Kilroy’s School Board Audio Recording Bill Passes House With 40-0 Vote!

Kilroy’s School Board Audio Recording bill, sponsored by State Rep. Deb Hudson, passed the Delaware House of Representatives unanimously just now.  The final vote was 40 yes and 1 absent.  House Bill 61 is the second time this bill has been in the General Assembly.  House Bill 23, from the 147th General Assembly, never got a full House vote.

This is Kilroy’s legacy to Delaware.  He has fought hard for this bill for years.  The first time I ever went to Legislative Hall was for my failed attempt to get House Bill 23 up on the agenda.  This was my thanks to Kilroy for letting me write a very long story about my son on his blog before I started this one.  A lot has happened since then and the need for transparency from our school boards has never been greater.  It still has to go through the Senate, with the Senate Education Committee first.  But there is no reason why it shouldn’t pass there.

Congrats Kilroy!  I’m glad I got to hear it live!

State Rep. Earl Jaques said it was a great bill!

State Rep. Kim Williams thanked State Rep. Hudson for sponsoring the bill!

I emailed Kilroy a VERY BAD audio recording of the vote on the school board audio recording bill!

Get A Chance To Find Out What The Delaware DOE Is Doing With Student Data!!!!

This has been a huge question on my mind for the past six months: How secure is student data?  Next Tuesday, March 15th, Open Data Delaware is hosting a presentation with Atnre Alleyne and Shana Ricketts from the Delaware Department of Education to talk about data in the Department.  From the announcement on Meetup.com:

We’ll hear from Atnre Alleyne & Shanna Ricketts, both with the Teacher Leader Effectiveness Unit at the Delaware Department of Education.  Most recently Atnre has been the Director, Talent Management & Educator Effectiveness, while Shanna has worked as a Data Strategist.  They will be discussing how the DDOE uses data, what education data is currently available to the public, and what some high impact projects could be.

I really want to know what happens to the data once the DOE uses it.  How much is going to the Federal Learning Registry, the joint system shared by both the United States Department of Education and the Department of Defense?  What happens to data from algorithms in existing programs?  How much data from personalized learning and standardized assessments is going out to education vendors?  How much social-emotional student data is going out?  Will Delaware ever see the very frightening “data badges” Colorado is doing a pilot program for?

For those interested in these kinds of things (something ALL Delaware parents should really know about before it is too late), I highly recommend attending this presentation at 1313 N. Market St. in Wilmington on March 15th at 6pm.  If you are unable to attend, I plan on going and I will definitely let everyone know what I am able to find out.  Open Data Delaware is sponsored by 1313 Innovation and Zip Code Wilmington.

Learn how the @DEDeptofEd uses #data w/ @atnre_alleyne & @shannaricketts. Tues 3/15 @ 6 pm https://t.co/UYvcIlyXuX pic.twitter.com/tCC69KJnYj

— Open Data Delaware (@opendatade) March 9, 2016

House Bill 61 (Recording of School Board Meetings) Will Be Heard in the House Today!

DelawareFirstState

A few folks will be happy to find out that House Bill 61 is on the agenda today. Here is a link to House Bill 61. House Bill 61

This bill requires that all public meetings of the boards of education of public school districts, vo-tech school districts, and public meetings of charter schools’ boards of directors be digitally recorded and made available to the public on the districts’ and charter schools’ websites within seven business days. The recordings will not be considered the official board minutes.

Currently the Red Clay Consolidated School District, Christina School District, and the Capital School District on a voluntary basis approved by their boards of education have been providing the public digital recordings of their board public session meetings via the district’s websites.The Delaware State Board of Education is required by the State Board of Education to make available within one business day digital…

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