Don’t Be Fooled By The Delaware DOE… Our State Plan For ESSA Was Pre-Determined By Rodel A Long Time Ago

Rodel runs the show in Delaware education.  I now have very positive proof this is the case.

The Delaware Every Student Succeeds Act Advisory Committee will hold their first meeting at Legislative Hall in the House Majority Hearing Room next Wednesday, October 19th, at 6pm.  As shown on the agenda, Appoquinimink Superintendent Matt Burrows will be the Chair of the committee.  The only other member I have confirmation on is Delaware State Rep. Kim Williams.  But I am assuming, based on who Governor Markell* picked for the slots, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out some of the other members.

You may be wondering why I put an askterisk next to Governor Markell’s name.  That is the most horrifying thing concerning all of this.  I made a discovery last night that I wasn’t expecting.  One of those “curiosity got the best of me” kind of things.  I pulled up the actual Executive Order #62 Markell issued to create the advisory committee.  I wanted to see what groups the Governor was picking these members from.  What I did, after I read it again, confirmed 100% who is calling the shots on ESSA in Delaware.  I’ll give you a big hint… it’s not Markell.

Jack Markell didn’t write Executive Order #62.  No one employed by the State of Delaware did.  It was written by an employee at the Rodel Foundation of Delaware.  Jenna Bucsak.  She is Rodel’s Program Officer.  And she wrote Executive Order #62.  Which means Rodel is calling the shots on the whole ESSA state plan for Delaware.  I suspected it, but this confirms it.  Below is a screen-shot of the properties for the pdf of Executive Order #62.  To put this in perspective, a non-state employee wrote an Executive Order.  A Rodel employee.  Whose thoughts and ideas look very familiar…

Now some could say I threw her name in there.  That I set all this up.  They would be wrong.  In the below picture, it shows the security for the pdf file.  While it says “no security”, certain things are locked in.  Including the “signing” part of the document.  That is the authorship.  Once that is put in there, it can’t be changed.

I shouldn’t be shocked.  I really shouldn’t.  But after seeing firsthand what the plans are for the special education strategic plan, and now this, I can’t look away.  The key to stopping Rodel’s plans needs to be an organized mutiny.  Advocates of all groups need to come to these meetings and say no.  When the public comment period opens, we need to annihilate their plans.  ESSA isn’t state led in Delaware.  It is Rodel led.  We have been played for chumps.  How much other legislation has Rodel written?  We all know they like to keep things secret.  They obviously came up with the Pathways for Prosperity Steering Committee as well given Bucsak’s Markell worshipping tweets.  They are calling ALL the shots in education and it needs to stop, NOW!!!!

When I sat in the ESSA discussion group, I looked around.  I saw people I’ve never seen before involved in this.  At first, I thought that was good.  Get some new players involved.  But they were carefully selected to play their roles in favor of Rodel’s plan.  So why did they pick me?  Better to have me give my “crazy” conspiracy theories to those committed to Rodel’s plan?  Or just more puppets for the DOE and Herdman to dangle?  Their “discussion” questions lean towards certain things happening.  They are so specific and worded in such a way that it would be close to impossible to answer them any other way.  These are master manipulators.  If you look at the minutes for the first meeting from 10/5, you will see my question about Common Core.  There was a bit missing from that.  I asked why we aren’t looking at getting rid of Smarter Balanced and Common Core since ESSA gives us the flexibility to do that.  I also asked why the DOE was the only one to answer that question and did not give it to the people to weigh in on.  Godowsky’s response was essentially the same.  But whoever writes the minutes for these meetings is not capturing what is really going on.  And if they are recording these meetings, where are the recordings for the public to hear?  Or is that just the DOE and Rodel’s privilege?

I reached out to Rodel’s CEO, Paul Herdman, two weeks ago.  I played it straight and expressed what I know.  I even advised him I wouldn’t write about them and that we should talk.  His response?  NOTHING.  You blew it Herdman.  You had your chance.  And with Burrows running the advisory committee, one of the most ed reformee Superintendents in the state, it leads me to the conclusion this is all pre-determined.  The DOE may add some minor things to their ESSA plan, but make no mistake, it is ALL about what Rodel wants.

I will have more ideas about how we can stop this.  Stay tuned…