Innovative Schools Innovatively Closed

 

The organization that ran a ton of back-end business operations for many Delaware charter schools is kaput.  Their website is unavailable and their Facebook page hasn’t been updated since 2015.  While details are few about when and why they shut down, I will write more details as they emerge.

 

I’ve written about Innovative Schools many times on this blog.  They have been involved in the financial aspect of schools such as The Delaware Met and the Academy of Dover when they had their fraud there with Noel Rodriguez.  I did call their phone number which still answers as Innovative Schools but no one picks up.  You can leave a message.  Not sure what is going on there.

The company was founded in 2008 by former Christina School District Director Debbie Doordan.  Another noteworthy past President of the company was Riccardo Stoeckicht who now works at Odyssey Charter School in the position of “Global Education Campus Operations Officer”.  His name has been affiliated with recent financial misdoings at the school.  As part of a long list of reasons, Odyssey is under formal review with the Delaware Department of Education.

 

 

McGuiness Rewards Election Fix With A BIG Job

Remember last year when Kathy McGuiness won the election for State Auditor?  Remember all the public smearing of Kathleen Davies that the News Journal unabashedly did?  Remember WHERE they got all that information?  Remember McGuiness won the primary against Davies and Dennis Williams but probably wouldn’t have without the tarnishing of Davies?  Who was the primary force behind Davies ousting?  None other than Andrena Burd.  She was the one who was instrumental in Davies very long leave of absence and subsequent unemployment hearings.  Eventually, Davies was reinstated at the Auditor of Accounts where she currently works.

Not long after the primary, Burd managed to find herself at a cushy auditing job over at Delaware State University where McGuiness just happened to be on their board at the time.  It turns out loyalty is very rewarding for Andrena Burd.  One former employee had A LOT to say about her recent re-hiring at the Auditor of Accounts office.  And for the record, why does Kathleen McGuiness have to make such a big deal with these swearing-in ceremonies?  Is this just practice for her dream to become the Governor of Delaware?  Or does she have her eyes set on an even bigger prize?  In any event, let’s hear what the former AOA employee has to say!

Well, it seems Ms. Burd has landed back in the AOA and with a promotion at that.  All the other folks have left because of the stuff that went down.  But Burd stayed out of the fray till it was over and now McGuiness has hired her back.  Hmm… Probably to work on getting Davies fired again.  Burd is bagging and boasting.

Burd, who was discredited by the Unemployment Insurance officer and the MERB did not seem to faze McGimick too much.  After her testimony that she thought Davies violated standards it turned out as a complete embarrassment for Burd as she did not know as much as she portrayed.  She has no morals or ethics.

How much does McGimick owe Burd for getting her elected to the AOA?  A new position?  A promotion?  And this happened after Tammy Smith left the office.  Burd would probably have not gotten that position if Smith did not leave.  Burd set up Smith, Tatman, Judy, and others.  Glad I got out in time!!!  She got promoted while all others left.  A pretty good assessment of the situation.

How many individuals have left since McGuiness took over?  Quite a few and more to follow.

As for McGuiness’ campaign promise of more transparency coming from the Auditor of Accounts office, it seems she is the sole force on the office’s website.  Even under former State Auditor Tom Wagner you could see other names on there.  But this is McG’s show and it always has been.  I have yet to see ANY investigative audits coming out of the office but this doesn’t shock me.  I’ve heard tales of some crazy stuff going on there that would make the office seem as corrupt as ever but that is a story for another day.

Joint Senate & House Education Committee Meeting To Hear Special Education Strategic Plan Tomorrow

**Updated, 4:22pm, 1/9/18: I spoke with State Rep. Earl Jaques and he okayed putting this joint committee session on the live audio feed.  The meeting is scheduled to start at 2:30pm tomorrow, but meetings sometimes start late down at Legislative Hall so be patient!  To listen, go to the General Assembly website and go to the “Listen Now” link.

The second leg of the Delaware 149th General Assembly starts today, but tomorrow the House and Senate Education Committees will meet together to hear the Delaware Special Education Strategic Plan Advisory Counsel’s ideas on how to improve special education in The First State.  The meeting begins at 2:30pm, but here is a primer: what is the plan? Who is on the committee? Who is on the sub-committees?

To read the entire Strategic Plan, please see below.  But here is a summary as per the Delaware Department of Education website:

The goal of the Special Education Strategic Plan Advisory Council is to develop a statewide plan that addresses the delivery of special education within Delaware through a review of existing evidence and within the context of a representative stakeholder process.

All children with disabilities can reach their full potential through a student-centered, individualized education system using a collaborative and supportive model. By asking stakeholders to lead collaboration between schools, families, and communities, Delaware will create inclusive education to ensure student success and growth, and equity of special education and related services across Delaware.

The members of the Delaware Special Education Strategic Plan Advisory Council:

• Co-chair – Dr. Michele Marinucci , Woodbridge School District
• Co-chair – Bill Doolittle , Parent Advocate
• Dafne Carnright, Autism Delaware
• Edward Emmett, Positive Outcomes Charter School
• Katheryn Herel, PIC of Delaware
• Jon Cooper, Colonial School District
• Kendall Massett, Delaware Charter School Rep.
• Rep. Kim Williams, Legislator
• Kristin Dwyer, DSEA
• Kristin Pidgeon, Down Syndrome Association
• Dr. Lisa Lawson, Brandywine School District
• Mary Ann Mieczkowski, Department of Education
• Dr. Sarah Celestin, Red Clay Consolidated School District
• Dr. Vincent Winterling, Delaware Autism Program
• Wendy Strauss, GACEC
• Annalisa Ekbladh, University of Delaware CDS
• Dr. John Marinucci, DASB
• Sonya Lawrence, Parent Advocate
• Teresa Avery, Autism Delaware
• Laurie Kettle-Rivera, Delaware School for the Deaf
• Mark Campano, Delaware Statewide Programs
• Dr. Josette McCullough, Appoquinimink School District
• Mondaria Batchelor, Woodbridge School District

The sub-committees:

Students: To increase the success of students with disabilities by improving their ability to become active, valued, and participating members of their community, today and in the future, Members: Ed Emmett-Lead, Lisa Lawson, Bill Doolittle,  Sonya Lawrence, Wendy Strauss

Staff/Partners: To have a highly engaged and effective workforce with appropriate values, skills, and knowledge for today – and tomorrow’s – work, Members: Elisha Jenkins-Lead, Mark Campano, Annalisa Ekbladh, Josette McCullough, Kristin Dwyer, Kathie Herel

Delivery/Structure Systems: 1) To make available the same array of evidence based practices and models of service deliveries regardless of a student’s placement. 2) To modify delivery system to facilitate the achievement of other goals, Members: Mark Campano-Lead , Vince Winterling, Dafne Carnwright, Sarah Celestin, Jon Cooper, Kristin Pidgeon, Sonya Lawrence

Parents/Families: To increase the engagement with parents and families as partners in collaboration to support their children at home and at school with access and knowledge of the resources they need, Members: Josette McCullough-Lead, Annalisa Ekbladh, Kristin Pidgeon, Kathie Herel

Resources: To acquire more resources as needed and maximize the efficiency in use of our existing resources, Members: Kristin Dwyer-Lead , Michele Marinucci, Teresa Avery, Laurie Kettle-Rivera, Mary Ann Mieczkowski

Policy/Regulations: To add, delete, and modify policies and regulations to support our current and future goals and objectives, Members: Dafne Carnright-Lead, John Marinucci, Mondaria Batchelor, Michele Marinucci, Kim Williams, Bill Doolittle, Mary Ann Mieczkowski

The group has met since the fall of 2016.  Last year, they finalized the plan but I will add this is a fluid plan.  It will constantly evolve as matters come up.  So it is NOT set in stone.  It is a living document.  I strongly encourage all Delaware parents of students with disabilities read the below document.  As well, any educator in the state should read it as well.  I would hope every single member of the House and Senate Education Committees have read it by this point.

In addition to the Special Education Strategic Plan Advisory Council, the joint session of the House & Senate Education Committee will also hear from the Delaware Association of School Librarians tomorrow.

View this document on Scribd

 

Delaware Design-Lab High School Also Lost Their Leader This Week!

The Head of School for Delaware Design-Lab High School, Joseph Mock, resigned after holding the position for less than six months.  I saw no notification on their website or social media pages.  This happened the same day Dr. Salome Thomas-EL was ousted from Thomas Edison Charter School.

Delaware Design-Lab has faced low enrollment woes since before they opened.  Further complicating matters is the ongoing legal matter with the former Head of School, Christina Alvarez.  They even have a new website.  They do have a board meeting tomorrow night.  They held an emergency session on September 13th to discuss “personnel and contract negotiations”.

Not much information to report, but this DID happen.  That I can say with 100% certainty.

What in the world is going on with our charter schools in Delaware?  It is not good for any school’s stability to play musical chairs with their leaders.  It certainly isn’t good for students!  I would think the school would make an announcement somewhere.  At the very least, I hope parents received an email from the school.  Or perhaps I am breaking this news to the public for the first time…

All the Design-Lab schools run out of Philadelphia.  This is the first (and only to date) Design-Lab school in Delaware.

Gateway Lab School Website Disappears

Many charter schools in Delaware changed their websites over the summer.  But Gateway Lab School’s website is gone.  A message pops up indicating this domain name expired on 8/24/16 and is pending renewal or deletion.  That can’t be good.  I hope they get something up and running soon.  By Delaware law, they must have a website.

Last Friday, I did an inspection of all the Delaware charter schools to see if they were in compliance with transparency on their website.  Gateway had some issues dealing with posting minutes from their board meetings and financial oversight committees.  Now it looks like there are bigger issues!

Updated about ten minutes later…

On Gateway’s Facebook page, the following announcement was made yesterday:

Is Delaware Met Just Making It Up As They Go Along?

The charter school website.  It can either be a treasure trove of information or the most God awful boring place in the universe.  Depends on the day and what you are looking for.  One Delaware charter school didn’t have much on their website.  That was a story in itself.  But granted, they are new.  And they have been in the news A LOT lately.  It’s been a few days since I posted anything on The Delaware Met.

I checked their website last night, and lo and behold, they have board meeting agendas and minutes up.  I always get suspicious when I see tons of board minutes posted all at once.   Especially when they go back a year.  Why are they just now putting them up?  Probably because they were told to.  I know there was some conversation about this after their last board meeting.  But let’s not get super excited.  They don’t have ANY Citizen’s Budget Oversight Committee agendas or minutes.  Some minutes say they need to get this going by August 2015 while others say September 2015.  And they only have their August 2015 financials up.  Nothing prior. Oddly enough, it let me download their financial statement, but not their board minutes.  Very odd.  But I took pictures of all of them!

And the financial statement which poses more questions…

Now looking at this, I see a few things.  They have received 93% of their Federal funds.  Federal funds have something called IDEA-B which is designated for special education use.  Will they get more Federal funds?  Keep in mind, this was August 31st.  A month before the September 30th counts.  As well, they have NOT received their charter school performance award as of 8/31/15.  Why is that?

But the most interesting part about all of this is when it was written.  It is their August 31st financials, right?  When you look at their revenue for state funds, you can see “Mentoring Pilot” and an amount budgeted of $6,000.00.  That’s fair.  That’s what they won in the CIP Competitive Grant from the DOE.  They just announced the winners the other day, on September 30th in the Delaware DOE newsletter called Take Note with a link to all the award winners.  But if they were just awarded those funds in September, how could they have budgeted $6,000 in August for the award they received in September when the application submitted to DOE was for $14,700?  And if their financials were written in September, who knows if the prior board minutes were as well…

I did see in prior minutes the Chair of their Board of Directors has been out sick for a while, so I sincerely wish him the best. Which also explains why I never heard back from the email I sent out on 9/23 to the leader of the Board and their Head of School who also went out on maternity leave as of 9/23.  But the DOE, who was included on that email, could have easily replied back.

Something just isn’t right with this school.  Something is very off.  Delaware DOE, this school needs to go on formal review yesterday!  And just to be on the safe side, in case anything changes, I went ahead and Scribd the financial documents:

What Happened At The Delaware Met Last Week?

Sources are telling me there was no school at Delaware Met on Thursday or Friday.  Kids got on the bus Thursday morning and arrived at the school.  When they got there, someone came on the bus and stated the school was having “electrical” problems and students were sent home.  That night, the school had a special board meeting.  Tonight they are having another with one to possibly take action on their charter.  On Friday, news started trickling about the school closing this week.

Now imagine, if you will, what happens with this.  You get up, send your kid to school, and get ready for work or a doctor appointment.  Your child comes back home and you aren’t there.  Granted, these are 9th and 10th graders, but what if they don’t have a key?  Or what if they may have disabilities and need some extra help during a normal day?  These are young teenagers, given two days off in the city of Wilmington and surrounding areas.  Free to possibly wander off and potentially get in trouble.  A school is like a contract.  If you send your child to school, you expect your child to be at school.  Did the school notify the parents right away of this sudden closure?  I’ve heard many parents were not too happy with this stunt.  There was nothing on their website or their Facebook page about this at all.  There was nothing scheduled on the school calendar for in-service days or anything like that.  Christina School District had a small fire at one of their schools and it was all over social media and the news.  With Delaware Met, not a peep.

All new schools have growing pains, but let’s look at the big picture.  If you aren’t ready to service students the day you open your doors, maybe you should close.  Why do charter schools insist on operating out of secrecy rather than transparency?  Don’t they realize that if they are open and honest and transparent it goes so much better for them?  In the past year alone we have seen situations develop at Family Foundations Academy, Charter School of Wilmington, Academy of Dover, Freire (before they even opened), Providence Creek Academy, and  now The Delaware Met.  While some events are more egregious than others, they all showed a simple lack of confidence and trust to handle a situation the right way.  Yesterday, another national blogger wrote about the number of charter schools that closed between 2001-2013.  While the list was not entirely accurate for Delaware (can’t speak for other states), it showed about 2,500 charter schools around America closed during this timeframe.  All too often, as is the case in Wilmington, these students just get tossed around from school to school to school.  That isn’t right.  Kids need consistency in their lives.  If some adults don’t know how to play in the sandbox that is public education, maybe they shouldn’t enter it.  It may look great to have on your resume “School Board Member”, or “Charter School Founder”, but if you don’t know what you’re doing it has a huge impact on kid’s lives.

As well, our very own Department of Education tries to make charter schools appear as if everything is awesome until they have no choice but to put a school on formal review.  But they are aware of the issues.  They need to take a direct hand in matters and be public about it way before the point of no return.

Delaware Met Paid $380,000 To Innovative Schools Over Two Years…For What?

Now that the Delaware Met is closing down a month after it opened them, many in Delaware are asking “what the hell happened?”  Don’t worry, I’m in that same group.  In all my time doing this, I never got a lead that turned into something solid within hours, much less a lead that announced the closure of a charter school that no  one seemed to be any the wiser about their difficulties.  But my big question surrounds their management organization: Innovative Schools.  What did Innovative Schools actually do that warranted them receiving $380,000 since July of 2013?  And why were there employees being paid since July 2013 as well when the school didn’t even open until two years later?

From July 2013 until March 2014, we see salaries going out twice a month ranging from $3,245.19 to $4,110.59 (only once for this one, ironically, 12 days before Christmas).  Then in March, it bumps up to around $5,400 a month, but then back down to $2,700 in June.  Who was getting paid these funds?  And for what?  Meanwhile, Innovative Schools had over $380,000.00 in 26 months on their tab.  That’s some serious coin for a charter that hadn’t even opened yet for the bulk of these funds!  The Delaware Met website, which hasn’t had any board minutes posted (and their only one) since October of 2014, shows 15 board members.  And under the section entitled “School Leader’s Blog”, someone named Tricia talks about how she accepted the position of Head of School in May, 2015.  And good luck finding any staff, they don’t exist on the website.  Now the DOE website shows the Head of School to be Patricia Hunter Crafton, so I have to assume that would be “Tricia”.  But when I emailed the DOE and The Delaware Met for information yesterday, I received an out of office email for Crafton indicating she was out on maternity leave until November.  Nash Childs is listed as the President of their Board, but no relation to Great Oaks Charter School leader Kia Childs.

So who was the Innovative Schools lead for The Delaware Met?  Innovative Schools website lists Jemuel Anderson as the Operations Manager for The Delaware Met.  Now some bell is going off telling me I’ve heard this name before…where…where…where…and then the bell rings!  He was one of the plaintiffs when Moyer tried suing the State of Delaware over Moyer’s closure.  But Jemuel Anderson’s charter school history goes back beyond even Moyer.  He was the topic of many comments over on Kilroy’s a few years ago with the “is he” or “isn’t he” argument going back and forth over whether he was qualified to be a teacher rep on the board based on his lack of certified credentials on DEEDs (the place to look if teachers are certified or not in Delaware).  To go from either a one-on-one para (with the same student) for two years at Pencader to an Operations Manager of The Delaware Met for Innovative Schools seems like a pretty good career jump!  Astronomical I would say!

I’m just going to take a stab in the dark here and ask the obvious.  Could there maybe be some financial issues going on with this school as well?  In which case, the date of their official closure will be very interesting to watch.  If it is after September 30th, what guarantee does the State of Delaware have to ask for that money back?  If it’s already out there that the school is closing, what would happen if every single student left before September 30th?  Would they get no funding which would then force them into bankruptcy?  And it seems like it doesn’t matter if Innovative Schools cut ties with the school.  You know they have to be going “Ka-ching! We got $380,000.00 from a school that was only open a month!  Thank you Delaware taxpayers!”

Meanwhile, more Delaware students that are bounced around from Delaware charter to charter to charter are the true victims in all of this.  A generation of lost charter school students lost in the even greater sea of lost Wilmington children who are lost in the vast ocean called proficiency gaps.

Colonial School District Board of Education Okays Parent Opt Out

Last night, at the Colonial School District Board of Education meeting, the board members discussed the issue of parent opt out of standardized testing and determined it was okay for parents to give a letter to the principal and the principal should approve the request.

The Colonial Board is very concerned about the nature of high-stakes testing, and even put a page up on their website to show parents how confusing the questions are on the Smarter Balanced Assessment.  This is brilliant!  All school districts need to get this on their websites and all Delaware parents should see this!

 

 

Let’s Play A Game, It’s Called “Find The Current Prestige Academy Board Minutes”

Based on my earlier article today about the infamous Prestige Academy December board meeting, I thought I would challenge my readers.  You have to go to the Prestige Academy website, here: http://www.prestigeacademycs.org/

And then you have to find their current board minutes.  Time yourself, and then comment on here with how long it took for you to find them.  They are there, you just have to find them.  Good luck, and please don’t throw your computer at the wall in frustration!

Delaware DOE Website Gets New Look, But Is It More User-Friendly? @KilroysDelaware @ed_in_de @RCEAPrez @Apl_Jax @ecpaige @nannyfat @TNJ_malbright #netde #eduDE #Delaware

I was looking for some information, and I noticed the Delaware DOE redesigned their website.  In searching for information before, it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack to get certain reports.  I have to say, the new look works better for me.  There are more options with certain departments, and it appears they had a massive turnaround on the old website.

I still can’t find reports that have the words 148thsenate or things like that in the pdf address, like the one I found last month in regards to 1/2 the teachers getting fired in a priority school.  That reminds me….

Just because they have a new website doesn’t mean they are doing better things.  They are just making information easier to find.  They’re still the same common core standardized testing think they know how to fix schools Rodel and charter loving group they’ve always been.  Take a look:

http://dedoe.schoolwires.net/site/default.aspx?PageID=1

I think they just wanted to make it easier for us education bloggers so we can write more articles faster about them!

Lieutenant Governor Matt Denn Launches New Website Called Front Of The Class @Matt_Denn @AutismDelaware @KilroysDelaware @ed_in_de @delawareonline @CapeGazette @WBOC @wdel @TheStateNews @DoverPost #netde #eduDE

Lieutenant Governor Matt Denn has launched a new website called Front Of The Class: Helping Teachers Succeed In The Inclusive Classroom.  This is an excellent resource guide for teachers and special education teachers in Delaware’s schools in accommodating children on the Autism spectrum or even students with other disorders and disabilities as well.

The website has received articles and videos from contributors such as the Centreville Layton School, the Christina School District, the Delaware Autism Program, Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, The Pilot School, and Red Clay Consolidated School District, with added support from Autism Delaware.  Please check out the website at: http://frontoftheclassde.com/

Articles already released on the website cover such topics as “The Sensory Friendly Classroom”, “Classroom Management for Elementary School Students” and “What Is Autism Spectrum Disorder”.

Denn is the active Lieutenant Governor of Delaware, but is running for Delaware Attorney General due to current Attorney General Beau Biden’s resignation.  Denn has been very busy advocating for students with disabilities in the past few months as he is also the Chair for the IEP Task Force, which meets twice a month until December.

 

**UPDATED** Academy of Dover Named Blue Ribbon School? For What? Big Problems At This Charter School! @KilroysDelaware @ed_in_de @DoverPost #netde #eduDE

United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan named Academy of Dover, a charter school in Dover, DE as a Blue Ribbon School.  One of three in the state.  What is the criteria for this prestigious award?  It can’t be proficiency scores, because the below shows an overall rating of does not meet.  It can’t be for growth, cause they didn’t meet that either.  I’m guessing it was for closing the gaps among subgroups!  Okay…

So let me get this straight, the DE DOE blasts Christina and Red Clay for having “failing” schools and labels them priority schools, and gives them an ultimatum, but this school gets a Blue Ribbon?  The love for the charters in this state is absolutely sickening.  Someone needs to call for Mark Murphy to resign!

Here is a link to the announcement.  Try not to eat while reading it, cause you might throw up! http://www.doe.k12.de.us/news/2014/0930-1.shtml

To quote the press release: “Student subgroup performance for each subgroup is at high levels. Specifically, for the 2013-2014 award year, the Department strengthened the focus of both categories’ performance criteria around subgroups within a school and for all students.”

I find it ironic that this school is pre-dominantly African-American, and yet they are considered a sub-group?

1. STUDENT PROGRESS OVER TIME (GROWTH)

Measure 1a. Are students meeting their fall to spring instructional scale score growth targets?

Rating: ELA

2010‐11 26.7% F 34.3% F

2011‐12 57.1% D 63.9% M

2012‐13 34.3% F 55.7% D

2013‐14 34.6% F 38.8% F

Percentage of Students in the Lowest Quartile Meeting Growth Targets

Rating: ELA

2010‐11 45.0% D 36.8% F

2011‐12 58.8% D 62.5% M

2012‐13 47.1% D 64.7% M

2013‐14 59.3% D 53.8% D

Measure 2a. Are students achieving proficiency on state examinations in math and ELA?

School Proficiency Scores, State Averages and Percentiles

Math, 2010‐11 45.5% F 66.1% 86.3% 47.8%

Math, 2011‐12 66.7% D 77.2% 94.1% 61.8%

Math, 2012‐13 70.4% M 69.5% 91.6% 53.6%

Math, 2013‐14 57.3% D 70.7% 92.5% 56.9%

ELA, 2010‐11 52.8% D 61.6% 82.7% 45.6%

ELA, 2011‐12 68.9% D 77.2% 92.9% 58.5%

ELA, 2012‐13 74.6% M 67.9% 90.2% 52.2%

ELA, 2013‐14 63.7% D 70.7% 90.2% 55.8%

Low Socio‐Economic Status

Math, 2010‐11 47.6% D 53.6% 81.3% 36.0%

Math, 2011‐12 66.7% M 65.8% 90.8% 50.4%

Math, 2012‐13 67.3% M 62.6% 85.3% 45.9%

Math, 2013‐14 50.0% D 62.7% 87.1% 46.5%

ELA, 2010‐11 51.7% M 48.4% 73.4% 33.5%

ELA, 2011‐12 67.3% M 64.3% 89.1% 47.9%

ELA, 2012‐13 69.2% M 61.2% 85.8% 43.9%

ELA, 2013‐14 54.2% D 63.0% 83.4% 49.2%

Note: 2014 State Annual Measurable Objectives (AMOs) were 63.3% for ELA and 64.0% for Mathematics.

Students with Disabilities

Math, 2010‐11 *** N/A N/A N/A N/A

Math, 2011‐12 *** N/A N/A N/A N/A

Math, 2012‐13 58.8% *M 51.8% 83.4% 31.0%

Math, 2013‐14 35.3% *D 34.7% 71.1% 10.4%

ELA, 2010‐11 *** N/A N/A N/A N/A

ELA, 2011‐12 *** N/A N/A N/A N/A

ELA, 2012‐13 70.6% *M 48.8% 84.0% 23.7%

ELA, 2013‐14 37.5% *D 33.1% 69.0% 12.0%

Note: 2014 State Annual Measurable Objectives (AMOs) were 47.3% for ELA and 47.7% for Mathematics.

(editor’s note: those asterisks next to the numbers mean they don’t have enough special ed students in each category so they don’t count in proficiency numbers!)

African‐American

Math, 2010‐11 45.3% D 48.5% 74.5% 32.8%

Math, 2011‐12 66.0% M 64.6% 94.1% 49.1%

Math, 2012‐13 72.1% M 58.9% 84.1% 41.3%

Math, 2013‐14 57.0% D 59.7% 87.0% 40.1%

School Proficiency Compared to Home District Proficiency

Math, 2010‐111 45.5% D 57.5%

Math, 2011‐122 66.7% D 75.0%

Math, 2012‐133 70.4% D 71.7%

Math, 2013‐144 57.3% D 70.6%

ELA, 2010‐111 52.8% D 59.2%

ELA, 2011‐122 68.9% D 82.5%

ELA, 2012‐133 74.6% D 75.3%

ELA, 2013‐144 63.7% D 69.9%

School Proficiency Compared to Similar Schools Proficiency

Math, 2010‐11 45.5% D 52.8%

Math, 2011‐12 66.7% M 66.8%

Math, 2012‐13 70.4% M 59.2%

Math, 2013‐14 57.3% D 59.8%

Academy Of Dover Charter School Overall Proficiency Rating for 2013-2014:

Does Not Meet

Or maybe they won the Blue Ribbon for their lack of transparency to parents and their community.  From their website, showing a complete disregard for state charter school code and regulations, as well as DOE rules and guidelines for charter schools:

2013-2014 School Year

Board Meetings 2013-2014 School Year (Tentative Schedule)

July 2013

August 2013                   Agenda                     Minutes

September 2013

October 2013                 Agenda                      Minutes

November 2013

December 2013

January 2014

February 2014                 Agenda                      Minutes

March 2014

April 2014                                                          Minutes

May 2014                         Agenda                     Minutes

June 2014

I could play Tic Tac Toe in some of those blank spots!  This is a school we give a national status to?  Did Mark Murphy slip in the shower and hit his head?  I’ve heard of a vast turnover at this charter school.  Noel Rodriguez is said to run the school with an iron fist, which is maybe why Markell gave them this award.  But the results don’t fit the prize, and Delaware should strip this award from Academy of Dover immediately!

UPDATED, 4:00pm, October 1st: I’ve been thinking about this all day.  Why Academy of Dover?  And then I remembered something.  A few months back, the charter school diva of The Delaware Charter School Network, Kendall Massett, went on Townsquare Delaware singing the praises of Delaware’s charters.  But she also wanted to reach out to parents in Kent and Sussex Counties to support more charters in the rest of the state.  Her plea failed miserably as ALL of the comments bashed charter schools in Delaware.  But what a way to prop up the charters in those counties, give one a huge award.  It’s all politics people, and like New Coke, I think charters in Delaware have hit their summit, and are falling fast.