January 6, 2017
Delaware News
Coastal Point
IRSD’s Bunting tapped to become state’s top legislator
The Indian River School District may be sending another education leader to the state level. This time, it’s for the big chair. IRSD Superintendent Susan Bunting is to be nominated for Secretary of the Delaware Department of Education. On Dec. 30, Gov.-elect John Carney announced his intent to nominate Bunting for his cabinet to lead Delaware for the next four years.
Newark Post
Christiana High to open middle school honors academy as district looks to retain students
Starting this fall, Christiana High School will offer a middle school program meant to foster a small, rigorous learning community that puts students on track to earn a year’s worth of college credits before graduating high school. The middle school honors academy is the latest step in the Christina School District’s attempt to beef up its educational offerings in order to retain students in the face of increasing competition from charter schools and other districts.
Rodel Blog
15 facts about Dr. Susan Bunting
Last week, Governor-elect John Carney tabbed Indian River School District superintendent Susan Bunting as the new secretary of Education. She received a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Delaware and became superintendent of Indian River School District–one of the state’s largest school districts serving more than 10,000 students–in July 2006. Here are some more facts to get you more acquainted with Dr. Bunting.
Sussex Countian
Students go after STEAM top spot
A trio of students at Indian River High School are creating a device that’ll make broken cell phones a thing of the past. Nicholas Feldman, Max Stong and Mikie Mochiam created a prototype cell phone case that will act like a yo-yo and bounce back into the owner’s hand if dropped.
Sussex County Post
Millsboro Middle School hosting kick-off for One School, One Book program
Millsboro Middle School will host a special community kick-off event Thursday, Jan. 26 for its One School, One Book program. All MMS families are invited to the event, which will be held from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the school’s gymnasium and cafeteria. Sponsored by Read to Them, a non-profit organization promoting family literacy, One School, One Book allows schools to choose one novel that all students will read together.
National News
NPR
9 questions for the nation’s top school counselor
Counselors play a big role in helping students succeed: They help with scheduling, college applications and with issues like mental health. Since 2015, first lady Michelle Obama has honored a school counselor of the year in a ceremony at the White House. Friday, the honor goes to Terri Tchorzynski of the Calhoun Area Career Center in Battle Creek, Mich., where she works with 11th- and 12th-graders drawn from 20 public high schools in Calhoun County.
Tampa Bay Times
Florida Board of Education expected to set rules on new principal program
A new school leadership program aimed at giving more flexibility to principals running some of Florida’s most struggling schools could soon have more defined guidelines for its operations. The State Board of Education is poised to consider a new rule for the “principal autonomy pilot” that Rep. Manny Diaz, incoming chairman of the House PreK-12 Appropriations committee, pushed through the Legislature in 2016.
The Atlantic
Why school districts are operating as landlords
As Colorado’s housing costs skyrocket, a growing number of school districts, local leaders, and lawmakers are taking steps to make housing more affordable for teachers and staff. For years, resort communities like Aspen, Colorado, and a rural district in the state’s Eastern Plains have leased housing to employees at below-market rates.
The Hechinger Report
Why Gov. Cuomo’s free tuition plan won’t help New York’s state of mind
Opinion by Donald E. Heller, provost and vice president of academic affairs at the University of San Francisco
New York Gov. Cuomo this week became the latest politician to propose a free-college program, joining a diverse group that has included President Obama, presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, and Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam. Each of these proposals, though slightly different, is focused on addressing an issue that has received great attention in the press and among policymakers: the continually rising cost of a college education and the student debt required to finance it.
The Washington Post
A teacher’s nine wishes for 2017
Peter Greene is a veteran teacher of English in a small town in Pennsylvania who write about all kinds of education-related topics on his Curmudgucation blog. He has, for example, written recently about Betsy DeVos, President-Elect Donald Trump nominee for education secretary, whom Greene called unqualified for the job, as well as about standardized testing, challenged books, teacher evaluation and a lot more. Here is his piece on his wishes for public education in 2017.