Week in Review 10-30-2020

Week in Review > Week in Review 10-30-2020

Posted by Buckeye Association of School Administrators on October 30th, 2020

CORONAVIRUS

Ohio rocketed to a new record day of case growth Thursday with 3,590 new COVID-19 cases, capping a week where it had continued to set and then break records for daily growth in cases, with a Friday, Oct. 23 record of 2,518 broken just a day later with the 2,858 cases reported Saturday. 

With 82 of the state’s 88 counties meeting the federal definition of “high incidence” of COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday, Gov. Mike DeWine said he was planning to meet with leaders from each county individually to figure out better strategies to contain the fast growing spread of the coronavirus. On Thursday, he expanded on this approach by calling on community leaders in each county to form COVID-19 defense teams to assess the spread and focus on steps to slow that spread.

EDUCATION

The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) recently debuted its “Whole Child Framework” for addressing student needs beyond academics, a key plank of the department’s strategic plan for education, Each Child Our Future. An advisory panel met Wednesday to discuss how to put the plan into action.

The U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) has released a digital learning guide for parents and families to help them navigate the digital and remote learning taking place during the pandemic. Many Ohio school districts are teaching students remotely all or part of the time, a situation that’s likely to persist longer as COVID-19 cases surge in the state. The guide is available at https://tinyurl.com/y5gflurm .

ENERGY/ UTILITIES

Columbus and Cincinnati sued the state of Ohio and FirstEnergy Corp. in Franklin County court Tuesday to halt the collection of nuclear and solar energy subsidies from all utility customers in Ohio. The cities say Attorney General Dave Yost’s civil suit against FirstEnergy, former House Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) and related entities and cohorts in the alleged HB6 (Callender-Wilkin) bribery scheme falls short by allowing the “unconstitutional tax” of nearly $1 billion to proceed on Jan. 1, 2021.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY/STATEHOUSE

Rep. Larry Householder (R-Glenford) paid several hundred thousand dollars in political donor money to the attorneys defending him against federal corruption charges in September, campaign finance records filed this week show. The spending appears likely to generate another referral to the Ohio Elections Commission.

Rep. John Becker is wasting law enforcement resources on a political dispute with Gov. Mike DeWine and should be ordered to pay attorney fees or spend a day watching criminal trials as a sanction to deter such “frivolous” complaints, Attorney General Dave Yost argued in a court filing. Becker had filed a “private citizen affidavit” against DeWine weeks ago, seeking to have Clermont County Prosecutor Vincent Faris bring charges ranging from terrorism to inducing panic to corruption over the governor’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Becker had previously drafted articles of impeachment against the governor. When Faris declined to pursue a complaint based on Becker’s charges, the lawmaker turned to the 12th District Court of Appeals in hopes of an order compelling Faris to act. Becker retorted in a filing Monday that Yost himself deserves to be sanctioned and should resign.

HIGHER EDUCATION

Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) was named the best university in Ohio in a recent analysis by the financial advisory website WalletHub. The analysis, meant to determine the top-performing schools at the lowest possible costs to undergraduates, compared 1,009 colleges and universities in the U.S. across 30 key measures grouped into seven categories.