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- My brain says that we have talked about this program—Breakthrough Cincinnati—before in the Bites. It is a non-profit geared to supporting “marginalized students with strong academic potential”, and its programming includes after-school activities during the school year and a popular college-prep summer camp. But it is worth talking about again today. There are some very good features—including the full year of activities, the early outreach to rising middle schoolers, and the wide-open eligibility not limited to district students only. Not to mention the demonstrated success stories, including the one featured in this new story. But all this also raises some uncomfortable questions for me, such as: Why does it require a third-party non-profit to properly support these smart and capable students? And why are there any schools in Cincinnati (or anywhere else) where students with “strong academic potential” are allowed to languish without being challenged to rise to their highest possible level? (Cincinnati Enquirer, 9/28/24)
- Clearly some schools have got more pressing items on their agendas than strong academics. Columbus City Schools’ Whetstone High School appears to be one of those. Check out the detailed rules for using the bathroom at Whetstone these days. Talk about Mission: Impossible. Who can even keep track of all the “thou shall nots” involved? Sounds downright carceral to me. I do, however, love that there are students working on a group project to explain how crappy these potty policies are, using math to explain that there isn’t enough time in the day for more than a fraction of students to go at all and logic to explain that there’s not enough open bathrooms even to accommodate this subset of students at any given time. I’m sure those motivated kids will come up with simple solutions (research supports this). I just hope the adults who are supposed to be in charge here don’t just flush their results. (NBC4 News, Columbus, 9/30/24)
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