- Back-to-school time is usually one of hope and possibility, but registration problems in Mansfield schools are causing dozens of students to simply sit and wait to start and parents and guardians to worry about lost time. The implication is that parents/grandparents haven’t done what is required in a timely fashion to register their mobile students – closed charter schools, other districts, etc. – but I can only imagine that the finger-pointing from the district is counter-productive. Suggestion to administrators: start school a day early next year for new kids only. (Mansfield News Journal)
- Kelli Young takes a look at the history of Stark County’s school districts and their boundaries, and gives us a fascinating piece about the way decisions from decades ago affect student assignments, taxes, transportation decisions, and governance across municipal and county lines today. There is little appetite among the Stark County ESC board to further consolidate, it seems, but Young at least asks the questions that many Stark County parents are asking. (Canton Repository)
- I missed this editorial from Akron over the weekend. Here it is. But seriously, how many more ways can folks opine in favor of Common Core? I assume we’ll find out this week. (Akron Beacon Journal)
- A Summit County charter school has been pro-active in creating an assessment and reporting mechanism for teachers and parents of students entering Kindergarten throughout the county this year. There are high hopes that such information will help ease the transition for children from pre-K to K. Nice. (Akron Beacon Journal)
- The Cleveland Metropolitan School District has hired Stephanie Klupinski to “help manage its growing relationship” with the charter schools in its partnership. Stephanie is an ace in her field, formerly working for OAPCS and Hawaii’s public charter school commission. Welcome back to Ohio! (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
- Staying in Cleveland, we conclude with a story that contains what seems to be a bit of self-deprecation on the part of the PD. I’ll let you decide. Patrick O’Donnell digs into a recent study published by Attendance Works that shows that when kids are in Cleveland schools, “they're not learning a heck of a lot," and then connects this with CMSD’s worryingly-high absence rates. There may be a joke in there, but the real story is sad. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
