Ohio Charter News Weekly will be on hiatus next week; returning on 9/10/21.
Kudos
The state board of education this week chose Stephanie Siddens as the Interim Superintendent of Public Instruction. She will take the reins in September when current Superintendent Paolo DeMaria retires and while a search for a permanent replacement is ongoing. Siddens has been with the Ohio Department of Education for 15 years, most recently as Senior Executive Director of the Center for Student Supports.
Help wanted
Districts and charter schools in the Miami Valley region are reporting difficulty in filling many positions as the new school year gets underway. Both Dayton City Schools and the Horizon Science Academies told the Dayton Daily News that finding enough intervention specialists to serve their students in special education was an especially difficult task this year.
New year, old myths
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools celebrated the new school year by busting a quartet of charter myths, including three very old, standard-issue canards. The fourth, that public support for charter schools is dropping, is perhaps a bit newer but seems more like wishful thinking from charter opponents than any legitimate widely-held misconception. It, too, is busted nonetheless.
The school choice landscape
University of Notre Dame sociology professor Mark Berends published a new report in the Phi Delta Kappan journal called “The current landscape of school choice in the United States”. He lays out not only the numbers and types of charter schools and voucher programs in use today but also the numbers of students utilizing them and the findings of the best research regarding them. A compact, detailed, and important read.
Spending priorities
The Associated Press took a look at how schools and districts across Ohio were planning to spend their federal Covid-relief funding over the next three years. It is significant that the piece looked at the state’s largest online charter school—Ohio Virtual Academy—and took pains to point out that “[v]irtual school students experienced the same pandemic-related anxieties and mental health stress” as other students. OVA’s current and future spending on more counselors and psychologists, as well as increased summer offerings, and support for families needing help with home internet costs are detailed.
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