July 24, 2017

Delaware News

Cape Gazette
Cape Henlopen Educational Foundation names development team
The Cape Henlopen Educational Foundation announced that Jessica Gordon and Julie Stevenson have joined the Lewes-based nonprofit, sharing the role of development director. The position was formerly held by Alyssa Titus, who recently became director of marketing for Schell Brothers. Gordon, development director, has extensive experience in fundraising and communications.

Delaware Public Radio
Design Lab charter modified; founder leaves leadership post
Cristina Alvarez could hardly be blamed for feeling rather like a mother who has given birth, only to be told that she’s not fit to raise her newborn child. Last August, the Delaware Design-Lab High School, a charter school that Alvarez cofounded, was one of 10 schools nationwide to win a $10 million, five-year grant from the XQ Super School Project to design a prototypical high school of the future.

Carney vetoes controversial charter school access bill
Gov. John Carney has vetoed a controversial bill regarding access to charter schools. The bill would have removed the five-mile radius requirement for enrollment in Delaware charter schools. Instead, it would have allowed any student to attend a charter school as long as they lived within the “geographically contiguous” school district.

Delaware State News
Delaware’s SEED program: Free college education — or a free ride?
In May, Tennessee gained significant attention with the signing of the Tennessee Reconnect Act, making community college “free” for all in the state. That follows the passage of a 2014 measure giving recent high school graduates access to free community college. For those bills, Tennessee has been heralded by some for being the first state to make community college cost-free. Not so fast, says Delaware Technical Community College President Mark Brainard.

The 74 Million
This week in ESSA: Ohio, Montana, Oklahoma, New York advance plans as group promotes evidence-based rules
The House Education and the Workforce Committee held a hearing at which both Republican and Democratic lawmakers “expressed concern about the consistency of feedback from the U.S. Department of Education to states about ESSA plans.” On the Democratic side, Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware — which faced some of the harshest criticism from the Department of Education — said consistency and clarity would help “people to be able to do their jobs better” and would foster better outcomes.

The News Journal
Carney should fight for real change in schools
Opinion by Matthew Albright
Gov. John Carney’s veto of a controversial charter school bill could be a sign he is ready to fight for change in Wilmington schools. But this is a city that has been given empty promises and half-measures for decades. To be a true champion for its children, the governor will need to do far more. I hope Carney has it in him.

Column: Carney’s more lip service to Wilmington kids
Opinion by John Young, school board member in the Christina School District
Gov. John Carney vetoed HS 1 for HB 85, and with that continued a proud Delaware gubernatorial tradition of paying lip service to our precious Wilmington students in dire need. Students who have significant challenges and obstacles like violence and poverty. Students who are most in need of significant support just to obtain an equitable opportunity to succeed in school. So, what was HS1 for HB 85?

National News

Columbia Journalism Review
School board race reveals chronic gaps in education politics coverage
You might not know it if you live outside of Southern California, but the nation’s second-largest school district—Los Angeles Unified (LAUSD)—recently held a nasty and expensive school board election that culminated in the surprise defeat of a teachers union-backed board chairman and the election of two other board members that the unions had opposed. The runoff was a generational showdown and a school reform litmus test, in which two Teach for America alumni—one a Boomer, one a Millennial—faced off.

Las Vegas Sun
How students are overcoming the nation’s education inequality
Standing on the stage of the Thomas & Mack Center for the 2014 College of Southern Nevada graduation, Carlos Holguin couldn’t quite believe it. Not only was he the first in his family to go to college, he was the commencement speaker and Regents’ Scholar, an honor that would pay for his further education at UNLV. “I worked for this, and I never gave up,” said Holguin, now 24 and a UNLV graduate.

Philly.com
West Chester teacher cochairs national education march
Steve Ciprani felt inspired after attending the Women’s March in Washington in January, and soon wondered if similar energy could be mustered in support of public schools. The result, on Saturday, was another march, cochaired by the Latin and social studies teacher at West Chester’s Henderson High School. The March for Public Education was far smaller than the women’s event, on a steamy day when Ciprani’s students were probably more occupied with summer jobs and swimming pools.

South Bend Tribune
Keeping students a summer task for South Bend area schools
The new school year doesn’t start for a couple more weeks, but the summer is more important than ever in the era of school choice, as officials work to keep pupils from moving to other districts. Many schools face an annual challenge of students who suddenly leave the school system for a variety of reasons, and it’s no different for some local districts. It’s a concern for officials because frequent moves can hurt a student’s academic performance, and a loss of students also has a financial impact on school systems, which get money from the state based largely on enrollment numbers.

The Chicago Tribune
In D.C. rally, hundreds protest Trump’s planned cuts to education
Nolan, his 10-year-old son, had bragged to his friends when his mom attended the Women’s March after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, and then he had asked his dad when he could go to a march, too. So the family of four drove down Friday night to join those seeking to be heard at the “March for Public Education,” a rally and protest against the Trump administration’s efforts to cut federal education funding and expand private-school vouchers.