Gadfly Bites 8/14/19 – Putting a lid on awesome

1. Well well well. We discussed on Monday how Akron City Schools seems to have perpetrated something of a bait-and-switch with regard to the outcomes imagined for its new career academies (“We are not built on the premise that we are producing a certain career field.”). Today, we learn that the district will also be crimping its previously-announced plans for its highly touted I Promise School, reneging on its plan to expand to first and second grades. Permanently. The reasoning: I Promise is for students “who are not responding to traditional interventions” and that district officials “really need multiple years” to determine who is not responding. Which means at least two years of guaranteed low performance for a bunch of kids before the needed help will be available…if there’s room. (Akron Beacon Journal, 8/12/19)

2. Speaking of which, here are two heartbreaking pieces regarding former students with special needs who graduated high school without being able to read or do math at grade level. In the first one, a single individual from Cleveland reached out to the reporter to tell her own story. Extremely brave. She spent 10 years in Cleveland district schools and 2 years in a dropout recovery charter school, graduating unable to follow her dream of becoming a nurse. She is now working on catching up to square one via a nonprofit adult education organization. (ABC6-TV, Columbus, 8/11/19). In the second one, the reporter did not have to work too hard to find more such stories from both Cleveland and Columbus. The tip of the iceberg, I might suggest. (ABC6-TV, Columbus, 8/13/19)

3. Speaking of heartbreaking, this smug and self-congratulatory puff piece on the “brand new” Escuela SMART in Toledo makes my heart ache for the families who will have to live every day in the soup of disingenuous condescension on full display here from Toledo city and district leaders. However, my overwhelming reaction is one of anger at the complete erasure of all the work of Escuela SMART’s founders, teachers, staff, and families who built the now-closed charter school into a success for years prior to Toledo City Schools’ sudden and convenient “epiphany” regarding diversity and inclusion. Which my reading says they simply bought for themselves for entirely self-serving reasons. I am disgusted. (WNWO-TV, Toledo, 8/13/19)

4. The superintendent of Euclid City Schools resigned abruptly two days before the start of school. No reason given. His wife, who works for his administration, resigned as well. Outrage, anyone? Anyone? (IdeaStream, Cleveland, 8/13/19)

5. The director of academic affairs (no, not those kind) for Berea City Schools gives us a little preview of her district’s 2018-19 report card data. Despite having taken on board the data from the previous year’s report card and having made changes to their operations to improve those ratings and having apparently actually improved them a bit just like she’s supposed to, heroner is still not happy. Perhaps I can help. “This is a single data point in the day in the life of a child,” she said to express her unhappiness. Ummm… NO IT’S NOT! There. Does that help? (Cleveland.com, 8/13/19)

6. The always predictable and punctual state legislature (no, it’s not) is apparently causing folks in Lorain some stress by being their usual unpredictable and nonpunctual selves. To wit: Ain’t nothing going to change for districts operating under the aegis of an Academic Distress Commission until at least September. The usual suspects in Lorain—and in Elyria, it seems—are unhappy. Perhaps I can help.
   
                           Nope. I got nothing. (Elyria Chronicle, 8/14/19)
   

7. It’s clear from the foregoing that something’s got to change in Ohio education or else more awesomeness is going to be foreclosed upon by the powers that be. (Forget awesomeness; between you and me I think “barely tolerable” better watch its back.) In a timely occurrence, former state board of education president Pat Smith opined this week on some changes she would recommend to Ohio’s education structure. They are…eccentric…if I do say so myself. (Columbus Dispatch, 8/13/19)

8. You guys all know that if I had my druthers, the first “something” that would change is to unfetter school choice in its many successful varieties. (You also know, of course, that no one cares about my druthers.) Case in point, this glowing look at Horizon Science Academy in Lorain on the occasion of the first day of school this year. And you know the folks at the MJ think this is great stuff because not only does the piece not include references to “stealing” kids from Lorain City Schools (despite the fact that it is growing) or to “siphoning” money from LCS (despite the fact that kids = funding), but also it omits the term “charter school” at all. Again! (The Morning Journal, 8/13/19)

9. When I think of “school choice success stories”, my first thought is always of Walter Blanks, an EdChoice Scholarship recipient from here in Ohio who is, in a word, awesome. But guess what? There are literally tons of others who fit that description too. Huge kudos to The 74 for featuring Walter among a group of seven fantastic young people from across the country for whom private school choice was a vital ingredient in boosting their awesomeness to stratospheric proportions. (The 74 Million, 8/13/19)

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