Candidate Message: Seymour F. Ungus, 42nd State Rep District, Delaware NOW Party

Next up in the Candidate Message series is Seymour F. Ungus from the 42nd State Rep District.  He is running on the Delaware NOW ticket.

Candidate Message: Robert Mitchell, State Representative 35th District, Republican

Exceptional Delaware reached out to ALL candidates in the Delaware election through a post today.  Next up is Robert “Bob” Mitchell, running in the 35th State Rep District in a Republican Primary race with Jesse Vanderwende.

Breaking News: State Rep. Mike Ramone Is Having A Pool Party!

State Representative Mike Ramone from the 21st Representative District is hosting a pool party for constituents on September 9th, three days after the Primary Election.  In lieu of his Coffee Conversations, he is holding this bash for his 200th constituent meeting. It looks like this is open to ALL of the constituents of the 21st!  Ramone faces Democrat Stephanie Barry in the General Election this November.  I hope he gets a lot of hot dogs!

For those who may be wondering why I am posting this, it is an inside joke which Mike Ramone will definitely get.  I have no doubt he will appreciate the irony here!

Delaware State Board of Education Needs To Model The Michigan State Board of Education!

Competency-Based Education.  Rodel loves it!  And the Delaware Department of Education has been slowly letting districts transition into it.  But not enough Delaware parents even know what it means.  While Rodel pushes their agendas for it, the State Board of Education needs to take a very active role in examining what it means and what it can do.  In Michigan, it appears their State Board of Education has the ability to vote on grants.

Recently, the Michigan State Board of Education rejected a competency-based education grant brought forth by the Michigan legislature.  U.S. Parents Involved in Education lauded the decision:

Bi-partisan Vote to Protect Children, Parents & Teachers

Today, a bi-partisan group of the Michigan State Board of Education (SBE), voted down a grant program authorized by the Michigan legislature for Competency-Based Education (CBE). According to the State Superintendent, this is the first time SBE has not approved a grant program.

The Michigan Parents Involved in Education leadership would like to thank the Michigan State Board of Education for taking this bold step. We agree with the concerns expressed by Board members. We hope Michigan leadership will move ahead with a better strategy, engaging parents and teachers, before launching another faddish experiment on Michigan’s public school children.

Concerns expressed by the State Board included the distribution of authority, suggesting parents and community members should have a greater role in approving this dramatic change in educational process. Concern was also expressed that CBE will leverage technology and supplant teachers.

The SBE agreed CBE is an experiment, yet the grant requires school-wide implementation K-12 and a strong bias to express support for the educational practice. The grant program was approved as part of the legislative budget process, was not well publicized nor was it publicly vetted with public debate.

The Board wanted additional criteria defined in the grants, which the State Superintendent said they could not do, since the grants were specified in statute. We believe the criteria suggested by SBE members was appropriate and necessary to protect the best interests of children, parents and teachers. The State Superintendent said she would contact the Michigan Attorney General’s office to determine the next step.

I’m really happy to see this happening in Michigan.  Delaware would NEVER sneak anything into the budget process!  Yeah right!  This is what a State Board of Education should do.  The problem in Delaware is our State Board members are appointed by the Governor.  And the new Executive Director for the State Board of Education came directly from Rodel!  It would not shock me to see Competency-Based Education legislation coming next year in the Delaware General Assembly.  If they do, there will be a fight!

Candidate Message: Dawn Lentz, New Castle County Council District 6, Green Party

Exceptional Delaware reached out to all the candidates for the Delaware election.  Next up is Dawn Lentz!

Candidate Message: George Parish, Sussex County Council, District 4, Republican

Exceptional Delaware reached out to candidates for Delaware’s election this year to freely promote their message.  Thank you to George Parish for being the first!

Calling ALL Delaware Primary Candidates!

With 3 days until the Delaware Primary, I know all of you are scrambling as candidates.  You want to get your message out as loud and clear as you can.  This is your chance.  I know some of the newspapers have deadlines for letters to the editor.  I want to hear from you and so do the people of Delaware.  This is what I am proposing: you can write anything you want about your candidacy and I will post it.  I don’t care if it is one paragraph or a book.  I’ll post it!  There is no word limit!  There is only one rule- I don’t want you to bash on your opponent(s).  I want you to tell the readers what YOU will do in your elected position.  What are your ideas to make Delaware better?

This is for ALL offices up for a primary in Delaware.  Down to the local level and up to Congress.

Please submit your posts to kevino3670@yahoo.com and in Word if you are able.  If not, I’ll figure it out.  I can get them up relatively fast.  And to be completely fair, I will just put your post up and no opinions about it whatsoever.  If you want to include a picture of yourself, feel free!  Thank you!