Ohio Charter News Weekly is back from a brief hiatus and we’re catching up on all the news you can use from 8/27 to today!
While we were out
West Virginia’s new Professional Charter School Board held its first meeting on August 27, taking important steps to get itself fully up and running, including beginning the search for its inaugural executive director. This effort could finally see the first charter schools open in the Mountain State more than two years after a state law was enacted to allow them. The intervening time has been full of difficulties, challenges, and legal wrangling. Just four days after that first meeting, the charter board reported that seven school applications—three for statewide online schools and four brick-and-mortar ones—had been submitted for consideration to open perhaps as soon as fall 2022.
Meanwhile…
The Associated Press dug into the data on federal Covid-relief funding sent to virtual charter schools across the country, concluding—much to its apparent dismay—that the per-pupil amounts were the same as those received by comparable traditional district schools.
Good news you can use
Rashad Price is a graduate of the Friendship Public Charter School system in Washington, D.C. In a recent commentary piece, he explains how and why his mother made that choice for him and how much he valued the opportunities his school provided. Today, he is a teacher at Friendship, and he explains his pride in helping to provide a high-quality option for young people in the same neighborhoods.
Bad news here at home
Bad news for students in Youngstown: Transportation of district, charter, and private school students living in the boundaries of Youngstown City Schools has reportedly been spotty and unreliable due to delayed delivery of new school buses to the district. District officials say there is no end in sight until at least October. Even worse, nearly 18 percent of the district’s existing fleet was down for repairs as the school year entered just its second week.
Upcoming events
Buckeye Charter School Boards, Inc., has several important events on tap for the fall. These include the 2021 annual conference titled Bridge to Excellence and a number of board member training sessions. You can find more details and registration information here.
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