Athens Messenger Goes To School For A Day

The Governor stirred up a hornet’s nest when he proposed that teachers be required to serve an externship in a business as a part of the license renewal process. One response was the introduction of HB 129 to require the Governor to serve 40 hours in school districts each of the next two school years.

This externship wrangle moved Athens Messenger’s Sarah Guinn to visit Athens High School for a day. The March 20 Messenger coverage of Guinn’s visit is enlightening.
School officials may wish to invite journalists to spend a day, possibly a week, at one or more district schools.

Here’s a short except from Guinn’s piece:

What if Gov. John Kasich were to do an externship in the Ohio school systems? What would he see, what would he hear and what would he learn? How would he react when he sees a high school student whisper a plea born of hunger and witness that teacher slip off to the school’s resource room to grab a bite to eat for the student?

That very scene took place Wednesday when The Messenger, in the vein of Kasich, headed to school for a full day, observing classes first-hand and watching teachers work to fit the day’s instruction into a 43-minute period while simultaneously sending off an email, clarifying attendance through several phone calls, and more.

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William L. Phillis, Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding

ohioeanda@sbcglobal.net