At the Christina School District Board of Education meeting last night, the board voted on the very controversial safety zone policy. This policy would not allow ICE officials to just enter a school to question or detain a student who is here illegally. They would first have to go through the Superintendent of the district. But board member Harrie Ellen Minnehan introduced a whopper of an amendment to the policy!
It seemed like a very Sokola moment. Her amendment was to have the Delaware Secretary of Education sign off on the safety zone policy in the event it should pass last night. Since when does ANY school district need the Secretary of Education to sign off on local policy? Yes, let’s completely evaporate local control and cede all district policy to the state! Thank God the amendment failed. The two supporters of the amendment were the same two board members that voted no on the policy: Minnehan and George Evans.
Evans and Minnehan’s line of thought was that the buildings are owned by the state. Okay. And do the schools not rent them out essentially? It would be like a landlord telling a convenience store they can’t sell soda or candy. Not to mention the fact that I don’t think a local school board can force the head of a Delaware state agency to do anything without state legislative changes. I have no doubt that when Dr. Susan Bunting sees this she is going to have a chuckle. For years, this district has desperately tried to hold onto local control and Minnehan was ready to give it away over a policy she didn’t seem to like.
Meanwhile, Republicans, Democrats, Greens, and Libertarians alike are battling it out over the approved policy over on my Facebook page. As I told one commenter, it’s like throwing a donut across a room, yelling “Food Fight!” and just standing back as chaos reigns. I love Delaware!
The Season Of Myths 