Super Blue Blood Moon

I like bookends.  Beginnings and endings.  The Alpha and The Omega.  We all have them in our lives.  Intersecting with other areas, they are what makes life so unique and grand.  They can be painful and disastrous or full of hope and promise.  They can even be both at the same time.

I’m a symbolic guy by nature.  Just who I am.

This morning, there was a Super Blue Blood Moon.  Sounds ominous, but really it is just the second full moon of the month (called a Blue Moon) that happens to coincide with a lunar eclipse (called a Blood Moon) while also being closer to the earth (called a Super Moon).  The moon turned a freakish red color.  Those of us on the East Coast didn’t get to see it, but our counterparts on the West Coast did.

In the big picture, it wasn’t that long ago I wrote about the Super Moon in November of 2016.  Those who know me best know why today is a fascinating bookend to that article.  Call it coincidence, call it synchronicity… I just call it one of those odd moments in life.

Astronomical phenomena has always fascinated me.  We give such importance to what we do on this little planet.  Things like this remind me we are just a piece of dust on a piece of dust compared to the vastness of the universe.  There are people who have lived and died on this planet that no one will ever know anything about because their history was never recorded.  It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t live our life to the maximum.  We should!  There is a reason for everything.  I do believe that.

Just some rambling thoughts I wanted to get out today of all days.

** UPDATED ** 7/10/2018, 11:38am ** Delaware Election 2018: Who Filed For State Rep, State Senator, AG, State Auditor, State Treasurer, U.S. Senator & U.S. Representative

This is a list of the FINAL candidates for both the Delaware Primary and the Delawware General Election.  I will be coming out with endorsements in the next few weeks.

Election Day 2018 is four months away.  The Primary is in two months.  Candidates have until this Friday, the 13th, to withdraw and get their filing fee back.

For each elected position, if it is in red it is currently Republican, and blue for Democrat.  If there is more than one person in the same color for each position, that means there will be a primary for that party on Thursday, September 6th.  Winner goes onto the General Election.  If they are unopposed, they won and can sit back while the rest have two more months of campaigning!.  If it is crossed out, that means a candidate dropped out of the race.  Every single seat or position has someone running for it at this point.

Dates to know:

7/10/18: Last date to file for major parties

9/6/18: Delaware Primary

11/6/18: Delaware General Election

Last updated: 7/10/2018, 11:38am

Last Night We Lay Down In The Street To Protest Closed Door Meetings About Public Education in Philadelphia

I see this happening in Delaware as well. The Delaware Business Roundtable and Delaware Chamber of Commerce want to direct education to their liking, with absolutely no public input or transparency. Philadelphia is a harbinger of things to come in Delaware. We all need to wake up!

Wrench in the Gears

Public education activists are living through an interesting moment now in Philadelphia. The School Reform Commission is being disbanded. In the coming months Mayor Jim Kenney will be appointing a school board from nominations put forth by a select panel. The process is murky, and a pattern of closed-door education policy decision-making has been established here, here, and here. Last night, the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce held a ticketed event to discuss the future of business in our schools at Girard College, an important site of struggle in the Civil Rights Movement. You had to be a Chamber of Commerce affiliate to purchase a $35 ticket for the event, which included the following language on the event website.

It appears the future of public education in our city is being mapped out by industry, venture capital, and well-connected non-profit and higher education partners.  The people, meanwhile, are…

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Obligations

There were two “education” events I wanted to get to this week, but I can’t.  There are more important things I have to take care of.

FINAL Delaware 2018 School Board Candidate Filings

The deadline to file was 4:30pm TODAY folks!  We now have a list of final school board candidate filings.  Quite a few are running unopposed so congratulations to new (or incumbent) school board members!  There will be some races including a few three-way races and a four-way race in Caesar Rodney! The 2018 Delaware School Board Election season has begun!  The races are in bold.  The actual election won’t be until May 8th.

FINAL LIST, last updated  3/2/2018, 6:31pm

Las Americas Aspiras Head Of School Takes Over As President Of DAPSS Board

Delaware Academy of Public Safety and Security made some substantial moves at an emergency board meeting Friday night.  Including having an existing charter school leader become the President of their board!  As well, the distressed charter school put a for lease sign up at their current property.  Apparently they have an eye on another charter school’s vacant property.

Margie Lopez-Waite, the current head of school for Las Americas Aspiras Academy in New Castle, DE took over as Board President at their emergency board meeting Friday night.  I can’t recall a time seeing an active charter school leader from one school become a board member on another.  But this type of situation is not unprecedented.  For a brief time, Colonial Superintendent Dusty Blakey serves on Aspiras’ Board of Directors.

On Tuesday, DAPSS will have their first formal review meeting with the Charter School Accountability Committee at the Delaware Dept. of Education in Dover.  A growing discontent with the former President, Sherese Brewington-Carr, led to the changes.  As well, a former board member named Dennis O’Brian went from Emeritus (on the board in honor but not active) to active.  Some other new board members were added as well.  Many folks have asked me if Sherese is related to Tennell Brewington from Family Foundations Academy and I have not been able to confirm any kinship.  Some have speculated they are but Sherese has categorically denied this ever since Tennell’s financial fiasco a few years ago.

Meanwhile, the school put a for lease sign up at their school.  They want to move into the old Family Foundations Academy property in New Castle.  This is now an administration building for East Side Charter School and Charter School of New Castle (formerly Family Foundations).  The first public hearing for DAPSS’ formal review will take place at this building on February 13th.

The Board of Directors at DAPSS has not put up any of their meeting minutes since their November meeting even though they have had three meetings since.  They are also out of compliance with putting up their audio recordings of their board meetings as none have appeared since the November meeting as well.

Sources tell me Charlie Copeland has not been active with the school for a very long time and he actually wanted the school closed due to the dwindling enrollment two years ago.

The last time a charter school went through these kind of board member changes was Family Foundations Academy during their own formal review.  However, even though FFA was going through a financial-fraudpalooza, they had the student count to justify staying open.  DAPSS does not.  This should be interesting!

Charter schools in Delaware- they are like a soap opera!

Christina Tables MOU Again But Does Pass Their Final FY2018 Budget

Last evening, the Christina School District Board of Education held their second board meeting of the month.  There were only two items on the agenda: a recommendation to approve the Memorandum of Understanding between the district and Governor Carney’s office and approval of their final Fiscal Year 2018 budget.

The board punted on the MOU vote again, choosing to table a vote until their February 6th board meeting.  All five board members in attendance voted yes on tabling the vote.  They were George Evans, Fred Polaski, Meredith Griffin, Harrie Ellen Minnehan, and John Young.  Board members Elizabeth Paige and Angela Mitchell did not attend the meeting.  The board has voted to table this vote several times now which must assuredly be frustrating Carney’s office.  When it came time to vote on their final budget for this fiscal year, all board members in attendance voted yes with the exception of Young.  The board voted on the same recommendation last week, but that failed with a 3-2 vote.

Governor John Carney’s office mentioned the proposed MOU in Carney’s proposed Annual Appropriations bill yesterday.  They have 15 million in capital funds earmarked for the district and 1.5 million in opportunity grants.  The capital funds would be used for construction costs for some of their Wilmington schools as the MOU calls for consolidation of Christina’s Wilmington schools from five to two.  Carney also mentioned Christina in his State of the State address last week.

The next day I posted a bold prediction for Christina.  I received no response from Carney’s office or Christina School District about those predictions.  I heard this information from various sources in Delaware.  The odd part is NO ONE has been talking about it aside from some messages I received from some curious and very worried district teachers.  I was not able to reveal my sources to those individuals.

As the district in Delaware that sends the most in local payments to Delaware charter schools, they face a potential financial hit with Carney recommending another 2% goes to charters in FY2019 due to “inflation”.

 

 

 

A Strong Reminder For Delaware Schools About The Smarter Balanced Assessment And Opt Out

No school in Delaware is allowed to issue threats about a student who is opted out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment.  That decision is taken out of your hands every single year in the Delaware Appropriations Act.

That means you can’t tell students they can’t go to high school or their next grade, have to go to summer school, retake the test, or any other consequence if they opt out.  I trust our schools will follow the law.  If not, I will call you out every single time, by school, district, charter, or whatever.  Parents, if you want to opt your child out of Smarter Balance, remember the veiled threats have no legal justification.  If they do this, let me know.

Carney Raises Local Payments To Charters 2% In Budget Request Based On “Inflation”

Delaware Governor John Carney delivered his FY2019 Proposed Budget and it looks like Delaware charter schools will get some extra cash out of the deal if the General Assembly includes this in their final budget they must vote on by June 30th!

Is this even legal?  Does the Governor have the legal authority to arbitrarily raise a percentage amount for local payments from districts to charters based on “inflation”?  Sadly, he does.  It is written in Title 14.

So what do sections 408 and 509 of Title 14 say?

408:

(e) The district of residence shall, except as provided for in subsection (h) of this section, pay to the receiving district the lower local

cost per pupil expenditure of the 2 districts, adjusted by an inflation factor specified annually in the annual appropriations act, such

payment to be made by November 30 of each year.

509:

(d) The Department of Education shall annually calculate the local cost per student expended by each school district for each type of

student for the year immediately preceding based on the formula set forth in subsection (e) of this section, adjusted by a factor necessary

to fund the charter school on a basis reasonably equivalent to the current year local cost per student, which factor shall be established in

the annual Appropriations Act. The Department shall annually certify each local district’s local cost per student expenditure by September

1 of each year.

So does that mean Delaware school districts are getting 2% more based on “inflation”?  Absolutely not.  Everything goes up in price.  So saying “inflation” without any meaning behind it is just another way to give charter schools more money.  I do not blame the charters for this, I blame the power brokers that snuck this in there.  Of course it is absolutely legal because it is in state code.  But that certainly doesn’t make it right or moral.  Add the extra match tax funds charters will get this year and it is obvious charter lobbyists will squeeze as much juice out of the district fruit as they can!  Lest we forget, charters do get state funding.  They don’t live and die based on local student payments.  They get as much state funding (except for capital costs) that traditional school districts do.  They also have the charter school transportation slush fund

The Détente

Last night, I attended an education meeting that was very different.  It was a very odd group of folks getting together in one room to talk about things that affect all Delaware schools.  It was a mixture of people who represented two different sides of public education.

Highlights From The January State Board of Education Meeting

Aside from the controversial Special Education Strategic Plan presentation and Delaware Academy of Public Safety & Security going under formal review, what else happened at the January State Board of Education meeting?  This is what goes out to legislators and all those important education folks in the state!

January State Board Meeting Highlights

The State Board of Education held its Regular Monthly Board Meeting on Thursday, January 18, 2018 at 5:00 p.m.

All materials and presentations from the meeting can be accessed on the online meeting platform posted within each month’s agenda as posted on our website (www.destateboarded.k12.de.us ).

• Here is a direct link to the agenda complete with links and attached documents related to presentations and other items before the Board:  SBE Monthly Meeting Agenda

The audio recording from the meeting is now posted on the State Board website.  An index of the recording with live links by section is copied below.

 

·         Board President, Dr. Dennis Loftus,  discussed his attendance at the Governor’s State of the State address earlier in the day and provided a recap of the key points involving education.  The Executive Director presented her report which included discussion of the latest publication by NASBE which focuses on Early Learning. A link to the publication as well as a few other articles regarding accountability plans across all 50 states according to ESSA plans and an interesting approach to chronic absenteeism. Her posted report called “News Updates and Information” is provided monthly.  There will soon be a link added to the home page for easier access to these reports and local and national articles related to education issues which are provided for review by the Board and public. Ms. Johnson then updated the Board on the work related to the Literacy Campaign and highlighted the upcoming meetings for the steering committee and subcommittees of the Campaign for Grade Level Reading.

·         Secretary Bunting provided a comprehensive report to the Board which included details about several school visits and opportunities to engage with members of the business community and other policy leaders,  meetings with school administrators, educators, and students in which she had been involved throughout the month.  These visits included meeting with the School District Consolidation Task Force Academic and Student Needs Committee where they discussed the state’s EL Strategic Plan. She also had the opportunity to recognize the outstanding achievement of 4 schools for Continued Excellence and identified 15 as Recognition Schools. Recognition Schools receive a banner to display in their school as well as $8,000 to further advance learning at their schools. She highlighted her involvement at the P-20 Council, Governor’s Cabinet meeting, Family Service Council, and the G.E.A.R meeting.

·         The Board received a presentation from the 2018 DE State Teacher of the Year, Virginia Forcucci.  Following her presentation and discussion with the Board they honored her with the SBE Award of Excellence.

·         The Board received a presentation on the Special Education Strategic Plan from the co-chairs of the Special Education Strategic Plan Advisory Council, Dr. Michele Marinucci and Bill Doolittle. Board members discussed the development of the plan and asked questions regarding the goals and metrics within the plan. Additional information and resources from the presentation were provided on the agenda page for this item.

·         Department Regulations

o    Regulation 925: Children with Disabilities Subpart D, Evaluations, Eligibility Determination, Individualized Education Programs  was presented for final action.  There was discussion regarding the comments received from the GACEC and Statewide Disabilities Council as well as the fact that this change was only addressing one aspect of the regulation to align with federal requirements.  The Board was informed that a broader group of stakeholders are currently working on revisions to further update the rest of the regulation and that this regulation may be before them again with more comprehensive changes in the near future. A motion to approve the regulation as presented for final order was made by Mrs. Rutt and seconded by Dr. Whittaker. The motion passed unanimously by voice vote with one abstention (Mr. Rushdan, who was just confirmed to the Board the prior day and not a part of the prior month’s discussion of the regulation).

o   Regulation 501: State Content standards  was presented for final action. The amendments included the addition of statewide K-12 Financial Literacy and Computer Science standards.  The public comment received as well as feedback received through the community engagement sessions held by the Department was shared with the Board. There was discussion regarding the date in regulation for adoption and how that was different from the full implementation date of these standards to be integrated and aligned with curriculum.  It was explained that the date in regulation is the date that the standards would officially become the state content standards and that the implementation of those standards into professional development for teachers and integrated and aligned with curriculum would follow a similar timeline trajectory has was used for the Next Generation Science standards.  A motion to approve the regulation as presented for final order was made by Mr. Heffernan and seconded by Mrs. Rutt. The motion passed unanimously by voice vote with one abstention (Mr. Rushdan, who was just confirmed to the Board the prior day and not a part of the prior month’s discussion of the regulation).

o   Following the approval of Regulation 501, the Board took a moment to thank Mr. Michael Watson, Chief Academic Officer, for his many contributions to improving education for children in the state of Delaware.  It had been announced the prior month that this would be his final State Board meeting before leaving the department.  The Board recognized him for his service and awarded him the State Board’s Award of Excellence.

o   Regulation 1008 DIAA Junior High and Middle School Interscholastic Athletics and Regulation 1009 DIAA High School Interscholastic Athletics were presented to the Board for discussion.  These regulations are out for comment during the month of January and will be back before the Board in February for final action.  The DIAA Executive Director and legal counsel addressed questions from the Board members regarding the proposed changes which dealt with Officials organizations and Foreign Exchange and International Students’ eligibility.

·         The Board received public comment from two individuals commending them on the decision to approve regulation 501 and adopt statewide Computer Science standards for Delaware.

·         John Carwell, from the Charter School Office, presented the Department’s request to place Delaware Academy of Public Safety and Security on formal review.

o   At the December 18, 2014 meeting of the State Board of Education, the charter for DAPSS was renewed with the following conditions:

§  1. The school shall attain a rating of “Meets Standard” on the Academic Framework for the 2014-15 school year; and

§  2. The school shall attain a rating of “Meets Standard” on the Financial Framework for the 2014-15 school year.

o   In SY 2014/2015 Delaware implemented a new system of accountability known as the Delaware School Success Framework (DSSF) and was permitted by the U.S. Department of Education to use this school year as the year from which to measure academic achievement and progress.  Due to this waiver, DAPSS was provided an additional year to satisfy its conditions.

o   In SY 2015/2016, Delaware changed the academic assessment for high schools from Smarter Balanced to SAT.  Due to this change in academic assessment, DAPSS was provided an additional year to satisfy its conditions.

o   In SY 2016/2017, DAPSS failed to meet academic standards in three of the four DSSF metrics and showed a decline in both academic achievement and academic growth.

o   As for financial standards, in SY 2014/2015, SY 2015/2016, and SY 2016/2017, DAPSS failed to meet financial standards.

o   In 2015-2016, DAPSS was approved for a modification to decrease enrollment.  Despite this decrease, the school did not meet the 80% requirement for enrollment by May 1^st for SY 2017-2018 enrolling only 77% of its projected population.   As of September 30, 2017, DAPSS enrolled 228 of their projected 340 students or 67% of their approved enrollment.   Since September 30, 2017, DAPSS’s enrollment has again declined.  The school currently has 217 students enrolled.

o   This is the third year that the school has shown a decline in enrollment going from 303 students in SY 2015/2016 to 217 students SY2017/2018.  With a 2018 graduating class of 47 students, 49 choice applications, and one withdrawal at the time of this report, it is doubtful that DAPSS will meet the Financial Framework standard this school year.

o   After considering these potential violations of its charter, the Department as approving authority, has determined that DAPSS should be submitted to formal review to determine whether the school is violating its charter and whether there are grounds for remedial measures.  The Department is seeking the assent of the Secretary and the State Board for this action.

·         The Secretary of Education following this outline of performance and concerns regarding the compliance with their charter stated, “Delaware Academy of Public Safety and Security appears to have failed to meet the conditions of its charter renewal and should have the opportunity for a rigorous review of the school performance. Therefore, as Secretary of Education, I assent to placing Delaware Academy of Public Safety and Security on formal review.   In accordance with 14 Delaware Code Section 511(c), I seek the assent of the State Board of Education to the decision to place Delaware Academy of Public Safety and Security on formal review.”

·         Dr. Loftus asked for a motion to assent to the formal review of the charter for Delaware Academy of Public Safety and Security.  The motion was made by Mrs. Sorenson and seconded by Mr. Heffernan.  After discussion of the Board which involved discussing the process that is included during formal review the motion passed unanimously by voice vote.

·         The charter office also provided in its monthly update, which was posted on the SBE website for information a timeline for the review of the new application received to open a new charter school in Sussex county called Sussex Montessori as well as the major modification requested for Design Lab HS. The links to all of these were provided in the agenda item online.

·         The Professional Standards Board  had no items to bring before the SBE this month since their January meeting was cancelled due to snow.

·         The Board had no one signed up for general public comment

·         The Board received an update from its Deputy Attorney General  regarding two appeal requests that have had their hearing and are currently in the time window in which either party is able to submit responses to the hearing officer’s recommendation. Both of those appeals will come before the Board for action at the February meeting.

The next regular monthly meeting of the State Board is scheduled for

Thursday, February 15, 2018

The meeting will begin at 4:00 p.m. and the Board will enter Executive Session to discuss two disciplinary appeals and then will return to general session at 5:00pm 

January 18, 2018 – Delaware State Board of Education Audio Recordings

Pat Heffernan Is The Biggest Jerk In Delaware!

I’ve seen a lot in Delaware education over the past four years.  I’ve seen people say some very brilliant things and I’ve heard very stupid things.  I’ve seen the full range of human emotion, from happy to sad, from angry to depressed.  But what I heard today made me feel many negative things like never before.  How someone could be so blind to reality yet be in such a position of power is beyond my comprehension.  Who is this person?

January 19th

Outside Ittoqqortoormiit

January 19th – the day of sunrise in Ittoqqortoormiit, this year was cloudy and bleak. Still, after days of blizzards, sitting inside the house, it felt wonderful to step outside and ski down onto the ice.

While I was standing on the sea-ice, school children gathered on a small hill (you can see them on this picture, not far from the green house) to welcome the sun – in case it would make its appearance!

The sea ice broke of last weekend. The storm left us with only a small patch of ice, just outside of Ittoqqortoormiit.

View from the ice edge towards Kap Tobin.

I skied around the open water to the other side of Fox Havn, enjoying the beautiful scenery.

Today, we are still waiting for the sun. Maybe we`ll catch a glimpse of it tomorrow!?

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Delaware DOE Makes More Changes In Leadership

The Delaware Department of Education made more changes recently with their leadership.  No formal announcement came out for these, but I did some super-sleuthing on their website to figure it out.

State Board Of Ed Puts DE Academy of Public Safety & Security On Formal Review

Last night, the Delaware State Board of Education unanimously put Delaware Academy of Public Safety & Security on formal review for academic and financial reasons.  The 6-0 vote puts the New Castle charter school through a two-month review period where they have to meet with the Charter School Accountability Committee and go through public hearings.  The placement of a charter school to formal review status does not mean they are being shut down.  Putting a school under formal review is the process.  Any decision to leave a school open or shut it down takes place after a formal review and the findings that come out of that.

I knew their enrollment was low but that isn’t the only reason they went under the formal review knife.  Academics played a big part.  This is always tough for me to support because I loathe the use of standardized testing in punishing any school.  With DAPSS, they went from Smarter Balanced to the SAT in a two-year period.  In 2015, the SAT was remade to include Common Core.

Secretary of Education Dr. Susan Bunting will make her recommendation to the State Board of Education at their March 15th meeting and then the State Board votes on that recommendation.  The letter from Secretary Bunting notifying the school of their formal review status, the timeline, and their performance matrices for each category are included below.

Either the Charter School Office was ready for the State Board to vote for the formal review or they are able to predict the future, because the below PDF was created at 1pm yesterday, four hours before the State Board of Education began their meeting!  I would have to say the school’s founder, Charlie Copeland, is not happy about this!

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US DOE Says Pennsylvania Charter School Violated FERPA By Not Allowing Parent To Opt Their Child Out Of Ed-Tech

This is very big.  The United States Department of Education ruled on a Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) complaint in favor of a parent about opting their child out of education technology in the classroom.  They went a step further and told the school they had to provide an alternative to the ed-tech as well.

The letter, sent to Agora Cyber Charter School in King of Prussia, PA, came out on November 2nd, 2017 (see below).  It ruled the school violated FERPA by denying the parent’s request for their child not to use the ed-tech from K12 Inc. due to their terms of service.  K12 could not make sure the information in their application would not go out to third parties.  The parent filed a complaint five years ago.  The US DOE letter said the charter school could not make this a condition of enrollment for the cyber charter school.

I would caution every single school in America that utilizes ed-tech in the classroom to make sure they are in compliance with this ruling!

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Carney Cremates Christina

If you thought the arrow Delaware Governor John Carney shot through Christina School District’s heart was bad, you haven’t seen anything yet!  Plans are afoot.  And what will be left standing after Carney does his coup d’état will shock everyone!

Governor Carney’s State Of The State Address

Today, Delaware Governor John Carney delivered his State of the State Address to the General Assembly in the House chambers.  On the education front, he didn’t really say anything I haven’t heard before.  He made it a point to specifically address Christina School District and the five schools in Wilmington.  There was NO mention of Kindergarten to 3rd Grade Basic Special Education funding.  He talked about math coaches but absolutely nothing about reading specialists.  He wants to pour more money into the Pre-K Stars program.  Pretty much everything sounds like a Jack Markell third term.  Enough already Carney!  How about coming up with some new and creative ideas?  Because Governor Markell was a tyrant education Governor.  You are putting all your eggs in the Wilmington basket.  I’m not saying those kids don’t need help, but there are others across the state who need help as well.  I got your message though.  We can all expect to pay higher taxes very soon!

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John Young Takes On John Carney Over Christina MOU Vote

Last night, the Christina School District Board of Education voted again to table a vote on the Memorandum of Understanding between the district, the Delaware Dept. of Education, and Governor Carney’s office.  From the sounds of it, Carney is getting very impatient with Christina.  Board member John Young included a quote from Carney and his response to it on a Facebook post today.

“I’m disappointed that the board did not act tonight to address the serious challenges facing students in these Wilmington schools. We have made it a priority to work in collaboration with Christina to do right by these students. We have offered significant new resources to support educators and students in Wilmington. We can’t afford to wait and delay on this issue any longer.” – John Carney

Well, we do share an emotion: It’s so disappointing to have a partner at the table use this situation for political gain. Not surprising, just disappointing. The MOU currently on the table is the Governor’s version. It makes barely a fraction of the commitment necessary to help our students, is the furthest thing from “significant resources”, and seems to be hyper-focused on only getting one thing done: a dual-generation center. This leaves all our K-8 students in the rain holding a wet bag of nothing, Governor John Carney. Your charged declaration proves what I have sadly suspected: this plan isn’t about helping our students at all. The board, while tabling this terribly lopsided version, ardently pledged to stay at the table and work. I know that’s what I’m committed to doing. I’d really rather not spend much effort like this responding to divisive nonsense like your declaration; however, I will not sit idly by as you disparage the process and hard work of all partners, including your own staff. Let’s get to work instead of name calling and finger pointing, Governor.

As always, I’m right here.

Young gave his cell phone number after the last sentence but I do not feel comfortable providing that on a blog.  When Young addressed him as Governor John Carney, that was linked to his Facebook profile.

I think things are about to get very interesting in Christina.  As I’ve written before, Carney does NOT like anyone challenging him.  He takes that very seriously.  Will Carney try to pull some type of “priority schools” stunt on Christina if they do not act on the MOU?  I would be willing to bet he will.  Something will happen.  I have no idea what that is.

As well, the Christina board voted NO on their final Fiscal Year 2018 budget.  While this does not mean the state will stop disbursing funds to the district, it could affect their local payments.  It certainly did not make Christina Chief Financial Officer Robert Silber or Superintendent Richard Gregg have a good night.  Things are getting interesting up there.

Wali Rushdan Gets Senate Approval For State Board of Education AND Explains His Time At Family Foundations

After a crucial Senate Executive Committee hearing, Wali Rushdan was given a unanimous Senate vote for the Delaware State Board of Education about an hour ago.

The Senate Executive Committee met with Rushdan right before the full Senate vote.  I must give props to State Senator Nicole Poore for tackling the elephant in the room.  She just came right out and asked Rushdan about his affiliation with the Family Foundations Academy Board of Directors.