Beloved Padua Academy Head Of School Fired For Not Agreeing On Money Transfer To St. Anthony’s

The Padua Academy Head of School, Cindy Mann, was fired today.  A letter went out to parents from Father Nicholas Waseline.  Students and parents are furious.  A protest from students is taking place on Monday.  But the reason for her termination is more shocking than the actual firing.

According to sources, Waseline approached Mann about transferring money from Padua to St. Anthony’s.  While Padua has become a well respected school, St. Anthony’s is struggling.  Mann said no to the transfer and was fired for insubordination.  Padua is a part of St. Anthony’s parish, but it was created to run separately in administration.  Meaning Waseline, who oversees both, went against the organizational foundation Padua was built on.  The grade school, St. Anthony School, is grades K-8 while Padua Academy serves 9-12.

It is never a good idea, even in a private school setting, to get rid of those who make something great.  And when that termination reason is based on something unethical?  Definitely not a good idea!  But when it comes from a Catholic Priest.  Even worse!

Charter School Salaries Over $100,000: DAPSS, DE Military Academy, Early College High, First State Military, & First State Montessori

In the next round of Delaware charter schools that have salaries over $100,000, we have an eclectic mix that include two Kent County schools and three New Castle county.  Two are military schools, one has a pseudo-religious theme, one is a first responder school, and the other has a unique partnership with Delaware State University.  In my eyes, if you are going to have a charter school, make it different from the schools around you.  And these charters certainly fit the bill!  Two of them, as you can see by their demographics, are on my radar of what I view as skewed special populations in some areas.  One of them, however, could disappear by the end of June if they don’t get their student enrollment up very soon!  Delaware Military Academy is authorized by Red Clay Consolidated School District.  ECHS and the two FSMAs opened up after the News Journal came out with their salary article in 2014.

Christina School District Salaries Over $100,000

The Christina School District.  They have less administrators than they did four years ago, but they also have over 2,000 less students than they did then.  Much of that can be attributed to the very big charter school growth during that time.  Not only were new charters springing up all over the place, but existing charters expanded their enrollment by adding new grades.  Former Superintendent Freeman Williams resigned in the Fall of 2015 and the district did not get a new Superintendent until the beginning of 2017.  The Delaware DOE and various Delaware Governor’s public education target, Christina has actually come a long way.  Last month they signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Governor Carney and the Delaware Department of Education.  They are taking a strong look at each of their schools, not only in Wilmington but also the Newark/Bear/Glasgow area as well.

I’ve predicted their demise but that was more of a warning shot to them.  Out of all the districts and charters in Delaware, I’ve probably written about them the most.  Which I feel gives me the ability to defend them when the need arises.  The district certainly has their challenges but all districts do.  Christina has some of the highest numbers of low-income and special education students in the entire state.  While they don’t have the highest percentage of low-income students, they have the highest number of students.  And many of those, especially in Wilmington, are students of poverty.  They aren’t the district I’m worried about.  More on that another day.

A very important note about their numbers.  The district itself has 75 administrators making over $100,000.  While that may seem like a lot, they also have over 15,000 students in their district despite the charter explosion in the past decade.  But they also hold special programs in their district, such as the Delaware Autism Program and the Delaware School For The Deaf.  With those programs, the district has 93 administrators making over $100,000.  This is an important distinction which will play out later on.  Four years ago they had 108 administrators hitting the over $100,000 mark.

Capital School District Salaries Over $100,000

The Capital School District is in the middle of Kent County where the capital of The First State lies.  Even their middle school, Central, boasts itself as being in “The Heart of Dover”.  Their enrollment has pretty much been flat over the past four years.  The district has two middle schools, one for 5-6 and one for 7-8.  Potential plans may change that in the future, but this also causes a bit more administrative positions than most school districts.  Superintendent Dan Shelton is going on his 3rd year in the district.  He replaced Dr. Michael Thomas who retired at the end of the 2014-2015 school year.  Capital is one of the districts in the state with the largest percentage of low-income students.  As notated in the article on Caesar Rodney, the competition between the two districts is well-known in Kent County!

Cape Henlopen School District Salaries Over $100,000

Travelling to Sussex County, the Cape Henlopen School District is a very unique district.  The taxpayers in Cape Henlopen pass referenda at a much higher rate than most districts in Delaware.  This is considered to be a wealthier district in the state.  Their student count has gone up by about 600 students over the past four years.  Cape doesn’t have as many schools and their student count is significantly lower than, say, Caesar Rodney.  Yet they have more administrators with less students and less buildings.  This is, in large part, due to the fact that the taxpayers are more willing to pass referendum which establishes local funding for school districts.  With that being said, they have two less administrators making over $100,000 than they did four years ago.

Charter School Salaries Over $100,000: Academia Antonia Alonso, Academy of Dover, Campus Community, Charter School Of Newcastle, Charter School Of Wilmington, & East Side Charter School

I did not forget charter schools in my mammoth Freedom of Information Act request!  With the above charter schools, the amount of employees making over $100,000 varies, usually based on student count.  Two of them have NO employees making over $100,000.  For Charter School of Newcastle and East Side Charter School, they are grouped together because they fall under the umbrella called Vision Academies.  For five of these charter schools, comparing their demographics to Charter School of Wilmington is crazy.  It has never been a secret that I have extreme issues with CSW’s demographics.  Two of these schools are in Dover, one is in New Castle, and the other three are in Wilmington.

Caesar Rodney School District Salaries Over $100,000

Caesar Rodney School District is in Kent County.  The district includes Camden-Wyoming and the southern part of Dover.  Slightly larger in student size than their North neighbor, Capital School District, CR is an interesting district.  It also includes a school at Dover Air Force Base.  Their enrollment has gone up a couple hundred in the past four years.  There aren’t as many competing charter schools in the area that affect districts up in Wilmington and Newark.  The vo-tech in the area, Polytech, has a fixed student enrollment that has been in place for decades.  Superintendent Kevin Fitzgerald has made modest raises in the last four years.  In four years, the number of employees making over $100,000 has increased from 26 to 29.  CR and Capital have always been rivals of sorts, not just in football, but in comparing the quality of their districts.  In the past year, Caesar Rodney has been in the news much more than I’ve seen them in the past four  years due to controversial matters in the district involving race, special education, and most recently, their stance on the recent student walk-outs.

Brandywine School District Salaries Over $100,000

Next up is Brandywine School District.  Located at the top of Delaware if you are looking at a map, Brandywine has 10,400 students.  This number has hovered around that amount for the past few years.  Given that, the number of administrators in Brandywine making over $100,000 has gone down dramatically over the past four years.  In 2014, they had 71 making that coveted number.  Now, they have 55.  In 2016, the district went through a tumultuous referendum process.  This could account for the reduction in administrators in the district.  Four years ago, Superintendent Dr. Mark Holodick was the highest paid administrator in Delaware’s public schools.  As a reminder, these salaries are only the base salary and doesn’t include extra perks.  Back in 2014, including those perks, The News Journal estimated Holodick’s salary at $214,176.  If those perks are still the same, Holodick got a huge raise from the district!

Appoquinimink School District Salaries Over $100,000

The first in the FOIA series about districts and charters with employees making over $100,000 in annual salary goes to Appoquinimink School District.  Located in the Middletown/Odessa/Townsend part of Delaware, Appo is one of the fastest growing districts in the state.  Four years ago, they had 31 employees making over $100,000.  They now have 54.  Much of this is due to the huge increase in student enrollment and new schools in the district.  Things change with funding once you get past that 10,000 mark with student count because four years ago they had 9,750 students in the district.

Prologue: The Big FOIA About Salaries

On February 28th, I sent a Freedom of Information Act request to every single Delaware school district and charter school.  The ask?  Every single employee with an annual salary over $100,000.   I based it on that specific number because I know pretty much every single assistant principal and up (with a few exceptions) makes over $100,000.  One of the key questions in Delaware education is “Do we have too many administrators?”.  This comes up every single time the state budget conversation heats up or a district goes out for a referendum.