March 6, 2017

Delaware News

The News Journal
10th-graders meet Delaware poet laureates
More than 30 Delaware 10th-graders were recently introduced to Delaware Poet Laureates Nnamdi Chukwuocha and Albert Mills at Caesar Rodney High School in Camden for an afternoon of poetry performances and education. The students are part of Give Something Back, a national public charity devoted to providing mentoring and four-year college scholarships for students facing economic adversity.

Academia charter thrives after move to Barley Mill Plaza
Just months after Academia Antonia Alonso charter school left the Community Education Building in Wilmington, administrators say the school has found a home in Barley Mill Plaza near Greenville. The move came at a period of transition for both the charter and the CEB, at 1200 N. French St. The building, once a headquarters for MBNA and later Bank of America, was donated to the Longwood Foundation and underwent about $30 million in renovations four years ago.

Students learn to ‘pay it forward’ at TEDxYouth program
Pay it forward. That was the theme, the message and the parting words from speaker after speaker Sunday at The Independence School’s TEDxYouth program in Pike Creek. In its second year, the program — an independently organized event based off the nationally renowned TED talks — focused on giving students inspiration to not only create change but move it forward in the community and the world.

Newsworks
On second try, Indian River tax increase passes
Delaware’s Indian River School District voters overwhelmingly approved a 19 percent property tax increase Thursday, just three months after narrowly rejecting the district’s bid to raise $7.4 million amid serious questions about district spending. The fast-growing Sussex County district’s first attempt to raise the money failed five days after the release of a blistering state auditor’s report that detailed questionable allocations by the longtime chief financial officer and described lax monetary controls.

Delaware State News
Wilmington sixth-grader wins Delaware Spelling Bee
After 20 grueling rounds, only four competitors remained on the stage of the Saint Mark’s High School Anna Graham Theater. All were vying for first place in the 2017 Delaware State Spelling Bee. After a “spell off” for third place, Maanvi Sarwadi of Caravel Academy got the better of Hunter Meadows of Newark Charter School-Junior High.

Newark Post
UD Early Learning Center celebrates Dr. Seuss’ birthday
The hallways and classrooms in the University of Delaware’s Early Learning Center looked like they were straight out of a Dr. Seuss book on Thursday – there was one fish, two fish, red fish and blue fish, and little Cats in the Hats around every corner. The school on Wyoming Road was decorated in Seussical fashion as part of the National Education Association’s Read Across America day which aims to encourage reading in celebration of Dr. Seuss’ birthday.

Students participate in ‘Spread the Word’ campaign
Students at several Newark schools spent part of Wednesday signing banners and participating in other activities to pledge their respect for students of all abilities. The activities were part of the ninth-annual Special Olympics Spread the Word to End the Word campaign. The national campaign, which took place in nearly 150 Delaware schools, focuses on building awareness for society to stop and think about the use of the word “retard” and rallying people to pledge respect toward all individuals, making the world a more accepting and inclusive place for all people.

Coastal Point
State auditor: IRSD heading in the right direction now
About three months after the Delaware Auditor of Accounts released a biting financial report on Indian River School District, the AOA this week commended the district for improving its financial policies. IRSD officials have been working to correct the alleged misuse of funds, poor oversight, nepotism and other faults the AOA perceived within IRSD’s finances.

Sussex County Post
IRSD’s referendum passage is one for the record book
Thanks to community support, cuts won’t be so deep. Indian River School District voters Thursday in a record-smashing turnout cast approval to the school district’s follow-up $7.35 million current expense referendum pitch that supports enrollment growth, school safety and student services.

National News

U.S. News & World Report
NY Education Dept. seeks input on testing, accountability
New York education officials continue to prepare for the new federal education law by seeking input on a variety of issues, including whether to pilot new testing procedures. The state Education Department has scheduled dozens of public meetings around the state. The next two are scheduled for Friday in Buffalo and Plattsburgh.

Idaho Ed News
How a Boise career-technical school prepares students for jobs in high demand
Idaho Education News and Boise State Public Radio are partnering to produce a week-long series about how the statewide elections will affect students, communities and taxpayers. High school junior Erin Frazer is laser-focused, moving her mouse deftly as she manipulates an image on her computer screen. “I think Illustrator is my favorite out of all these programs,” she says. Frazer is studying graphic design at the Dennis Technical Education Center in Boise.

NPR
Betsy DeVos’ ‘school choice’ controversy; historically black colleges and more
It was another big week for national education news. Here’s our take on the top stories of the week. Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump meet with HBCU leaders. The Education Secretary seems to be racking up controversies at the rate of about one per week. This week, it was for remarks she made Monday on the occasion of a “listening session” with presidents of historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs. She tied them to her favorite cause: school choice.

The 74
Nine and counting: New legislation would expand Virginia’s charter schools. Will Gov. McAuliffe sign?
Nearly 20 years after legislators first passed a bill authorizing charter schools, Virginia has just nine, most of them small, specialized, and not necessarily serving disadvantaged students. Strong state constitutional protections for local control give districts little reason to authorize direct competitors, while a perception that the traditional public schools are already good — as well as a painful history of segregation — have tamped down broad efforts to increase the charter supply.