Governor Markell, If SJR#2 Passes, I Dare You To Pick Me As The Parent Representative

If the title didn’t say it well enough, I triple-dog dare you to pick me!  Show how objective and fair you can be with education in Delaware.  Pick the biggest opponent of your education agendas and show that you can be fair and balanced.  You know my email (from FOIA requests to your office).  Game on!

Please keep in mind though, I am already in the process of rounding up ALL the parent opt-out folks to massively email bomb the General Assembly to reject this resolution.  Not sure how you got the heads of both education committees to participate in this… wait, I do…

Thanks, and have a great day!

DE Senate Education Committee Could Have House Bill 50 This Week, Email Them NOW! They go on recess for two weeks after next week!

The Delaware Senate Education Committee meets on Wednesdays, around the same time as the House Education Committee.  There is only one bill on the agenda, and it is NOT House Bill 50.  It’s Senate Bill 79, which is about student data.  Sponsored by Chair of the Senate Education Committee David Sokola, it’s important.  But email them all that you want House Bill 50 on the agenda as well!!!!!

Here is a collective email for all of them:

David.Sokola@state.de.us bethany.hall-long@state.de.us MargaretRose.Henry@state.de.us Ernesto.Lopez@state.de.us robert.marshall@state.de.us Brian.Pettyjohn@state.de.us Nicole.Poore@state.de.us Bryan.Townsend@state.de.us

Some things to keep in mind.  This is a much smaller group than the House Education Committee.  Aside from Pettyjohn on Facebook,  who said he will vote yes, not many of these Senators have made their views on this publicly known recently.  And as we learned from the House vote, we cannot assume that just because they voted yes for House Bill 334, the Smarter Balanced Assessment legislation, that they will vote no for House Bill 50. My best recommendation is to go easy.  If they come out and say NO, then I would use your best persuasive arguments to sway them.  This is unchartered territory my friends.  But remember, there are only eight of them.  I have a sneaking suspicion I know how some of them will vote, but I don’t want to assume and tick anyone off either way.  Some of these Senators have been around a long time.

Chair: Senator David Sokola

Bethany Hall-Long

Margaret Rose-Henry

Ernie Lopez

Robert Marshall

Brian Pettyjohn

Nicole Poore

Bryan Townsend

Newsworks Interviews Legislators Over Opt Out & Mark Murphy

“Opting out is something actually that I’m concerned about, because at the end of the day we’re putting so many state resources into education you have to have instruments to measure them.”

Avi Wolfman-Arent sat down with four members of the 148th General Assembly recently to cover topics in education such as parent opt out of standardized testing, Delaware Secretary of Education Mark Murphy, and the proposed redistricting of schools in Wilmington.

The four members, Senators Dave Sokola and Ernie Lopez and State Reps. Earl Jaques and Kevin Hensley, all seemed to agree on parent opt out.   They don’t want it.  But the above quote, attributed to Lopez, shows a glimpse of the legislators mindset.  All this money has gone into the Smarter Balanced Assessment, so they are afraid it will be wasted.  Resources = money for politicians, but I don’t think these four understand the human dynamic at play here.  Parents don’t want THIS test.

Tomorrow, school starts again after Spring Break, and many schools will either start or continue administering the Smarter Balanced Assessment.  Do not let politicians sway you one way or another over issues that once again come down to money.  It’s about what is good for your child, not funding.  If you want to opt out your child, it is never too late.

“That said, the opt out movement seems not to have penetrated the mainstream inside Legislative Hall.”

Avi is awesome, and he offers a much different slant to education news reporting, but this line he wrote is biased based on who he is interviewing.  I can name other legislators who are very much for it, but they weren’t interviewed.  We will find out how much penetration the movement has on April 22nd, when the House Education Committee meets to discuss House Bill 50, the parent opt out bill.

House Education Committee Minutes from 3/25/15: TFA, DOE, & Special Education Funding

The 3/25 Delaware House Education Committee meeting was a bit more subdued and calmer than previous ones, but it had a lot of activity going on.  Read the minutes from the meeting which discussed Senate Bill 31 and it’s amendment and the sunset period for Teach For America, House Bill 34 and the Delaware DOE’s timing on enforcing regulations, and House Bill 30 which would give basic special education funding for special needs students in Kindergarten to 3rd grade.

House Education Committee Meeting & Senate Bill #10: Extending TFA In Delaware For Five More Years, Live!

The House Education Committee in Delaware is having a meeting going over some of the education bills introduced in the 148th General Assembly this year.  First up is Senate Bill #10:

This Act makes technical changes to the Delaware Performance Appraisal System (DPAS) II Advisory Committee membership and meeting dates. Additionally, this Act clarifies language regarding the Committee’s duties in order to better provide advice to the Secretary of the Department of Education and the State Board of Education in the promulgation of regulations relating to DPAS II.

Senator David Sokola introduced the bill to the Education Committee.  The purpose of the bill is not to change the program but to add an additional five years due to the sunset period ending this year.  State Rep. Miro asked about pay scales.  Executive Director of TFA Delaware Laurissa Schutt took the podium and said teachers are relatively paid the same.  State Rep. Edward Osienski asked about oversight.  It was revealed TFA will be writing their own report on this.  State Rep. Kim Williams is asking about retention rates for TFA employees in Delaware schools.  She asked Schutt about changing the timeframe for teachers to stay from the 2 year program to a 4 year program.  Schutt could not commit to that.  State Rep. John Kowalko said he wants the bill extended to 2016 and not 2020.  He feels the TEMBO report commissioned by the Delaware DOE is very biased.  He doesn’t feel TFA should be writing their own reports for the state.

Howard High School Principal said they started with nine TFAers, and still have four that have stayed on.  Heath Chasanov, Superintendent of Woodbridge, spoke in support of the bill and TFA.  He is also speaking for Susan Bunting, Superintendent of Idnian River in support of the bill.  Donald Blakey, Super for Colonial, is also praising TFA and the bill.  Donna Johnson, State Board of Education, said she is happy with the collaboration between TFA and Professional Development of all teachers.  They look forward to working with the Professional Standards Board on Regulation 1507.

Kim Williams asked for more clarity on the reporting from the DOE on where the members are.  There needs to be more accuracy with reporting.  State Rep. Mike Ramone said one great employee from TFA can bring the whole quality of teachers up at a school.  Schutt said Brandywine and Newcastle County Vo-Tech want to work with them on teacher-mentoring program. She said “We are never going to take over anything.  We have 22 teachers, and we will never reach that unless we have that deep collaborative level.”

Watching the crowd, State Rep. Deb Heffernan is very interested in the comments and questions during this topic.  Rep. Miro just said he doesn’t trust any report that comes from the Delaware DOE.

Senate Bill #10 passed the House Education Committee with 1 no vote.

Lavelle & Sokola Face Off While Markell Explodes

Word around the town is Delaware Senators Greg Lavelle and David Sokola exchanged words at that New Castle school district meeting yesterday.  It’s beginning to look like the WEAC recommendations have ruffled a lot of feathers lately.  And the power struggles begin anew in the 148th General Assembly.  My little birds are also telling me about another power grab occurring in our state between two sides.  One team is feeding right into the hands of the other team who are just sitting back and watching it happen.

Meanwhile, our Common Core Smarter Balanced loving Governor was very angry about the RCEA and CEA press conference on Thursday night.  Education has been his baby and someone snatched that baby. Even though he stole the baby from its original owners, he didn’t like the snatch back.  This is after an already bad week for Jack when he was forced to use the words “opt out”.  As well, he had to hear all the talk about his latest whipping boy and his very stupid comments about parents and students.

We have a lame-duck trying to quack, but nobody is liking the noise.  The cracks in the foundation are getting bigger and bigger, and it is all about to crumble.  Just go to Delawareonline’s Facebook page and look at the recent comments concerning education.  Aside from the Delaware DOE employee and a couple other strays (like one person who was in charge of a human capital project), most of the commenters are well aware of what is going on.

Newcastle County School Boards Meeting Gets Very Heated Over WEAC Recommendations

This morning, the New Castle County school districts had a meeting, and some districts were not too happy about not being included on the Wilmington Education Advisory Committee (WEAC).  They are also very upset they were not consulted prior to the recommendations put forth by WEAC.

From Delaware State Representative Paul Baumbach’s Facebook post:

At this meeting, of the New Castle County school districts, in addition to an overview by House Education Chair Earl Jaques and Senate Education Chair David Sokola, there was a heated series of statements and questions regarding the Wilmington Education Advisory Committee’s work. Frankly, some of the questions (why wasn’t my school board included in the Governor’s task force) simply point to the structural challenges facing public schools in Wilmington–the city is divided amongst FOUR traditional school district, one VoTech district, and slews of individual public charter schools. The frustration vented at this meeting merely confirms the need to act on the Committee’s recommendations.

And from State Rep. Kim Williams Facebook page:

Several legislators attended this morning’s New Castle County Combined Boards of Education meeting. Local school board members, administrators and lawmakers discussed topics such as priority schools, standardized testing and the work of the Wilmington Education Advisory Group.

And from State Rep. Edward Osienski’s Facebook page:

There was a lot of strong discussion this morning at the New Castle County Combined Boards of Education meeting. School board members, administrators and legislators talked about issues affecting education like priority schools, redistricting and standardized testing. These types of conversations are going to be ongoing all session with many different groups.

I would have to guess the upset districts were Christina and Colonial.  If Christina board member George Evans was there, which my sources are saying he was, than it is a guarantee words were said!

Other legislators in attendance were State Rep. Stephanie Bolden, Senator David Sokola, and everyone’s favorite State Rep., good old Earl Jaques. (shameless plug: please sign the iPetition to request he be removed from the House Education Committee, here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/we-want-delaware-state-rep-earl-jaques-to-step )

Are You Going To The Imagine Delaware Education Forum?

The News Journal is sponsoring an education forum at the Chase Center on the Waterfront in Wilmington on March 9th.  Led by David Ledford, the Executive Editor of The News Journal, the purpose of the forum is to engage in an open discussion about how best to serve Wilmington schools.  Originally the date was on February 24th which drew controversy since that was the date for the referendum on the Christina and Red Clay Consolidated School Districts.

Panelists include the following:

Mike Matthews: Warner Elementary School Teacher and President of the Red Clay Educators Association

Tony Allen: Chair of the Wilmington Education Committee and a Bank of America executive

Mark Holodick: Superintendent of the Brandywine School District

Senator David Sokola: Chair of the Delaware Senate Education Committee

Lamont Browne: Head of School for East Side Charter and Family Foundations Academy

Tizzy Lockman: University of Delaware Public Policy Graduate Student and Mother

The forum kicks off at 6:30pm, but there will be an Education Expo at the location from 4:00-6:00pm where district and charter representatives will be on hand to talk to citizens about their schools.

Governor Jack Markell will give opening remarks at the Education Forum.

If you plan on going, it is free, but you would need to register here: http://newsjournal.upickem.net/engine/YourSubmission.aspx?contestid=164189