June 16, 2017

Delaware News

Coastal Point
IRSD shakes up school administrators for 2017-2018
As students finished their last few days at school, the Indian River School District has been lining up administrators for the 2017-2018 school year. The recent budget cuts have impacted administration. Several new assistant principals were not invited to return for a second year. Those positions will instead be filled by district-level administrators, the more tenured individuals stepping back into the schools from the district office.

Delaware Public Media
Delaware’s Every Student Succeeds Act plan sent back for revisions
Delaware’s one of three states the Trump Administration is sending back to the drawing board to revisit its Every Student Succeeds Act Plan. The news came earlier this week for Delaware, Nevada and New Mexico. Each faced different criticisms – and DelawareCAN Executive Director Atnre Alleyne says some of the feedback for the First State is a good thing.

Newark Post
Students celebrate, reminisce on last day of school
Smiles, and a few tears, abounded Thursday morning as Christina School District schools let out for the summer. At Downes Elementary, fifth-graders got the school’s traditional “clap out” sendoff. Younger students, teachers and parents lined the hallways and cheered as the fifth-graders made their way through the school’s corridors one final time. For fifth-grader Lidia Galo, who’s heading to Shue-Medill Middle School next year, the moment was bittersweet.

Newsworks
Christina suspends middle school principal with ‘intent to terminate’
The Christina School District has suspended a Delaware middle school principal and are planning to fire him for suspected wrongdoing, sources familiar with the matter have told WHYY. Brian Curtis, principal at Kirk Middle School near Newark, was abruptly placed on leave on June 2. Tuesday night, the Christina school board approved a “notice of termination” authorization against Curtis, sources said. Five of the seven board members voted yes.

Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Betsy DeVos’s team stumbles on ESSA
Just when they were starting to hit their stride, the new team at the Department of Education made a big unforced error this week. The good news is that it’s almost certain to be corrected, thanks to pressure from Capitol Hill. The issue is the wonky but important feedback that Jason Botel, the acting assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, provided Tuesday to three states regarding their ESSA plans.

National News

Chalkbeat
Colorado will no longer give PARCC English and math tests, forging its own path
Colorado will begin shifting away from standardized tests developed as part of a controversial multi-state effort and toward tests developed mostly by Colorado educators. The move, one consequence of a contract announced Wednesday by the state education department, will end Colorado’s membership in PARCC, one of two multi-state testing collectives that were supposed to allow for easy comparison across states but have fallen short of that promise.

Education Week
When a community loses its schools
Seven-year-old Zion Robinson bounded across the narrow road after the school bus stopped in front of a house with pink petunias hanging from the porch rafters. She excitedly held up to her mother her reward for doing well in class at Faulk Elementary in West Memphis: a white paper plate she had decorated with red, green, and blue paint.

EdSurge
How to help ‘new normal’ students get their careers—and education—rolling
One of Chipotle’s recruiting flyers features a burrito above the words “Start Your Career Rolling.” It’s cheeky, comical—and perhaps even a little controversial. Yet the fast-food chain is not confining its employees to a lifetime of tortillas and guacamole. In May, the company announced a partnership with Guild Education, a Denver-based startup, through which employees can take college classes at a discount and earn accredited degrees.

The Arizona Republic
Arizona business leaders want big tax increase for teacher salaries, education
Some of Arizona’s most influential business leaders have a plan to significantly boost education funding, and they’re not waiting for Gov. Doug Ducey and the Legislature to make it happen. This week, they began a public campaign to convince fellow business leaders to raise the funds to put an expansion of Proposition 301 on the ballot — and sooner rather than later, although they haven’t disclosed exactly when they’d like to see it on the ballot.

Wisconsin Public Radio
Bill requiring background checks for voucher school teachers advances in senate
A plan that would require background checks for teachers at Wisconsin voucher schools is moving quickly through the state Legislature. The plan would also bar voucher schools from employing teachers who aren’t eligible for teaching licenses because of their criminal history and eliminate requirements that voucher schools have to meet to receive state money, including student attendance, grade level promotion and academic growth.