September 1, 2017
Delaware News
Coastal Point
IRSD talks budget, school numbers, FFA
With some of its schools completely over their enrollment capacity, the Indian River School District is trying to nail down a system for school choice. On Aug. 28, for the first time in months, the Board of Education approved a number of school-choice recommendations, after only a few minutes of discussion.
Delaware 105.9
Messages to parents from Sussex County’s school superintendents
Perhaps the most invaluable asset a student can receive to achieve a successful education is supportive parents. Nearly all educators argue a strong support system provided from guardians at home can and will help a student stay engaged in the classroom. Delaware 105.9 reached out to each superintendent in every school district in Sussex County and asked for a message of encouragement to parents headed into the 2017/2018 school year.
Delaware Public Media
Migrant students stay in Delaware, enroll in First State schools
The federally-funded Migrant Education Program provides extra educational support and resources to children who come to Delaware with their parents, for the most part, on a temporary basis. The bulk of support the program provides takes place in the summer through two seven-week-long summer school programs run by the Boys & Girls Club of Delaware. The program’s main goal is “to help ensure that migrant children who move among states are not penalized in any manner by disparities among states in curriculum, graduation requirements or state academic content or academic services,” said Chief Academic Officer for Delaware’s Department of Education Michael Watson.
Education Week
Prepping the classroom for back-to-school
The annual back-to-school ritual is in full swing at Shields Elementary School in Lewes, Del., where teachers are readying their classrooms for a new school year.
The News Journal
Red Clay school board president resigns mid-term
Red Clay Board of Education President Michael Piccio resigned this week, announcing that he would be moving out of the Wilmington-area and Delaware. He represented nominating District E, which includes Stanton. State law says a board member must resign if they move out of the school district. When a seat is vacated, state law dictates it be filled by the remaining members of the school board for the remainder of the fiscal year and a new member is elected at the next regular school board election to serve for the rest of the term.
National News
WMFZ
Pitching in to help fellow teachers in Texas
The images coming out of Texas are appalling, but where there are people helping, there’s hope. Hope can come in different forms, including school supplies. Oley Valley Elementary School is reaching out from 1,500 miles away to help a pair of schools in Texas. Teachers Deb Hummel and Jennifer Muriel came up with the idea of adopting classrooms in Katy and Pasadena, Texas. Then the idea grew.
U.S. News & World Report
John King: DeVos, Trump Administration Not doing enough after Charlottesville
“This is not the typical start to the school year,” King underscored. “Our kids, our children, have watched on TV as Nazis and the KKK marched on the street in this state. Kids have watched on TV as folks have chanted anti-Semitic slogans, chanted racist slogans, lifted up racist symbols. Our kids have watched as lives have been taken due to domestic terrorism.” Asked specifically whether DeVos is not doing enough to lead by example, King told U.S. News: “The job of education leaders, whether it’s secretary or state chief or superintendent, is to every day be a voice for equity and civil rights protections, and we haven’t seen that from this administration.”
The Atlantic
The myth of American universities as inequality-fighters
A new study found that America’s top universities are largely closed to the poor, merely helping well-off students remain well-off. The best schools for helping low-income students become high-income graduates are accepting fewer and fewer kids from poor families.
Myth #1: America’s most prestigious universities are great engines of upward mobility.
Myth #2: Low-income students, who are more likely to be minorities, can’t succeed at selective colleges.
Myth #3: Selective schools are admitting more low-income students.
EdTech
Student privacy: A back-to-school refresh
From FERPA to COPPA, we’ve got a rundown on how school districts deal with student privacy. When it comes to leveraging tech tools, K–12 schools have several federal regulations regarding student privacy that they must keep in mind.