Last night, the Professional Standards Board, a committee that looks at regulatory matters with educators in Delaware, had their monthly meeting. Part of this meeting had presentations on two possible new school leadership programs. The first was by Teach For America and a program called Lead For Delaware. The second was presented by two educators from Sussex County, a program called Flex (Fostering Leadership Excellence). This is for pending Regulation #1595- Certification Program for Leaders in Education.
In the past, programs brought forth by Teach For America (TFA) were usually accepted right off the bat with very little argument against it. Last night this changed dramatically as the Chair of the Professional Standards Board (PSB), Byron Murphy, lambasted Teach For America for their arrogance and slamming of career teachers, as well as their tendency to use teaching as a stepping stone. Byron Murphy also came down hard on the individual who presented the program, Jeremy Grant-Skinner, who is also the Senior Managing Director of this TFA program. Murphy claimed Grant-Skinner had absolutely no school leadership experience. When it came time for a motion by the board to vote on the program, not one single member of the Professional Standards Board would enter a motion.
As a result, the Executive Director of the PSB, Chris Kenton, immediately went on to the next presentation and the educators from Sussex presented their FLEX program, and afterwards, the board approved it unanimously. This is a tidal wave in Delaware of huge proportions. It used to be a given that any TFA program would be approved, but last night’s decision is showing that perhaps Delaware’s love affair with TFA is coming to an end. It was widely assumed by the DOE this TFA program would be approved by the PSB, and even TFA’s Executive Director Laurissa Schutt did not attend the meeting. The Delaware DOE will NOT be happy about this decision.
*This article has been corrected. Chris Kenton did NOT leave the meeting after the first presentation and stayed until the end. My apologies to Mr. Kenton.
Below are the presentations from the PSB meeting last night. The first two are the TFA project, and the last is the FLEX from the Sussex educators.
The Season Of Myths 
The Teach For America program needs to leave DE. The college graduates that took part in this program were lured in to save $. They were not ever looking to make a real difference in the education of our children. They were “doing their time” for personal benefit, not student benefit. We need to find a way to support the good teachers that we already have so that they will stay in education. If we do this, more young idealistic education graduates will want to work here knowing that we have their backs. We have the power to change the face of how our students are educated but we cannot continue to allow so much of the educational budget to be spent on those not in the classroom!
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Bravo for Byron Murphy, a principal with principles. Way to make a difference!
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I’m not sure about the Chris Kenton walked out comment. Maybe I missed the intent to appear as though he was walking out in some sort of protest because I just saw him leave at the end of the meeting…
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The unbelievably biased attempt by the TEMBO report to legitimize TFA couldn’t even make a case for this pathetically inept “educator” group. For the most part it is a resume building culture for ambitious and untrained pretenders whose teaching skills and dedication can often impede the progress of the lower performing students. Read the report and you will see the statistical proof of that despite the fact that TEMBO seems to be another of the less qualified RFP submitting consultants created by DEDOE and this administration hell bent on spending every taxpayer dollar anywhere but in the classroom
John Kowalko
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Reblogged this on Cloaking Inequity.
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Julian, how are you able to reblog? My wordpress hasn’t allowed me to reblog for a couple weeks now.
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Just hit reblog button on your post.
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Did they move it? It’s completely gone!
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If you are logged in it should appear.
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