September 25, 2017

Delaware News

Delaware 105.9
Cape Henlopen High does pledge in Spanish for Hispanic Heritage Month
There were two pledge of allegiances read over the loud speaker at Cape Henlopen High School this week. The first in English and the second read entirely in Spanish to honor Hispanic Heritage Month. “It was just for this week, along with that we’ll be reading some fun facts for Hispanic Heritage Month, and as you may know we’re a bilingual school at our elementary, and from September 15th to October 15, so we were just doing this to highlight,” Miller said.

Delaware Public Media
Cab Calloway School of the Arts celebrates 25th anniversary
Born of desperation and nurtured through an unsteady childhood, the Cab Calloway School of the Arts is now a respected adult in the world of Delaware public education – 25 years old and going strong. But it wasn’t easy for the 940-student middle and high school, the first successful magnet school in Delaware, to mature and prosper. In its first year, and from time to time in its first decade, its future was in doubt.

Delaware State News
McDowell ‘strived to improve the lot of his fellow man’
Last Sunday, we published an obituary for Floyd E. McDowell Sr., a longtime educator who advocated for school and health care reforms. He was an occasional contributor to the Delaware State News opinion page. There was a fitting line in his obituary that read, “He was a champion of the disenfranchised and a quixotic dreamer who strived to improve the lot of his fellow man.”

Boy warrior: Welch Elementary student gets help in cancer fight
In Von Kleiv’s mind, when he was snapping a couple of wooden boards in half with his hands by virtue of his newfound karate skills, the message went much deeper than what anybody else could probably see. To the second-grader from Major George S. Welch Elementary School, he could have just as easily been beating down the cancer cells that infiltrated his body in May 2016, as opposed to crushing the boards.

Sussex County Post
IRSD hosting free college financial aid workshop this week
Indian River School District is partnering with $tand By Me to offer a free financial aid workshop for students and their families to promote college awareness and enrollment. Every year, talented Delaware students do not apply to college because they think they cannot afford it. Through this workshop, participants will learn that financial aid of all varieties is more accessible than ever before and, with a little pre-planning, families will find that college is within their reach.

Technical.ly Delaware
Wilmington’s future brightens as TeenSHARP HQ opens its doors
TeenSHARP, the college preparatory program for underserved teens of color who strive to be Successful, High-Achieving and Reaching Potential (SHARP) opened its regional headquarters in Wilmington this week. Located in the Community Education Building, Delaware Public Media reports the new HQ will provide space for about 300 students who will participate in college prep programs, including College Access Ambassador Training.

The News Journal
Christina embarks on massive turnaround to help Wilmington students
One of the lowest-performing school districts in the state says it will compete to attract more of the area’s best students. When new Superintendent Richard Gregg was a student in the district in the 1970s, Christina was not only the biggest school district in the state; it had some of the best test scores.

Sneak peek: William Penn to open Innovation Center
One month into the new school year, William Penn High School in New Castle is getting ready to reveal a grant-funded innovation center for its upperclassmen and long-distance learners. The old, second-floor library at WPHS has been transformed into a state-of-the-art learning facility that includes glass-enclosed collaboration rooms, a flexible, wired classroom with swiveling webcams and smart boards, and comfortable seating, as well as a small collection of books.

Christina School District must answer call to do better
Editorial
Christina School District Superintendent Richard Gregg has issued a call to action for revitalizing the district. That is exciting and necessary, and everyone in the Christina community — from parents and students to teachers and school board members — should embrace it. Gregg, who grew up in Christina when it was a top-flight district, seems to recognize how badly the district’s reputation has declined. It is now widely considered the worst school district in Delaware.

National News

Boston.com
Connecticut Supreme Court to hear landmark education case
A judge’s landmark ruling that declared Connecticut’s system for funding its public schools unconstitutional is set to go before the state Supreme Court. Justices are scheduled to hear arguments Thursday in the state’s appeal of the ruling. The hearing comes as Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and legislators are mired in a budget impasse that includes debate over how the state should distribute education aid to cities and towns.

Education Dive
Civics ed key to equity, improving discourse
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor joined a group of experts Thursday to discuss the importance of enriching civics education in order to advance not only political knowledge, but also social equality. Among the many topics speakers discussed at the “Democracy at a Crossroads” event, held at the Newseum, they all emphasized this point: a good civics education and background is critical to graduating students who know how to engage in our society.

Grayson Record
Grayson students to pass civics test to graduate
Grayson County students now will have to pass a civics test to graduate from high school, under a vote taken Sept. 14 by the Grayson County Board of Education. Earlier this year, the Kentucky General Assembly passed Senate Bill 159, requiring students to pass a 100-question civics test to graduate from a public high school with a regular diploma. Local school boards are expected to prepare or approve a test based on questions from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services test – the exam given to people seeking to become naturalized citizens.

The 74 Million
When diploma mills give innovation, and school choice, a bad name
Opinion by Michael J. Petrilli, research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution
Secretary of education Betsy DeVos just had the best week of her tenure so far, thanks to a well-orchestrated back-to-school tour that ended in Indiana on Sept. 15. She had a clear, attractive message and stuck to it: We need to unleash the creativity and innovation of our schools and educators, and stop trying to make one size fit all. She also demonstrated a true commitment to sector-agnosticism—she visited traditional public schools, not just private and charter ones—and celebrated schools that are as far from her own conservative Christian upbringing as one can imagine—and did it all with grace and humor.