The story of J and his battle with the Smyrna School District continued. After J was expelled, his mom filed an appeal with the State Board of Education. She also had J’s criminal trial to contend with as well. The trial was set for November 14th.
Regulation 616
Regulation 616 Rears Its Ugly Head Again And Gets Blasted By Delaware ACLU
Regulation 616The approach the Department is taking shortchanges our most vulnerable children and puts Delaware’s future at risk.
At the end of last year, the Delaware Department of Education proposed amendments to Regulation 616 concerning due process procedures for alternative placement meetings and expulsion hearings. In a nutshell, this regulation would make it easier to strip away the rights of students and parents in regards to school discipline. This prompted a wave of negative comments from many concerned organizations and citizens in Delaware. It started with the Smyrna School District Assistant Superintendent and went from there. The State Board of Education tabled the changes at their December, 2016 board meeting. Now Reg. 616 is back. It was published in the June Registrar of Regulations.
As I wrote last year when this god awful and horrible regulation was introduced, this bill appears to be tailor made for charter schools. To kick out the unwanted. Why does the Delaware DOE and State Board of Education even consider this kind of nonsense? Especially since there were laws passed dealing with this exact sort of thing. Furthermore, Senate Bill 239, if passed, would have been the opposite of this bill. I’m hearing this bill will come back roaring in the 149th General Assembly. It was a question of timing for why it didn’t pass this spring.
Disproportionality is a big word these days and it needs to be. We are seeing the results of what can happen when the pendulum swings too far in one direction. The Delaware DOE and the State Board are taking a huge step backwards in a time when they should be getting out of this mindset. If our charter schools want to completely change the direction of Delaware schools while everyone else is saying no, perhaps the time has come for them to change. This isn’t Little House on the Prairie anymore. They need to stop relying on funding from the state and the citizens who actually produce the funding for them to run as quasi-corporations and become what they should have been in the first place: private schools charging tuition. Let’s see how successful they are then when they aren’t using their “autonomy” when it suits them best and then ditching that concept when things aren’t equal.
REGULATION 616
ACLU COMMENTS ON REGULATION 616
ATTORNEY GENERAL’S COMMENTS ON REGULATION 616
DSCYF COMMENTS ON REGULATION 616
GACEC COMMENTS ON REGULATION 616
SCPD COMMENTS ON REGULATION 616
Is Regulation 616 A Gift For Delaware Charter Schools To Kick Out The Unwanted?
Regulation 616, Uncategorized
Tomorrow the Delaware State Board of Education will vote on Regulation 616. This regulation concerning school suspensions, expulsions, and out of school placements (alternative schools) is very controversial. I wrote in December about the Assistant Superintendent from Smyrna’s very funny letter about this regulation, but many more have come in and they are all very alarming. The biggest of which is one from the American Civil Liberties Union, as seen below:
Smyrna Assistant Superintendent Patrik William’s Hysterical Letter To Delaware DOE
Regulation 616, Smyrna School DistrictThis regulation, in my view, is akin to a bunch of model rocket enthusiasts crafting a regulation for NASA astronauts governing their space missions.
I love this! I have never met the Assistant Superintendent of the Smyrna School District, but when I do I am certainly going to shake his hand! Thank you Patrik Williams! The below letter is in regards to a pending regulation coming before the State Board of Education at their meeting next week. It deals with “Uniform Due Process Procedures for Alternative Placement Meetings and Expulsion Hearings”. Mr. Williams definitely didn’t like the way this regulation was worded, but some of his comments had me rolling on the floor!
And to see the full regulation, please read below:
Only in Delaware…
The Season Of Myths 