Stack the deck towards a power play and you often get what you want. That is the case with Delaware Academy of Public Safety & Security. Tomorrow night they will hold their monthly board meeting. The rumor mill has it that Margie Lopez-Waite, the current President of their board, will resign as President and the board will vote her in as the Head of School. With that will assuredly come some type of financial incentive for Margie’s undying loyalty to the school (insert sarcasm here). Together with her salary at Las Americas ASPIRA, she will be making a pretty penny. Oh yeah, Delaware state code dictates you can get your pension based on your three highest years of salary. Something the soon to be departed Providence Creek Academy Head of School took full advantage of.
Here is the issue though. From what I hear, Margie doesn’t spend enough time at her current school. She has her trusted minions and followers who pretty much run the school. By her cut throat first and answer questions later tactics yesterday, she is stacking the staff deck at DAPSS to do the same thing. In essence, Margie Lopez-Waite is a power-hungry dictator who is completely running the school. Unless there is a mutiny, the Delaware DOE will let it happen. This is a classic power play on her part. But she may have shown her cards too early. I expect a huge crowd at their board meeting tomorrow night. She pissed off a lot of people. I would say I hope the Charter School Office at the Delaware DOE shows up, but their leader will be leaving them soon as she… wait for it… replaces Chuck Taylor at PCA. Perhaps it is time Secretary of Education Dr. Susan Bunting actually took the reins on this and stopped Margie’s power trip and exposes it for what it really is.
Margie’s bloody coup is not new. We’ve seen other “leaders” throughout history do the same thing. We call them dictators. Tyrants. They don’t last in the annals of history. Eventually the people rise up and take back the power. This is my big issue with some of our Delaware charters. They are run by folks who tend to answer to the ruler of the school, not the other way around. Far too many of their board members, which are appointed, not elected, are meant to curry favor with said ruler. While commenters on my article from last night come to the plate in defense of Margie, I have yet to hear those commenters say anything about the lives Margie destroyed yesterday. About teachers and staff who came to work yesterday with a job and are now wondering how they will feed their families after June 30th. Even though Margie promised more training for them through Colonial.
Margie will take full advantage of Colonial’s relationship with Relay Graduate School and get cheap teachers for DAPSS. Relay is just another teacher-prep fast track program. They bounce around like kangaroos in the Outback, but they are fiercely loyal to their leaders. In other words, they are cheap puppets. Be careful what you wish for. You may get exactly what you want. It helps to have friends from high school help you get what you want, doesn’t it Margie?
The Season Of Myths 