The Echo

http://www.wdde.org/36255-community-education-building-open-delayed

On Dec. 18, I opined about the three start-up charter schools that were requesting approval from DOE to defer opening their schools until 2014-15 school year. 

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but something doesn't feel quite right. Why are our three newest charters asking DOE to allow them to delay opening? In fact, all three requests will be decided upon by the State Board of Ed at it's Dec. 20th meeting. What a coincidence!   http://www.elizabethscheinberg.blogspot.com/2012/12/de-new-charters-did-ya-notice.html
 

Anonymous responded to my post on Dec. 21, the day following the State Board of Education meeting.

According to the discussion at the State Board meeting, they requested it because of facilities not yet completed and the continued search for an appropriate school leader. Keep in mind these schools did not have the federal charter start up grant funds that every charter school previously approved has had so in terms of available start up funds they had to do much of their own fundraising and didn't receive the nearly 300,000 from the federal grant that others had received because the federal grant for this purpose ended.
I really don't believe there is any conspiracy or that it has anything to do with the Charter working Group.
 

The News Journal also ran a story that confirmed Anonymous's comment, 3 Charter Schools Won't Open in 2013 which states:

In a letter to parents in October announcing plans to delay the opening of the First State Montessori Academy, the board of directors noted funding challenges because of the federal startup grant changes. In addition, the board hopes it can share space at a new charter school building that is being prepared, according to the letter.
The Community Education Building, overseen by the Longwood Foundation, is opening a new school in 2014 at its location in downtown Wilmington.

Yesterday, WDDE ran this headline: Community Education Building to Open a Year Later than Planned.

The Community Education Building, Bank of America’s gift to Delaware’s charter school movement, will not open until the 2014-15 school year, 12 months later than planned.
The delay will allow the building’s operators to “get it done right,” said Riccardo Stoeckicht, Community Education Building president.
But the delay was a major reason for two new charter schools, which had hoped to lease space in the building, to defer their planned openings from 2013 to 2014.”
 

The interesting piece to this timeline:  The CEB hired an outside contractor to help evaluate the applications of those schools who wished to move into the BofA's "Gift." Previously, CEB had shared that they would announce that list of successful candidates in fall of 2012.  That self-imposed deadline has come and gone.  However, the WDDE story does confirm one rumor - Kuumba Academy will be making the move to the CEB - just not next year.  The other entities are still unconfirmed, although the latest actions of these upcoming charters give us some insight. 

• First State Montessori Academy and Academia Antonia Alonso indicated that finding a home in the Community Education Building was part of their plans.
• Oliver Yeh, board chairman at First State Montessori, wrote that the school had applied for space at the Community Education Building but the review process determined that it was “not a perfect match.”
• Kathy Laskowski, a board member at Academia Antonia Alonso, a dual-language immersion elementary school program developed with the support of the Latin American Community Center, said site selection and the delay in the Community Education Building’s opening were factors in the decision to defer the school’s opening for a year.
• Kuumba Academy is looking forward to being the building’s first tenant, Head of School Sally Maldonado said. Kuumba has asked to occupy 40,000 square feet “but that has to be negotiated,” she said.
• Kuumba, which now serves kindergarten through fifth grade, is asking the State Board of Education to authorize it to operate a middle school, serving sixth through eighth grades. If that request is approved, the school could grow from its current 249 students to about 855, including a preschool program, Maldonado said.
• Cristina Alvarez, founder of the proposed Delaware Design Lab High School, puts it bluntly: “We’re going for broke. That’s where we want to be.”
• The Community Education Building’s next solicitation of prospective tenants will occur this summer. Applications must be filed by Aug. 1 and selections will be announced by Sept. 15. An independent panel of national education experts has been hired to review the applications, Stoeckicht said.
• Stoeckicht would not say that the building’s selection process is more rigorous than the one the state uses to approve charters. But he did say that “the big challenge is closing the urban achievement gap, and I can say we are totally in alignment with the Department of Education on that point.”

All of this brings me to one big question - Did DOE and associated parties fail to tell the State Board of Education that their potential success lies largely with the success of the CEB?  Yes, parties cited location, decreased start-up funding, and the lack of an identified school leader as reasons to delay.  Was that a thinly veiled attempt to say that if the CEB doesn't deliver on near-to-free space, these schools will be unable to move forward?  Do charters really believe the CEB will be the charter panacea? And why didn't these parties simply stated that the CEB is behind in opening its building thus we behind in opening our schools?  That would have been the more transparent way to approach the situation with both DOE and the NJ.  Fortunately, for the public, WDDE dug into the malarkey and found the ribbon of truth.

And that's all the news that's fit to print.

 

 

Pencader Charter School recently published its "amended" and "restated" bylaws.  The new document, available here, raised some eyebrows over Kilroys as it named the former school leader the corporation's Registered Agent.

What is a registered agent?   (from wikipedia)
A registered agent, also known as a resident agent^[1] or statutory agent,^[2] in United States business law, is a business or individual designated to receive service of process (SOP) when a business entity is a party in a legal action such as a lawsuit or summons.^[3] The registered agent's address may also be where the state will send the paperwork for the yearly renewal of the business entity's charter. The registered agent for a business entity may be an individual member of the company, or (more often) a third party, such as the organization's lawyer or a service company. Failure to properly maintain a registered agent can affect a company negatively.^[3]

The State of Delaware provides a portal to research resident agents via its "entity search" option.
The entity search for Pencader Education Association provides this information:

Entity Details

---

THIS IS NOT A STATEMENT OF GOOD STANDING
File Number:	3699458	Incorporation Date / Formation Date:	09/04/2003 (mm/dd/yyyy)
Entity Name:	PENCADER EDUCATION ASSOCIATION
Entity Kind:	CORPORATION	Entity Type:	NON-PROFIT OR RELIGIOUS
Residency:	DOMESTIC	State:	DE
REGISTERED AGENT INFORMATION
Name:	ANN E. LEWIS
Address:	27 TREMONT COURT COTSWOLD HILLS
City:	NEWARK	County:	NEW CASTLE
State:	DE	Postal Code:	19711
Phone:
Additional Information is available for a fee. You can retrieve Status for a fee of $10.00 or more detailed information including current franchise tax assessment, current filing history and more for a fee of $20.00. Would you like Status Status,Tax & History Information Now, I'm not going to spend $10 or $20 to learn anything else about this entity, but you could.  Instead, I'm going to take you through the process that resulted in this outcome.  Isn't the more meaningful question:  How did Ann Lewis Become Pencader's Registered Agent? Ancillary to that - Is it common for the school leader employed by a charter school corporation to be the registered agent? A. These "amended" and "restated" bylaws were adopted by the Pencader Board of Directors on November 12, 2012 as reflected in the document itself and confirmed in the BOD meeting minutes for the same date: By- Law revisions Motion to accept the amended and restated By-Laws of the Pencader Education Association. Mr. Evans yes, Mrs. Clemmons yes, Ms. Kennedy yes, Mr. Anderson yes, Mrs. Davis yes, Dr. Young yes, Mr. McIntosh yes. Motion passed unanimously.   This action was witnessed by   ·         Steve Quimby- Interim School Leader ·         Tami Koss- Temporary School Leader ·         Barry Willoughby- School Counsel ·         Adria Martinelli- YCST (School Counsel) ·         Debbie Doordan- E.D. Innovative Schools ·         Don Liberati- Innovative Schools ·         Chuck Taylor- DCSN ·         Kendall Massett- DCSN ·         Ron Prettyman- Parent   The above mentioned information confirms that the statement in the document that Ann Lewis is the registered agent is not a mere ERROR. BOD members Evans, Clemmons, Kennedy, Anderson, Davis, Young and McIntosh affirmed her position.  There can be no disputing this fact. B. By what process did Lewis achieve this distinction? Corporations can't simply amend their bylaws to change their agent.  The State of Delaware has established a process, including the submission of various forms, found here: http://corp.delaware.gov/coa09.shtml  For those of you who are non-searchers, here's the gist:   A corporation must apply for a "Certificate of Change of Registered Agent and/or Office to be filed in accordance with Section 133 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware. The fee to file the Certificate is $50.00 ($5.00 for non-profit corporations). If your document is more than 1 page, please include $9.00 for each additional page. You will receive a stamped “Filed” copy of your submitted document. A certified copy may be requested for an additional $50."   A corporation needs to provide the following information: 1. The current name of the corporation exactly as it appears in the state's records. 2. The new name and address of the registered agent you are appointing to accept service of process for the corporation.   Easy Peasy.   Not Quite:   The forms contain an execution block: "The document must be signed by an authorized officer of the corporation pursuent to Section 103 of Title 8.  The name of the person must be typed or written legibly underneath the signature.   And then there's good 'ole #3:   3. The foregoing change to the registered office/agent was adopted by a resolution of the Board of Directors of the corporation.   And that answers B - The Pencader Education Association's Board of Directors adopted a resolution decreeing Ann Lewis as the incoming registered agent.  Following this action item, the BOD's authorized agent submitted the required forms and paid the $5.00 non-profit filing fee (assuming the submission was only one page) to have Ann Lewis recognized as the Registered Agent.    Since the Nov. 12, 2012 minutes fail to record any details regarding the action of "amending" and "restating" the bylaws, it could be assumed that this action occurred then.  Note, the changes were unanimously approved.  Even the highly experienced and invigorating new board members may have placed Ann Lewis, already dispatched by Nov. 12, into this role.    Whether it happened Nov. 12 or sometime previous - one fact cannot be disputed: Not one Pencader board member voted NO on Nov. 12 to giving the former school a valid, legal role in the function of the Pencader Education Association corporation.  And that is a fantastic concern.   C.  So just how common is it for charter BODs to name current or former school leaders as their registered agent?   Family Foundations - Foundations Inc at 1101 Delaware St. Academy of Dover - Academy of Dover, Saulsbury Rd. CSW - PHS Corporate Services, Inc. DAPSS - DAPSS Harmony Rd. DCP - Anita Roberson (past principal) Eastside Charter - Eastside Charter DMA - Bancroft Service Corp GLS - Pam Draper (School Leader) Kuumba Academy - Kuumba Academy Aspira of Delaware Charter Operations -  Jaime Rivera (former chairman and  president of Aspira) MOT Charter - MOT Charter NCS - NCS Odyssey Charter School Inc. - George Righos (current BOD VP) Postive Outcomes - Edward J. Emmet Jr. (Executive Director) Prestive - Prestige Reach - Reach New Maurice Moyer - Agents and Corporations, Inc. Sussex Academy of Arts and Sciences -  Sussex Academy of Arts and Sciences Edison - Corporation Services Company Campus Community School - Could Not Discern Entity   Pencader Education Association - Ann Lewis (former School Leader)   I think you can draw your own conclusions.

It's early, I know.  The Charter School Accountability Committee still needs to release its final findings regarding Pencader Charter School.  But, the debate has been brewing over at Kilroys' with the constant conjecture around charter schools flowing with gusto. 

No one can deny that life under DE. Sec. of Education Murphy was been pretty humdrum.  The turnaround unit is belly-up.  DEDOE employees fleeing Dover to districts have been reclassified from resignation to "transfer" on all SBE reports.  Murphy has yet to come out with a strong stance on anything education.  If a stay-at-home mom with nothing better to do than blog can see it, surely Murph knows its time to take a stand and be accountable for something.  Pencader is Murph's out.  And that doesn't bode well for PCS. 

The Landscape that will shape Penacader's future -
Moyer.  Old Moyer.  New Moyer.  All the Moyer in between.  Moyer that no one other the SBE ever talks about anymore.  Moyer was Markell's fast tracking of the Delaware's award-winning Race to the Rop application.  Our gov. had to come out hard on failing schools.  Moyer was a sacrificial lamb. DOE under former Sec. of Ed Lowery in partnership with the gov that appointed her put Moyer under that state's control and handed it over to K12, essentially a cyber school.  This was Delaware's first forray into the world of Charter Management Organizations (CMO).  K12 was the operator under which the school made little if any improvement.  In Moyer-Round-II, a new board of directors was established who submitted an application to the SBE to claim Moyer as their own and promised grandiose changes.  They kept K12 as the managment partner.  As of the Dec. 20 SBE meeting and at every SBE meeting in the last six months, Moyer has been under intense scrutiny.  SBE members have made it clear that to them, there appears to be no difference between Old Moyer, In-Between Moyer, and New Moyer.  Furthermore Moyer is missed the deadline to submit its annual report, is showing dismal test scores, and has been cited by the DOE charter office as needed correction in eight areas. 

Yet, Moyer is largely absent from the Charter debate in the blogosphere.  Why? The gov. is entirely silent on Moyer.  He will not utter a word.  He know that the state takeover of the school under his direction was a total failure.  But, this is Delaware and he knows well the Delaware way.  The poultry state's education cockitrice belongs on his 1st pick for sec. of education, Lowery.  And she's gone, off to a bigger salary in MD.  Now Lillian was a helluva politician.  She's smart enough to know that she's better off forgetting little Delaware and never uttering Moyer again.  She and her supporters are as distant from Moyer as Delaware is from Mount Kilimanjaro.  And since cyber education is pretty weak in Delaware, there are few with any expertise who are willing to engage the conversation.  So Moyer will hang around Lowery's neck.  And Lowery is gone.

So Coach Murphy is up at bat.  He gets a pass on Moyer b/c he basically inherited a school on life support. He's taking his direction from the SBE, the only entity that really seems to have skin the game.

And along comes Pencader.  The CSAC recommended closure during FR III.  Lowery overrode the recommendation with the help of SBE and placed the school on probation.  She's gone.  The school continues to erode in all areas but finance.  The schools' board of directors commits such miserable malfeasance during summer of 2012 that Pencader becomes the education media darling.  Murphy reacts by asking the SBE to again place Pencader on FR.  Now Pencader is Murphy's ballgame.

FR IV.
Pencader supporters claim that there's been a lot of change at the school as the result of FR IV.  Most of those sitting on the board during Summer 2012 have come and gone and the school leader ousted.

However, I see problems:

1. The interim school leader is a former member of the highly dysfunctional board of 2012.  Sorry, Steve Q.  But it's the truth.
2. Three new charter schools just requested deferrels.  At least one school cited the lack of school leader as a reason to delay opening.
3. Pencader's new board, supporters, and admin are playing the same tune as those who fought to keep the school open during previous reviews.  There is also considerably less public support from persons of influence in Delaware as compared to FR III.
4. Murphy owns putting Pencader of FR IV.  He's young in his position and yet to make a strong stand on any issue.
5. Murphy would have to be blind to not see how the state's intervention and continued patience with Moyer as an epic failure on the department's end.  Yes, he can push the Moyer situation off to Lowery, but he took the lead on Pencader after did the two-step followed by her grace exit to MD.  Murphy's big risk is that if he allows Pencader to continue to operate, there's a strong possibility that Pencader will become the next Moyer.  And that will be on his shoulders and forever tied to his reputation.
6. There are strong rumors that the leaders of Delaware's high-performing charter schools want to see Pencader disappear.  The school's continued public problems give anti-charter folks something to discuss and dissect.  It's their proof that charter schools are not the panacea of success. Pro-charter has every reason to want to see this school closed and removed from the public conversation so that they can return to their mission of establishing charters and privatizing education. They can redirect the conversation to failing district schools and would gain some ground in advocating for the closure of some schools or the consolidation of some districts.
7.  Murph would likely gleam some respect from the anti-charter folks by closing Pencader.  This group would be able to claim a measure of success in seeing the school closed.  They would owe that to Murphy.
8. Take #s 6 and 7 together and Murphy has a win-win.  It's an opportunity for him to make a stand - His DOE will only support high-functioning (vs high-performing) charters.  This would also be his spring board to attack districts for their failures. Equal opportunity.
9.  Pencader's latest board must write a plan that will prove that the school can overcome its deficits.  That plan must be so dynamic and workable that it overcomes the educational landscape that currently exists in Delaware.  It has to mitigate all fears and biases of the department and SBE.  That's a monumental task.  And I'm not sure it can be done by anyone, my doubts don't lie with Pencader alone.

So, without seeing Pencader's response to the preliminary report nor the CSAC final recommendation, and based solely on the information that is available in the public domain, I think this is Murphy's time to shine. 

Only time will tell if my evaluation is on or near the mark. As you all know, this is just conjecture, a best guess. And it actually has less to do with Pencader and a whole lot more to do with DOE, Murphy, and Markell.

9th grade health examination requirement to go into effect next school year
Release Date: Dec 20, 2012 8:30 AM ShareThis
http://www.doe.k12.de.us/news/2012/1221.shtml

The Delaware Department of Education reminds parents of eighth grade students that a requirement for a health examination prior to entry into ninth grade goes into effect next school year.
The requirement, adopted in December 2011, mandates that all students entering both kindergarten and ninth grade have a health examination done within two years of entry into the grade. Schools must receive the completed forms within 30 days of the start of the school year. Previously, the examination was only required for students in kindergarten or enrolling in a Delaware public school for the first time.

“Routine health examinations are recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. They are important for all children because they provide an opportunity for health promotion and early identification of health conditions that could impact the child’s well-being and academic success,” said Linda Wolfe, DDOE’s director of School Support Services. “We know that younger children are more likely to be seen by their primary healthcare provider. This new mandate ensures that adolescents also are seen.”

Originally scheduled to go into effect for this school year (2012-13), the state delayed implementation by a year to allow more time to communicate with parents and health care professionals. To assure compliance for September 2013, DDOE urges students to schedule appointments now. As with other regulatory requirements, students who do not meet the requirement will be excluded from school.

The following forms will be accepted:
a) Delaware School Health Examination Form
b) DIAA Pre-Participation Physical Evaluation form
c) Health Examination or evaluation document on a form acceptable to the school that includes, at a minimum: healthy history, immunizations, results of medical testing and screenings, medical diagnoses, prescribed medications and treatments and healthcare plans.

"The Charter School Accountability Committee recommended that the charter for Pencader Business and Finance Charter High School be revoked pending the Committee’s review of all documentation the school is required to submit with its response to the Preliminary Report."  http://www.doe.k12.de.us/infosuites/schools/charterschools/files/PCAPR112612.pdf, p. 7
 

RED IS C&E 1st.

 

For the second time in two years, Pencader Charter School is staring down a closure recommendation from DOE's Charter School Accountability Committee. 

Here are some interesting notes from the report:

The Board also noted that Pencader had begun to address some of these issues since the Initial Meeting. Below is a summary of the board’s actions since the Initial Meeting such as

• Making reapplication for the 501(c)(3) that will be sent to the IRS no later than 1 December 2012   Was this completed by Dec. 1?
• Provided a legal analysis explaining its rationale as to why the Board is lawfully constituted at the present time. DOE, please make this analysis available to the public. 
• Board training is needed to help members in being able to turn around the school. High performing charter school boards have specific competencies and accountability measures, such as those for a school leader. During the third Formal Review for the school, the previous board president and school leader had indicated that the Board would receive training in the Baldridge model; however, there is no evidence that the Board or school leadership followed through on making the training available. The school must provide a Board training plan that considers how high performing charter school boards operate effectively and specific competencies. 
• The Committee discussed the two administrative complaints about special education issues at the school. There were two administrative complaints filed with the Department’s Exceptional Children Resources Work Group. The Committee noted that subsequent to the Initial Meeting the Pencader Board had authorized a restructuring of the Special Education Department to be completed no later than 1 December 2012 to address these issues. Was this completed by Dec. 1?
• Complaint was more than a special education issue and concluded that:

  (1) The school administration did not understand their duties and the issues involved nor did the staff respond in a timely way. (2)The issues in the complaint decision were not limited to special education or to one staff member. Several teachers and administrators were aware of the specific student’s issues. However, the parents did not receive a response in a timely manner. The lack of timely notification created additional problems for the student. (3) There is a culture at the school that needs to be reversed as well as a clear understanding of responsibilities relative to special education students and regulatory/statutory requirements.

• Ms. Field Rogers reported thatthe school consistently provides the required financialinformation in a timely manner.With the decline in May enrollments,the Financial ReformResources workgroup indicated thatifthe schoolcould make an enrollment projection ofapproximately 410 studentsandaskedthe school to provide a budget based on that enrollment.The school provided a budget and implemented it based on the actual September 30 Unit Count.  This is the only formal review criterion that was met based upon the preliminary meeting.

　

　

　

　

 

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20121220/NEWS01/312200087/State-police-Lake-Forest-student-brought-BB-gun-school

Need to know -

• 16 yr old brings BB gun to school on bus. 
• Friend tells school officials. 
• No threat = No parental alert. No lockdown. 
• Police charge with misdemeaner. 
• Boy released to parents pending family court hearing.

Did anyone notice that three charters that are slated to open in next year have applied to the state DOE to modify their charters so that they can delay opening until 2014-15? 

https://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/Meetings/ViewMeetingOrder.aspx?S=190001&MID=280

First State Montessori, Early College High at DSU, and Academia Antonia Alonso are all seeking the modification. All three schools were scheduled to open in August/September of 2013.

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but something doesn't feel quite right.  Why are our three newest charters asking DOE to allow them to delay opening?  In fact, all three requests will be decided upon by the State Board of Ed at it's Dec. 20th meeting.  What a coincidence! 

Something stinks in Dover...

Really???  Apparently, the enormity of the national tragedy that has unfolded to our north over the last four days has not penetrated the dense cranium of one Milford 16-year-old.  Here are the three facts you need to know:

• A school resource office was tipped that the boy had purposely brought the loaded shotgun to school and it was hidden in his car.
• There was no threat associated with his action, Young said.
• The teen was arraigned in Kent County Family Court and released to his parent’s custody on $20,100 unsecured bail.  http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20121217/NEWS01/312170061/Police-Milford-student-had-shotgun-car

 

Discuss amongst yourselves. 

 

Subject: Message from the Superintendent

From: Christina Superintendent Dr. Freeman Williams

Dear Christina School District Community:

I join you in being shocked and deeply saddened by the events at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Our nation has suffered a terrible tragedy, and we share in grieving with the families who have lost loved ones to this senseless act. Every school in Christina will fly flags at half-mast, we will continue to focus on school security, and we will offer counseling for any
student who wishes it.

My administrative team and I have spent the weekend reviewing safety and security measures in all Christina School District Schools. Facilities staff members have reached out to each building and are reviewing the use of security already in place as well as assessing any refinements necessary in specific locations. School crisis teams are meeting to review their plans and ensure that
their procedures are in place. Schools are also scheduling drills in schools so that students and staff are aware of emergency procedures. In addition, we are reviewing school entrances and assessing the security of doorways and intercom equipment.

Shoshana Bereskin, a counselor at Gallaher Elementary School, has provided a list of resources, below, to help children talk about the tragedy. Our school counselors are an excellent resource, and will be available to all children to answer questions and provide support.

Disaster Mental Health Resources<http://www.counseling.org/sub/dmh/resources.aspx>
from American Counseling Association (ACA)
Disaster Trauma Responses of Children<http://www.counseling.org/sub/dmh/Fact%20Sheet%203%20-%20Disaster%20and%20Trauma%20Responses%20of%20Children.pdf>
from American Counseling Association (ACA)
Emergency Management Resources and <http://www.safeschools.info/emergency-management/emergency-management-resources>
Emergency Planning Links<http://www.safeschools.info/emergency-management/emergency-management-resources>
from Center for Safe Schools
Helping Children Cope with Tragedy Related Anxiety<http://www.nmha.org/go/information/get-info/coping-with-disaster/helping-children-handle-disaster-related-anxiety>
from Mental Health America (MHA)
Helping Kids During a Crisis<http://www.schoolcounselor.org/content.asp?contentid=672>
from American School Counselor Association (ASCA)
How to Talk to Children About School Shooting<http://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20121214/talk-children-school-shooting?src=RSS_PUBLIC>
from WebMD
How to Talk to Your Kids About the Conn. Shooting<http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/12/14/167269582/how-to-talk-to-your-kids-about-the-conn-shooting?utm_source=science&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20121214>
from National Public Radio (NPR)
Memorial Activities at School: A List of "Do's" and "Don'ts"<http://www.nasponline.org/resources/crisis_safety/memorialdo_donot.pdf>
from National Association of School Psychologists (NASP)
Practical Information on Crisis Planning: A Guide for Schools and
Communities<http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/emergencyplan/crisisplanning.pdf>
from Ed.gov<http://Ed.gov>
Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting<http://www.cmionline.com/current-events/>
from Crisis Management
Talking to Children About the Shooting<http://www.nctsnet.org/sites/default/files/assets/pdfs/talking_to_children_about_the_shooting.pdf>
from The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN)Talking with Children
About Subjects: Illness, Death, Violence and Disaster<http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles/talking_children_about_difficult_subjects_illness_death_violence_disaster?CSRT=16666997678636257062>
from NYU Child Study Center
Talking to Children About Violence: Tips for Parents and Teachers<http://www.nasponline.org/resources/crisis_safety/talkingviolence.pdf>
from National Association of School Psychologists
Tips for Talking to Children About the Elementary School Mass
Shooting<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/health/tips-for-talking-to-children-about-the-elementary-school-mass-shooting.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1355521410-nkTBhktJ2Tab0WRiB2MHyg>
from New York Times

Our goal in the Christina School District is to operate as normally as possible and to begin the healing process.  We remain committed to ensuring the highest level of school security, and welcome your suggestions and feedback.

Freeman L. Williams, Ed.D.
Superintendent, Christina School District

Tonight, I hold my children a little closer...  I am reminded as I look through their eyes at the universe of the innocents stolen today in a tragedy that incurs no explanation.  Twenty children swallowed by a gulf of violence and terror.  Educators taken while protecting the most precious ones among us - those who have barely tasted life. 

Some of us know where monsters lurk.  The offender who frequents the neighbors down the lane, I know him by sight and by vehicle.  I watch my children with a keener eye than my parents ever did their five children when off to play they go.  I was a rural free-range child, climbing trees, tearing through "the woods," caking rocks in clay for the ultimate "clay ball fight." We rode our bikes without helmets, sprinted to the dead-end and back, and searched the recesses of a dilapidated barn for snakes and their skins.  As the sun dipped in the sky, we wandered home, the sweet taste of raspberries in our mouths, the smell of honeysuckle in our noses.  Dinner, a ring of grime left around the porcelain bathtub, and then bed beneath starried skies.  We were children of imagination, living a storied childhood burdened only by our Monday through Friday school uniforms and stiff shoes.  The weekends were ours and ours alone. 

My children will never know this freedom.  I am most found at home within an arms reach of my daughter. Autism has broken my heart, healed it, and broken it again.  It's an endless cycle.  My son is growing up in a dense world of conflicting emotion - confusion, fear, anxiety that we are desperate to balance with love, understanding, and generosity.  He and I have a tradition that echos back to my own childhood.  At least once a week and much more often when he is unsteady in our familiar journey, I whisk him away for a treat, as my mother often took me to lunch after preschool.  One of our favorite trips is to 7-11. About three months ago, the life of a store employee was stolen in an armed robbery.  Three days later, our special date found us in this store.  At six, he's far wiser than I was at his age, a condition of his complex life.  As we stood in line with our Slurpee's in hand, he read the signs on the doors, windows, and counter - remembrances of the life stolen and a request for donations to help support his family.  What happened to him, mom? Why are there flowers on that car, mom?

I looked into my boys eyes and told him this - Sometimes in this world, honey, there are good people and there are people who do bad things. And sometimes the people who do bad things hurt good people. These signs are for a man who was killed when someone did something very bad.  It's scary, isn't it? But, it's very important for us to remember that when we do good things, all of the good in the world is much stronger than any of the bad.  He nodded.  That makes sense to me, mom.  And we put a dollar in the donation jar.

Tonight, we have banished the news from our home.  I can't bring myself to let my children learn of the monsters who lurk among us, the ones we cannot discern.  I don't want them to feel the icy fingers of fear in their hearts, the crushing realization that for all that we do, schools are less than safe.  I want to surround them in love and warmth, watch them as their heads fill with dreams under starry skies.  I want what every mother wants.  And as I drift off to sleep tonight, my thoughts will be with those mothers, fathers, families, who have been shattered by the terror in Connecticut. 

I am so deeply sorry.    

It was explained to our board tonight at our monthly meeting the DOE PZ Turnaround Unit will NOT generate any further reports to be shared with our board regarding our PZ schools.

Wow... I'm not sure I completely understand what went down, but it sounds very significant.

Yes, Mike, it is significant. 

Does this mean you are no longer accountable for any PZ requirements? Or are you still expected to meet all PZ requirements, but without the reports?

CSD is still accountable for all PZ requirements.  RTTT is a federal program with all of the federal strings attached.  The major issue is that the State of Delaware submitted an application that promised absolute commitment to PZ and the schools and districts that would be affected.  The establishment of DOE Turnaround Unit was part of that application.  When Delaware won the grant, DOE withheld 50% of the award to a tune of $59.5 million.  The TU was created and funded by these monies.  TU's major function has been to approve PZ plans and perform compliance reporting.  The Unit maintained the right to withdraw funding or impose other sanctions if districts/schools did not comply with the approved plans.

In practice, this is how the compliance piece works:  The TU performed monthly visits to PZ schools and generated thorough reports citing concerns and offering suggestions.  PZ schools were required to respond with their plans for addressing concerns as they arose as well as tracking and providing data regarding the outcomes of the interventions deployed via the plans. As an example - previous areas of concern cited by the TU were discipline, attendance, and DPAS-II observations. Last January, Dr. Lowery also expressed deep concern around the implementation of a major component of the approved Glasgow plan, Project-Based Learning, one of the key methods of curriculum delivery adopted by the school under the PZ MOU.

So, PZ schools are beholden to the DOE TU.  The TU reports within the DOE.  The DOE is monitored to the USDOE.  The USDOE also reserved the right to engage in a deeper auditing process and can go directly to the districts/schools to ensure they are using the federal funds in compliance of the supporting MOUs and the greater PZ and RTTT plans.  If the DOE TU is doing its job, this second-level involvement by feds is highly unlikely to occur.


Here's the sticky wicket:

CSD last received a compliance monitoring report from the TU at the end of the last school year. We have had the benefit of hiring the former TU director to guide our PZ schools.  When it became apparent that the TU was no longer providing support/monitoring, this leader drew upon her own experience and began generating CSD internal compliance reports that mimicked the format of that which previously came for the TU.  These reports are key for CSD b/c with the TU's abdication of its pledged support, there is a solid chance that the feds could engage that deeper level of compliance monitoring.  CSD will be prepared.

DOE may have bailed on PZ, but the districts/schools are still on the hook for compliance reporting as required by the feds.  We are also being held to achievement targets under the NCLB waiver.  We must now work to meet requirements without feedback from the agency charged with ensuring we are complying. 

Basically, the TU dumped us and left us holding the bag.  And while I can confess that I believe that the whole of RTTT/PZ was a toxic relationship to begin with, that does not permit the TU to simply walk away.  And if the TU under its latest leadership has abandoned Christina's three PZ schools, I have to wonder what is this unit doing to support districts like Red Clay who do not have the expertise of the former TU Director.

Why did the TU stop the reports?  Was it because CSD published them?

I can't tell you why they stopped.  I can point out the timeline.  CSD votes to make the reports accessible.  Lowery leaves for Maryland.  The reports stop.  The TU leader leaves for CSD.  The new TU leader is named.  The reports are never resumed.  It could be b/c we published them.  But, given the research I have done, I think it's far more likely that the reports stopped b/c the new TU leader is grossly unqualified to perform the job functions.

The PZ Turnaround Unit will operate as a resource that we can approach if we need them.

Can you approach them and ask them to resume the monthly reports? Call them each month if you need to. Do you even WANT the monthly reports? Were they helpful, at least in the sense of helping you meet PZ requirements?
From a federal compliance standpoint - I want these reports.  From a public's right-to-know view - I really want these reports.   The reports were helpful b/c they provided the insight of an agency outside the district who could provide a more objective critique of our work.  These reports directly reflected the goals the TU felt we needed to achieve.

I'd really like to know what mechanism gave the TU the latitude to bail out?  Did DOE request a waiver from the USDOE?  How are they able to change their function to on-call from compliance monitoring? Does USDOE even know they have?

Can we ask them resume the reports?  Yes.  Will they, No.  I will tell you what I personally feel is at the heart of these reports:  They will ultimately confirm that the PZ model was failing.  RTTT allowed us to use student growth on DCAS, and not mastery of curriculum, as one mechanism to achieve AYP.  This was buttressed when Delaware received the NCLB waiver, and the achievement bar to claim AYP was dropped. 

This is the scenario in play - AYP has been and will continue to be declared at PZ schools, thus portraying PZ as a success.  But, the data, the numbers that actually show proficiency will reveal that any gains are short-lived or comparatively minute.  As these schools are pressed to reach higher targets, longitudinal data will show RTTT and PZ were absolute failures.  These reports would confirm what those of us in thick of it already know.  Thus, stop the reporting, because we all recognize - IF IT WASN'T WRITTEN DOWN, IT NEVER HAPPENED.

My goal is this - when RTTT and PZ fail, it will not be because CSD failed.  This epic failure lies squarely on the shoulders of the DOE.  I will continue to work to hold CSD accountable to approved plans and MOUs b/c I am required to do that. We are bound by law/code to do this work.  It's a colossal waste of time and money that could be put to much better use.  But, my district and the work of the dedicated professionals in the PZ schools and in district admin will continue to support this gutless plan into which they have been forced.  I am proud of my personnel who are trying every day to reach our CSD students. I only lament that I didn't have the support of my school board back in the day when we could have said NO.  Only two of us had the conviction to refuse an MOU that lacked credible evidence as to its potential success.

Disclaimer - these are my thoughts and mine alone and they do not represent those of the Christina School District or its Board of Education.

I'm pissed off and you should be, too.  Not used that language from me?  I save it for special occasions... And this one, it's real special!

Under our Governor and his former Secretary of Education, school boards across this state were bullied into signing an MOU that committed our districts to the colossol failure that is known as Race to the Top - a wickedly, under-researched education reform construct designed to enrich consultants and edu-businessmen.  Those MOUs played a significant role in ensuring that Delaware was the front-runner for RTTT funding and the gleaming winner of a rich prize that transformed the universal right of education into nothing more than a competition, our children from students to lab rats.  At the heart of this prize was grossly destablized schools, chaos, and discord.  And in the end, many of those who led the charge into D.C. to win the coveted race, packed up and got the hell out of Delaware before the longitudinal data could call this program what it is - a cataclysmic waste of tax payer dollars guised as a grand prize.

And that's doesn't even come close to explaining why I find myself fuming at 11:00 pm on Tuesday night. 

I am visciously angry because the Delaware's Department of Education's Partnership Zone Turnaround Unit has abandoned my PZ schools. ABANDONED!  Eleven months ago, Christina's board - fewer than a quorum attended - was called into a meeting with then-Secretary of Education, Lillian Lowery to "discuss" our handling of our PZ schools.  We had already gone head-to-head with the Gov. and DOE over deviations from the teacher selection process.  This particular meeting produced one result that was measurable - we were directed by DOE to use the DOE PZ Turnaround Unit reports to measure the success of the implementation of our Glasgow plan.  That document was specifically cited as our guiding tool when it came to decision-making.  This was to be the PZ bible. 

Following that meeting, Christina's Board moved and voted to make these DOE products public documents and place them for consideration on our website.  These documents, by their very nature, are public documents and our action simply facilitated the public's access to the information that was driving our decisions, our planning, and our implementation.

Since this action, Christina has only received two such reports, when previously these reports were monthly and generated for each PZ school.  As a board member in the midst of massive school restructuring/reimagining, who has been directed by the Department of Education to use this specific tool, I am livid because our Department has abdicated it's responsibility to our children.  It was explained to our board tonight at our monthly meeting the DOE PZ Turnaround Unit will NOT generate any further reports to be shared with our board regarding our PZ schools. In fact, I have not received one DOE-generated report this school year.  The PZ Turnaround Unit will operate as a resource that we can approach if we need them.

I voted no RTTT because I knew it would fail.  Not because I had a gut feeling.  Because I looked at the reforms it was based upon - Chicago - where the longitudinal data had begun to reveal that early initial gains from the models employed was temporary and short-lived.  I voted no b/c my students did not need to be Mass Insight's or Jack Markell's or Lillian Lowery's lab rats.  I voted no b/c the funds that could come from a winning application were never designed to expand the number of teachers in the system when clearly it is teachers and access to them that makes the difference for our children.

Tonight, a fellow board member is celebrating that we have been cast-off by the PZ Unit.  I can't hide the small amount of pleasure that comes with knowing that my assessment of RTTT was on spot.  But, more than I can find pleasure in this situation, I am outraged that the Delaware Department of Education Turnaround Unit Leadership and our current Secretary of Education have abandoned the committments made to the federal government when the office they now command submitted their award-winning tax-payer-fund-wasting education experiment. 

Shame!  Shame on them!

The Sunshine Review is annual evaluation each State's website. Here are selected highlights of the advance release of our state's review:

The U.S. PIRG rated the state website a "B-" on providing online access to government spending data, with a score of 81 out of 100.^[11]

For State Integrity regarding ethics laws, Delaware received an overall grade of C-, or 70%. It ranked 22 out of the 50 states.^[13]

Category and Grade
Public Access to Information F
Political Financing D+
Executive Accountability C
Legislative Accountability D-
Judicial Accountability B-
State Budget Processes B+
State Civil Service Management C-
Procurement C+
Internal Auditing A
Lobbying Disclosure F
State Pension Fund Management D-
Ethics Enforcement Agencies D-
State Insurance Commissions D
Redistricting B-

Read more: http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Evaluation_of_Delaware_state_website#ixzz2E60gDB1U