April 14, 2016

Delaware

Education Week
Delaware lawmakers eye voting by mail for school elections
State lawmakers are considering a bill mandating that all school elections in Delaware be done by mail. The legislation to be considered by a Senate committee Wednesday also requires that school board elections and referendums be held on the second Tuesday of May. The legislation also limits participating in school elections to registered voters. The bill was introduced after some lawmakers received complaints last year about a successful Red Clay school district tax referendum.

Middletown Transcript
Problems with school buses continue in Appoquinimink and other districts
Appoquinimink and other school districts in Delaware are facing student transportation problems, according to school district superintendent Matthew Burrows. At Tuesday night’s Appoquinimink Board of Education meeting, Burrows told the audience that even this late into the school year, problems with busing students to and from school continue. School bus delays at different routes were reported to the district at the beginning of this school year. Burrows said that he and a committee have been meeting since then to address the issue and find solutions.

Newark Post
Christina board OKs $49K study of discipline issues
As part of its effort to gather information on ways to improve school climate and discipline, the Christina School District Board of Education has awarded a $49,250 no-bid contract to a consulting firm run by a former district employee. In a 4-2 vote on Tuesday night, the board agreed to hire Demosophia LLC, a consulting firm run by former CSD administrator Andy Hegedus, to support the district as it looks for ways to improve school climate and discipline.

Smyrna-Clayton Sun-Times
Smyrna School District honored for raising $95,000 for Ronald McDonald House
The Smyrna School District was recognized April 6 for raising nearly $100,000 for the Ronald McDonald House, and one of the students attending the award ceremony knows first-hand about how the house helps families. Smyrna Mayor Joanne Masten nominated the school district’s “Kids Caring for Kids” fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald House of Delaware as the Smyrna area’s top project for the LEAD 360 Challenge sponsored by the Jefferson Awards Foundation.

Sussex County Post
Indian River entry ‘states’ its case at Odyssey of the Mind
The Indian River School District claimed a state championship at the Delaware Odyssey of the Mind competition at Alfred G. Waters Middle School in Middletown April 9. A team coached by Jennifer Perry took first place in the “Furs, Fins, Feathers & Friends” category for Division II (middle school). Members of the winning team are Kayla Harant, Madison Johnson and Kaila McCabe of Selbyville Middle School; Olivia Hudson and Ethan Rakes of Southern Delaware School of the Arts; and Trinity Kelso of Millsboro Middle School.

Indian River schools teaming with 4-H in federal grant partnership program
The Indian River School District is receiving $150,000 in federal grant funding through the Delaware Department of Education geared to provide students with academic enrichment. The DOE announced this week it has awarded four new 21st Century Community Learning Center program grants under the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act. University of Delaware Cooperative Extension 4-H at Indian River School District’s Phillip C. Showell Elementary School and Hickory Tree Center (also John M. Clayton Elementary School and Selbyville Middle School students) will implement programs.

National

Lake Country Now
Learning without boundaries: Third-grade teachers blend reading, social studies
The traditional school day used to be broken up into blocks of time for reading, writing, social studies, science and math. With the vision of personalized learning in the Kettle Moraine School District, teams of teachers are exploring new ways to teach content. Students in third grade at Dousman Elementary have a different flow to their school day where content from two or more disciplines is taught together. Teaching this way allows students to see how ideas are connected and promotes collaboration, critical thinking and improved knowledge retention.

Los Angeles Daily News
How a new California bill plans to improve college-readiness in underprivileged communities
A new bill authored by several state senators wants to narrow the opportunity gap for underprivileged high school students who want to go to college, but don’t have the same guidance as their counterparts in more affluent school districts.  San Gabriel High School senior Leo Liu said the challenging part of applying for college was finding out all the requirements he needed and navigating the application process.

Mississippi Business Journal
Bryant signs appointed superintendents into law
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant has signed into law a bill that changes all public school district superintendents to appointees. Monday’s signing of Senate Bill 2438 eliminates the election of school superintendents in all districts. Fifty-five of the state’s 144 school districts elect their superintendents. The new law requires their school boards to appoint superintendents after their current terms end. That includes positions filled in the November 2015 general election.

The Atlantic
The exhausting life of a first-year science teacher
By October of his first year teaching, the reality of Amit Reddy’s new job was clear: He would not be getting much sleep, and any he did get would be interrupted by bad dreams and anxiety about his classroom. “The whole night you’re thinking about the game,” Reddy said. “I’ve not had a good sleep since I started this job.” Reddy is an eighth-grade science teacher at Alice Deal Middle School, which serves more than 1,300 students in grades six through eight in a stately building in the northwestern D.C. neighborhood of Tenleytown.

The Washington Post
Not just reading and math: Education Secretary to call for return to a ‘well-rounded education’
The nation’s schools have focused so intently on improving students’ math and reading skills that, in many cases, they have squeezed out other important subjects, such as social studies, science and the arts. That’s the message that U.S. Education Secretary John King Jr. plans to deliver during a speech Thursday at an arts-focused school in Las Vegas, according to excerpts of his prepared remarks. King plans to say that No Child Left Behind — the main federal education law that was signed in 2002 and required schools to show progress in math and reading test scores — had the unintentional consequence of narrowing the curriculum for too many children.