Delaware Attorney General’s Office Ignores FOIA Law In, Uhm, Opinion About, Uhm, A FOIA Complaint!

Carve me up and serve me on a platter!  I have seen a lot in Delaware the past few years, but this one takes the proverbial cake!  On May 26th, I submitted a FOIA complaint against Early College High School regarding their Board of Director meetings.  It was three-fold.  The Delaware Attorney General’s office responded today.  I get what they were saying regarding my first two complaints.  But the third one.  Oh.  My.  God.  This is stuff kids on Romper Room know about FOIA!

Christina Board Meeting Agenda Has A Nuclear Action Item For Consideration Next Week

The Christina Board of Education voted last week to accept the settlement concerning the lawsuit filed by 15 charters against them and the Delaware DOE.  Next week, an action item submitted by a board member could cause a tsunami of controversy.  As well, there is another action item that will certainly cause another ordeal just by being there.

FOIA Complaint: Delaware Pathways To Prosperity Steering Committee Holds Back-Door Meeting With Governor Markell

I have no doubt they are working together.  But the sad part is no one else seems to be invited to the party…

Delaware Governor Jack Markell created a Delaware Pathways To Prosperity Steering Committee on August 11th of this year.  On Friday, October 7th, the steering committee convened with no notice to the public.  As well, there is no announcement of the membership of this committee.  I was only able to find out about this non-transparent meeting by sheer luck in looking at Rodel’s tweets yesterday.  What kind of steering committee, charged with decisions on how to help students become “career-ready”, operates in secret?

The road to this steering committee was controversial to begin with.  Delaware Senator David Sokola created legislation to begin this committee in the form of Senate Bill 277, but it never made it to a full Senate vote.  Governor Markell went ahead anyway and created this steering committee after objections from Delaware legislators.  And now they are violating FOIA by holding back-door and closed to the public meetings.  Even Governor Markell attended the first meeting but you won’t find notice of this on his public schedule.  Why would he when the group didn’t seem to care if the public went.

I filed a FOIA complaint with the Department of Justice ten minutes ago.  Why do these things happen whenever Rodel gets involved?  The same thing happened with the Rodel initiated Competency-Based Learning Guiding Coalition which operated in secret two years ago.  Can we expect this same type of secrecy with our next Governor?  What gives this group the right to discuss student and education matters with no involvement from the public?  What gives them the right to make decisions on what is best for children and teenagers without the ability for the public to view and give public comment about their ideas?  This is not open government.  This is a cabal of people with their own agendas, guiding society towards what they want, not the will of the people.  This nonsense needs to stop immediately.  People in this state actually wonder why I find it so hard to trust.  This is a classic example of why I find it impossible to trust anything associated with Governor Markell and Rodel.

In the above picture, I see Dr. Paul Herdman with Rodel, State Board of Education President Dr. Teri Quinn Gray, Director of Career & Technical Education STEM Initiatives Luke Rhine, Del-Tech President Dr. Mark Brainard, and New Castle County Vo-Tech Superintendent Victoria Gehrt.  I’ve seen some of the other faces before but if anyone else can fill in the blanks that would be most appreciated.  Feel free to leave the names in the comments.

Delaware School Success Framework Is Regulation 103: * Opt-Out Penalty * Action Schools * Focus Schools * Priority Schools *

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ARTICLE I HAVE EVER WRITTEN AND ACTION NEEDS TO BE TAKEN NOW!!!!

Now Exceptional Delaware has yet another place to look for information and changes the Delaware Department of Education are trying to squeak into state regulation.  I have found the actual regulation for the Delaware School Success Report in the monthly Delaware Register of Regulations for September.  It is still a proposed regulation but the deadline for public comment is 10/1/15.  I’m glad I found yet another source of information for me to be on top of in this state.  I’m going to have come up with some kind of parent guide to navigate through all this stuff in case I ever become incapacitated or die or whatever.

Yes, this regulation already has the participation rate penalty as part of the regulation, even though it was never on the actual ESEA waiver the public was able to view and comment on.  For the calendar of events/public hearing notices in the registrar, it has a listing of what the options are for the public to comment on a regulation or any hearings to attend based on the regulation.  For all of them EXCEPT Regulation 103, it states what the regulation is and what the public can do.  For Regulation 103, all it says is:

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

PUBLIC NOTICE

The State Board of Education will hold its monthly meeting on Thursday, September 17, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. in the Townsend Building, Dover, Delaware.

Hmm…

So I have the actual regulation with it’s exact proposed wording below.  Where is the public notification of this regulation in printed material?  In the meantime, if you have never read a long document on Scribd, this is the time WHERE YOU MUST READ EVERY SINGLE WORD OF THIS BECAUSE THIS IS THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION IN DELAWARE!!!!!!!!!!!  Every single legislator, parent, teacher, staff member, principal, district worker, district administrator, superintendent, board member and citizen needs to read this.  Because if you don’t act NOW, it will be too late.  AND THERE IS NO WAY THE 148TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY WILL BE ABLE TO OVERRIDE THE HOUSE BILL 50 VETO once this goes into effect because it will go against STATE LAW!  You MUST write or email the DOE by October 1st, and give public comment at next week’s State Board of Education meeting, on September 17th, to voice your strong objection to this absolute state takeover of our neediest schools based on the Smarter Balanced Assessment.  The Delaware School Success Report is NOT the same as the Delaware School Success Framework.  The report is just the pretty little report card parents will get on the school.