Finally! After weeks of Delaware Governor John Carney’s posturing about his plans for the Christina School District Wilmington schools, Delaware State Education Association President Mike Matthews gave a shout-out to his fellow DSEA members about the rapidly developing situation.
Being at the table doesn’t mean you are in full collaboration with the rest of the table. But it is a slippery slope. Cause sometimes they will serve you on the table. Carney’s Springfield gambit has more holes than a donut shop. The Springfield teachers union was not on board with this at all despite any mainstream articles you read about it. I fully expect DSEA and the Christina local to speak out 100% against this when the time comes.
In looking at the demographics between Christina and Springfield, I noticed the student populations are vastly different. While Springfield’s largest minority is Hispanic students, Christina’s Wilmington students are mostly African-American. This represents different needs and approaches right off the bat. For those who see this is a softer approach to Christina, I don’t. I see it as a forced coercion on the part of the Governor and the Delaware Dept. of Education. And it appears they have the usual suspects pimping for them.
The Season Of Myths 
Too many of the same people making the same type of rules causing more confusion and poor results. Gov Carney and his co-conspirators are in the business of making money for himself and his associates not seeking ways to implement ways to improve school environments and teaching practices. Imposing more restrictions will only make teachers disgusted with the multiple restrictions and resign. It’s been said before, “enough is enough”. Stop spending education money, which is a third of the state budget, on study groups, contractors, training that doesn’t work, and administrators who spend their time in meetings. Use taxpayers money for what they told us it would be used for – “EDUCATION”. See article below on the newest proposals:
State Lawmaker Says Proposed Education Regulations Could Violate Parental Rights, Spark Lawsuits
A proposed anti-discrimination policy and regulations that could soon be applied to Delaware public schools are raising questions and concerns.
“It opens Pandora’s Box,” said State Rep. Rich Collins, R-Millsboro. “It has the potential to twist schools up in knots.”
State Rep. Rich Collins
The process began in mid-July with the issuance of a brief memorandum from Gov. John Carney to Sec. of Education Susan Bunting. In the memo, the governor directed the agency to promulgate regulations providing clear guidance to schools “to prohibit unlawful discrimination in educational programs, and activities for students, on the basis of any legally protected characteristic.”
The memo set a deadline of November 1st for the proposed rules to be posted in the Delaware Register of Regulations, a needed step preceding implementation.
Four “community conversations” were held — one in each county, and one in the City of Wilmington — to gather public input.
State Rep. Ruth Briggs King, R-Georgetown, attended the Sussex County event last week. She said the meetings – which all took place between 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. over a period of just ten days – were, perhaps intentionally, inconveniently staged for parents to participate. “They were held when families are collecting students from school activities, having dinner and assisting with homework,” she said.
State Rep. Ruth Briggs King
Rep. Collins noted that the forums appeared to have been deliberately engineered to thwart public criticism, with participants broken into small discussion groups, limiting interaction and open debate.
He added that an online survey form for public feedback on the proposed policy and regulations posed questions that specifically called for participants to provide three things they liked about each but avoided any such pointed solicitation of negative comments.
The draft regulations include “gender identity or expression” among its protected characteristics.
Among the more controversial aspects of the proposed rules are the following:
All students enrolled in a Delaware public school would be able to self-identify gender or race. (Rule 7.4)
A student would have the opportunity to participate on the sports team that is consistent with the student’s gender identity, regardless of the student’s assigned sex at birth. (6.4)
A student would have the opportunity to participate in the program of instruction dealing with human sexuality that is consistent with the student’s gender identity, regardless of the student’s assigned sex at birth. (3.4)
Regarding physical education programs – goals, objectives and skill development standards could not be designated on the basis of gender. (5.2)
School districts and charter schools would be required to work with students and families on providing access to locker rooms and bathrooms that correspond to students’ “gender identity or expression.” (8.1)
Even if a student does not legally change his or her name, he or she can select a “preferred name” based on a “protected characteristic” that school officials would be obligated to use except on official records. (7.3)
The proposed regulations direct school districts to establish antidiscrimination policies within 90 days of the rules’ implementation or the start of the next academic year, whichever is earlier. The policies would be required to contain informal and formal complaint procedures.
“The regulations and policy contain no mention of a student’s age, so I question the wisdom of allowing very young students to make some of these decisions,” Rep. Collins said. “These proposals also seem to undercut parental authority; giving parents less say in some of these processes then I think is appropriate.”
State Reps. Collins and Briggs King say the proposed regulations are invalid, noting that “gender identity or expression” is not a legally protected classification under the Delaware Code covering public education.
Delaware’s Gender Identity Nondiscrimination Act of 2013 — which forbids discrimination on the basis of gender identity in housing, employment, public works contracting, public accommodations, and insurance – added new language to seven titles of the state code. However, those changes were not applied to Title 14, which covers public education.
“Neither the proposed regulation nor the model policy document, are legitimate because they are not based on any legal authority granted by the General Assembly,” Rep. Collins said.
Rep. Briggs King points to language in House Joint Resolution 6 – which is still pending action in the Senate – as further proof. The measure contains a provision explicitly stating that Delaware’s laws on public education do not “prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or expression.”
Rep. Collins said there has been a rapid push to implement the anti-discrimination regulations, outside the authority of law and escaping the attention of most parents and elected officials. He said the new rules would produce confusion and likely create additional disputes and lawsuits.
In a recent communication to the Department of Education, Rep. Collins urged the agency to delay action to address the growing concerns about the proposals.
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The powers that be might consider some things under their own carpets. While ALL Christina suburban middle schools have team taught classes into which special ed students are placed, their ONE urban school does not. Two certified teachers per classroon vs one. This has been true for several years. And that their classes are a bit smaller than the suburban school means nothing. If things have been rectified this year I have not heard.
This one simple thing speaks volumes.
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Sorry- I think I commented on the wrong post- this was meant for the Mike Matthews dsea letter regarding Christina/Carney Carnival.
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Attending meetings can be a trap. The former DSEA president was part of Governor Markell’s illegal secret working group on charter schools, which produced the charter giveaway bill HB165. The result of DSEA attendance at those meetings was DSEA ended up ENDORSING HB165 and thereby providing cover for its passage. The lesson is, if you are going to attend meetings, publish an account of the meeting immediately.
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