The quickest way to lose special education funding is to lie about holding IEP meetings. Such is the case with Glasgow High School in the Christina School District. If this were one or two IEP meetings that would be one thing. But sources are telling me this could be upwards to 70 IEP meetings. The situation is so bad that the school lost a ton of funding for these special education students.
How does a school hold up to 70 fake IEP meetings? You set them up in the system, set up a date for the meeting, and then do NOTHING ELSE. Who gets blamed for this? Is it Principal Butch Ingram? The education diagnostician for the school? The school psychologist? The teachers? *Was the then head of special services for the district, Michele Marinucci, aware of this situation? (Marinucci is now the Head of School at Academy of Dover.) Did the IEP team members actually sign off on IEP meetings that never happened in the first place? Tons of questions here folks!
Sources for this horrible news are laying very low. The situation is playing out but the September 30th unit count report is going to look very different for Glasgow H.S. compared to previous years. That report usually comes out in November courtesy of the Delaware Department of Education. Speaking of the DOE, how long have they been aware of this mess? Why has NONE of this been made public until the scrappy little blogger from Dover had to stick his head out of the sand to write about this?
While I’m sure Christina’s CFO Bob Silber and the other fine district folks are scratching their heads and trying to figure out how to do damage control over this latest debacle, I would hope someone in the district is considering the impact this will have on the actual students with disabilities. How many services will they go without this year because the adults screwed up? For a school that had a little over 15% of its population listed as students with disabilities, that amounts to 114 out of the 753 kids that attended the school during the 2018-2019 school year. That’s a ton of funding for the school to be losing! What say you Superintendent Richard Gregg?
Chances are good this story is going to keep on growing. I’m just breaking the ice here. I have no doubt there is much more going on here.
Updated 3/30/2023: I have recently been advised that former Christina School District Head of Special Services Michele Marinucci was the party that let the Delaware Department of Education know about this debacle. Thumbs up to Marinucci for doing the right thing!
The Season Of Myths 
Well there. That’s quite a “fait accompli.” I suppose they could cut all GHS athletics and poor that bucket into the special bucket. As for Slippery Silber, will he slither out to address constituent questions or is he bragging again about the million ways one can steal from First State Financials? Deflection. Good thing he’s such a stand up guy.
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If Glasgow High was found to not be doing the meetings, how many other schools in the district or Delaaare for that matter are not doing them and getting government money for it? Just a thought!
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I’m the one who attempted to make inquiries concerning a student and made visits to Glasgow and District Office and was probably instrumental in getting this report having so much being the reason exposure to other issues need to be done. I’m willing to share a back-story about this to officials and newspaper . I only hope someone really cares about the students who are being victimized
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I salute you for your role in this eventually getting out! We need more folks like you in Delaware!
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If Kevin Ohlandt would answer any of the questions he poses in his article, we might actually know something about the scandalous claims he is making. The scrappy little blogger from Dover isn’t even going to provide a source for his information?
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Ah, you must be a newbie and don’t know how this works. I’m a blogger. I do this in my spare time and this doesn’t make me any money. I do it for the kids in Delaware and to expose the adults who make some really dumb-ass decisions that aren’t in the best interest of those kids. My sources are the bread and butter of this little operation. To name them would result in massive retaliation where people would lose their jobs. Which is why I don’t do it. If the story has enough meat, the local media such as the News Journal or others will pick up on it. Unless someone in the state doesn’t want them to and hushes them up. This happens often. I wrote what I know. From various sources who don’t know each other from Adam. But I can assure you this happened.
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How can I get in touch with you? I have more information.
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My email is kevino3670@yahoo.com
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For all I knew you could be fishing for sources so YOU could get them in trouble for revealing the truth. Wouldn’t be the first time that happened on here!
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No suprise there Kevin !! This the pattern of corruption that Christina School District follows !!! This why I started home schooling my asperger’s kid after 7th grade !! I will say Willson Elementary was awesome but, past 5th , it went ALL down hill !! They are more worried about absences then the quaility of education !! ??? GREAT article as ALWAYS my friend !!
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Sara, are you even serious? The leak is worse than the story? Tells me all i need to know about who you’re protecting. Newsflash, it isn’t kids.
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Also the lady who heads up the truancy cases is known to erase excused absences from the record and has been called out in court
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My kids unexecused absences tend to disappear. But, I want to know more from Patricia Harrison houi?
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It just occured to me that my son’s 504 was never updated last year and we never had a meeting. This should be interesting. I’ll be contacting Mr. Ingram in the morning. I’m such a bad mom that I didn’t realize it until now. 😞
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That does NOT make you a bad mom. It is easy for it to slip by if accomodations are being honored and things are going smoothly. As a mom with 2 kids with 504 plans and 2 other kids as well, sometimes we have to focus on what is most urgent. Regardless, the school also has a responsibility to call an annual meeting.
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As most aspects of education in Delaware are a matter of LAW, to deny any student her or his appropriate education is in violation of state law. In other words, it is criminal.. Since the education of persons with special needs is ruled by Federal laws, it is quite possible that violations of those laws would not only be criminal, but possibly felonious. Prior to today, I have never heard of IEP or 504 meetings not being held.Teachers are supposed to be given the information about the needs of the students and provide the means to accommodate those needs so that the students can fulfill the objectives. Parents, teachers, special ed teachers and administrators should be attending these meetings. As a student matures, she or he must (as much as possible) practice becoming her or his own best advocate. If the adults who are supposed to ensure that the student(s) have the best possible outcomes fail to provide the students with examples of how to manage accommodations and what means will be employed to measure how well the students are achieving their objectives, how can we expect our students to become more independent citizens or advocate for themselves? Many of the students who reside in the Juvenile Justice system have histories of adults failing them and many require accommodations in order to learn. To say that the systems are broken is an understatement. It is good that problems like this one are uncovered. Thee public en total needs to become more aware of how the education system, the family unit, and indeed our society all must function in the best interests of ALL of our children and young adults. It is true. They are our future.
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If this is happening at Glasgow, it would make sense it’s also happening at Newark high school & Christiana high school since they are both under the Christiana school district as well. Possibly even Sarah Pyle.
I hope this is investigated on all levels at all schools who are under the Christiana umbrella.
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Humm. I happen to know of another district doing this abd yes this includes IEPs being signed off on by staff
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NOW is the time to fix this. If anyone has information or any parents want to come forward NOW is the time. If someone were to gather these “professionals” that have been aware of these egregious practices, but never came forward, this could all be taken care of. Who’s being protected? Doesn’t seem to be the kids. A lot of people seemed to know about this mess and it’s not limited to Christina. How could so many people that work to make children’s lives better sit back and watch them be intentionally left behind?!
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