The standoff between the state Department of Education and Pencader Charter is over after the state agreed Thursday evening to pitch in $350,000 to brace the troubled school’s budget through the end of the year, school and state officials said.“It’s been a long haul, but I think in the end we’ve come to a decision that’s best for children, teachers and parents,” said Frank McIntosh, the school’s president.  http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20130426/NEWS03/304260045/Pencader-Charter-School-gets-350-000-from-Delaware-help-pay-bills

mms://DOEmedia.doe.k12.de.us/SBE4-15-13b/4-18-13part2.mp3 At 36:42 a DOE speaker states: “and we sent an email to all families addressing a letter that was …uh…posted by the board president of Pencader last week.”

-----Original Message-----
From: Kepner Alison
To: Elizabeth Scheinberg
Sent: Mon, Apr 22, 2013 8:12 am
Subject: RE: Information Request

We generated a list from contact info we had in e-school and sent it to all those families. 

From: Elizabeth Scheinberg
Sent: Sunday, April 21, 2013 10:55 AM
To: Kepner Alison
Subject: Re: Information Request

Alison,

Could you clarify something for me?  I have received communications from Pencader parents who state that the following letter was not sent to the Pencader parents in general but only to those who initiated directcontact the department.  The audio certainly makes it sound as if DOE was asserting the letter went to the elist that received the school's memo prompting the DOE reponse. 

Could you please clarify who received this:  All parents on the elist or just those who contacted the department directly, or an entirely other subgroup that was identified by the department.

Thank You

Here We Go Again… Pencader Charter School

April 18th, 2013 • Related • Filed Under

By pandora I detest hostage situations, especially when the hostages are children.  Pencader Business and Finance Charter School is in financial trouble again.  Shocking, I know.  Seems they’ve run out of money and are threatening to close the school on April 30th.  More Here

Financial advisors are still hammering out an exact figure, but McIntosh says Pencader needs anywhere between $200,000 and $300,000 to cover salaries and school closing costs. However, the letter reads education leaders told Pencader's board there was no money available.

• DOE approved Frank's budget knowing that the school did not have the funds to pay teachers if the state closed the school and Passes the school for finance on Formal Review.
•  BOD "let it go" since there was nothing they could do with it.
• Head of School met with DOE on monthly basis but "no one said you have to do anything about it."
• New board was concerned but "there nothing that could be cut out" and "made a decision not to worry about it.  Hope we wouldn't be shut-down."
• Looking for DOE to make available a couple hundred thousand.  "It's not even a rounding error in the state budget." 
• "There's always money if you really want to find it."
• The students have to finish out even if Pencader closes early.  Pencader already talking to Colonial. 
• "Costs are going to have to be born by someone."     

Pencader Leadership admits telling DOE: We do not have the $$$ to finish the school year! and CSAC still checks off financial stability box during formal review! Flabbergasted!

Delaware charter school troubles:

Pencader parents, students dealt another blow

April 11, 2013

Download Audio File »
Pencader HS board president Frank McIntosh explains why Del. DOE should help cover costs

Download Audio File »

Edu. Sec. Mark Murphy reacts to Pencader letter

First Pencader Charter High School lost its charter; now, less than two months later, Pencader parents received more bad news.

In a letter sent home to parents this week, the president of the school's board of directors warns parents the school might have to declare bankruptcy or end the school year early on April 30 because there's not enough money to cover teachers' salaries. 

According to the letter, dated April 9, Pencader teachers work 10 months out of the year, but have their salaries spread out over 12 months. Frank McIntosh writes the school is struggling to cover those last two deferred payments.

"Under normal circumstances, we would have received an allocation from the state on July 1 and could have used this money, in part, to pay the teachers' salaries... Because our school was closed by the Dept. of Education, we will not be receiving this allocation and thus do not have the funds to pay the teachers."

Because Delaware's DOE signed off on the charter school's budget, understanding there would be a discrepancy if the school was closed, McIntosh feels the expenses fall in DOE's court.  

"They knew we did not have enough money to pay teachers' salaries in the summer if we were closed down and so I was wondering how it was our responsibility," McIntosh said.

Financial advisors are still hammering out an exact figure, but McIntosh says Pencader needs anywhere between $200,000 and $300,000 to cover salaries and school closing costs. However, the letter reads education leaders told Pencader's board there was no money available. 

The letter goes on to say, "This answer was unacceptable and we pushed on... [DOE] told us that there were some people they could talk to and would do so," but McIntosh does not know who those people are. 

"There's a moral imperative here that the state step up and cover the costs of closing the school down," McIntosh said.
Pencader has been under the microscope for four years. DOE revoked Pencader's charter in February after it says the school failed to meet educational and administrative targets.

"It is obviously concerning that any of our students' educational opportunities would be shortchanged in any of our schools, that gives me tremendous concern," Education Secretary Mark Murphy said. "It is concerning that we have a situation where people are saying that teachers may not receive their full salaries."

Murphy made no mention about next steps.
Without help from the state, McIntosh says Pencader's students will suffer the most. If the school closes early, students would not be able to finish out the year at their own high school and underclassmen could lose credits transitioning to their new schools.

"Our primary interest is the students, and the teachers and the parents. That's what we care about and we're  doing everything that's humanly possible to make this thing work somehow," McIntosh said.

Slashed spending strains districts

Markell says teacher jobs saved but tough choices still necessary

But state law requires Markell to fund those positions. Even so, Markell argues he could have proposed changing the law to reduce the state’s obligation, and he didn’t.

From: Kepner Alison
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2012 2:25:08 PM (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
To: SCHEINBERG ELIZABETH
Subject: FW: May 1 Budget & Cover Letter

Elizabeth,

Per your request -- the reports are attached here in Ann Lewis’ original e mail.  
The spreadsheet has three tabs. Its been approved conditionally with ongoing 
monitor to ensure Pencader hits its marks according to that budget.  If 
enrollment changes then the budget will change accordingly.  Our staff meets 
with school staff monthly to monitor their expenditures v budget.

Dear Christina Community:
Christina has been in the news again with today’s News Journal article, 
“Christina May Turn Back $2.3 M.”  This article follows a decision by the 
Christina Board of Education to direct District staff to develop a new amendment 
to be submitted to the state as part of our Race to the Top plan.

Although it is very disappointing to read quotes by Governor Jack Markell and 
Secretary of Education Mark Murphy that are critical of Christina, please know 
that I believe in our teachers and our schools. I know that great teachers can 
make a profound difference in a child’s life, and I do not believe any statement 
that suggests we are not living up to our commitments on behalf of children. We 
have not “forfeited” the Race to the Top money, it has been withheld from us by 
our own state Department of Education because we could not come to agreement on 
implementing one initiative out of more than 100 separate initiatives included 
in our Race to the Top plan. We stand with the membership of CEA on this issue, 
and we will continue to do so.

Our continued negotiations with the Delaware Department of Education have led 
the Christina Board, District administrators, and the Christina Education 
Association to conclude that there are irreconcilable differences with the 
Delaware Department of Education (DOE) around funding and implementing a 
differentiated incentive/retention program for teachers at identified schools in 
Christina.

What does this mean? It means that we have reached the point in our negotiations 
with the state where we feel we have to “agree to disagree.” We believe it is in 
everyone’s best interest that we develop a new amendment that removes the 
teacher incentives initiative from our plan and redirects more than $753,000 
directly to classrooms and schools with the highest need, to build technology 
capacity and address the “digital divide” that exists between student groups.

Some examples of how these redirected funds might be used include purchasing 
laptop computers or tablets in elementary and middle school classrooms where 
students have fewer opportunities to access internet technology, upgrading STEM 
equipment such as digital microscopes, or implementing a one-to-one computing 
program in high-needs schools. The schools would include Bancroft Elementary, 
Brookside Elementary, Elbert-Palmer Elementary, Leasure Elementary, Oberle 
Elementary, Pulaski Elementary, Stubbs Elementary, Bayard Middle, Kirk Middle, 
Christiana High, Glasgow High, and Newark High.

The Department of Education made it clear as early as April 1 that they were 
beginning the process of withholding the entirety of Christina’s Year 4 funding, 
approximately $2.4 million. We plan to submit our new amendment by the end of 
April. It is possible that we will be able to resolve this issue with the 
Delaware Department of Education, and we will continue to work toward achieving 
this goal.

Race to the Top funding is scheduled to end in 2014 for all school districts in 
the state. If we are forced to, we will begin planning for the end of this 
funding one year earlier than we had anticipated. We will take a hard look at 
the programs we have implemented under Race to the Top and determine what 
programs are worthwhile and if we can continue to support them. Those decisions 
will be made locally, with input from our parents, students, teachers, and 
members of the community as part of our Strategic Planning process.

The Christina Board, CEA, and administration are united in our desire to make 
sure that all decisions are equitable, fair, and are made in the best interest 
of our students, staff, and district as a whole. If you have specific questions 
about the content of the article, the Race to the Top plan, or any related 
concerns, please communicate them to our district Public Information Officer, 
Wendy Lapham, and she will make sure they are forwarded to the right person for 
a response.

Thank you for all you do for the students of Christina,
Freeman
Freeman L. Williams, Ed.D.
Superintendent

Christina scraps teacher incentive plans
The Christina School Board voted Tuesday night to scrap its planned teacher incentive program, effectively bowing out of $2.3 million in federal Race to the Top money.

Five members voted to scrap the plans, with board member George Evans opposed and member Gina Backus abstaining. 

Remind and Remember

http://www.yomhashoah2013.com/index.html

This year, commemorate the Holocaust by bringing the story to a new generation.  On April 8, 2013 join thousands of others who will be wearing the word Yizkor on their forearms.

For years, survivors walked among us with tattoos to mark the horror they lived through. Their stories, their scars and the numbers carved callously into their skins made the holocaust real, personal and powerful for generations to come.  There are fewer and fewer survivors still living. Fewer people are telling first-hand accounts of personal experiences.  Soon, the tattoos will be seen only in pictures, movies and museums while the stories slowly fade and with them the hard-learned lessons for those who survived, rebuilt and rose up. 
This year, join us in observing Holocaust Memorial Day by writing YIZKOR on your arm.

 Yizkor/ יזכור
Yizkor means remembrance. It is the mourners' prayer which is recited four times a year on Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Passover and Shavuot.  The prayer is said by every person who has lost a parent or other loved ones.  Many Jews also recite Yizkor for those who perished in the Holocaust and have no one to recite Kaddish or Yizkor for them.

The Yizkor service concludes with av harachamim, which is a prayer for the souls of all Jewish martyrs. Some congregations specifically mention those who were killed by the Nazis.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/yizkor.html

Yizkor Books 
After world war II, groups of survivors started putting together Yizkor books in an effort to document and preserve the Jewish life that was destroyed by the Nazis.  Many groups of survivors created these books about specific areas in which they lived and included information about: the history of the town, the first Jewish settlements, the town leadership and biographical information about Rabbis from the town.

A large portion of the Yizkor books included recollections of childhood memories and neighbors.  Others recount the last days of the Jewish community under Nazi occupation and tales of escapes from concentration camps.

Almost all Yizkor books also include a section of memorial notices commemorating families and individuals lost during the war. http://www.rechtman.com/yizkorbk.htm#what

The Numbers
The numbered tattoos that have today become an identifying mark of Holocaust survivors originated in Auschwitz, the largest Nazi concentration camp in Europe. There, incoming prisoners went through the infamous selektion (selection process). An SS officer would sort the prisoners into two lines: those sent to the right were immediately killed in the gas chambers, those sent to the left were put to work in the forced labor camps. After their heads were shaved and their personal possessions removed, the prisoners were officially registered. Beginning in 1941, this registration consisted of a tattoo, which was placed on the left breast of the prisoner; later, the tattoo location was moved to the inner forearm. It was not only Jews who were marked: all prisoners other than ethnic Germans and police prisoners were tattooed. These tattoos were just one of the ways in which the Nazis dehumanized their prisoners. Despite the perception that all Holocaust prisoners were given tattoos, it was only the prisoners of Auschwitz after 1941 who were branded this way. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Tattoos.html

• An elected board member must come to the office with every intention of completing her term.  Early resignation is unacceptable, it denies the public their voice when a board member must be appointed from within or in the case of CSD, without. I'm not trying to offend those who have served and abdicated before me or after.  Sometimes the reasons for exiting an office before you complete the term are legitimate. But, if you start your campaign knowing that you may not be able to commit the full five years, you don't really belong in the race, do you?
• Your vote is sacred.  As long as you can defend it, it's yours to offer and own.  Votes are not to be bought or sold. And selling your vote to your buds "under the table" makes you responsible for the demise of your district.  
• Board members must be transparent and accountable.  If you can't promise that to the electorate, you're volunteering in the wrong capacity.  Recordings of school board meetings are good things. If you don't support them, you are hiding something. 
• Only those who choose children first can put their heads to their pillows and really sleep at night.  My pillow may be flatter and foamier than the corporatist's feather bed, but I sleep well. 
• I own all 17,000 children served by my district and its programs.  I expect every teacher, every principal, every administrator, and every other employee in my district to own all the children in their buildings every day.
• Zero tolerance was bad then, it's still bad now. It will always be bad.
• Class size matters.  If we don't invest in class size reduction now, we will invest in the criminal justice system later. 
• I didn't fight my way onto the BOE to make friends.  And I sure as hell haven't. 

• Race to the Top is really Race to the Trough.  The program is a fraud, a bankroll of promises to parents that ultimately only enriched venture philanthropists and their consultants.
• Charter schools are no better nor no worse that traditional schools.  They are, however, competition. When a charter is additive to Delaware's educational environment, it's worth the experiment if the parents understand they are opting to participate in an experiment.  The charter movement needs to stop selling itself as a panacea from all things bad in the world.  A charter is just a school and it's only as good as its parents, teachers, and leaders chose to make it.  And sometimes, charter schools fail. 
• Because charters schools are here to stay, traditional school districts need to get competitive.  I think our local leaders underestimated the charter movement and the real loss of students to charters in the first decade of charter establishment.  In Christina, it feels like a capable leadership team is finally in place, ready, willing, and able to move on the big ideas (research proven ideas) that will make our district competitive again.
• Some of the best looking people out there are hideous on the inside. 
• Jack Markell is bad for education.  His blueprint for success has left us in chaos.  Chaos begets corruptible opportunity.  Venture philanthropist have seized on the opportunities to divert tax payer dollars from the classrooms and into their bank accounts.
• The best motion I ever made was the one that resulted in CSD leading the way in recording its meetings and creating a distribution point so that the public could have more meaningful access to the content of those meetings!
• Today's bullies are nothing like the bullies of my childhood.  Bullying is toxic.  Kids think it's okay to hurt other children b/c their role models set the example. Some of the worst bullies I have ever met are key figures in education in our state.  
• DOE hates kids.