Another Brief Note

I have nothing but the utmost respect for Joe Biden. When I heard he shook every single person’s hand who came to the viewing in Dover on Thursday, I was amazed. The fact that the whole family did the same for eleven hours, in the midst of grieving, shows an integrity and compassion that is all too rare in this day and age. God bless this family. After all this, that’s when it will really sink in. They will need our prayers then too…

kavips

As the clock approached midnight, the last of well wishers who’d slipped in just before the gates closed around 830 pm gave their condolences to the Biden family….

The posted schedule said Friday’s viewing would be between 12-4 and 6-9 pm…

So many people showed up that the family stood non-stop from 12 noon to a little after 11pm greeting everyone of the overwhelming number who showed. Many of which had the long trip down south to our Southern portion when they were done…..

And that is rather amazing.

One person, obviously nervous, was overheard to have said “thank you for all you do”  when meeting Joe… Oddly that encompasses how lucky Delaware is to have it’s Bidens….
One has every right to be selfish when losing one’s son.  I cannot imagine…. Friends who’ve lost theirs, describe the dark hole that swallows you up and takes years to accept… Years.

But many of…

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Priority Schools: The Truth Revealed Part 36 **The Legislator Q&A**

It’s been a couple weeks, but we are nearing the end in the Priority Schools FOIA Saga.  In this edition, see how a state representative challenged the Delaware Department of Education and would not stop asking them essential questions that needed answers.  Did the DOE satisfactorily answer the legislator’s questions?  And what school in Delaware mistakenly received $500,000.00 in Federal government funding?  Find out NOW:

Yes, State Rep. Kim Williams was one of the legislators who not only submitted FOIA requests to the DOE immediately after the announcement, but also pounded the DOE with question after question.

Was the Delaware DOE completely truthful with Rep. Williams?  She asked the DOE how the schools were approved, and they informed her this was based on the ESEA requested/approved methodology.  Which means the DOE created the very rubric to label the six schools.  If you read the earlier parts in this, you can see whodunit and how!

And Moyer got $500,000 in partnership zone funds when they weren’t even legally a partnership zone school because they changed hands and were a “new” school.  Did Moyer ever return those funds?  And who was the Delaware DOE employee who is no longer employed with them?  Talk about a colossal mistake!

While The DOE Has Everyone Distracted By Legislation, Watch For What Is Coming…

While everyone is looking at House Bill 50 and other legislative matters, the Delaware Department of Education is just driving right past it without stopping to reassess themselves.  For example, two MORE contract bids have been put out as RFP’s by the DOE.  These are both for the upcoming school accountability initiative, the School Report Card.

and then there is this:

What is truly frightening is when these surveys will take place.  If it is during the summer, before standardized test scores come in, that would be one thing.  But if it is any time after, as in one to two months, that would be very bad.  It would have to be at some point during the summer in my estimation, otherwise how can you really judge a product until it is finished?

I see severe danger with these “School Report Cards”.  It will depend on what kind of questions are asked to the students, parents and teachers.  If it is anything like recent surveys I’ve seen by the DOE, it will be dangerous because of the nature of the choices giving a best possible result.

If you really dig into these RFP’s, the DOE wants the vendor to make sure when someone puts the school and report card on a search engine like Google or Yahoo, it comes up on the first page of the search.  They are very eager for the three stakeholders to take these surveys and for the public to see them.  There is still some time to figure out what the DOE’s intentions are with these, but I don’t trust it.  This is part of their ESEA waiver requirements, but I don’t trust any of the ESEA Flex Waivers…

The devil is in the details, and it will be very interesting to see who the contracted vendor on these two contracts will be…