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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2007 > April > 02 > Entry
The Education Edition of the DDN
(Pam Stenzel speaks at Springboro High School)
Was it just me or was there a ton of educaiton-related stories in the Sunday Dayton Daily News? The front page alone had sex education, pension double-dipping and the tragic death of Sarah Merritt.
in case you missed them, check out these stories:
—Following up on the story recently about Gov. Ted Strickland’s opposition to abstinence-only education my colleague Laura Bischoff attended an abstinence-only sex education program at Springboro High School and found some of speaker Pam Stenzel’s statstics didn’t add up.
—Columnist Mary McCarty, I thought, did a nice job writing about Sarah Merritt the Tipp City teen who died tragically on Spring Break. Merritt, her fiancee said, was sober when she tried to climb from one balcony to another. She sounds like a great kid. What a sad story.
—Reporter Lynn Hulsey take an in depth look at public employees who retire and are rehired. Her story is primary about county and municipal employees, but this is a common, and controversial, practice in school districts, too, where top administrators frequently double-dip under state rules that allow them to collect pension and keep working.
—Finally, the Associated Press reports that a new law taking affect Friday will forbids those under 17 from having passengers who are not family unless they have a parent with them. The rationale is that a study showed the risk of a fatal crash at this age triples with another teen passenger and doubles again with a third passenger.
Wow. It was practically the Education Daily News Sunday! I’d love to hear your thoughts on these issues.
(Image credit: Ron Alvey, DDN)
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Schools and Politics, Sex Education, Student Health and Safety
Comments
By Oldprof
April 3, 2007 11:21 AM | Link to this
I think the education connection in most of those stories is tangential at best. The Stenzel article certainly was, but Merritt’s tragedy could have happened to any young person inclinded to balcony-climb, the double-dipping issue applies to all public employees in Ohio, and driving laws are not linked to learning. There are many issues central to education—including how to reform funding, how to balance employee job security with accountability, how to reform curriculum and instruction to produce more and better graduates. These issues get squeezed out by the periodic devotion of editorial page space to those who continue to think, despite all evidence, that continued underfunding and more charter schools are the answer.By Mary
April 2, 2007 8:47 PM | Link to this
Another example -the article in today’s sports section about the tax exempt status of the NCAA should probably have been on the front page, also. The public has been totally misled and not informed on that situation. The Dayton Daily plants a lot of stories about sports on the front page - that one certainly deserves it moreso.By Mary
April 2, 2007 3:58 PM | Link to this
My perceptions for a while have been that the Dayton Daily News is starting to spend more time and space on education issues. It also seems to be developing more depth. Good, now let’s hope the public is finding the time and interest to read them. Loss of any child, including Merritt, is tragic. As far as its significance to education, did being a star soccer player, homecoming queen, etc play on her psyche as being invincible? Did a concussion or heading the ball also play into this (I am not being light. Concussion injuries in sports are linked to behavioral changes including impulsive behavior.)