeWine at the end of June but was still a topic of discussion as July dawned. (Gongwer Ohio, 7/1/22)
- The elected board of Cleveland Heights-University Heights City Schools voted this week to spend millions in federal Covid-relief funds to hire tutors for next school year. While I kind of hoped they might also spend big to expand that idyllic-sounding summer music camp we talked about in the clips last week, this also seems like an important project to help kids impacted by pandemic learning loss. Although it also seems like it might have been a good idea to have done something like this in 2020…or 2021…or earlier this year. (Cleveland.com, 7/4/22) For the second year in a row, Springfield City Schools will be using federal Covid-relief funds to buy school supplies—you know the stuff: pencils, crayons, scissors, notebooks, glue sticks, pocket folders, etc.—for all students in grades K-8. The estimated cost is a mere $117K this year. It’s going to take a lot more than that to spend down their money, I imagine. (Springfield News-Sun, 7/4/22)
- Meanwhile, the elected board of Toledo City Schools voted last week to spend a portion of their per-student state funding to join the lawsuit against that very state on the subject of vouchers. While it feels like they are very late to this particular game, the level of blind, senseless animosity expressed here by certain elected board members is also quite high. (Toledo Blade, 7/1/22)
- Back in May, teachers from one elementary in Marion City Schools stood before their elected board members and catalogued numerous instances of abuse they received from their young students. The board this week announced the hiring of a former Columbus City Schools administrator (and former state supe semi-finalist) with the hope that her extensive experience can help permanently “de-escalate” any ongoing problems. (Marion Star, 7/6/22)
- Finally today, central Ohio’s large and growing Bhutanese-Nepali community runs their own awesome-sounding STEM summer camp. I would translate something positive into Nepali but I don’t think my operating system can properly render the characters. So insert the lyrics of your favorite “Hamilton” tune here instead. (Columbus Dispatch, 7/6/22)
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