Getting students ready
Northwest Career Ready, a jobs-focused project centered in the Tiffin area, submitted its regional workforce education plan to the state recently. It is heartening to see charters, private schools, and traditional districts all included in the effort to connect K-12 students to job training and career access. All the students in the region stand to benefit from this work.
Building up the community
A new plan for building affordable housing on the east side of Cleveland was approved this week by the city’s planning commission. 42 single-family units in duplex style are proposed as part of a redevelopment of the former St. Luke’s Medical Center site, the main building of which already houses a charter school as part of the redevelopment of the area.
Focus on students
Nearly 40 percent of previously-enrolled students at the Detroit Academy of Arts and Sciences did not return to class when doors (and virtual learning) reopened this fall. Staff members mobilized and spent weeks going door-to-door to find and account for as many kids as they could. And while a number of students have found new education options, dozens have actually returned to the charter school after receiving needed support with uniforms, supplies, or transportation. Others have been provided with electronic devices and rejoined the school’s virtual option as well.
Parents need transportation solutions
Families living in the boundaries of Columbus City Schools are reporting ongoing, and in some case worsening, student transportation troubles. This includes charter school parents, one of whom tells her story in this piece. Interestingly, this Columbus charter school parent is working on his own to help as many kids as he can to get to school on time, regardless of what school they attend, in the face of those same ongoing yellow bus problems.
Final ruling
The Ohio Supreme Court this week ruled 4-3 that the defunct Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow has no further right of appeal in the state’s determination that it owes $60 million back due to overpayment of state funding.
Backpack
A bill which should soon be receiving hearings in the Ohio House of Representatives was unveiled this week. HB 290, the so-called “backpack funding” bill, would revamp the state’s school funding mechanism to allow families to have their portion of state funding follow their children to whatever school they attend, including private schools, with minimal limitations.
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