The Board of Directors at Thomas Edison Charter School are facing a head-on karma collision today. At least 20 teachers called out sick today forcing the school to close for the day in early dismissal. Dr. Salome Thomas-EL has been placed on indefinite leave by the board. Parents don’t know what is going on due to the lack of transparency coming from the board.
Yesterday afternoon, members of the board met with teachers after school. Note to self: find out if there was a quorum because there was no agenda posted for this meeting. Several teachers walked out of this meeting.
I did find out their “Foundation” account is due to the school owning the building. That account is meant for lease and renovation payments to which they receive payments from the state. Whether it is used for that purpose, I cannot say. But it is my hope someone in the state looks into that. My question would be why they need a separate bank account and why those bank statements aren’t available to the public since it is fueled by taxpayer funds.
At this point it is a no-brainer that the Delaware Dept. of Education has gotten involved. Far too much has happened since yesterday morning. I have not found out whether or not a charter school board has the authority to deny teachers a state approved increase in pay. My sense is that they do not have this authority. And is Thomas Edison the only charter denying these increases to their teachers?
The Season Of Myths 
Kevin: If you look back in the archives- I did a lot of digging into this corruption years ago. I was sour at the time when the Board allowed Alina Columbus to fire 80% of the staff in a 19 minute firing squad. If you recall, previously Edison was 90% proficient in some key middle school area like English and Math and had been rated Superior for two years in a row. In addition, the same team I worked with was awarded a Superstar in Education award. As achievement director, I had the details of the steady incremental growth from the 12th percentile to the 80-90the percentile to eliminate any naysayers who could suggest the data was not a true refection of a great team with students traditionally on track to get left behind.
I see many of the cohort that was 80-90% proficient in Math and English working in various capacities in New Castle County and we all hug and talk about what it was like to attend Edison.
This same board allowed Alina to fire many and in my case she asked me to walk out the door on May 16th, never speak of it and she promised to pay me until the end of the year.
That same board has been figuring out a way to extend the Sill’s administration’s corruption to personally profit from public dollars. If you want me to spell it out to you again, I can or alternatively you can look it up. I pasted names dates and bad behavior beginning with Phase V and the never ending problem that the kids do not have a playground because of their greed and corruption.
El was not the same leader as Chuck Hughes- so call Chuck back to see if he can step back in and show the city that children at risk can be successful with good leadership.
LikeLike