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Playing Politics with Innocent Animals - Not an Edu-Topic


By Elizabeth Scheinberg
When your state's two largest Animal Shelters refuse Stray Animals, you should start to worry and wonder, 
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2016/03/30/catfight-des-largest-animal-shelters-refuse-strays/82437796/.  

 The reality is that most of us like sweet little animals, if only in pictures. 

 So, what evil illness is spreading so quickly that these vicious animals can't dare to be mixed with the cute and cuddly ones?

 Has it been a super-human spring where the world is suddenly overpopulated by billions of baby furry things?  

 Are the shelters teaming with animals clawing at the windows for a fresh breath and a new home?

 No? What, then?  Political Infighting.  It goes something like this:

 Brandywine Valley SPCA won the state's animal control contract and opened a new facility right here in Delaware. Only, their inn isn't big enough for all the animals. 

 Note: They've moved as many vetted guests as feasible to temporary mangers in other states, but it's just a short-term solution. 

 Then Brandywine did the next reasonable things to do - the center reached out it's brethren Delaware SPCAs asking 1st State Animal Center and SPCA and the Delaware SPCA for help.

 And got smacked down. 

 I'm told it went something like this (fictionalized personification of email/text/phone calls between 1st State and B-wine):
"Yo, Kenny U., 1st State Got Space?
"Yep, I got, Lambchops.  But, I ain't sharing wit u."
"Ken, man, we gonna have to take Fido out if we don't get no help."
"Take out Fido, dude.  We in the doggie daycare bid-ness now."

 Yes, you may vent the obligatory WTF now.

 It didn't go much better with Delaware SPCA, they didn't respond, leaving B-wine and Lambchops hanging in the wind and animals lining up for Euthanasia.

 So, here is the crazy - Despite sharing a name, SPCA, most of these organizations are not truly networked or even patchworked together.  There is no ladder to climb, no mother ship to beam up to when you have a complaint, concern, or compliment.  Yes, there is an ASPCA (A=American) but they literally have nothing to do with the little "chapters" that spring up in the states or elsewhere. 

 Got Money? Got Space? U2 could open your own SPCA.

 It all boils down to this (hold your Easter Bunnies close):

 They have similar names and equivocal missions, with open cages and capacity; Yet, Delaware's SPCA's behave like politicians.  It's a pretty pathetic state of affairs when they'd rather see animals put to death even though they have mission statements that read like this:
The mission of the First State Animal Center and SPCA is twofold:
WE PROTECT ANIMALS FROM PEOPLE…
by prevention of cruelty and suffering, rescue of the trapped or injured, emergency medical treatment, temporary housing for homeless animals and the reduction of homeless pet overpopulation through targeted spay/neuter and education programs.
AND WE PROTECT PEOPLE FROM ANIMALS…
through our serious commitment in placing only stable, safe and well-adjusted animals into homes where they will thrive while simultaneously educating the public about responsible pet guardianship.  - 
http://www.fsac-spca.org/info/#/mission/


Let us all bow our heads and pray now that 1st State's board euthanizes  Director Ken Usilton's Contract for direct violation of the organization's mission.













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More on CSD's School Board Races, And a Conspiracy Theory, Hah!


By Elizabeth Scheinberg
The Newark Post is on top of the CSD BOE race.  This article recaps interviews with all four candidates: http://www.newarkpostonline.com/news/article_8a9880ee-f822-5093-b5bf-7fb374862c43.html
By Jessica Iannetta jiannetta@chespub.com

 It's worth reading, especially if no group steps up to hold a candidates forum.  In past years, the Downes Elementary School PTA has organized an event to provide access to candidates. As of now, The PTA facebook pages notes an upcoming "Meet the Candidate" opportunity. Stay Tuned.

 Now, let's address the BIG election rumor:  It's been alleged that the two candidates were recruited to solidify a Board voting block.  Now, I haven't spoken to either candidate as of writing this. But, I have a hard time assigning Mason that profile.  As far back as my election, I can remember Meg talking about running.  The big hurdle: CSD employees cannot also be CSD BOE members.  There's a law against that. Meg wasn't in a hurry to retire, she was dedicated to developing Maclary post-NCS elementary school expansion.  More than that, she had certain respect for Dave Resler, the incumbent.  And it was rumor for much of the last year that Resler, having graduated all of his children from Newark High School was ready to retire from his seat.  It could be argued that Meg put-in even after Resler registered his run, and that somehow denotes a conspiracy.  But I would argue that this is just Mason moving onto the next phase in her life and in her devotion to the district.

As for Brady, she's the mother of two CSD students.  And works with hundreds more at the Boys and Girls Club.  Could she have been recruited to run against Paige? Sure, why not?  But, again I have hard time with the profile.  She's a working mom, like Paige, who was appointed and then elected - and neither of those actions had anything to do with a voting block.  In fact, it's tremendously hard to generate candidates for school boards.  In the last 10 years, CSD has seen far more candidates from the Tea Party than it has viable opposition to sitting members.  Many elections haven't been contested at all.  And as for Brady, just as it did for Paige, there comes a time for some when you are inspired to take on more in your life and deepen your commitment to your district and community. When all the stars align in your own personal star chamber. Moreover, I would like to suggest what Brady may bring to the table something that has been sorely missing for several years - a certain connection to the poverty that plagues the Route 40 corridor, to the suburbs.  And we are talking poverty pockets so deep that they echo the City of Wilmington and everything that the WEIC has been assigned to address.  While all of our attention has been diverted to Wilmington, Route 40 schools are at capacity and growing and serving children that are coming to school tremendously less prepared than their Downes Elementary counterparts.

 Yes, it's said, when it comes to School Board candidates, whoever wins Downes wins the district. But, I wouldn't be surprised if this contest was truly run and lost right at home in District F.

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CSD's Other School Board Race


By Elizabeth Scheinberg
Nominating District "F" - Term expires June 30, 2021
Elizabeth C. Paige (2-25-16)
Desiree Brady (3-4-16)

I am not going to speak nearly as passionately on this blogpost as I did the last. Back in 2011, incumbent board member, Gina Backus, won her seat by just 2 votes over Joe O'Leary Jr.  Three years later, Gina had relocated out of Delaware and CSD picked up Appointee Elizabeth Paige who went onto win the seat, unopposed, for the duration of Backus' term ending in June 30, 2016.  I'm not richly involved in Paige's politics. But, from my parental vantage point, she often seems on point and well-researched. 
This time around, Paige as an opponent, Desiree Brady. The internet is weak on Brady's background. In fact, I could learn a helluva lot more about Gayle George than I could Desiree Brady.  But, that might bode well for Brady.  I've read enough to know that she's an early childhood educator from outside the district.  If she can create a public profile that appeals to voters and if she has that secret sauce that the more socially adept enjoy (I'm not sauced), she just might find herself cutting into Paige's lead which includes the respect of several well-liked local legislators. 
This will be an interesting race to watch.  Will Brady mount a campaign? or will she become another name only candidate who graces the ballot but not the dais? As have so many who've come before her.  
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Holy Smokes! Christina's Got a Race!


By Elizabeth Scheinberg
"Holy Smokes" was a colloquialism of my Grandfather's day.  Given the news that serial board member David Resler will field opponent retired educator and principal Meg Mason for his seat, it felt appropriate. You see, I spoke my last words to my grandfather "Dad" Phelps while at Back-To-School Night at Meg's last school, Maclary Elementary. His decline was sudden and he had slipped into a coma by the time I got the call.  I was standing in front of the school when I said Goodbye (via cell phone) to one of the most marvelous men to have ever lived. I wasn't a board member then.  I was a new hybrid parent with a daughter about to enter Maclary for kindergarten under the umbrella of the Delaware Autism Program. In the midst of grief, I did what every special needs parent does - I went into overdrive. Though I was falling apart on the insides, I was steely and hyper-viligint on the out. Until, of course, I felt the love that Maclary would have for my child.  In the two years that we were Maclary, (not b/c we left Maclary, but b/c Christina historical shifted DAP and other SPED classrooms around the district to adjust for increases in feeder pattern students) I would find myself in Meg's office often - seeking guidance in how to navigate and advocate for both my daughter and my district.)

I have come to miss Maclary for the Christina gem that it was - inclusive, demanding, dedicated - characteristics I attribute to a good, strong, dedicated principal.  Meg would teach me so much of what I needed to know to be a knowledgeable board member. And she would confirm to me what the research showed when it came to the roll of principals in schools and reform and meaningful change. 

Meg is no spring chicken to education.  She's traveled Christina and it's clearly her family.  Though we haven't spoken in years - my life post-school board has taken me away from Christina, though never far from education - I hear she's shared her children with the district, another generation of educators developing our children into bright minds and helping them navigate an increasingly demanding and complicated academic and social world. 

Sitting board member, Dave Resler, should not sit pretty during this election cycle. He's being called on the carpet by CSD's educators and parents.  And our tax payers, they've already spoken, twice, the district's leadership and financial affairs. 

Dave's been a part of board leadership for 10 years when's he's supported zero tolerance, Race to the Top, and Common Core.  While he has a sharp financial mind, he's decidedly not an educator, though he is a CSD dad (proud father of 5 Newark High grads) and husband to a school nurse.  I had the pleasure of serving Christina with Dave during my term.  Though we frequently butted heads, he was always remarkably calm and an excellent orator.  On most occasions.  The exceptions were those meetings when I feared he and board member Saffer where going down fighting. And I would discreetly push my chair away from the dais and ease back from between the two. 

Dave tows a line in his education governance - he will not get down "in the weeds" - a concept brought to CSD by former superintendent and financial disaster Joseph Wise. I never had the pleasure of meeting the lunatic that duped and poisoned Christina. Wise was the Broad Academy's first Delaware Superintendent, installed in the district in 2003.  In three short years, he crippled the district.  Dave was on-boarded as Wise exited and audits discovered a huge financial deficit.  He was a member of the board who brought in education darling Lillian Lowery who is credited with governing with a tight financial fist that led the district to repay a state loan years early.  He later played a roll in hiring CSD's third Broadie, Marcia Lyles, reknown for her divisive leadership strategies.  

I came into CSD after my election win in the same month that Dr. Lyles took the helm.  I was never impressed with the hand-ringing, gum-chewing, New Yorker and she clearly would not have been my choice.  But, you can't please all the people all the time.  And in CSD, there are days you clearly can't please anyone. or even yourself.

So, CSD needs another educator to help steer the ship.  For too long, it has gone the way of the national deform movements and marginalized the teacher's voice, the parent's voice, and the student's voice. The two voices we have heard belong to the tax payers - who punished CSD for the work of the other voice - Gov. Jack Markell's.

We need another fighter, Meg, we need you!





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