It is really startling to see how frequently a schools success moves in inverse proportion to it’s government control. Take the Thomas Aquinas school in Cleveland. “Whenever I visit a school, I look for the unplanned things that give you a window into hidden vibrancy or challenges in the community,” Kathleen Porter-Magee, a senior visiting fellow at the Thomas Fordham Institute writes. “During my visit to one school last week, two unplanned interruptions stood out.”
“First, the assistant principal received a call from her middle school social studies teacher to share some good news: A group of their seventh graders won first place in the John Carroll University ‘We the People’ Call for Action and Social Justice Program, the school’s third first-place victory in as many years.”
“Not long after, an upper-elementary math teacher stepped out to take a call from the Cleveland Cavaliers. It seems that one of her students is the only student in Ohio to be chosen for the NBA Math Hoops competition, and its organizers wanted to let her know that they were sending the Cavs mascot to cheer on the student.”
