The Echo

Christina community doubting Del. Dept of Education's decisions


What you need to know? Here's my short summary:  Christina's Board identified flaws last night in its DOE-approved plan for the two DOE-named Partnership Zone schools, Glasgow and Stubbs.  The plan was flawed in that it did not match the Memoranda of Understanding between the Christina Education Association and the Christina Board of Education regarding the placement of teachers in these two schools next year.  Furthemore, several board members voiced concerns about the fidelity of the process utilized and the clarity around that process due to the two potentially conflicting documents.

In response to the outcome of the process which resulted in 19 teachers who were not invited to return to their current schools next year, the Governor and State Secretary of Education met with Christina's teachers last week.  The board was not invited.  But, several teachers left that meeting and informed board members that they had been directed to the MOU as the governing document.  As such, DOE members have, in writing via email with board members, taken the position that because the MOU was between Christina and its teachers, this is an issue of local control.  An issue for Christina's board to address and remedy with the CEA.

Last night, the board dedicated many hours in public session to these issues and worked diligently to come to a satisfactory conclusion.  In closure, the board voted to support its teachers, provide the intense professional development required by the federal and state model of Transformation and already written into the DOE-approved plan, and restored these teachers to their campus's for next year.  The teachers continue to retain the right to voluntarily transfer out of these schools. 

Tonight, WDEL is reporting that DOE is considering pulling $11 million in funding from Christina due to the board's decision to retain and retrain its teachers at these schools.  What happens next?  The ball will be in DOE's court.  The assertion that Christina should forfiet any RTTT/PZ dollars is coersion and designed to de-stabilize the board and district community.  The very notion that Christina has backed out of RTTT or PZ is laughable.  PZ is legislated, Christina has no choice in whether to implement one of the four uproven reforms.  We've provided the state with a plan that they have approved.

Frequently, in this process, we've heard our secretary of education talk about learning from our mistakes and sharing best practices. The state bears the responsibility of ensuring that future PZ schools learn from the mistakes identified during the process and implementation of the first four PZ plans. Christina found an error. The board corrected it.  IF this is truly a learning process designed to improve outcomes for students, the state would join Christina in moving forward in implementation rather than threaten to withold the funding needed to see the project through to fruition. 

Do you want it done right?  Or do you want it fast?  You can't have both, especially when the longitudinal data does not support the models from which you are forced to choose.