Gadfly Bites 9/18/24—Willfulness is indeed on display

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1. Despite the district rising in overall report card ratings this year and cementing its status as the best-performing large urban district in the state… (Spectrum News 1, 9/16/24) …the president of Cincinnati City Schools’ elected board goes well beyond the usual negative rhetoric to blast Ohio’s state report cards, saying they are “designed…to have us fail.” Strong stuff, but it feels misplaced to me. As does her promise in response that “we will try desperately to improve on behalf of our kids and taxpayers.” I mean, shouldn’t that be your default mode anyway? (WCPO-TV, Cincinnati, 9/16/24)
   
   

2. Meanwhile, Cleveland Metropolitan School District leaders cannot shout loudly enough that it is, as a district, “meeting standards” for the first time ever… (Ideastream Public Media, 9/16/24) …and leaders of Columbus City Schools seem extremely receptive to the data their report cards show. Specifically, incremental improvement in certain buildings and certain categories, but lots of poor performance elsewhere that drags their overall ratings down. To an accurate level. (Columbus Dispatch, 9/18/24)
   
   

3. On the other end of the spectrum, the superintendent of Olmsted Falls City Schools considers his district’s stellar report card performance a matter of luck, the results of which he expresses minimal interest in. “I’m a public school superintendent, so it would be I guess irresponsible if I didn’t look at any of it,” he says. Charming. (Cleveland.com, 9/18/24)
   
   

4. Switching gears, I have to say there’s something very nostalgic for me in seeing the good folks at ProPublica taking aim at Ohio education issues again in recent months. It reminds me of the good old days of Academic Distress Commissions, the “Youngstown Plan”, and their extreme interest in The Vindicator newspaper for the first (and last) time in 150 years. Best part is: Nothing has changed about their M.O. In exactly the same way as they covered the previous issues back in the day, the good folks at ProPublica are discussing Ohio’s use of state funding to help private schools expand in the wake of voucher-assisted enrollment growth. Exactly the same way. I hope my long-suffering standing subscribers feel the same burn of nostalgia that I do over this. IYKYK. (ProPublica, 9/17/24) Meanwhile, the Cincinnati-area community that reckons Bishop Fenwick High School is a vital asset to everyone recently celebrated the Catholic school’s history, fondly recalled its growth, and looked toward its bright future. That includes the mayor of Middletown and members of school families who attend Fenwick from 30 different zip codes in the state. A very apt measurement of community in this case, I think. (Dayton Daily News, 9/17/24)

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