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Education News for 05-07-2013

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Local Education News

  • Urban League might lose Head Start grant (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Two nonprofit groups have been offered federal Head Start grants to serve needy preschool children in central Ohio, but not the Columbus Urban League…Read more...

  • Argument over access (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

    • Parents who are unhappy with the Champion School District's refusal to provide access for their special-needs son to attend Central Elementary School have filed a complaint with the Department of Justice…Read more...

Editorial

  • Bus money (Akron Beacon Journal)

    • Since 2005, Ohioans have enjoyed a 21 percent reduction in individual income tax rates. The Ohio House has proposed an additional 7 percent…Read more...

  • Hospital study is timely for parents (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Probably every parent wishes at some point that he or she could just bubble-wrap their little one. But guarding kids so closely for fear of injury…Read more...

  • Another blow to city schools (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Thursday’s records seizures at 20 Columbus high schools by the state auditor ought to prove convincing to those who have blindly defended…Read more...

Education News for 01-23-2013

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State Education News

  • State budget’s unknowns frighten advocates (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Faced with a “poker-faced” Kasich administration that won’t divulge new budget details until Feb. 4, a coalition of critics yesterday took a stab at things…Read more...

  • Democrats want state school-board head out over Facebook post (Columbus Dispatch)

    • The head of the Ohio Democratic Party yesterday called for the resignation of Ohio Board of Education President Debe Terhar for a Facebook posting that appeared to compare…Read more...

  • Columbus school board decides to assist review by mayor’s panel (Columbus Dispatch)

    • The Columbus Board of Education relented last night and decided to allow Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s Education Commission to conduct a management review of district non- academic operations — and without a written agreement…Read more...

Local Education News

  • Referee will intervene in duct-taped students case (Canton Repository)

    • A referee is going to hear the case of a northeast Ohio teacher who may be fired over an allegation that she posted a Facebook photo of her students with their mouths covered with duct tape…Read more...

  • After-school program takes holistic approach Chillicothe Gazette)

    • When the last school bell rings, things are just getting started at the Salvation Army’s after- school program…Read more...

  • Schools sweat out decision to delay start due to cold (Columbus Dispatch)

    • The decision to delay classes at Canal Winchester schools in yesterday’s frigid weather wasn’t an easy one, Superintendent Jim Sotlar said…Read more...

  • Bexley mayor rejects speed traps, student tax ideas (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Bexley’s mayor opposes the use of speed cameras and taxing students to help the city offset projected losses in state funding, both ideas proposed by a citizens group to raise new revenue…Read more...

  • Finalists make pitch to RV public (Marion Star)

    • River Valley Local Schools gave the public a chance Tuesday evening to meet the finalists as it prepares to choose the district’s next superintendent…Read more...

  • TPS won’t place levy renewal on spring ballot; Board cites too little time to mount solid campaign (Toledo Blade)

    • A Toledo Public Schools levy renewal won’t be on the May ballot after all. The Toledo Board of Education was set to vote Tuesday on a board finance committee recommendation…Read more...

  • Youngstown school board discusses money woes (Youngstown Vindicator)

    • Schools Superintendent Connie Hathorn is meeting with his staff to devise recommendations to address a projected $48 million deficit by fiscal year 2017…Read more...

Editorial

  • Uneasy money (Akron Beacon Journal)

    • Ohio schools will receive $38 million from the first distribution of the state’s tax on casino gambling. Have they hit the jackpot? Hardly. The amount boils down to about $21 per pupil…Read more...

Education News for 05-17-2012

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Local Issues

  • Feds open bid process for Head Start program (Toledo Blade)

    • The federal government is officially soliciting bids for an agency to run Head Start in Lucas County. Head Start, a program for 3 to 5-year-olds from low-income families, is run by the Economic Opportunity Planning Association of Greater Toledo, but the agency was notified in December that it must compete against other agencies if it wants to continue receiving nearly $13 million to run the program. Read More…

  • Hamilton only public school district nationally to receive award (Hamilton Journal News)

    • The emphasis of character education within the Hamilton City School District has been rewarded. The Hamilton City School District has been recognized as a National School District of Character Award recipient by the Character Education Partnership in Washington, D.C. Read More…

  • Research shows ‘no excuses’ model for schools effective at boosting test scores (Akron Beacon Journal)

    • Former Akron City Councilman Ernie Tarle hopes to create a charter school in Akron that emulates the practices of the country’s highest performing urban charter schools. The schools are commonly referred to as following a “no excuses” approach that emphasizes a college preparatory curriculum, longer school days and years, strict discipline and conduct, intense tutoring, use of data to improve test scores and a staff of youthful, inexperienced teachers who sign on to the schools’ philosophy and typically do not belong to a union. Read More…

  • Zane Trace fails to act on school hours change (Chillicothe Gazette)

    • Proposed changes to Zane Trace's school hours, which would have allowed the district to double up on bus routes and eliminate as many as nine bus drivers, fell flat Wednesday. Board member Ralph Letsche made a motion to approve the changes, but no one seconded it, so it failed to reach a vote. Read More…

  • Expert, community leaders work to form literacy plan (Findlay Courier)

    • A literacy expert and community leaders encouraged thoughtfulness and collaboration in creating and implementing a Hancock County Literacy Plan, at a Hancock County Literacy Summit held Wednesday.
    Hosted by the Literacy Coalition of Hancock County, the "Celebrate Literacy Luncheon" portion of the daylong event drew about 55 people to Owens Community College's Community Education and Wellness Center. Read More…

Teachers And Their Unions

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One of the segments from “Waiting for Superman” that stuck in my head is the following statement by Newsweek reporter Jonathan Alter:

It’s very, very important to hold two contradictory ideas in your head at the same time. Teachers are great, a national treasure. Teachers’ unions are, generally speaking, a menace and an impediment to reform.

The distinction between teachers and their unions (as well as those of other workers) has been a matter of political and conceptual contention for long time. On one “side,” the common viewpoint, as characterized by Alter’s slightly hyperbolic line, is “love teachers, don’t like their unions.” On the other “side,” criticism of teachers’ unions is often called “teacher bashing.”

So, is there any distinction between teachers and teachers’ unions? Of course there is.

People who disagree with policies traditionally supported by teachers’ unions, or support policies that unions tend to oppose, are not “anti-teacher.” That’s kind of like arguing that fighting against environmental regulations is tantamount to hating members of the National Wildlife Federation. It’s certainly true that the rhetoric in education can cross the line (on both “sides”), and extreme, motive-ascribing, anti-union statements are understandably interpreted as “bashing” by the teachers that comprise those unions. Some of the discourse involving unions and policy is, however, from my (admittedly non-teacher) perspective, more or less substantive.

So, you can “love teachers and disagree with their unions,” but don’t kid yourself – in the majority of cases, disagreeing with unions’ education policy positions represents disagreeing with most teachers. In other words, opposing unions certainly doesn’t mean you’re “bashing” teachers, but it does, on average, mean you hold different views than they do.

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Education News for 12-21-2011

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Statewide Education News

  • Monroe board asking for state probe of ex-treasurer's spending (Middletown Journal)

    • MONROE — The Monroe Board of Education is expected to file a letter of professional misconduct with the Ohio Department of Education’s office of professional conduct this week detailing the actions of former Treasurer Kelley Thorpe. The letter — drafted by the district’s attorney, William Deters — is expected to be submitted to the ODE by the end of this week, board member Brett Guido said. Read More…

  • TPS sees downgrade in bond rating (Blade)

    • Toledo Public Schools’ credit rating took a hit in recent days, as one rating agency downgraded the school district while another put the district on notice. Standard and Poor’s downgraded the district’s credit rating from AA- to A+, while Moody’s maintained its A1 rating, but added a negative outlook, which means it may face a future downgrade. Interim-treasurer Matt Cleland told Toledo Board of Education members Tuesday night that the agencies focused on the continued depressed economy and the district’s lack of a reserve fund. Read More…

Local Issues

  • East Holmes schools to reveal cuts (Times Reporter)

    • BERLIN — East Holmes Local Schools will make $500,000 in cuts in district spending in 2012 because of the failure of its last three levies and is considering another $500,000 in cuts if a 3.77-mill emergency operating levy is defeated in March. The board of education will hold its Jan. 9 meeting at Hiland High School because it anticipates a larger-than-normal audience. At that meeting, the board will review the planned cuts and will reveal what additional reductions will be needed if the levy fails again. The planned cuts are based on input from the staff and the community. Read More…

  • South Side schools plan adopted (Dispatch)

    • The Columbus Board of Education overcame concerns voiced at a meeting two weeks ago and voted 5-2 last night to go forward with a South Side school-closing and reorganization plan that will affect more than 3,000 students next school year. The board also handed Superintendent Gene Harris her first academic targets, voting 6-1 to, in effect, order her to boost the number of students proficient in reading to 75 percent by 2013. Read More…

  • Agency ordered to compete for Head Start cash (Blade)

    • The agency that administers Head Start in Toledo will have to compete for continued funding against other potential providers in the coming year. More than 2,000 Toledo children attend Head Start, a preschool program for low-income children, through the Economic Opportunity Planning Association of Greater Toledo. According to EOPA's most recent tax return, the agency received more than $13 million in federal revenue to run Head Start last year. Read More…

Editorial

  • Ohioans should be glad to see Teach for America (Plain Dealer)

    • Now that several foundations have raised more than $2 million to support the program and a helpful law from the Ohio General Assembly has swept away legal barriers that kept Teach for America out of Ohio's classrooms, the highly respected organization finally will get to work in Northeast Ohio next year. The popular organization, founded in 1990, recruits graduates from the nation's top-ranked colleges to teach youngsters in floundering inner-city and rural schools. Read More…

  • Local schools shine in hitting progress goals (Times Reporter)

    • Just like individual report cards for students, the quality of a local education is measured against various learning standards. And for the past decade, an important one has been the No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The original law set targets that all students be proficient by 2014. While that expectation has come under some criticism in recent years from educators who contend it is unrealistic, the idea of all schools should aspire for higher achievement by students is nevertheless a valid one. Read More…