Earl Jaques And His Education Hunger Games Need To End

I reached out to State Rep. Earl Jaques and his legislative aide today regarding the massive bomb Earl laid last night at the School District Consolidation Task Force meeting.  The response was the polar opposite of what was said last night.

My Email To Schwartzkopf To Remove Jaques As Chair Of School Consolidation Task Force

Following the crazy events at tonight’s School District Consolidation Task Force meeting, I emailed Speaker of the House, Pete Schwartzkopf.  I wrote about what transpired at the meeting as well as some other concerns.  I asked him to remove State Rep. Earl Jaques as Chair of the task force.

Good evening Speaker Schwartzkopf,

I wanted to let you know of some disturbing events that came up during the School District Consolidation Task Force meeting held at Smyrna High School. 

As the Chair of the task force, State Rep. Earl Jaques brought up proposals stemming out of the Structures Subcommittee.  One of those proposals, according to Rep. Jaques, was a mechanism by which the State Board of Education could used the Charter School Performance Framework for traditional school districts.  This proposal went on to say the State Board could then use the results of that framework to decide whether a state takeover of a district was warranted.  Another thing would be to force that district to merge with another district.

Multiple members of the regular task force, who attended those Structure subcommittee meetings, were unable to remember any circumstance where that option was even discussed.  When asked for clarification on this issue, Rep. Jaques was unable to clearly remember which meeting it was at, jumping from Seaford to Cape Henlopen.  He settled on a Cape Henlopen meeting.  Upon review of the agendas for that subcommittee, none were held in Cape Henlopen.

The members of the task force were in complete shock over the very discussion of an idea like this.  Rep. Jaques did say, when asked, the full task force would be able to vote on each proposal prior to the final report coming out.

As well, Rep. Jaques has commissioned reports for the task force without bringing it to a full task force vote.  He has openly, and publicly, admitted to conversations with the Governor about having these reports done.

I believe, along with other task force members, that Rep. Jaques has overstepped the legislative intent of this task force and is holding non-public meetings for proposals that are outside the scope of the task force.

I would like you to look into this, and if warranted, have Rep. Jaques removed as Chair of the Task Force.

Thank you,

Kevin Ohlandt

I would hope Schwartzkopf at least gives the courtesy of a reply on this matter.

Jaques And Sokola Emails Actually Reveal Levels Of Collusion & Deception At High Levels…But From Who?

An email from Delaware State Rep. Earl Jaques and State Senator David Sokola sheds new light on the district-charter funding debacle that has taken over Delaware education talk in the past week.  Meanwhile, the News Journal came out with another article on the issue that is sure to confuse everyone.

In the below email sent from Jaques to the House Education Committee, he gives a timeline of the events from the point in time he got involved in the issue and clarifies when Secretary of Education Dr. Stephen Godowsky found out about this.  He also put in a reply Sokola sent to a constituent regarding the issue which has some very accusatory statements toward Christina School District.

From: Jaques, Jr, Earl (LegHall) Sent: Thursday, September 1, 2016 2:41 PM To: Bentz, David (LegHall); Bolden, StephanieT (LegHall); Dukes, Timothy (LegHall); Heffernan, Debra (LegHall); Hensley, Kevin S (LegHall); Williams, Kimberly (LegHall); Kenton, Harvey (LegHall); Lynn, Sean M (LegHall); Matthews, Sean (LegHall); Miro,   Joseph (LegHall); Osienski, Edward (LegHall); Potter, Jr, Charles (LegHall); Ramone, Michael (LegHall) Cc: Schwartzkopf, Peter (LegHall); Sokola, David (LegHall)

Subject: School Funding Formula  

House Education Committee Members,   Late last week I received notice about  a formula change between Charter Schools and our traditional Public Schools. I immediately called and talked with Secretary Godowsky to see if what I heard was correct and if so why was this change being made.  I was told by him that yes a change was proposed and he wasn’t aware of this change until just the day before.  On a side note, I wasn’t very happy to hear about this – since I and Dr. Godowsky just had breakfast only a couple of days before this news broke and no mention of this was discussed by him to me!  I was told by Dr. Godowsky that he has put a hold on any possible changes to the funding formula until there are complete discussionswith all stakeholders.  I then called Governor Markell to voice both my concern and outrage   at how this proposed change was brought forward with no regards to public input, transparency or discussion with either myself or Senator Sokola. I then called Superintendent Burrows, this year’s head of the chiefs, and was assured by him that no discussions between the “chiefs” and DOE regarding this change had occurred.  Their only acknowledgement came when they starting receiving bills from the charter schools and subsequently called DOE to find out what was going on.  On the very next day I was at a public event with Governor Markell.  He reinstated to me that no actions regarding the funding formula will occur this year and any discussions on this subject will be transparent and inclusive. Again, I followed up with Secretary Godowsky, requesting  that any changes to the   formula would require an open, transparent and inclusive process involving all stakeholders and plenty of public input. Today, there was a story in the News Journal that you might want to read to gain more insight.   

In addition, I have attached below part of an email that Senator Sokola sent to one of his constituents which gives very good details and background on the formula mechanism.  Although, his email talks about the Christina School District, I want to remind   you that this formula applies to all public schools across our state.

“It turns out that the funding formula has not changed, and the Secretary does not have the authority to change the formula that is in the code. There have been times over the years when there have been disputes about how the formula works, and apparently   we have one now. The dispute relates to the part of the code that allows for certain exemptions from the money that “follows the child” to a Choice or Charter alternative. The code allows for 4 specific areas and then has some general language that allows   a district to petition the Secretary of Education to allow for additional exemptions of local operating funds, and to sign off on those itemized expenses. The Christina District increased that line from under $700 thousand to about $9.2 million since 2011,   and has not asked the Secretary for approval of the increased exemptions. No other district in NCC has had anything but nominal changes in that time frame. The money in question also has nothing to do with the Autism Program or the Program for the Hearing   Impaired that are managed by Christina. It is my understanding that any action from the Secretary at this time is on hold, however Christina still has a legal obligation to specify those expenses beyond the 4 that are in the code that should be exempt, and   to have a formal sign off by the Secretary. I have supported for quite some time a weighted student funding policy, and would hope that we could make more progress on such a funding system. The money needs to specifically follow a student to a school, which   is not done well in Delaware including in Christina. Dispute resolution should be done by some mutually agreed upon mechanism, or one established in the code. If there still is not agreement, we have constitutionally protected separation of powers, and the legal system would be the mechanism of last resort. That is generally not a win-win result for the parties who are in disagreement.

The specific funding issues you mentioned can certainly be submitted to the Secretary and the district needs to be open, transparent and detailed with the financial records to make their case. The Secretary will be willing to consider the specific lines   of exemption that CSD has the legal obligation to propose. He would be negligent if he did not follow his statutory authority to review any specific exemptions proposed by CSD, and CSD would be negligent by not specifically submitting line items of proposed   exemptions to the formula that is in the code. If CSD does not make specific proposals, the district is at risk of legal action that the legislature and the Secretary are constitutionally barred from intervening in. My hope and advice to the Secretary has   been to give broad discretion to the specifics identified by Christina, and that we could have that open, transparent and inclusive process involving all stakeholders to clarify the financial obligations of a sending district to the various choice options   made by students and families.”  

As I receive additional information regarding this subject I will keep you informed…  

Earl Jaques

Chair, House Education Committee

So how is that Sokola tells a constituent that Christina performed this horrible deed but the News Journal doesn’t mention it once?  Sokola is saying Christina purposely withheld submitting their exclusions from the Delaware DOE.  Jaques states Appoquinimink Superintendent Matt Burrows didn’t know about this situation unfolding since last April until recently.  So how is it that the DOE asked the districts for this information in April as suggested by Saranac Spencer, the author of the News Journal article?  Actually, it was in May based on the below timeline.

In order to try to unify the system, the department began considering adjustments to the formula in April, when it asked districts across the state for an inventory of the exclusions they claim.

The actual timeline of events is as follows:

March 11th: Newark Charter School Head of School Greg Meece meets with Acting Christina Superintendent Bob Andrzjewski to discuss the upcoming Christina referendum and payments from Christina to NCS. (source: Newark Charter School March 2016 Board Minutes)

Early April 2016: NCS representatives Greg Meece, Joanne Schlossberg, and Stephen Dressel meet with Associate Deputy Secretary of Education David Blowman to discuss exclusions in the funds Christina sends to NCS.  The DOE indicates all exclusions will require approval from the Secretary of Education. (Source NCS April and May Board minutes)

April 8th: DOE holds District Business Manager’s meeting where the subject of district exclusions is brought up with District Chief Financial Officers.

May 2016: DOE sends out notices to District CFOs to send lists of their exclusion items in their local school budgets.

Mid-May: Kathleen Davies put on leave as Auditor of Accounts at Delaware State Auditor’s office.

August 8th: DOE sends out letters to District CFOs stating what exclusions are allowable and which aren’t.

Week of August 16th: Districts start receiving bills from charter schools for projected students choicing to charters from their districts.

August 19th: Secretary Godowsky finds out about situation going on with charter school payments from districts.

Week of Augusts 23rd: Word on situation slowly trickles out to school administration and some boards.

August 27th: Exceptional Delaware breaks news of a coming change in the way districts pay charters based on an approval from Secretary Godowsky, blogger was given information from various sources about changes regarding restricted funds being moved to non-restricted funds, no information given to blogger about specific exclusions.

August 28th: Legislators pound Godowsky who informs them there will be no change in the funding structure this year.

August 31st: News Journal covers story and states districts may have to adhere to the exemption list from the August 8th letter.

September 1st: NCS Board President Stephen Dressel writes letter to NCS parents alleging wrongdoing from Christina and a “few other districts”, states this isn’t a change in the formula for local cost per student but a correction, commenter on Facebook alleges parents from Las Americas ASPIRA also received a similar letter.

September 1st: Another News Journal article quotes DOE Spokeswoman Alison May as stating they may not be able to change this because bills already went out from charters to districts.

September 1st: Email from Earl Jaques to House Education Committee references a change in the formula, not a correction, email also has Sokola accusing Christina of not sending approval for exclusions to Secretary since 2011 for what was a $700,000 amount then which is now $9.2 million.

Here is the question no one seems to be addressing though.  What is the amount in that discretionary budget was approved once and didn’t have to be again?  When a district goes out for a referendum, it asks taxpayers to help the district pay for certain things.  What if Christina had a referendum at one point in time, designated a specific amount for what would become an exclusion in their local budget, and the DOE approved it.  Say that was 10 cents for every $100 of assessed property value.  As Sokola alleges, Christina kept shoving money into this fund causing it to rise over $8 million dollars.  But that 10 cents from a referendum, which becomes a part of the district’s local funds would certainly grow over time.  In 2010, Christina narrowly won a referendum.  But it stands to reason some of those designated funds could go into this “discretionary” bucket in their budget.  Which would certainly build up over time.  If the DOE approved this in July 2010, which would have been Secretary of Education Lillian Lowery, then that exclusion would not have to be approved every year.  That portion of the tax payments sent in from residents would just keep building in that bucket.  So Sokola’s allegation that Christina was willfully withholding payments from the charters by shoving money in this hidden bucket is blatantly false.

Now the big question is what started this runaway train.  Yes, charters have lobbied for more money from districts for years.  No one is arguing that.  But they were not going after these discretionary amounts approved by the Secretary of Education.  They wanted a share of the food services revenue the districts received, which is explicitly exempt from being a part of the payments made to charter schools since they have their own food programs which they get funds from at a federal, state, and local level.  So how would Greg Meece know to look for this one specific thing and start a chain of events that led up to now?  I’m working on that answer as we speak and I expect I will know the answer to that one in the next couple of weeks.

What leads me to believe Christina wasn’t “stuffing” money away into this secret account is also the reaction of one man to all of this.  If the DOE sent out these notices about the exclusion items last May, Christina CFO Bob Silber would have been freaking out back then about it.  If he knew the direction this was heading, he would have planned for it in their FY2017 budget, which he clearly did not.  From many people I’ve talked to in the district, Silber didn’t start freaking out until the district received the DOE letter stating what the new exclusions were and when the charter bills started rolling in.  Which leads me to think he wouldn’t have had to keep getting approval for the exclusions he put in this bucket based on a referendum allocation, approved by then Secretary Lowery, which would, over the years, increase this bucket.

In the meantime, I have to wonder why Sokola would specifically mention the year 2011 to this constituent he replied to.  That is crucial to all of this under my theory.  It makes Christina look really guilty.  Why would Sokola make Christina appear to be guilty?  I think we all know the answer to that one.  Which confirms my suspicion about his involvement in all of this.  His incessant talk in this email about legal action if Christina doesn’t comply and who can do what and when and where shows he is been looking into this for much longer than anyone else has.  Sokola is not an attorney.  He worked at DuPont for many years.  Is he smart though?  Yes.  Devious?  Hell yes.  Would he be able to paint a picture showing Christina as a district that was denying money to charter schools, especially Newark Charter School, who was “denied” one million dollars this year if this “finding” doesn’t work out in their favor?  He did in his email to the constituent.

I would go so far as to say there is an integrity issue with Sokola at this point.  The ethics involved with this whole mess certainly lend a certain weight to Sokola and Meece being the brains behind all of this.  Jaques wasn’t involved in this based on what he wrote in his email.  But he made it a point to include what Sokola wrote as part of his email which lended considerable weight to perception of this issue.  For that, I have to wonder what Jaques knew and when he knew it.

Is this the end of this?  Probably not.  Someone will come on here and say I have it backwards and I’m theorizing all of  this.  That’s certainly an option.  But at the very least, this opens the door to careful inspection about what the Secretary of Education approves and if it is for exclusions in the local restricted budgets for districts based on referendum amounts, does that item need continuous approval from the Secretary.  I don’t believe it does.

 

 

A Conversation With Earl Jaques Yesterday & How He Wants Me To Betray The Opt-Out Movement

After running some errands yesterday, I stopped by Legislative Hall in Dover.  There was no particular reason for going.  As the House Education Committee came out of their meeting, I was approached by State Rep. Earl Jaques.  He asked if he could speak with me in his office.  I immediately thought he was going to blast me for blasting him on this blog.  This wasn’t the case.

Last Spring, right before the House voted on HB50 for the first time on May 7th, Earl approached me about changing provisions for students with disabilities when it comes to the state assessment.  In 2014, Senator Nicole Poore brought Senate Bill 229 forward.  Her bill, which passed, allowed for the most cognitively impaired students to take an alternate assessment in lieu of the state assessment.  It was a bill I fully supported.  It passed within days of the HB334, the Smarter Balanced Assessment.  The law states this is for students who are “clinically incapable of producing valid results on a standardized assessment”.  This is for a very limited number of students, usually 1%.  These are children who don’t even have the ability to hold a pencil, or they are so challenged they can’t put words together.  Earl told me he wanted to add more disabilities to that list.  I advised him right then and there it doesn’t work like that.  You can’t just pick disabilities and say this child has to take a test and this one doesn’t.   He told me he wants to help out kids like my own.  I advised Earl my son is very smart, but I don’t want him taking the Smarter Balanced Assessment.  He told me to think about it and let him know.

A couple days later, I received an email from Earl:

Additions to SB 229

• Jaques, Jr, Earl (LegHall) <Earl.Jaques@state.de.us>
• 05/09/15 at 11:43 AM

To

• Kevin Ohlandt

Kevin,

Based on our very short discussion, I was unaware that SB 229 didn’t cover all children with disabilities.  I would like to do some legislation to add more disabilities that weren’t covered under SB 229.  Could you send me your thoughts and a list of 6-7 disabilities that should be added first.  I know that there probably is more than a half dozen that should be added.  But if the list is too long then it will be harder to do.  We will just keep adding as we move forward.  Thanks! 

Earl Jaques

I contacted Senator Poore the same day and advised her of Earl’s crazy idea.  Bewildered, she didn’t know what he was talking about.  I emailed Earl back and said I would do some research and get back to him.  HB50 already passed the House, and by the end of June it passed the Senate.  Governor Markell vetoed the bill in July, and it came up for a suspension of rules a couple weeks ago in the House, but the suspension was defeated.  HB50 is now on the ready list to be heard in the House.

Back to Earl’s office.  Earl begins by telling me he knows how passionate I am about opt-out.  But he has been thinking about his idea last Spring.  I told him again it wouldn’t work.  He tells me not to be so sure about that.  When Acting Secretary of Education John King came to Wilmington last week, Earl said he talked to King about this idea and King told him to send some more information on it.  I’m not sure if King was supporting the idea, or just doing the “yeah, I’ll take a look at it” thing.

Earl proceeds to tell me House Bill 50 is dead.  It isn’t going anywhere.  I said “You mean it sits in Pete Schwartzkopf’s desk?” to which Earl nodded.  We also talked about the House Republicans attempts at reviving opt-out legislation, and he said that isn’t going to do anything either.  So he asks me to do some research on adding disabilities to Senate Bill 229.  Again.  I advised him Markell would never pass anything like that, but Earl tells me “maybe not”, knowing my next comment is going to be about the new Governor.  Which I invariably brought up.  I told him, “Carney”, to which Earl said “whoever it is, stranger things have happened”.  So Earl wants me to research this option for different students with disabilities to be put into legislation that would get them out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment.  Even though he has legal aides, the DOE at his beck and call, the Governor’s Advisory Council for Exceptional Citizens (which has their own policy & law committee), and a host of state agencies that could provide information for him.  But no, he wants the guy who lambastes him on his blog on a fairly consistent basis and who supports opt-out emphatically.  As well, as the “architect” of this genius legislation, where I would be credited as the idiot who puts certain disabilities on a list and not others, I can hear the Civil Rights Groups knocking on my door in the future.  Even if it didn’t happen, I would be the face behind judging what disabilities are “worthy” and which aren’t.  An attempt to discredit me…

So I say to Earl, “Why don’t we just get rid of the Smarter Balanced Assessment?”  He tells me how expensive it was, and we would have to design a new test.  In other words, it isn’t going anywhere (in his mind).  He tells me how he didn’t want it two years ago, but he still voted yes on HB334.  Earl wants me to do this work, for free, for him, to introduce legislation that I know will not do anything.  But even worse, he wants me to betray the opt-out movement by getting me to work on this legislation.  Had I agreed to do this thing for him, it would show my whole push for opt-out was only about students with disabilities and not all students.  Keep in mind this is about a month and a half before the testing window opens up for the Smarter Balanced Assessment.

A year ago, when HB5o first came out, whenever I had “opt-out” in the title of one of my articles, it shot through the roof.  People I never met or even heard of were contacting me.  And then the Delaware PTA had their opt-out town halls.  And it tripled.  There were a few days there where I literally couldn’t go ten minutes without getting an email, phone call, or Facebook message about opt-out.  Parents started opting out.    Meanwhile, Earl and Markell were doing everything in their power to stop it.  They couldn’t.  Every time they mentioned the words, more parents wanted to opt-out.

If Earl wanted this to happen, it would happen.  It would have already happened.  He doesn’t need me to do this.  Which tells me he is using me.  He wants to distract me.  Whether or not he has been instructed to do this or if it is just him, I don’t know.  But I do know this: Earl is out of his mind if he thinks I would do this for him.  Does he really think I would betray the parents of children who don’t have disabilities like that?  He doesn’t get it.  I want ALL students to not take Smarter Balanced.  I want Smarter Balanced gone!  But I am wise enough to know, like Earl said, it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.  Did he really think he could play me like that?  That he could weaken me in the ashes of House Bill 50?  I’ve already said on here that at this point it doesn’t matter.  I am going to encourage every parent I can to opt their child out in the next month and a half.  The only thing Earl accomplished was getting me to do it even harder than I already planned.

Earl is obviously getting concerned.  He did inform me that he is running again for State Rep. this year.  He is now known as the face of anti-opt-out in Delaware.  He truly believes opt-out is dead and that my resolve is diminished.  Guess again Earl!  It is stronger than ever before!  I’m sure we will see each other again Earl.  I’ve already emailed the Governor, the Delaware DOE, Pete Schwartzkopf, and the US DOE about this.  Maybe you meant well, but I doubt it.  You can’t play me Earl.  Better than you have tried.  Since the first time you wouldn’t let me finish talking at the first House Education Committee meeting I attended, when the DOE was talking about ESEA flexibility waivers, I knew where your allegiances truly are.  They aren’t with parents.  They aren’t with students.  They are with the Governor.  Two weeks ago, you turned around in your seat and told Yvonne and Terri with the Delaware PTA “told ya” when the HB50 suspension of rules vote went down.  But now you want me to help YOU?  When you spat on parental rights with your condescending and smug attitude?  If someone put you up to this, I will find out.  Do not ever speak to me again about students with disabilities.  You disrespect every single child who was born with a disability in this country Earl.

This is the email I sent to your buddies Earl:

 

From: Kevin Ohlandt <kevino3670@yahoo.com>
To: Schwartzkopf Peter (LegHall) <peter.schwartzkopf@state.de.us>; Markell Jack <jmarkell@comcast.net>; Godowsky Steven (K12) <steven.godowsky@doe.k12.de.us>; “John.King@ed.gov” <john.king@ed.gov>; Johnson Donna R. <donna.johnson@doe.k12.de.us>; “David.Sokola@state.de.us” <david.sokola@state.de.us>
Sent: Thursday, January 28, 2016 10:24 PM
Subject: Opt-Out Clauses For Students With Disabilities

Good evening all.

Most of you know me, but for John King, please allow me to introduce myself.  I am one of, if not the, most vocal proponents of opt-out in the State of Delaware.  I supported Delaware’s House Bill 50 before it was even filed.  This was a legitimate bill, aimed at honoring a parent’s right to opt their child out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment.  Our House and Senate passed it, but Governor Markell vetoed it.  I’m sure you know all of this and what has happened since.

According to our State Representative Earl Jaques, he had a conversation with you last Friday during your visit to Wilmington. About his idea to add disabilities for students who take the alternative assessment.  He made it sound like you were encouraged by this and you asked him to send you information on it.  At least that’s what he told me…

Getting to the root of this email, Earl approached me yesterday about adding disabilities to Senate Bill 229.  Mr. King, this was Delaware’s bill which would allow the most severe cognitively impaired students to take an alternate test. Either Rep. Jaques truly thinks disabilities can be added to this bill like a specific disability defines what a child can or can’t do, or he was playing me.  I believe he was trying to weaken opt-out by getting one of it’s biggest advocates to slow down the cause.  He wants me to give up the fight and cave.  I just have to offer labels to him.  As a father of a student with disabilities who is very intelligent and smart, and no longer attends public school in Delaware because of the insanity that has become public education, I find it disgusting and reprehensible that Jaques would think I would even think about participating in his sick game.

Rep. Schwartzkopf: You made a very big mistake putting Earl as the Chair of the Delaware House Education Committee.  Is this how State Reps behave?  Playing on what they perceive to be an Achilles heel of someone who opposes them?  And then uses students with disabilities to accomplish this?  This is some sick stuff, and I hope you take action on this immediately.

I sincerely hope none of you in this email put Jaques up to this.  I truly hope none of you would stoop that low.  I can promise you though, my resolve with opt-out has never been stronger and thanks to Earl I am more determined than ever to educate every single parent of a child in a Delaware public school on opt-out.  We could have done this clean without all of this.  Oregon passed an opt-out bill Governor Markell, but you had to stick to your guns and look out for business interests over the rights of parents.  We can stop with the charades here.  It is what it is.  We all know what Smarter Balanced truly is and what it’s true goals are.  I would have to be a morally bankrupt human being, with what I know, to not encourage every single parent in this state to say no to SBAC.

But I’m not done there, because as we all know there are many parts to this machine in Delaware.  I am going to tear the whole thing apart.  Don’t believe me?  You don’t think I can do it?  Watch me!

Mr. King, since you aren’t really a part of all this, but I feel you should bear witness, I do have a boon to ask of you: Call off your participation rate attack dogs with their threatening letters about cutting Federal funding because of a parental choice.  Schools have no control over opt-out.  There is nothing they can do to stop a parent from making this choice.  And there is nothing you can do against a parent.  If you want to be helpful, stop with all this assessment inventory nonsense you are pushing and encourage states to get rid of the very tests parents are opting out of: the standardized test.  The jig is up.  Parents are only going to opt out more which renders the test useless.  We don’t want it for our children.  It is designed for data to track our children and to sell them to the lowest bidder.  We don’t even want it embedded into the personalized learning competency-based education widgets.  We don’t want our children to be investor’s little playthings.  Look me in the eye and tell me that isn’t what this is all about.  You can “personalize” and “standardize” all you want.  But leave our kids alone.  We aren’t stupid.  And the charter love, that is going to go down like the Titanic more and more every day as the cracks are exposed and the rot festers through the foundations behind that movement.

Governor Markell… Jack… I’ll bet you didn’t even think twice about not putting the basic special education funding for students in Kindergarten to third grade into your neat little budget.  But you made damn sure to get the $11.35 million in for all the early childhood education.  Let me ask you this though: what happens to those children, who got all that extra support when they were a toddler with disabilities, when they go to school and become a student with disabilities?  In an oversized classroom with limited resources?  I’m sure we would blame the teacher then, right?  It’s almost like you want students with disabilities to fail.  But they can’t just fail, they have to fail spectacularly well!  And we will stretch that proficiency gap so hard it snaps!  But hot damn, if we can get them a low-paying job when they graduate, then by golly, we did our job!  And we will continue to pay University of Delaware millions and millions of dollars to come up with “behavior” programs to deal with those neurologically-based special education kids!  But hey, we have money to throw around.  Let’s allocate $3 million for bike trails…

If any of you need more information on all of this and more detail about Earl, please read my article about this on Exceptional Delaware.  This email will be included in it.

Thank you,

Kevin Ohlandt

 

 

 

Earl Jaques: Release That Bill! Why are you not releasing it? That is the frightening question!

Delaware State Rep. Earl Jaques is not releasing House Bill 186, legislation sponsored by Delaware State Rep. Kim Williams.  This bill received 8 votes to have the bill released from the House Education Committee a week ago.  This bill would allow charter schools to have post-audits done by the State Auditor, just like traditional school districts are required to do.

With every Delaware media organization jumping on the Academy of Dover auditor report issued yesterday, as well as Family Foundations Academy’s massive theft by former heads of school, and the fact that the auditor released information with regards to 7 charter schools being investigated by that office, I have to wonder why Jaques is not releasing this bill.  Does he answer to the people of Delaware or the Delaware Charter Schools Network?  This is just another of the many colossal failures Jaques has committed this year as Chair of the House Education Committee.  Between him and Sokola I truly don’t know which is worse.  I think a full-scale investigation needs to occur with both these legislative clowns.  How high does the collusion go with those who want to privatize our public schools?