- It is a rarity for school districts to run afoul of city zoning issues, especially in Toledo where we all remember how a zoning committee was weaponized to destroy a charter school in that town. But that’s exactly what has happened here. City concerns over the creation of a propane storage and distribution site has served to scuttle plans for a new CDL driver training center for Toledo high schoolers. It is interesting to note that rejection of the plan came back in April but district officials are only now announcing that the center is dead for this school year. Wonder what’s been going on for the last five months? (Toledo Blade, 9/5/22) Meanwhile, Toledo School for the Arts’ glow up is still underway, but the beloved Glass City charter school reopened for the new school year yesterday in an incomplete form. Even without AC, the expanded school was still full of excited and impressed students. Awesome! Officials noted there is still a waitlist for this year. Here’s hoping everyone who wants in can get in. (Toledo Blade, 9/7/22)
- We noted last week that Columbus City Schools still seemed to be missing many thousands of students even after the teacher strike ended and in-person classes finally began. This piece suggests that busing issues—for district students—could be part of the problem. Additionally, the extremely long wait times for parents to get information from the transportation department are not helping the situation. (ABC6 News, Columbus, 9/6/22) Private school students residing in Columbus and depending upon the district for transportation are faring no better, it appears. Among the causes, say district officials, inclusion of high school students in yellow bus routes and a troublesome new routing software, not to mention the fact that the first weeks of school are always logistically difficult. Parents don’t seem to care for the response. (10TV News, Columbus, 9/6/22)
- It’s more than a month into the school year in Dayton, and busing problems continue for charter school students there. The principal of Horizon Science Academy North elementary is so fed up with the constant problems for families that that she joined a group of 10 other charter leaders to file a complaint with the Ohio Department of Education and asking for help. (WHIO-TV, Dayton, 9/6/22)
- Meanwhile, not only does Columbus charter network Zenith Academy handle its own student transportation, it does so using one of the first electric school buses on the road in all of Ohio. Kudos! (Spectrum News 1, 9/6/22)
- Test score data and school report cards are coming soon across Ohio. Officials at Akron City Schools are out in front, offering us their take on the preliminary data they have seen. They say that they have made up something like 70 percent of the achievement lost during pandemic-era school disruptions. Not having seen the data, I can’t comment on whether they are accurate or not. But I will say that the pre-pandemic numbers in the district were pretty awful so any fraction below them is even worse. But that’s just how I look at things. (Akron Beacon Journal, 9/7/22)
- Meanwhile, here’s a great story about Harry and Linda Fath, a Cincinnati area couple who recently pledged an astonishing $3 million to support the Springer School and Center, a private school which specializes in teaching students ages 6 to 14 with learning disabilities. Amazing! (Cincinnati Enquirer, 9/2/22)
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