What do you get the high school football team that already has its own live tiger cub mascot? Perhaps its own state-sanctioned state license plate?
Only if you’re Massillon.
This week the Ohio House approveda bill that would create special “Massillon Tiger Football Booster Club” license plates inscribed with words selected by the booster club. Proceeds from the $25-a pop plates will support the football team of Washington High School, aka, Northeast Ohio’s Massillon Tigers.
If the Senate and Governor John Kasich sign off on the measure, Washington High’s football team will become the first Ohio high school sports team with its own license plate, according to the Ohio Department of Public Safety. Ohio already offers speciality license plates for its pro-teams.
Xenia to outsource transportation, IT and custodial services – “This outsourcing is on top of cuts made earlier this month that include laying off 30 staff members, including seven teachers. These combined salaried and benefit cuts would total more than $10.5 million since 2010. ”Dayton Daily News
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We wrote last week about how Ohio’s largest teachers’ union, the Ohio Education Association, will soon organizing teachers and other staff at charter schools. That’s a big change for the union, which doesn’t support the idea of charter schools as they currently exist in Ohio.
Not all of our commenters think that’s a good idea. Debbie Rudy-Lack writes via Facebook:
I don’t even know where to begin.….OEA has been very outspoken in its dislike for charters, due to monies being taken from the public schools to fund charters. Now, they think they’re going to “improve” charters? Sounds fishy to me.….
But Amy Richard Morris says the union’s move supports teachers, not charter school operators:
“The economic downturn seems to have worsened an already-vast gap between the numbers of men and women teachers, particularly in the early grades,” Education Week says.
Nationally, about 78 percent of teachers, preschool through high school, are women. That’s a slightly larger proportion of women vs men in the classroom than in 2007, according to federal data.
In Ohio, three-quarters of public school teachers were women in 2010, according to the Ohio Department of Education. That’s about the same proportion as in 2007. But looking back to 2000, Ohio’s teacher gender ratio has actually shifted:
Ohio lost nearly 2,000 male teachers over the past 10 years.
The battle over school lunches continues. Earlier this year, Congress squashed the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s desire to end the counting of a slice of pizza as a serving of vegetables. Now at least U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat, wants to revisit the issue.
Polis’ SLICE Act—School Lunch Improvements for Children’s Education—would restore USDA’s authority to 1/8 of a cup of tomato paste as 1/8 of a cup, instead of half of a cup. It would also give the USDA the power to implement reductions in sodium in school lunches and boost the amount of whole grains required in school meals, other tweaks Congress made last year to the agency’s plans.
Big hurdles hold up new way for state to grade schools – “Fierce debate has broken out among educators and political leaders over how new A-through-F grades are calculated and when new report cards will be issued.” The governor wants new grades ASAP; the educators want to wait.Columbus Dispatch
The University of Akron has the answer to the “Why should I learn algebra?” question.
University math department chair Timothy Norfolk is offering a workshop this summer on how to make money gambling. Or, as the course announcement puts it:
Learn the basics of applied probability in the context of gambling games, including simple probability, house percentages, basic strategies and bets or games to avoid…
Knowledge of basic probability is a plus, but most material requires no more than standard college-level algebra.
The course costs about $400 if you live here in Ohio, but think of what you can make back once you hit Ohio’s new casinos…
Twitter user @OSU_Asian has been tweeting since at least January and has nearly 1,500 followers. The @OSU_Asian describes him/herself as “OSU’s Favorite Asian: I run to class” and gives a location of “The Ohio State University.” But it’s not like Twitter verifies these things.
Sample tweets:
Boy in class today speak so much about new bar he try on weekend… Does he mean like the snickers or milky way? I must try new snack
I find Chinco de mayo quite offensive, but I still drink and try to find woman. Wish luck for me.
Silly American boy struggle with simply calculus problem. I giggle and get all points for exam.
Ohio Senate President Tom Neihaus (R, New Richmond) discusses proposed changes to major Ohio pension funds at a May 8 press conference.
State lawmakers have been working for several years on the “urgent” issue of pension reform, but it will likely be a while before proposed changes take effect.
As we reported earlier, Ohio teachers could be paying more for their pensions and getting less under a new plan approved by the State Teachers Retirement System board.
Last week, Senate President Tom Niehaus (R, New Richmond) and Senate Minority Leader Eric Kearney (D, Cincinnati) introduced bills along those lines to significantly change four major state pension funds, including the teachers’ and school employees’ pension funds.
OU study uncovers dishonesty among online class participants – “The research found that, after students had taken a class with 14 online, not-proctored quizzes, 72.5 percent of the 40 students reported cheating on at least one of the quizzes.” Ohio University Post
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