Christina school board takes umbrage over Street letter

Members worry about safety after councilman suggests actions harmful  

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20130330/NEWS/303300029/Christina-school-board-takes-umbrage-over-Street-letter

And I'm a weapon mass destruction.  I figure I ought to embrace the term seeing as the New Castle County Councilman just decried that his obstructionists should be dealt with accordingly. (re: WMD's lead to a war with countless innocents murdered.)  Thanks, Jea, I'll be on the look-out for the nuts and whack-jobs who subscribe to your revisionist history.  Remember Sandy Hook?  It only took one.  I cannot express the depth of my appreciation to you for placing my family in harm's way.  Extremely irresponsible.  And on paid county time with county resources - funded by tax payers across the county en masse and not just District 10 - to further a personal vendetta.  The definition of reckless.

Update 3/30/13
I know where Hoffa's buried.
I know who's buried in the tomb of the unknown soldier.
I know where the treasure chest in New Mexico is buried. 
There's a leprechaun in a cage under my bed and when he kicks it, I'll find a place to bury him, too.

Pretty scary that all the major mysteries of the world have to do with things that are presumed buried. 

This just in, from a dumpster out behind George Reed Middle School.

• Effective immediately Linn (Colonial Superintendent) has made the following mandates:

                                    

SNOW HILL, Md. — Worcester County Sheriff Reggie Mason is pushing for a school security plan that would put an armed officer in each of the county’s schools beginning this fall.
“A trained active shooter is needed for each school,” Mason said.
Announcing he had “brought my bodyguards with me,” a contingent of supporting law enforcement officers that included Chief Kelvin Sewell of Pocomoke City and Chief Kirk Daugherty of Snow Hill, Mason said during a recent County Commissioners meeting he “worries about (school safety) every night when I go home.
“No child should feel in danger when attending our schools,” he said. -http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20130324/NEWS03/130324014/Md-county-s-plan-puts-armed-officer-every-school

Way to go, Reggie!  

Sheriff Mason's Worcester County has 13 public schools and only one active school resource officer, SRO.
In neighboring Wicomico County, the Sheriff’s Office currently has nine officers in 30 schools.  Mason has put forth a plan requesting $1.6 million to hire 13 deputies and necessary supplies.  His new SROs would work 9 months/year in schools and be assigned a road duty during the summer months. He's requesting $1 million in subsequent years to continue funding his school safety initiative.  

Mason's plan has generated some challengers, like Commissioner Virgil Shockley who believes school safety can be achieved with a smaller price tag. 

Commissioner Virgil Shockley suggested an alternative, less costly plan, similar to one used currently in Montgomery County. In Shockley’s plan, SROs would be part-time, employed during the school year only and would not have their own police vehicles, a major expense at more than $500,000. - http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20130324/NEWS03/130324014/Md-county-s-plan-puts-armed-officer-every-school

To put the debate in context - the Christina School District has contracts that put one SRO in every secondary school (middle and high school.)  However, our district has schools and program located in 31 different buildings.  Roughly 8 or our 31 campuses have a full-day SROs - none in elementary schools.  Our model is more similar to Wicomico County than to Worcester.  

The BIG Question:  Which security plan is the safer plan?  You tell me...

Board of Education Open Session

A.  CALL TO ORDER

B.  PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

C.  APPROVAL OF AGENDA

D.  PUBLIC COMMENTS

E.  SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT

      1.  Race to the Top - Year 4 Funding

      2.  Staffing Projection Overview for the 2013/2014 School Year

       Link to Supporting Docs:  http://www.boarddocs.com/de/christina/Board.nsf/Public 

• Select March 21, 2013 General Business Meeting
• Select View Agenda

F.  ACTION ITEMS

     1.  Board Meeting Locations for the remainder of the 2012/2013 School Year

G.  ADJOURNMENT

 

And I'm a weapon mass destruction.  I figure I ought to embrace the term seeing as the New Castle County Councilman just decried that his obstructionists should be dealt with accordingly. (re: WMD's lead to a war with countless innocents murdered.)  Thanks, Jea, I'll be on the look-out for the nuts and whack-jobs who subscribe to your revisionist history.  Remember Sandy Hook?  It only took one.  I cannot express the depth of my appreciation to you for placing my family in harm's way.  Extremely irresponsible.  And on paid county time with county resources - funded by tax payers across the county en masse and not just District 10 - to further a personal vendetta.  

I’m not going to embarrass the pants off Jea Street by pointing him out… If you know him, or of him, you’ll know whom I’m talking about.  If you don’t, he could be anyone, sitting in the audience of your districts Board of Education Meeting…
But, Jea Street just did a very dumb thing.  He fires off a public letter calling for the firing of three Christina School Board members calling them super “obstructionists”…
Really.  Super obstructionists?  Is that like Superman?  Wouldn’t it have been smarter to call them Spider obstructionists?  Like Spiderman?  Or Bat obstructionists?  Like Batman?  or Under obstructionists, “like little olde me,…….. Underdog”.  More Here

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20130318/BUSINESS13/303180058/AstraZeneca-cutting-1-200-jobs-Delaware?odyssey=mod|breaking|text|Home

“As AstraZeneca explained to us, they are trying to position the company for a return to growth and with that comes some very difficult corporate decisions,” said Catherine Rossi, spokesperson for Gov. Jack Markell’s Office. “It is not easy to hear people will lose their jobs or move to another location. We wish AstraZeneca were positioned differently, but we understand the business challenges the company faces as it works to reinvigorate its scientific leadership.”

Delaware’s Department of Transportation spent about $70 million on road improvements in the area around AstraZeneca’s headquarters on Concord Pike.

Markell's job creation policy in a nutshell - Spend $70 million on road improvements for a company that's about throw the tax payer/employees who funded that work to the wind. Do I hear Fisker in the breeze? 

When is our Governor going to engage in a job growth plan that benefits the residents of Delaware rather than his business buddies?

Hey, Jack, how did that phone call to Colonial's School Board go for you? Did you save your blessed language immersion program? You know, that program won't do much in a district that can't afford to keep its lights on... I can see it now - Students learning Mandarin by candlelight...

The state has cited this phrase as the reason it is singling out Christina for possible grant revocation: “The District will also align resources as well as the plan for implementation with the State sponsored incentive assistance program scheduled for implementation in 2012.” http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20130314/NEWS03/303140031/State-rejects-Christina-s-teacher-bonus-proposal

 “The District will also align resources as well as the plan for implementation with the State sponsored incentive assistance program scheduled for implementation in 2012.”

This phrase is getting a lot of attention these days.  It's been seized upon by a lot of bullies in Dover who are hellbent decapitating local control.  It's the reason the bullhounds think Christina's amendment to its RTTT plan to implement a collaborative and responsible incentive pay program is rejection-worthy.  Yep, this is the source of a $2.3 million ire. 

So let's boil down these words to their core form - something akin to diagramming... Is that even taught under the common core?

The District will align resources as well as the plan for implementation with the incentive assistance program.

First stab - "plan for implementation with ... program."  I didn't realize that we could plan for implementation with a program, I thought we planned with people and implemented programs.  Shit.  Don't tell my mom that she wasted thousands of dollars on private education.  
 
Second stab - I see three key words here:  ALIGN and PLAN FOR. Let's take a closer  look:
 align [əˈlaɪn]
The District will bring its own resources into agreement with the policy of the DOE as well as prepare for implementation with the state sponsored incentive assistance program.   

Somebody, somewhere, tell me where Christina wrote:  We will align and implement the state's wasteful, thoughtless, gutless program?

As far as I can read, CSD only committed to line up its resources and prepare for implementation.  We NEVER actually said/wrote IMPLEMENT (vb.)  Does DOE really think that was an oversight?  Hah!  Does Coach really think that the boards and districts would commit to implement something that didn't yet exist and of which literally nothing was known?  We may be holding onto local control by a thread, but we are still holding on.  Former Sec. Lillian Lowery approved this plan - knowing full well what the words said and meant - that the district would evaluate what was put forth to us and make the appropriate judgement at that time. That TIME has come and our answer is NO, We've aligned and planned.  But, what we have chosen for "implementation" is a collaboration that invests in the teacher or into the teacher's classroom.  And that's what our direct service providers, our front-line associates, our TEACHERS say they need to help them propel student learning to the next level.  

The ridiculous threats to tear money away from our children amount to spitting at humanity's 2nd most precious commodity - our teachers.  Yeah, okay, Coach, keep spittin'.  But, remember, the guy sending us your threats is shoppin' his resume as we speak.  How's that for talent retention?

In response Colonial School District's failed operating referendum, Superintendent Dorothy Linn unveiled a plan to reduce the district spending by $4 million.  In Linn's worst case scenerio project, every facet of education in the district will be affected by cuts.  The Colonial School Board plans to meet March 26 to discuss whether to adopt the plan or to put the referendum before the public again.

To avoid these cuts, Linn said, a local tax increase is needed, and it would be the first major one to support school operations in about 20 years. The district’s spending has outpaced revenues from state, local and federal sources, district officials have said. Last fiscal year the district had to use about $6 million from its cash reserve fund to support the $142.5 million budget. http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20130313/NEWS03/303130051/Colonial-School-District-may-slash-staff-sports-cuts

I know that some of my blogging contemporaries will categorize Linn's dire predictions as more bunk, the likes of sequestration, a ploy to panic the electorate into support for another referendum.  I'm okay with that take.  The plan does indeed seem frightening - Reductions in force (RIFs), highly moratorium on hiring for positions vacated by retiring staff, or both.  Students could see the elimination of middle and 9th grade sports, reduction in travel for band and chorus groups, elimination of band and cheerleading travel to non-home games, fees for high school sports.  Academically, the Governors language immersion program would be scrapped, and a plan to add technology into the classroom would have to be put on hold.  The district is also looking at transportation cuts.

But, let's really put this in context - 20 years ago Colonial failed to pass a referendum.  The district attempted a second referendum to stave cuts and succeeded. It's the same play today from the same playbook as yesterday.  The problem:  we're playing a different sport. The tax payers are poorer, more are unemployed, the economy is weaker, and the governor has been raiding the state's edu-funding every year of his terms except election year.  If Colonial has to enact cuts to education programming - I put that squarely on Jack Markell's shoulders for his consistent participation in the corporate reform agenda to dismantle traditional public education for privatized profiteering. 

The Delaware Coalition for Open Government, Greenwatch Institute and Delaware Sierra Club invite the public to a workshop on ways to be an effec­tive advocate in the General Assembly.
The workshop – free and open to the public – is 9:15-11 a.m. Wednesday, March 20, in the basement cafeteria of Legislative Hall in Dover.
Topics include lobbying techniques, methods and practical ways that citizens can impact the legislative process to advance their agendas in the General Assembly.
After the workshop, participants can attend committee hearings and a Gen­eral Assembly session.
A copy of the Lobby Handbook, compiled by the League of Women Voters of Delaware and printed with funds from the Delaware Commission for Women, will be available, along with tips on meeting with and writing to your elected officials, compiled by the ACLU.  http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20130311/NEWS02/130311007/Groups-advise-citizens-lobbying-lawmakers-

• Monday, March 11, 2013 - Pencader Family Information Night at Newark High School, 6:30 pm
• Wednesday, March 13, 2013 - Pencader Family Information Night at Christiana High School, 5:30 pm 
• Thursday, March 14, 2013 - Pencader Family Information Night at Glasgow High School, 6:30 pm

I have a special appreciation for IEPs and the time and energy that goes into planning for them by all parties. When my daughter was diagnosed with her special disability, I checked out every single book and video available in the New Castle County Library System on individual education plans. It was hefty and for the newly-indoctrinated, scary reading/watching.  As parents, my husband and I walked into our first IEP with the weight of the entirety of our child's future on our shoulders.  She was 3 1/2 - average lifespan is about 81 years.  That's a whole lot of future...

What we have since learned is that IEPs can be dreadfully boring, painfully disagreeable, and occasionally invigorating. They are seldom awesome.  IEPs are no laughing matter, but laughter is the best medicine and if you've spent four or five hours around an IEP table arguing over why your child is falling behind in reading, yet being denied the intervention of having the child's reading text sent home each night, you will share the appreciation I have for the writers at Mostly True Stuff for their creative take on this difficult formality of education -  http://www.mostlytruestuff.com/2012/11/ways-to-make-your-next-iep-awesome.html

 

Ways to make your next IEP awesome.

Even with the best teachers and staff, Individualized Education Plan Meetings are kind of terrible. I’ve spoken about how fun it is to talk about all the crap your kid can’t do, and even at it’s best, goal planning is boring. At it’s worst, you’re in for a fight that may or may not eventually require tears, attorneys and mediation. We’ve been lucky in the past couple of years to have had great IEP teams, and willing school districts. Still though, as I spend hours and hours preparing for those meetings, and then IN those meetings, I still can’t escape the thought that there could be a way, or many ways, to make them MUCH more entertaining. So I took this question to my autism-blogger friends. What can we do to make these meetings AWESOME?  Here’s our list:

• Every time someone says “with autism” correct them to “autistic” then do he reverse the next time they say “autistic.”
• Ask them if they’ve heard of the (totally made up name) theory of development and see if they lie.
• When they bring up goals that your child has accomplished, pat yourself on the back and say, “good for me” 
• Bring notes, on the back of the notes have little ditties written so they see them when you lift up the paper. Like on Wayne’s World. 
  

  http://diewithglitter.tumblr.com

• Give yourself affirmations at random times. “I’m good enough. I’m smart enough…”
• Insist on doing “Duck Duck Goose” around the table to decide who has to read their section first. Demand outcomes of the game written into the minutes.
• Bring all of your other kids in. And other people’s kids.   
• Hand out your own goals at the beginning of the meeting. “The Speech and Language Pathologist will bark when someone says ‘IEP’ 2 out of 3 times with minimal prompting” Measure goals at the end of the meeting. 
• Start every sentence with, “I read on the internet…”
• …or “my psychiatrist says…” 
• Insist on Person-first language then don’t use it yourself. At all.  
• Come in all decked out in sensory attire : weighted vest, lap pad, chewelry, and fidgets.
• Bring a visual timer
• Ask for the meeting to do be done with a sign language interpreter. When they ask you why, call them a racist. 
• Say “listening ears” whenever they’re not listening to what you’re saying.
• See how long you can hold this face:
• Every time someone speaks to you, respond with “Are you talkin’ to me?” With full DiNero accent.
• Insist on keeping the chair next to you empty for your friend, Penelope Paddywack, who no one else can see.
• Dress like Maria, from Sound of Music. Carry an acoustic guitar.
• Answer everything in the form of a question. Like Jeopardy
• Bring Scooby Snacks and throw one to the person whenever you like what they said.
• Rap.
• Carry a tiny chihuahua and say “That’s hot” whenever you agree.
• At random intervals say “You bitches be crazy”
• Show up with that black paint under your eyes that athletes use. So they know you’re serious.
• Put tape on your knuckles part way through.
• Talk in third person
• Script an entire episode of Spongebob.
• Use puppets
• Nickname everyone on the team. Use names that describe their worst physical attribute.      
• Answer every question with “on the advice of counsel, I refuse to answer on the grounds that I might incriminate myself”
• Elbow your husband and wink knowingly (but act as if you thought you were being subtle about it and don’t think they’ll notice) at every other, then every third thing someone else says, shifting the pattern every so often, completely randomly. They will go nuts trying to figure out the connection between the statements you’re taking issue with.
• At the end, laugh your ass off and then say “Okay you guys, let’s do the real one”
• At impromptu moments, scream “The sky is falling!” Then cluck 3 times.
• Take your own set of “minutes” and force everyone to sign them. “SLP carried on about her period for forty five minutes, fibroids were discussed. OT says her fingers hurt”
• Bring your own attendance sheet with celebrity names on them. “Sorry, we either wait for Brad Pitt to arrive or I need you to sign a waiver saying it’s okay that we had this meeting in his absence.”    
• Answer everything they say with “That’s what she said”
• Receive a phone call. Proceed to walk the person on the other line through something important, like landing a plane or an appendectomy.  
• Come dressed as William Wallace, complete with blue face paint
• Speak only in Chinese phrases you learned from Ni-hao, Kai-Lan.
• Go dressed up in full paintball gear and start shooting each person in the leg who says something you disagree with   
• Bring your “translator” and have them translate everything said… into Pig Latin. 
• Just keep doing this, “So what I’m hearing you say is…..” and say what you want to hear, not at all what they said. 
• Say “I’d like to give all my answers in the form of interpretive dance” 

 aaaand you’re welcome,
Lexi Sweatpants and: 
Diana at Autism Rocks
Alysia at Try Defying Gravity
Jennifer at Anybody Want A Peanut 
Amanda at Confessions From HouseholdSix 
Lizbeth at Four Sea Stars
Bec at Snagglebox  
Flannery at The Connor Chronicles
Jessica at Don’t Mind The Mess
Becky at Defining Normal
Kelly at Uplanned Trip to Holland
 Varda at The Squashed Bologna: a slice of life in the sandwich generation