This is a two-in-one article, but they are closely related. Kilroy also wrote a reaction piece to the News Journal’s article on the opt-out penalty, but his article didn’t really delve into the article. Instead, he blasted the unions and blamed them for Race To The Top. It was seven years ago Kilroy, let it go! But he didn’t stop there, he also attempted to do something with Red Clay Educators Association President Mike Matthews. I’m not sure what his motivation was with all of this, but it is obvious Kilroy has a major beef with the unions. Which got me thinking (always a dangerous thing, I know) about what might really be going on.
For all of Kilroy’s rants about Race To The Top and DSEA’s role in it, we NEVER hear one word about the charters support for Race To The Top. They had a role as well. Is there benefit for Kilroy to go gangbusters on unions and not the charters? Probably not, but then I looked at who the bulk of the commenters are on Kilroy’s nowadays. Die-hard charter and choice lovers. Led by the always controversial Publius. We know Kilroy has sidebars with a lot of his commenters. I usually talk to him every couple weeks myself. But is Kilroy being inundated with the charter special sauce? And why would someone do that? Perhaps if they were running for a local school board in the next few years. That’s right. Word on the street has it that none other than Publius himself will be running for a local school board! While some (okay, many) know who Publius really is, you won’t hear it from me.
It would greatly benefit Publius to have Kilroy turn the public against the local unions. Is Publius working Kilroy? I sure hope not, because Kilroy wouldn’t be too happy if he found out! But in my eyes, Publius on a local school board is more frightening than the last episode of American Horror Story! Say what you will about DSEA. I agree with some of Kilroy’s points on them. They could have taken a much stronger stand on opt-out. I have no clue how they really stand on the opt-out penalty and what their role is. Someone is either telling the truth or they are lying. Yeah, sometimes the truth is in the middle, but in Delaware politics, someone is usually playing someone else for their own benefit. It’s a tricky slope to sled down.
I firmly believe, that with WEIC and the redistricting effort, Mike Matthews wanted to take on a greater role because he knew the responsibilities of being President of RCEA were going to greatly increase this year. More focus and focus plus schools as well. And we all know Mike will stand up to the DOE, which is desperately needed these days, and I wish all local education associations would do this instead of sitting on the fence. Kilroy said this has never happened before. Well guess what Kilroy, the time to defend teachers against the onslaught of the DOE has never been greater!
The fun begins again on January 12th, 2016. This is when the Delaware General Assembly reconvenes for Part 2 of their 148th General Assembly. It will be a raucous ride this session, with huge budget issues taking the forefront of any discussion. Followed by education, death penalty, and right to die bills that are pending bills.
The General Assembly typically meets from Tuesdays to Thursdays with rare exceptions out of those days of the week (usually Joint Finance Committee). The various committees meet during these days as well, but there is no clear schedule for all of them. Here are the dates:
January 12th, 13th, 14th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 26th, 27th, 28th
February-1st week of March: General Assembly in Recess all month for Joint Finance Committee and Joint Finance Committee/Bond meetings.
Here are the dates for the JFC Hearings:
February 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th & 25th
And for the JFC/Bond Committee Hearings:
February 29th, March 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 8th
Back in Legislative Session:
March 8th, 9th, 10th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th
In recess for a few weeks, then back for:
April 12th, 13th, 14th, 19th, 20th, 21st
Then more JFC/Bond Hearings:
April 26th, 27th, 28th
Back In Legislative Session:
May 3rd, 4th, 5th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 17th, 18th, 19th
And then the JFC Mark-Up Session:
May 23rd, 24th, 25th, 31st, June 1st, 2nd
And then the final stretch back in Legislative Session:
June 7th, 8th, 9th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 28th, 29th, 30th, and if need be, the hours going into July 1st if the General Assembly does not pass the budget for Fiscal Year 2017. The General Assembly is required by law to keep meeting until the budget is passed.
The United States Department of Education issued non-regulatory guidance on Assessment Review on September 25th, 2015. This was a couple weeks before President Obama and Soon-To-Be-Former US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s public announcement for states to limit testing and to have no more than 2% of classroom going towards assessments. Many have predicted this is just another attempt to get rid of district assessments that give clear and meaningful data for students, parents, and teachers. We don’t want our students actually figuring out how to improve quickly when we have all those great state assessments like Smarter Balanced and PARCC that will give us results after kids go onto the next grade, right?
The full document from the US DOE is non-regulatory guidance but considered a “significant guidance document”, whatever the hell that means… When the US DOE issues guidance that is non-regulatory, that means it has not been Congressionally approved by both Houses in the US Congress. Which is how the US DOE likes to operate, without legislative approval…
Another request for proposal came out from the Delaware Department of Education at the end of October. This one is for the Delaware Early Learning Literacy. You can read the whole below document, and what they want this vendor to do that they clearly can’t do themselves. But what it boils down to is this part from the Request for Proposal:
Decreasing the percent of students with disabilities in grade 3 that score below proficiency on the statewide assessment.
It always comes back to the same thing: Smarter Balanced. The damn test…
Matthew Albright with the News Journal wrote about the betrayal and backstabbing by Secretary Godowsky and the Delaware Department of Education yesterday. I have to wonder if that story would have come out two weeks from now had I not broken the news last night…
The whole article is chock full of lies as the REAL story is coming out. I’ll get to the REAL story shortly, but some points I want to make from the News Journal article.
That’s a harsher penalty for schools with low participation rates than a panel of administrators and teacher and parent advocates recommended.
Let’s take a good look at this. Because in the eyes of the DOE and the State Board of Education, the only voices that mattered in this charade were Donna Johnson, Penny Schwinn and Ryan Reyna. Johnson is the Executive Director of the State Board of Education, and she has been calling the shots in the House of Jack for far too long. She advises the State Board what to vote for, and she sits on these committees and work groups all the time. I won’t get too much into the machinations Johnson has been up to as some are still under investigation. But it is past time Donna Johnson was removed from power in the Townshend Building. As for Schwinn, she smiles a lot and talks the big talk, but I have no doubt she formed this work group for the sole purpose of making it look like the DOE gave a crap about stakeholder input. Reyna is the wild card, the guy who answers to Schwinn and does whatever she wants. All three of them- Johnson, Schwinn, and Reyna- have been giving false advice to not only the AFWG, but also to the State Board and Secretary of Godowsky.
State officials say the penalty is a fair way to make sure every student’s academic progress is considered when sizing up a school.
I’m calling bullshit on this one. The penalty is so the DOE can punish schools for a parent’s decision. And it is the DOE sizing up the schools and casting their judgments on them. And this is the infamous “Accountability 2.0” I wrote about earlier this year which came from an email at the DOE from 2013. The DOE has been planning this Delaware School Success Framework for years. The legislation they had to plan in April of 2015? That is Regulation 103. It got pushed back about six months, but make no mistake, it was all for this school report card crap. And implementation of the school report card? That takes place in the 2016-2017 school year.
The federal government requires states have an accountability system, and it requires that test results make up a significant part of the score. It also requires “consequences” for schools that fall below 95 percent participation on the state test.
Do some fact checking on this one Matt Albright! Did the Delaware DOE tell you that, or did you actually contact the US DOE for that information? In the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), it does state schools must have a report card. The ESEA was passed by Congress in 1965. It has been amended several times, but since President Obama came aboard, the Feds have played a heavy hand in education with non-regulatory guidance. Which is NOT Congressionally approved. The US DOE knows damn well what kind of game they are playing here.
The group recommended schools that fall below 95 percent should be required to submit a report explaining why that happened and how to improve participation – and should be ineligible to receive certain honors from the state.
Here is where the DOE’s argument falls apart. The day the Accountability Framework Working Group (AFWG) approved this unanimously, Penny Schwinn explained to the group that Governor Markell gave certain options as penalties for the participation rate. This was one of the options she proposed by the Governor. The very next day, at the DESS Advisory Group, Schwinn explained that she talked to Governor Markell the night before, after the last AFWG meeting, and he was okay with the group’s recommendation. So what changed in a month? Meanwhile, the trio of Schwinn, Reyna and Johnson have been telling folks schools will lose Federal funding if the participation rate goes below 95%. Which is an absolute lie.
And then the DOE’s Public Information Officer chimed in (who used to write for the News Journal):
“The state feels this is a fair proposal that takes into consideration participation, crediting schools that that work to ensure every child’s learning growth is considered,” May wrote.
Yes, the “that that” was in the article. When May says “the state”, who is she talking about? Donna Johnson? Ryan Reyna? Penny Schwinn? Jack Markell? Secretary Godowsky? The DOE and Governor Markell are not “the state”. “The state” is also made up of educators, parents, legislators and citizens. I’m sure if a vote was taken right now, the entirety of “the state” would not agree with this. First and foremost, it is bad policy, and second of all, it has Jack Markell’s stink all over it. This is his way of leaving his legacy of hate for any who would stand against him.
She also points out that parents would still be able to see the school’s unadjusted performance when they get their “report cards” in the mail or online, but the overall component that measures academic performance would be lowered.
This is the DOE’s way of saying “Hey, you parents who opted your kid out, look what you did. This is what it would have been had you not opted your kid out, but because you did this is causing your kid’s school to look bad”. It is a slap in the face of parents and their rights, and a kick in the back to the schools who aren’t allowed to encourage opt-out.
The Delaware State Education Association had a representative on the working group, and its president, Frederika Jenner, said the education union stood by its recommendation.
Really Frederika? You might want to talk to your director and your AFWG rep, cause I’m hearing talk coming out of the DOE that they both support this opt-out penalty. More on that one later.
State officials, however, maintain that the penalty isn’t related to opt out.
This is the biggest joke of them all. Participation rate IS based on opt-out. If it isn’t about opt-out, what the hell is it about? You are lying through your lying little teeth DOE. You lie when you don’t even have to. You are a Department of compulsive liars. Shame on you for abusing authority like this and lying to parents, students, educators and the citizens of Delaware. Shame on you! You all hate opt-out because you know it is the only mechanism left that can and will put a stop to all or your crafty plans.
As for Secretary Godowsky… if you honestly believe everything that has come out of the mouths of Johnson, Schwinn and Reyna, you are unfit to be the Delaware Secretary of Education. I know of many conversations you had today with things that are not even in this article in an effort to put a lid on this quickly. Where is the whole part about the Smarter Balanced Assessment going away for juniors because of the SAT which is being realigned to become SBAC Jr.? How about the part where the participation rate for the SAT is 100% because Delaware used Race To The Top funds to pay for that and paid for every high school junior to take it? But now those funds are gone? Buries that argument real quick! Or the part where certain people at DSEA and all the Superintendents of all the districts are behind this because of the very faulty SAT argument which only accounts for high school juniors? I’m also hearing those state superintendents were not happy at all about this total ignorance of the AFWG’s recommendations. So which is the real story Secretary Godowsky? The fabrication of lies in the News Journal, or what you are telling other folks? It sounds to me like you are lining up all the stakeholders and playing them against each other. Shifting blame and collaboration to appease the complaints you got today. Sorry Secretary Godowsky, I know you have your defenders, but all your effort and lip service to making the DOE better fell apart in a week once your were confirmed by the Delaware Senate.
And Jack. Jack Jack Jack… Don’t think you are just sliding out of this one. No way! Your dirty fingerprints are all over this one. We all know these underlings of yours don’t breathe sideways unless you give them your dictatorial stamp of approval. Once again, like you did when you came up with your rebuttals against opt-out and vetoed House Bill 50, you are disrespecting parents and their rights. You are allowing YOUR Department, your education governance system to LIE to the very people you are sworn to represent. You are not an honorable man. You are duplicitous and slimy. I have no doubt you will continue to destroy public education and Pompeii the whole thing before you leave office. This is your payback now. Your small, petty and vengeful payback against those who would dare to stand against the almighty Jack Markell. But you will lose on this one Jack. Make no mistake. This will be rectified and course corrected, and soon, you and your little regulation raiders will be gone and your legacy of shame will go down in the history of Delaware as one of the worst governorships the First State has ever seen.
The Season Of Myths 