As reported on Transparent Christina, the Christina School District Board of Education has voted not to renew four contracts in their district office. While I am not at liberty to give names yet, these are four VERY big names. The ripple effects of these non-renewals will affect the district in major ways. I expect there could be some type of legal response to at least one of these non-renewals. The names are out there and people are talking, but I will not be releasing those names “officially” until it is public. Two of them I am very happy about. They have been sources of controversy for years and have done more harm to the district than anyone else. So with Superintendent Richard Gregg announcing his resignation as of June 2020, look for Christina to look very different in the 2020-2021 school year.
Transparent Christina
Kilroy Was Here, And What A Time It Was! Bon Voyage Kilroy’s Delaware!
Kilroy's DelawareKilroy wrote his last post today. I wasn’t expecting it, but I’m not surprised. I’m sad, for many reasons. I will still talk to the man behind Kilroy. Perhaps one day we can go fishing at his paradise in really slower lower. But dammit, Kilroy filled me in on so much with Delaware education before I took a crack at blogging. He lent me his blog for about a month and a half three years ago so I could tell a story about my son. We talked a lot over the past few years. Over time, he became a friend. Not a friend I talk to every day or even see. But a friend nonetheless.
Some of the commenters over at Kilroy’s Delaware pissed me off to no end. That is no secret, especially that one guy. But I loved the discussion even if I didn’t agree with the point of view. Things got nasty between myself and a few of the commenters from time to time. But Kilroy loved it. He loved his virtual kitchen table. He was the godfather of Delaware education blogs and paved the way for the rest of us fighting the good fight.
Transparent Christina, Kavips, and now Kilroy’s Delaware. We still have other education blogs, but they are either mixed in with political blogs (Delaware Liberal and Blue Delaware) or the other blogs really don’t post that often. They were the big three. I get it. Life moves on. Blogs are not a forever thing. I’m very surprised mine has lasted as long as it has. I feel this insurmountable task of carrying the torch for the giants that came before me. Someday, another irate or concerned parent will take up the mantle. Perhaps a teacher. Blogging is not dead.
I often consider hanging it up though. Is Delaware education blogging needed anymore? Things have calmed down since Governor Markell left his throne. But there are still considerable dangers and concerns going on with education. Perhaps bigger than all that came before. The biggest concerns I have are vouchers, personalized learning, competency-based education, funding, digital technology, and student data privacy. And hovering above all those issues is how students with disabilities will fit in with this new world. I’ve seen the end goals, and any legislator, teacher, or educator can tell me that will never happen. But they aren’t in the corporate world. Not knee-deep in it. That’s where Rodel comes in. They are the middle man between the corporations and the education stakeholders, whether it is the Governor, the Delaware Dept. of Education, schools, teachers, and even parents at times. As long as they are peddling their wares, I will try my best to stick around.
There will never be another Kilroy. He had such a unique identity and style to his writing. Even the best imitator couldn’t come close. I’ll miss his cryptic hints and his crazy codes he would drop. He had a mission, and he accomplished it. I remember taping the Senate session when they passed his digital recording bill (finally) and sent him a copy. I was proud of him because I knew great things don’t always come easy. But with sweat and perseverance, change can come.
Best of luck Kilroy. I will forever be grateful for you taking a chance on an odd parent from Kent County and getting me going in this very surreal blogging world. Because of you, my life was forever changed. Sometimes it wasn’t always good change, but it hasn’t been bad. You were the gateway to my meeting a ton of people (including yourself) who have left a mark on my life, often at times I needed it more than ever. At the end of the day, it is about friendship and trying to help people. Even when you don’t get anything for yourself out of it. You taught me that Kilroy, along with Kavips and Transparent Christina.
Should they ever make a movie about Kilroy’s Delaware, I want Robert DeNiro to play him!
16 To Watch In 2016: The Delaware Bloggers
Delaware BloggersWe strike first. We don’t have to wait for a copy editor or an all-clear from the publisher. We are the copy editor. We are the publisher. You love us. You hate us. We show up at meetings when you least expect us. Some of you get nervous when you see us typing feverishly. We don’t get paid. We do it for the kids. We find you. We are opinionated and headstrong. We have allies and enemies. We know who has been naughty and nice. We are the tired. We are the alert. We don’t cut corners. We don’t aim to please. Election Season is coming. Fear Us. This is gonna be fun!
Contrary To Popular Belief: FOIA’s Are NOT Free
Children & Educators First, Elizabeth ScheinbergElizabeth Scheinberg with Children & Educators First asked me to repost an article she wrote yesterday. This is in response to Transparent Christina’s post last week about John Young’s FOIA petition.
Red Font/bolding is for emphasis.
TransparentChristina has shared some posts about a recent CSD FOIA with no comment mechanism. It’s a tactic we often see associated with political bullies, a markellian method to stifle public discourse.
So, let’s have at it: FOIA is NOT Free. I disagree with TC. I wasn’t present at the meeting and didn’t hear the public comment. However, I can offer a rebuttal on generalities:
FOIA is a fantastic tenet of our democracy. With little exclusion, FOIA creates a lens for the public to look through and evaluate the performance of both elected and appointed officials. It is invaluable. But, it does come with a price tag.
A recent CSD FOIA ran the district upwards of $3000.00. Not a lot when compared to the budget of that beast, but significant enough to those who care. I care. CSD is in a financial crisis. And while I love FOIA (and I really, really do) I can’t justify what my district was forced to expend to satisfy a malicious and mostly frivolous FOIA. (Already noted in a previous post that 1 facet of the FOIA was conceded to by CSD; as for the other two issues, the DOJ found for the board, not the complainant.)
Forced to respond?
Yes, TC contends that “the public body has to DECIDE whether to respond via counsel to the allegation.” That’s true on face value. But, only on face value. The body could choose to ignore that notification and request for evidence sent by the Department of Justice. This will produce two outcomes, neither preferable to the engaged constituent:
- First, the body runs the risk of creating a public perception that it is above the law, above even the Department of Justice. This route will tarnish the body’s public perception = a public less willing to support it.
- The body run the risk the FOIA opinion will be founded on whatever evidence the complainant provides – legitimate or fraudulent. I had the pleasure of communicating with the Department of Justice this past week. The department was most helpful in explaining what happens when the subject of FOIA does not respond to the DOJ’s inquiry.
DOJ’s explanation:“opinions will be based on the evidence available.”
Refusal of the body to participate = radical neglect that defeats the entire judicial process around FOIA. It impugns the SPIRIT of FOIA! And leaves it open for manipulation because the only “evidence” provided will be that of the complainant.
The COST of FOIA:
Moreover, regardless of the body’s decision to respond or not, the FOIA has already begun to cost tax payers’ dollars. How? When the FOIA petition reaches the DOJ, the department is obligated to assign an attorney to investigate the allegations. The hours consumed by the investigation of the petition and research into both the application of the law in the past and present and the evidence presented drain resources (financial and manpower) that could be dedicated to a host of other investigations occurring within the department. While the DOJ may budget funds to a FOIA department, the absences of a current petition does not mean that department personnel are idle. It is fair to say their talents are used elsewhere within the department. The cost clock is ticking.
Thus, the Outcome of the body not responding does not mean FOIA is FREE. There is still a cost born by the tax payers – the cost of DOJ’s investigation is supported by tax payer provided funds!
Superfluous FIOA and Malicious Intent:
I’ve written my fair share of FOIA over the years. It’s a necessary process and a right guaranteed by our democracy. It holds public bodies accountable for their collective and individual actions. However, it can also be abused. In the case of the Christina FOIA, there has been a limited dialogue and deep misunderstanding propagated by those who wish to claim winner-ship of the FOIA.
The petition stated
Based on these 2 concerns in combination, I am asking for clarification of the previous FOIA opinion in order to ensure the CSD BOE acted properly. It is my ardent hope that we did so, but I feel we need to confirm this in light of the Appoquinimink FOIA opinion. https://transparentchristina.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/my-foia-complaint-filed-in-response-to-the-8415-csd-boe-meeting/
It appears the petitioner is acting in the best interest of the pubic body. However, in the comment section of this post, the petitioner goes on to make this accusation:
And there you have it: That this petition provided clarification to the petitioner on several fairly recent FOIA opinions issued by the DOJ was secondary to the petitioner’s assertation that his fellow board members failed to learn from past experience and more importantly that they “secretly traffic information” to eachother. The DOJ opinion essential deems this malicious accusation to be unfounded. It did not opine of any secret or otherwise information trafficked between the body’s members.
This was a superfluous and malicious filing. Had the body voted to ignore the Department of Justice’s communication, the body would have lost its opportunity to provide widely important exculpatory evidence and the finding might have been radically erroneous.
FOIA IS NOT FREE. And while it is open for abuse, the thoughtful and correct course is for a body to respond always. It is only way to reach a unbiased finding based on evidence and law.
And if someone is telling you otherwise, they probably have oceanfront property in Tennessee to sell you too.
We Need Teacher Blogs In Delaware!
Blogging, Delaware TeachersAs I look at my Delaware blogger list, I see fewer posts by many on the Delaware blogs. I see very few from teachers in Delaware. I keep wondering why this is. My first assumption is they are afraid of retribution for what they write. Which is why we need Delaware teachers to write anonymous blogs. We need to hear things from their perspective, the good and the bad. What is working? What isn’t? How are students REALLY doing in the classroom? How do they do on actual classroom assignments? What are the concerns and fears teachers have? How do they feel about Common Core and Smarter Balanced now that we are waist-deep in it? This voice is dwindling in Delaware and people need to hear it.
So I am calling out for any teachers in Delaware to start anonymous blogs. I welcome all education blogs in this state. Kilroy doesn’t post as much these days, but that is for a good reason. Kavips will sometimes post 10 articles in 2 days, and then nothing. Delaware Way used to write an awesome collection of education blog stories from the past week. Transparent Christina rarely writes new material these days. Where has Steve Newton’s voice been? What happened to Minding My Matters, Fixdeldoe, and theseventhtype? I understand many of these people have real lives with things going on, but an occasional post about different viewpoints and opinions is missed. I saw many blogs start in the past year and then they disappeared.
Blogging is free and it takes time, but it is also an essential part of today’s media. Bloggers are the Wild West, able to post stories along with their opinions. The audience is there, but they need YOU! State Rep. Kim Williams is one of the busiest persons I know, but she recently started an excellent blog called Delaware First State. Christina CBOC member Brian Stephan of Those in Favor now writes for Delaware Liberal. So what say you Delaware teachers? Care to give it a whirl? Please use WordPress so I can reblog your stuff! And I would love to hear from Kent County and Sussex County teachers!
Is Delaware DOE Trying To Stop School Computers From Getting To WordPress Blogs?
Delaware DOE, Freedom of SpeechI’m starting to hear from educators around the state that anyone using school internet is getting the “This website may not be safe, are you sure you want to go there?” message. This is not all state internet, just the schools. Is this fallout from my article last week about a certain employee in the Townshend building down in Dover, or are they tracking how many teachers and staff members are reading the blogs?
You can still get to the blogs, just hit yes. Many have told me they are doing that anyways. I tried it from the State-Guest internet connection, and I got in no problem. If the DOE or whoever is trying to control what kind of media educators can get to, this is not a good sign. It is a big brother type of mentality. I’m sure they would never block the News Journal because they are basically the DOE’s public relations arm. But I guess the DOE doesn’t want educators reading the news that might speak out against them. So much for freedom of speech.
Delaware Educators: I strongly encourage you to hit yes when you get this freedom-preventing message on your computer screen, and continue to read Kilroy’s Delaware, Kavips, Transparent Christina and Exceptional Delaware. As well as Diane Ravitch, Duetsch29, and all the rest!
Opt-Out Haters Of Delaware: Who is Senator David Sokola And How Has He Damaged Public Education For A Quarter Of A Century?
DE Senator David SokolaDelaware Senator David Sokola certainly had his moments with parents this legislative session, myself included. After a tumultuous four and a half months in the General Assembly, House Bill 50 eventually passed. Yesterday, Governor Jack Markell vetoed the bill to the amazement and anger of, well, Delaware. But the fallout from that one bill may echo into the second part of the 148th General Assembly as a potential veto override could take place as early as January, or barring some miracle where the General Assembly agrees to come back in special session between now and then. While State Rep. Earl Jaques was certainly the biggest obstacle in the House of Representatives, Senator Sokola was clearly the largest obstacle of the bill as a whole.
I wondered why a State Senator who is the chair of the Senate Education Committee would oppose legislation that would codify the rights of parents to opt their child out of harmful testing. I did some research on Sokola, and found his legislator history is filled with controversial education bills. Over the last twenty-five years, he has served as a State Senator in the First State.
In 1995, Sokola was instrumental in getting the original charter school bill, Senate Bill 200, passed. When Newark Charter School opened, Sokola was a board member and helped create the school. According to Kilroy’s Delaware, Senator Sokola sponsored legislation in 2002 that repealed the law surrounding the impact of new charters on other schools in the area. This led to Kilroy blasting the Senator in 2013 when he wrote a letter of recommendation for the never-opened Pike Creek Charter School, which was within his own district. Last year though, legislation sponsored by Sokola brought this law back into place with Senate Bill 209.
In another article, Kilroy slammed Sokola for creating the DSTP in Delaware. The DSTP was the state standardized assessment prior to DCAS, and was widely considered to be just as damaging as the Smarter Balanced Assessment.
“Many forget or might not know Senator Sokola is the godfather of DSTP the former standardized student test that was flawed from day(one)! Remember those 3-tiered diplomas grading student(s) based on one test like sides of beef in the supermarket.”
In fact, Sokola was opposed to DCAS and wanted another kind of standardized assessment in Delaware, but he was not granted his wish, and Delaware received the kinder and friendlier DCAS. But last year, Sokola was the Senate sponsor for the very controversial House Bill 334, which brought the Smarter Balanced Assessment into Delaware State Code. It would stand to reason he would oppose a measure whereby the state recognized and honored a parent’s right to opt out of a state assessment he sponsored legislation for.
In 2013, Sokola co-sponsored a bill to update the original Senate Bill 200 charter school law. This one brought out a lot of fighting in Delaware and helped set up some of the current animosity against the Delaware Charter School Network. House Bill 165 went through more amendments that were defeated or stricken than any bill in recent memory. It set up the whole transportation slush fund and the annual charter school performance award. The bill went through in a little less than a month with local school districts even more afraid of the impact a slew of charter schools would have on their enrollment and funding. Side deals occurred like crazy, and the blogger Kavips gave a list of the reasons why House Bill 165 was a very bad bill.
Another Sokola sponsored legislation caused the current wave of teacher resentment against the DOE with Senate Bill 51. This very controversial bill created the harsher evaluations currently used against Delaware educators. While the educators have received a two-year pass from the Smarter Balanced Assessment impacting their evaluations, there is plenty in this bill that ticked teachers off. And John Young with Transparent Christina warned citizens of Delaware:
“So, we have a group of legislators who have signed on, including my own Senator. But why? Well, I can only guess because it sounds so good and intuitive and simple and pure. All of which, when you are talking education should make your spine crawl.”
His latest offering to Delaware, signed by Markell yesterday, is Senate Joint Resolution #2. Like most Sokola offerings, this bill looks really great on the surface, but it is injected with a poison. SJR #2 is a convening of a group to look at district and state assessments and pick out which ones are good and which ones are bad. Kids are over-tested, sure. But this bill all but guarantees the further implementation of Common Core as assessments will be picked that are aligned with the state standards. This will give districts less autonomy in figuring out what struggles students are having and how they can help them. SJR #2 is filled with controversy. Shana Young with the DOE sent out an email in early May fully stating this bill was designed to be a counter to the parent opt-out bill, House Bill 50. When I submitted a FOIA for this email, the DOE claimed it never existed even though I have seen it with my own two eyes.
During the Senate Education Committee meeting on House Bill 50, Sokola graciously allowed the opponents of House Bill 50 all the time they wanted for public comment, but stopped the supporters short and towards the end would interrupt them. He then introduced an amendment to House Bill 50 when it came up for a Senate vote all but guaranteeing it would kick the bill back to the House of Representatives for another vote. It did just that, and another amendment put on the bill by Senator Bryan Towsend almost killed the bill, but common sense prevailed and Townsend’s amendment was shot down after a 2nd vote.
I am sure Sokola is presently making the rounds about an override of House Bill 50. It would need a 3/5ths vote in both houses to pass, and I have no doubt Sokola and his counterpart but not so smart buddy in the House Earl Jaques are making the calls as I write this.
A pattern begins to form with Senator Sokola’s greatest hits. Rigorous testing, more charter schools and autonomy for them that they clearly don’t deserve, and what many view as unfair accountability for teachers. Sokola has gone on record as recently as last month in saying we need to compete with other countries with standardized assessments, but he seems to forget that was the argument two years ago for Common Core. It is very hard for me to trust any legislation introduced by Senator David Sokola when it comes to education, cause something always seems to come back to bite public schools and educators in the ass, with the exception of his beloved charter schools. He has used his position and created multiple conflicts of interest but the Delaware Senate looks the other way. Just like the Delaware Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Education seem to want. In a sense, Sokola could be directly blamed for the current status of segregation in Wilmington with his original charter school legislation and his demands for rigorous standardized testing that has done more damage to schools than anything Governor Markell could ever hope to do. He will pretend to stand up for black students, but his actions speak otherwise.
Senator Sokola is up for re-election in 2016. Will he run again, or does he possibly have something else lined up now that he has retired from DuPont? Rumors circulate, but at this time they are just that. Will he fade into oblivion or end up running some huge charter management company in Wilmington? Or will someone finally hold this man accountable for his actions?
Priority Schools-The Truth Revealed Part 39 **”But Wait, Didn’t Red Clay Come Up With….”**
FOIA, Priority SchoolsWe have reached the end of the Delaware Priority Schools FOIA Saga. This picture actually harkens back to the bygone days of the Summer of 2014, but it was always my intention to save this one for last.
At this point in time you are probably thinking “Uh, okay, what’s the big deal about this? Just another education reform Turnaround School document. I’m sure these are a dime a dozen around the DOE offices.” You are right. But if you look at the bottom right corner, there is an emblem for the University of Virginia. The very same university that Red Clay put in their priority schools plan to use as a vendor to help out with their priority schools. But if the DOE used WestEd earlier in the summer to get help with the Memorandum of Understanding and the methodology for the calculation of the priority schools, and Red Clay used University of Virginia, doesn’t that mean… Yes, there was some collusion somewhere along the way between the summer and when Red Clay officially signed on in December 2014…
We know Penny Schwinn used WestEd as a consultant in the summer, and she asked them for a turnaround plan to work on the Delaware priority schools initiative. Did she work with someone at Red Clay in advance to get the University of Virginia thing going? Who? Hugh Broomall? He is mentioned in a couple emails in this FOIA party. This Transparent Christina link may shed some light on what was going on at Red Clay when they announced this:
There will be one more part after this, maybe two. I want to put all this together along with some other sources and put a working theory together on what the DOE was up to with the whole priority schools deal.
Mark Murphy and the horrible, terrible, no good day
Delaware Secretary of Education Mark MurphyJust imagine being Mark Murphy today. Having all that bad news heaped upon him today. It can’t be easy being Delaware’s Secretary of Education. I have to imagine what his day must have been like today…
Mark arrived late at the office. He explained to his administrative assistant why he was half an hour late. “There I am, driving down Route 1. Beautiful sunrise, nice weather. John Kowalko called me with questions about opt out. Every time I tried to talk he cut me off. Half an hour later, he’s still going. I had to take it off blue tooth. That’s when he nabbed me and I got a ticket.” “How fast were you going?” she asked. “I wasn’t going too fast, I was going too slow. I was going 35 in a 65.”
Mark went to his morning meetings and went over the agenda for the State Board meeting. He spilled some coffee all over his brand-new white shirt when Penny Schwinn came running in with big news. Mark read the news and his face turned pale, as if someone had taken his favorite pair of glasses. Then his wife called. “Mark, I just heard. Are you okay?” “No, I’m not okay. Two years in a row. How come I’m not in the top ten?” “Mark, are you okay? What are you talking about? Have you been doing those Smarter Balanced interim tests again?” “No, it’s Holodick. I’m the Secretary of the whole gosh-darn Delaware education system, and he’s still making $45,000 more than me. It just isn’t right. And those not nice bloggers keep saying he will replace me one day. Will he get to keep his salary then?” “Maybe you’ll get his job honey. It would be closer to home. But that’s not what I called about. It’s this article in Newsworks…”
Mrs. Murphy was cut off by the director of the Teacher and Leader Effectiveness Unit. “Boss, holy crap, you gotta be pissed! I’ll show those #@$%ing teachers! I think it’s time for Operation Human Capital Drop!” “Christopher Ruszkowsi, good gracious, I’m on the phone with my wife. Can you come back at another time?” “Sure Murph, I’ll come back in five.” Murphy just stared at him as the “Rus Man” gave an enthusiastic thumbs up leaving the office.
“Sorry honey, what were you calling about?” “On Newsworks, they reported…” This time it was David Blowman, his Deputy Secretary. “Mark, my friend, I’m so sorry. We need to do a root-cause analysis and find out who put them up to this.” “David, I’m on the line with Mrs….” “Oh dear heavens Mark, I’m so sorry. I will embark immediately.” The coffee on Mark’s shirt was still seeping down his shirt.
“I’m going to have to call you back,” as Mark abruptly said his goodbyes. This had been a hell of a morning, and all he wanted to do was crawl back into bed and watch “Common Core for Common People Part 9: The Commonalities of Common Teachers.” He missed it the other night when Earl Jaques kept calling him asking for advice on how to handle the media. Ruszkowski ran into his office again, “Holy crap Murph, your supposed to have green clothes on St. Patrick’s Day, not spill it on your shirt!” Mark just stared at him. “What, I was just messing around Boss! Anyways, you know I got your back on this. I’m gonna TFA their schools like we’ve never seen before. I got an ad on Craigslist as we speak! And we are going to lower the requirement from 5 weeks to 3 weeks to get them in faster.” “But that’s not in regulation Christopher, we can’t just…” “Sure we can, we’ve done it before. Remember that time when we…”
Karen Field Rogers, his Associate Secretary of Financial Reform and Resource Management came into his office. “Mark, I think you spilled some coffee on…” “Yeah, the Boss doesn’t really have the luck of the Irish today!” Ruszkowski shouted. “What can I do for you Karen?” “I just got off the phone with Rep. Hudson. She’s going to need us to do a cursive study. Do we have any funds left from Race To The Top to do an RFP for a contractor on this?” she asked. “I don’t know. Call Herdman, he controls all that.” “But Mark, Jack wants this out there right away. He think this might turn the tide with the opt out movement and distract parents from the blogs.” “Better call Paul!” Ruszkowsi shouted. Mark looked at them both, his cheeks as red as John Young’s Red Pen editions on Transparent Christina. “Look, I have to run out to Target. I’ll handle it when I get back.”
Mark drove down to Target. He was in such a hurry, he didn’t realize he parked in a handicapped spot. As he ran into the store, he accidentally ran into a little boy. As he helped him up, the boy sneezed in his face. “Can this day get any worse?” Mark asked himself. He got to the checkout line with a new white shirt. The cashier was on her cell phone saying “Oh my God, I can’t believe it.” Mark looked at her and asked “Is everything alright ma’am?” “Yeah, I’m on Exceptional Delaware, and they just announced the DSEA voted for no confidence in that Mark Murphy guy.” “Don’t you mean the CEA and RCEA?” “No, that was last week. This just came out today. Sorry, let me ring you up.” Mark reached for his wallet, but it wasn’t there. He remembered he left it on the dashboard when he got his ticket. “I’ll be right back, I left my wallet in my car.” “I can’t keep this order open. What’s your name?” Murphy said “Never mind” and ran out.
He noticed a police officer standing over his car, writing something. “Officer, is everything okay?” “Sir, you parked in a handicapped space but you don’t have the plates or even the placard. I have to give you a ticket.” “You do realize I’m a high-level official in this state?” Murphy asked the officer. “Oh are you? This isn’t something you can just ignore or shake it off.” Mark recognized the face immediately. It was that Dover cop who did the Taylor Swift lip-synch video on Youtube. How could he ever forget? His children played the video non-stop the weekend it was released. “I am the Secretary of Education Sir.” “Oh, so you want to opt out of getting a ticket. But that could affect funding,” as the cop laughed. “Here you go Mr. Secretary. By the way, it looks like you spilled some coffee on your shirt.”
Mark went back into the store, got another shirt, and the only cashier available was the one he went to before. “Oh, you found your wallet!” Mark gave her his card. “Can I see some ID?” Mark showed her his license. “Hey, are you the same Mark Murphy as the DOE guy?” “Yes I am.” “That has to bite, having all those teachers saying you suck.” “I haven’t read the article yet.” “I still have Exceptional Delaware up on my iPad. Do you want to read it?” Mark muttered under his breath. The last thing he wanted to do was read Exceptional Damn Delaware. This blogger had been a thorn in his side for nine months, after dealing with Kilroys and the rest all those years. “I’m good.”
Mark stopped by WaWa, changed into his new shirt in the bathroom. As he came out, Donna Johnson, the executive director of the State Board saw him. “Mark, are you okay? I just left the building and everyone said you were really upset about the whole DSEA article.” “I’m okay, we will get through this. How is everyone else doing?” “What are you talking about Mark? It was just you. They didn’t give the DOE and the State Board a vote of no confidence. It was just you.” Mark stared at Donna and felt his world spinning around him. Since the bathroom doors are right next to the service door, Mark wasn’t paying attention when a delivery man pushed the door open with a cart causing the door to swing into Mark. Mark felt the lights go out around him.
He woke up in a bright room. Everything was blurry. Mark went to push his glasses up, but they weren’t there. He heard a voice. “Murph. You’re up. Hot damn, you are a mess!” It was Ruszkowski. “Where am I?” “You’re at Bayhealth. You passed out in WaWa man! Donna called me. She’s in the next room.” “What happened to her?” Mark asked. “She hit her head against a Twinkie display when you pushed her down. She’ll be okay, only a couple stitches.” Mark went to get up, but he couldn’t move. “Don’t try to get up Boss. You’ll be in traction for a couple days. You actually broke your ass Murph!” Ruszkowski kept talking about how he talked to Paul and Laurissa about getting some TFA action going immediately in light of the DSEA announcement. “In fact, there’s a new bill to get another year extension. Can you believe that Boss? Those *&%$ing legislators think they know more about education than we do. Anyways, I gotta get back. I know Jack is waiting to see you.”
Murphy started smiling. Jack always had a way of making him feel better. He looked outside, and it was dark out. How long had he been unconscious? Jack came in. “Mark, Mark, Mark. This isn’t good. You made more news today than you’ve had during your entire tenure as my Secretary.” Mark wanted to cry. “I’m going to have to temporarily replace you while you mend.” “Who do you have in mind Jack?” Murphy asked. “I was thinking about Mark Holodick…” Murphy screamed. An endless scream. It was heard by children down the street at Dover South Elementary School. Priests came running out from Holy Cross across the street. As Murphy stopped, Jack looked at Mark. “Can I get you some coffee?” Murphy screamed again…
Extra! Extra! The Delaware State Takeover MOU has a companion guide: Turnaround and Priority School Guide! Read all about it! #netDE #eduDE
Delaware Priority Schools TakeoverThis is being forced on both Christina and Red School Consolidated School Districts in Delaware. The state DOE allowed this to happen with these schools by turning a blind eye to re-segregation that occurred from charter schools in the area and their enrollment preferences. Now they want to punish the schools by essentially taking them over. They may become charter schools in the near future. Read the Scribd document and judge for yourself. This has been a well-planned, long-term intentional hostile takeover.
The Season Of Myths 
It’s a disease, and I think I know how you feel about those that flout the FOIA statute and act to secretly traffic information that board members need to make informed decisions. https://transparentchristina.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/my-foia-complaint-filed-in-response-to-the-8415-csd-boe-meeting/