DSEA May Not Be Endorsing Sokola, But They Sure As Hell Are Paying For One Of His Ads… No Thanks To Their Leader…

The Delaware State Education Association did not endorse Delaware Senator David Sokola this year.  They always have in the past.  But that didn’t stop their President, Frederika Jenner, from helping to pay for his online ads…

So who is Delawareans First PAC?

 

Yup, this is the same Frederika Jenner.  The President of DSEA.  The same organization Sokola took an axe to with House Bill 399, the teacher evaluation bill.  The same Frederika Jenner that sits on the Rodel-inspired (and funded) Vision Coalition.  I’m sure she will be ticked at me over this but I truly don’t care.  She will be out in January.  Hopefully we will have new and better leadership that won’t surrender Delaware educators to the Rodel time-bomb that is just ticking away until it fully blows up Delaware public education in favor of Charterville.  But that’s right, she just wants to sit at the table with them.  But that’s okay.  Let’s help fund the campaign of the one Delaware legislator who should NOT be re-elected under any circumstances…

Ex-DOE Employee Trying To Steer The Conversation With Delaware’s ESSA Plan… But He’s A Benefactor…

I’ve written about Atnre Alleyne more than any other Delaware Dept. of Education employee (aside from Godowsky) in the past six months and he doesn’t even work there anymore!  On Wednesday, Delaware Public Media released a letter Alleyne wrote to the Delaware DOE for input on the first draft of their Every Student Succeeds Act which should be out tomorrow.  With a ton of other sponsors on the letter, including Rodel, Teach For America, the Delaware Charter Schools Network, the Delaware Business Roundtable, the Delaware Chamber of Commerce, and of course, TeenSHARP, an organization run by Alleyne and his wife.  An organization he could potentially benefit from through ESSA grants.  No conflict of interest there.  But to make matters worse, he also sits on the Governor’s ESSA Advisory Committee.

Alleyne and the Delaware Corporate Education Reform Network (my new nickname for the above-mentioned companies) also rounded up every single civil rights group they could for this letter.  The PACE Network, Christina Cultural Arts Center, the Wilmington Education Strategy Think Tank, Aspira of Delaware, and oddly enough, the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware.  The same organization who submitted a Civil Rights complaint against the State of Delaware and Red Clay Consolidated School District for authorizing charter schools that continue segregation in Delaware (22 months later and no word on that one).

To say Alleyne is making a move would be an understatement.  This was the same person who did everything in his power to kill legislation on teacher evaluations.  He pretty much got his wish when Senator David Sokola added his amendments to the bill.  Why should anyone listen to what amounts to a benefactor of ESSA?  Thanks to Delaware Public Media for putting this letter up on Scribd.  While I agree with very few of the points of the letter, it is definitely a power grab by Alleyne.  Alleyne is also an “education fellow” at 50CAN, just another one of those education think tanks that sprung up in the past decade with funding by the Gates Foundation and a gazillion other foundations that support charter schools.  And one of the documents Alleyne brings up in his letter was something Alleyne was compensated for at the Delaware DOE.  He worked in the Teacher/Leader Effectiveness Unit before he sprouted his wings to do… this kind of stuff.

I have no doubt the Delaware DOE gave this letter very serious consideration and will incorporate the thoughts of it in the plan.  Kind of like how Senator Sokola took Alleyne’s charges with House Bill 399 very seriously.  But they were in cahoots the whole time.  This is Rodelaware you know…

View this document on Scribd

Markell Uses Bloom Energy Fiasco To Pimp Pathways To Prosperity

In a deal that can only be seen as very controversial, the News Journal has a huge article in their paper today on the less than promised job giver.  The heart of the article deals with how Bloom Energy was supposed to create 900 jobs for Delaware but instead only created 277.  But there is part of the article that links to the Delaware Pathways to Prosperity program:

The Governor said Bloom would not abandon the hundreds of manufacturing jobs it created and the state.  He added that the company has been involved in community groups, including one of Markell’s favorite programs, Pathways to Prosperity.  The program prepares high school students with in-demand job skills by having them work at local companies, including Bloom.

So are these Pathways students that work at Bloom included in the 277 Delaware employees?  Do they get the same wage as a non-student Pathways employees?  Only Jack Markell would try to find sunshine in a hurricane.  Bloom Energy was not as bad as Gray Davis’ horrible energy deal in California but there are similarities.  Davis was impeached in a California referendum back in 2003 and Arnold Schwarzenegger became the Governor during a recall election.  Delaware would never have the strength to do that to Governor Markell, especially since he only has a few months left in office.  How many other Pathways jobs are linked to bad deals from Jack Markell?

Personalization or Profiling? Childhood in the Ed-Tech Era

This! Thank you Wrench In The Gears for this document. Ed Reform 2.0 is the snake in the grass while we have all been complaining about Ed Reform 1.0. It is already in place in many areas. We have been building up to this for a long time. It is time to see it for it really is: the complete transformation of public education, our labor workforce, and society as we know it. And, as always, our children are the guinea pigs and lab rats that will make this happen.

Wrench in the Gears

It was great spending time this afternoon with opt out activists in New York City discussing Ed Reform 2.0 developments and digital education. I created a slide share for that presentation, and because it contains a number of useful links and resources, I wanted to make it available to others. Click on the image above to access it. This is a work in progress, so feel free to make suggestions in the comments!

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