After years of controversy, Dr. Sam Paoli is out at Charter School of Wilmington. Effective June 30th this year, Dr. Paoli will no longer lead Delaware’s first charter school. In an email sent out from their board, parents were notified of the news.
Following several years of disenchantment from educators at CSW, the board finally decided enough is enough. Last year, CSW educators joined the Delaware State Education Association. Despite complaints to the board about him, Paoli was allowed to stay on. Finally some sanity from this board!
In the below letter sent to parents, it mentions nothing of a “resignation” or “retirement”. Just that he is gone the end of this year.
Who will take Paoli’s place? Will they search from within and have former Delaware Department of Education employee Angeline Rivello lead the school? Rivello is Paoli’s second-in-command at the school. Or will they take someone from the outside and find a way to bring CSW into the 21st Century (or make that the second half of the 20th) and increase their diversity?
The Season Of Myths 
Take it into the 21st century? what kind of comment is that? Im not exactly sure what that is supposed to even mean. They are one of the top public schools in the country! I think that they are far more prepared for THIS century than the rest of the schools in this state. Allowing the smartest kids in the state to be in a positive, education minded environment and away from the nonsense that goes on in a regular school is the pragmatic solution to make sure our best and brightest to flourish. The reality is, those who are serious about education want to be surrounded by others who are as serious as they are. They shouldn’t have to be subjected to a dumbed down education to accommodate anyone. Charter should always remain a merit based school with high standards. That is why its such a success. Changing it will only hurt its effectiveness in producing kids who consistently are accepted to IVY league schools and kids who win international academic competitions.
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The CSW needs a President who understands the culture of the school and I think that’ll have to come from a current/former educator with years of experience or former student. You see, charter is not just a school. It’s an entire ecosystem of growth and innovation. There is no better place in the state of Delaware for a student to explore his/her potential whether it be STEM or the social sciences. There, the students understand multiculturalism, ideological tolerance and the perseverance it takes to be successful in an academic field. Although many within the state school system argue that CSW doesn’t lend itself towards diversity initiatives and doesn’t deserve funding, I argue that that failure resides in the state’s inability to disperse resources towards underserved communities adequately enough to evoke some sense of future growth within the lower levels of the school system (k-8). The school has its procedures—interview processes that can tell the school which members of the underserved communities truly want something better for themselves. Although social and economic pressures influence that kind of behavior, and in large part, these children aren’t responsible for any of that, the school can only help those achieve that will abide by certain standards. I may be going on a rage at this point but my point is CSW doesn’t need an iron fist like paoli to keep the standards high. The kind of growth these children need will come from an individual who can inspire them. That’s ecactly what paoli lacked. He couldn’t inspire a child to be great. The school needs someone that will inspire greatness in every student that walks through those doors.
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