The Echo

With DOE growing exponentially under its Race to the Top win, we, at C&E First, believe it would serve the contituents well if we began a series on just who at the state level is serving Delaware's students.  Jack and Lil' aren't doing it alone, folks. 

So who are the newbies brown baggin' it in Dover?

Delaware's charter schools seem hell bent on making a name for themselves in the press and the State Board of Education minutes where John Carwell, Jr, who heads the charter school division, usually has some golden nugget to share.

Let's introduce you to John Carwell Jr., Delaware Department of Education Charter School Officer:

John H. Carwell, Jr.

Biography

John H. Carwell, Jr. has a background in public education, federal government and the non‐profit sector. Most recently John served as Vice President of Community and District Partnerships for the Rodel Foundation of Delaware. In this role for nearly five years, he supported promising practices for Delaware charter schools and traditional schools. John also supported the Delaware Charter Schools Network and has served on the board of Kuumba Academy Charter School since 2009.

Prior to coming to Delaware, John was Grants Manager for the Commonweal Foundation, where he supported educational programs and projects assisting disadvantaged youth in the greater metropolitan D.C. area. Prior to that, John served as Program Director for the Institute for Student Achievement, managing school based academic support programs for low‐performing students in several schools in the Fairfax County Public Schools district in Fairfax, Virginia. These programs operated as small learning communities, serving 60‐120 students at each school.

In 1999, John was a Presidential Management Fellow for the U.S. Department of Education in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. He managed grants for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program. John also served in the United States Senate as a Legislative Fellow for the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee focusing on education policy.

John earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Delaware State University and earned a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

C&E 1st Notes:

• A Check of Kuumba Academy records via the DOE website indicates that Carwell is no longer serving on the board.
• Carwell previously served on the PIRC board.
• The Commonweal Foundation, serving students in Washington D.C. was the child of the Bainum Family, the founder of Manor Care Healthcare, a nursing home management company.  The Bainum family has ties to Delaware.  One brother Robert, operates his own facility independent of the Manor Care franchise right here in Delaware. The Board of Commonweal is comprised primarily of Bainum Family members and Manor Care associates.
• Since Carwell has come into his office, it's been verified that the required annual Charter School Report has not been conducted since 2007.  Mr. Carwell responded to a concerned constituent regarding this manner:

"I am following up on your request for a copy of the most current Charter School Report. My apologies for the delayed response. You are correct that no reports have been issued since 2007. The reason is that a lot of the charter school information provided in past reports is now available on the Department’s web site under School Profiles (see http://profiles.doe.k12.de.us/SchoolProfiles/State/Default.aspx). When I joined the department in August one of the priorities I was asked to focus on was to republish the annual report. It is an important tool for improving authorizer and charter school accountability and provides a higher level of transparency. The annual report needs to be completely revised. We are developing a new performance framework for charter schools. Clearly, it will be important for the new report to align with our new charter performance metrics. Our goal is to republish the new report in the fall. "

Let's see Carwell in action:
From the State Board of Education Minutes for 4/21/11:

• Recommendation for Formal Review of an Existing Charter: Pencader Business & Finance (For Action)
  
  Mr. Carwell indicated that monitoring by the Charter School Office has lead to some concerns about fiscal planning and sustainability. The school has recently gone through a leadership change and a new board president. The formal review process will allow the Charter School Accountability Committee to document the issues and proposed solutions and require specific actions. The Secretary stated that after reviewing the background in this matter, she is seeking the consent of the State Board of Education to place the charter school on formal review. A letter from Harrie Ellen Minnehan, President of the Pencader Charter School Board was distributed to the State Board of Education.
  
  A motion was made by Dr. Whittaker to consent the Secretary’s recommendation to place Pencader Charter School on formal review. The motion was seconded by Mr. Heffernan and carried with the following vote recorded:
  
  Ayes:                                  Nays:
  
  Dr. Gray None
  Mr. Melendez
  Mr. Heffernan
  Mrs. Rutt
  Dr. Whittaker
  Dr. Wilson

• Let's break this one down for you:  The official minutes would lead one to believe that Carwell's office discovered the fiscal issues at Pencader.  In fact, Pencader's leadership found the financial problems first.  The board moved to remove the school leader, board president, and vice president.  They began restructuring before they notified the Department of Education and Carwell.  It was Pencader's board that sounded the warning bells and they moved swiftly to shore up the school's finances.  After re-negotiating their contracts, the school has managed to shave $700,000 from their expenses for the fiscal year beginning July 1. 
• Sadly, Someone in the Charter School Office at DOE failed to notify Pencader that 1) they would be the subject of Board Action at this meeting and 2) send an official document verifying that the school had been placed on formal review after the meeting.  The Charter Office dropped the ball.  For an entire month Pencader leadership believed that they were in informal conversations with DOE and they were very compliant with DOE requests for documentation.  It wasn't until this meeting's minutes were approved by the SBOE in May that Pencader learned of their OFFICIAL status. Carwell, you may want to muck around in the hay and find out who dropped that ball???
• However, Pencader currently needs to overcome a $400,000 deficit for this fiscal year.   When you're talking education dollars, it's important to note that $400,000 is a drop in the bucket.  It comes nowhere near the deficit left to Christina when former superintendent Joseph Wise scadaddled out of Delaware. The state swooped in to bail out Christina, although many of its schools are failing.  Pencader is high achieving charter school.  One would hope that the DOE and Gov. have plans to help Pencader bridge into the next fical year with carry-over funds into September so that they can continue their legacy of success.
• On a side note - Christina is making it's final loan payment this year!!!

Well Folks, that's our first edition of Better Know a DOE Staffer. Hope you enjoyed our fact finding session.  And please, drop us a line in the comments section if you have a recommendation for our next DOE Staffer!