We are at crunch time Delaware! In the US DOE approval letter for Delaware’s 2015 ESEA Flex Waiver request (seen below), it explicitly states Delaware must approve their School Success Framework by October 31st. The Delaware State Board of Education is the approving authority, and they meet on October 17th.
I need EVERY willing and able citizen of Delaware to email Delaware Speaker of the House Pete Schwartzkopf and President Pro Tempore of the Delaware Senate, Patricia Blevins, to call for an emergency session to override Governor Jack Markell’s veto of the parent opt-out legislation and give it enough time to make sure it is approved by 10/16/15 with the condition that it goes into effect immediately. If the House overrides the veto, it would go back to the Senate, but they cannot do the same in the same legislative session day. So the latest this could happen for the House would be October 15th, and for the Senate, October 16th.
To email Schwartzkopf, please email: Peter.Schwartzkopf@state.de.us and his phone number is (302) 744-4351.
To email Blevins, please email: Patricia.Blevins@state.de.us and her phone number is (302) 744-4133.
If the State Board of Education passes this, our schools will be penalized for their participation rate on standardized assessments. As I wrote yesterday in great detail, the Delaware Department of Education is trying to pull a fast one on parents and schools. This is their final attempt to prevent a veto of House Bill 50 by inserting an opt-out penalty into state regulations without any legislative approval. This was done with very underhanded and sneaky methods until I lifted the veil of transparency on this earlier this week.
Our schools deserve more than this. They deserve who will work with our schools, not against them. Penny Schwinn with the Delaware DOE needs to offer proof of her claim that the penalty rate portion of the Delaware School Success Framework, otherwise known as the School Report Card, is mandatory. Otherwise she has pressured school district superintendents, admins, the Delaware PTA, and DSEA into setting up something that will be detrimental and dangerous to all our schools, students, teachers, and Delaware itself. Please email or call Schwartzkopf and Blevins today!
The Season Of Myths 