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Legal wrangling over busing in Columbus escalates
Legal tussling over transportation for charter, private, and STEM school students in Columbus continued this past week. A charter school family filed a class action lawsuit late last Friday, specifically alleging that Columbus City Schools did not notify them in time about their child being declared impractical to transport. At least one charter school leader says he believes that there are more to come. On Wednesday of this week, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed an emergency motion in the Ohio Supreme Court, alleging that Columbus City Schools officials have not complied with the requirement to bus charter, private, and STEM school students who were previously declared impractical to transport while everyone awaits the resolution of his own lawsuit against the district. The Fordham Institute’s Aaron Churchill, interviewed in the Ohio Capital Journal, took issue with the argument that there are appreciably more private school students this year needing transportation due to the expansion of EdChoice vouchers to near-universal status and thus the newfound problems In Columbus. He reminds readers that districts have been required to bus private school students for many years, whether those students were on a voucher or not. We learned earlier this year that there was no giant spike in voucher usage, so the district is responsible for no more private school students this year than last. The argument does not stand up to scrutiny. Finally, the Supreme Court gave Columbus City Schools until Monday to formally respond to Yost’s emergency motion. An informal response, released late yesterday, says staffers are “working to identify routes” on which to transport approximately 120 specific students and are “trying to minimize the negative impact” that doing so “will have on other students.” The mess continues.
Chronic absenteeism discussion
“Almost every area charter and public school still has more students missing 10 percent or more of school days compared to before the pandemic, data from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce show.” This is the opening paragraph of a Dayton Daily News piece on the chronic absenteeism data released along with state report cards earlier this month. Among those interviewed on the topic is Fordham’s Aaron Churchill, who speculates on causes and also notes that online charter schools showed some of the lowest chronic absenteeism rates, although it’s possible that “logged in” doesn’t always mean “present”.
Present on the sports field
This story is ostensibly about the expansion of sports and extracurricular options for students at Northwest Ohio Classical Academy in Toledo—an accomplishment about which any charter school should be very proud. Also included, though, are other signs of NWOCA’s growth and success, including a larger campus, a tripling of the number of students enrolled, and expansion from K-8 to K-12. Everything’s coming up Spartans, and that’s great news.
The view from Minnesota
Joe Nathan, founder and advisor at Minnesota’s Center for School Change, is credited as the author of an op-ed in the Sun ThisWeek newspaper. But the awesome content he shares comes largely from charter school students and their parents, extolling the virtues of those schools through their own personal stories. One career and technical high school student wrote, “I love this school, I love the people, and I love the teachers. Thank you, Paladin for saving me.” And the parent of a recent Yale grad and current Ph.D. candidate wrote, “The teachers there offered her the care and support she needed to rebuild her confidence in the classroom which ignited a passion for learning she had never had before.” And that’s just the start. Great stuff.
The view from Texas
And speaking of charter school models designed to help their students with specific academic needs, here’s a look at New Heights High School in Ft. Worth, Texas. While it’s model of supporting students who got off track to finish high school and get started in college through dual enrollment programs may sound familiar, New Heights is geared exclusively for adults. It offers flexible scheduling of classes around work and family commitments and no-charge access to certification training and college courses. It has proven exceedingly popular in its first year of existence, enrolling 500 students and attracting nearly 1,400 others to begin their applications for the future. Best wishes to New Heights staff, students, and supporters.
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