Governor Mike DeWine acted decisively to close all schools in Ohio, starting at the end of the day Monday. Some schools will close sooner.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Thursday that all Ohio schools will have a three-week spring break – starting next week – as precaution against the spread of coronavirus.
Ohio K-12 schools will be closed from 3:30 p.m. Monday through at least April 3, DeWine said. The order applies to public, private and charter schools.
“We have to do this if we are going to slow this down,” DeWine said during his daily coronavirus update.
DeWine acknowledged that unless a child has a medical problem, the risk of death for a child from COVID-19 is not very high. But he noted that children can be carriers.
“We are announcing today that children in the state will have an extended spring date. The spring break will be the duration of three weeks and we will review it at the end of that,” DeWine said.
This action for K-12 schools is in addition to suspension of in-person classes announced earlier by colleges and universities….
DeWine said he understood there were many unanswered questions.
“We’re going to try to use common sense. We are all in this together. No one is going to impose a crazy regulation that doesn’t make sense,” the governor said. “This is a crisis.”
As for the details, such as normally mandated tests, DeWine said: “If we can’t have testing this year, we will not have testing this year. The world will not come to an end.”
I tweeted last night: “We need more coronavirus tests, and less standardized testing.” #priorities
Governor DeWine has his priorities right.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Between this guy and Lee down there in Florida, one might get the idea that there are reasonable republicans. Maybe I will live to see a return to reason in political discourse.
Then schools should not be receiving grades. The grades schools received are based on standardized testing, therefore the current grading system used by the state should be eliminated.
The current A-F grading system is completely fake. It is based on standardized test scores. It gives high grades to schools in affluent districts, and low grades to schools that enroll poor children.
The current grading system is a fraud.
We need coronavirus tests, not standardized tests. That made me pump my fist in the air.
Amen to that!
Wow!!!! This is sooooooooo sensible!!!!
All governors should follow suit.
Kudos, Governor DeWine, for showing true leadership!
Doubtlessly some Ohio kids will achieve more once liberated from their school’s stultifying daily grind of Common Core and NGSS curriculum:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/03/12/during-pandemic-isaac-newton-had-work-home-too-he-used-time-wisely/
I saw [physician/ retired politician] Howard Dean on a panel of medical types being interviewed re: coronavirus. As usual he minced no words, & had nothing but contempt for WH lack of leadership & failure to let public health experts lead policy, but he praised states/ governors for beginning to plow ahead & make common-sense decisions.
Meanwhile on the fed side, it’s encouraging to watch Fauci & Redfield give testimony to House. Both have made it clear that we’ve already missed “containment.” Fauci is making a strong case for immediate mitigation via shutting down/ cancelling large-group activities/ events [schools not singled out but obviously inferred]/ unnecessary travel, & Redfield seems to have a good grip on cutting fed red-tape/ big scaling-up of testing– we should see vast improvement there as Quest & Labcorp are coming online now. Neither minimizes the immediate issues nor tries to excuse WH for how far behind the 8-ball we are.
I think we have to acknowledge that our slowness here is not just about lack of fed leadership. The leadership we have, & our partisan legislative gridlock are products of the system we have at present, like it or not. We will [hopefully] never have the govtl system of, say, China, which is able to respond swiftly by virtue of massive power held by a few. But perhaps this crisis will make more clear how our system can be tweaked in order to make it more efficient in the service of national interest.
South Korea is not a dictatorship and it is acting swiftly and responsibly to tame the virus. Right now, it is testing 10,000 people a day. We tested 8 people on March 11, according to CDC data.
Well, I’m reading this post on the morning of Friday, the 13th. Let’s hope on this supposedly ill-fated spot in the 2020 calendar we get a bit of luck thrown our nation’s way.
Yesterday was a rough one. I saw a lot of kids finally getting hit by the reality of what’s happening to our school, our town…the entire planet.
It is always wonderful to find some positive news within the comments this blog. That’s why I’ve been coming here for so many years. Bob, Left Coast, Chiara, Lloyd, Laura, Roy and the whole gang…. Love you all.
Absolutely, just scuttle the state standardized tests! Chuck ’em! It’s like in the movies when the hot air balloon is losing altitude or a plane is going down. Time to start throwing the unneeded crap out the window. (See the scene from the WWII movie “Memphis Belle” when the B-17 “Flying Fortress” just barely makes it in. We’ve done it before and we can do it again.)
Not to be “Mr. Cliche” here but I am noticing that this crisis is bringing out the best (and worst) in people.
So, Diane, for example, is even more of what she usually is…a positive, wise leader. And, I’m looking forward to some great verse from SomeDAM poet, needed now more than ever.
Of course, Trump is carrying on as a self-absorbed clod. (I was driving home yesterday listening to good ‘ole NPR and Trump made this comment: “It’s going to work out fine, You have to remember as an example that the stock market is still much higher than when I got here.” )
What? What??? Our country was in free fall yesterday and this idiot couldn’t stop thinking about himself? I just looked the comment up and forced myself to listen to Trump’s voice multiple times so I could catch the exact wording for the record. Unbe-f-ing-lievable! https://globalnews.ca/video/6666800/coronavirus-outbreak-trump-says-stock-market-still-much-higher-than-when-i-got-here
But enough about that creep.
Getting older often stinks but at least I’m not like that old geezer.
I’ve been blessed to spend many years in a public school with bright, funny, smart, creative, energetic and, yes, sometimes maddening students. I walk into my classroom every single morning hoping I can do right by them; to show some courage and be able to care.
So, fellow oldsters out there, here we go again…
To quote a very wise union leader I had the privilege of sharing lunch with years ago, “This is what we do.”
Thanks, John.
I saw Trump make that statement on TV and I was aghast. I thought, like you, “It’s not about you!” Trump lives in a bubble of luxury and privilege. He lacks any capacity for empathy. Does he know that the country is slowing to a halt, that millions of low-wage workers are being laid off, that small and large businesses are closing, that economic activity is falling? I don’t think he understands what is happening. Fake news?