April 6, 2017
Delaware News
The News Journal
Students get tour of Delaware Memorial Bridge underbelly
The students clutched at the steel rail as the bridge began to tremble and shake. Kayla Reynolds gazed upward, her eyes wide, as Zoila Morales tried to nudge her further along the narrow catwalk. They stood more than 200 feet above the muddy brown Delaware River, a fact neither of them were forgetting anytime soon.
Kids of fallen firefighters assisted in education costs
Three Wilmington Catholic schools attended by the school-age children of Wilmington firefighters Lt. Ardythe Hope and Lt. Christopher Leach, who both died in the line of duty last year, this week received grants to support the cost of their education. The Delaware Fallen Heroes Scholarship Fund at the Delaware Community Foundation was established in September to provide for the educational expenses of the children belonging to Delaware first responders killed or fully disabled in the line of duty. Alan and Ellen Levin seeded the fund with $100,000.
Independence School holds ‘Math Mania’ night
Getting local students excited about math will be the goal April 19, when the Independence School in Newark hosts “Math Mania,” a family fun night featuring about 30 math-themed, hands-on activities. Six of them will be interactive games from Math Midway 2 Go, a traveling exhibit from the National Museum of Mathematics. With fun names like “Funky Face” and “Number Line Tightrope,” they aim to teach students math concepts like prime numbers and the Fibonacci sequence.
Milford Beacon
Little Einsteins earns SBA plaudit
Lindsay Cannon’s Little Einsteins preschool, with locations in Georgetown and Millsboro, has been named Delaware’s 2017 Minority-Owned Business of the Year by the Small Business Administration. In November, Cannon obtained an SBA-guaranteed loan in order to purchase her formerly-rented Georgetown preschool building and the land it sits on, where she’ll have a new preschool constructed next year.
Sussex County Post
Georgetown Elementary robotics team gears up for world event
Crunch time was fast approaching and trouble arose for one of Georgetown Elementary School’s robotics teams. The week before March 11 state competition at Wesley College the all-important claw arm on their robot was not functioning properly. “It was not strong enough,” said math instructor Nicole Morey, one of the coaches of GES’s after-school robotics program. Fifth grader Wyatt Warner had the solution. Wyatt and his teammates, fourth graders Addison Lane and Kayla Betts got their act in gear. They went on to claim the overall Excellence award, earning a trip to Louisville, KY and the opportunity to compete in the VEX IQ world event April 23-25.
National News
Delaware 105.9
Maryland governor vetoes bill on lagging schools
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan is vetoing a bill he says would make Maryland’s school system one the least accountable in the United States. Hogan announced the veto Wednesday at the Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys. The bill creates a formula for identifying struggling schools. Supporters in the Democrat-led legislature say the formula takes into consideration some important factors beyond academic performance, such as attendance, safety and teacher quality.
Dallas News
Texas lawmakers want to ban special education enrollment caps for good
Parents described to lawmakers Tuesday how they had to fight reluctant school districts—sometimes for years—to get their children access to special education services. They came to Austin in support of legislation that would eliminate any cap on special education. Federal authorities are investigating Texas schools after concerns that a state policy created a de facto cap, denying children access to much-needed services.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
School districts sue Illinois for failing to adequately fund public education
School districts in the Metro East and across southern Illinois are accusing the state’s school funding formula of being unconstitutional. Seventeen school districts filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging that the Illinois school funding formula does not sufficiently support school districts. Article 10 of the state constitution says Illinois must “provide an efficient system of high-quality education.” These 17 school districts, which are in low-wealth districts and spend below the state per-pupil average, say the state does not give them enough money to deliver a “high-quality education.”
Philadelphia Public School Notebook
Education spending going up but need, inequities remain
The budget process for next year is well underway in Harrisburg and spending on education is on a track to increase. But advocates say that under current proposals the state will make but a small dent in the perennial quests to make sure all students have what they need, to reduce inequities between low-income and well-off districts, and to increase the overall state share of education spending.