June 2, 2014
Local News
The News Journal
$3.8 billion state budget still unsettled
Lawmakers who completed work on a $3.8 billion state budget last week left a couple big holes. They also appropriated $4 million less for education programs than Markell envisioned in January, and cut administration proposals to enhance drug treatment, provide leadership tools for teachers and teach manufacturing skills to high schoolers.
Grad Korey Bishop: The turnaround star
An article in a series about Delaware high school graduates who overcame obstacles leading up to their graduation
Playing in four leagues and at three schools got more attention than his schoolwork. His grade point average once sunk to 0.9. But thanks to support at William Penn, his GPA reached 3.1, and after missing out on a few years of basketball, as a senior he was named co-captain on the Colonials varsity team. Korey credits most a nonprofit called Communities in Schools.
Grad Sam Cannon: Dad’s illness instilled appreciation
An article in a series about Delaware high school graduates who overcame obstacles leading up to their graduation
His father’s slow, incurable, wasting illness has caused Indian River senior Sam Cannon to mature. Sam is committed to Lynchburg (Virginia) University, where he’ll play soccer and major in biology, leading up to studies in neurology – the science that helps people with Lou Gehrig’s.
Grad Gaby Culver: Focused on nursing career
An article in a series about Delaware high school graduates who overcame obstacles leading up to their graduation
Gaby Culver knows that her chronic ulcerative colitis could kill her, but she won’t let it stop her. She is a 4.0 student at Laurel High School, second base player on the state champion softball team, varsity field hockey player, president of the National Honor Society, class secretary, delegate to the Student Government Association, Science Olympiad participant and member of the Leo Club.
Grad Rodney Orr: Losing house changed values
An article in a series about Delaware high school graduates who overcame obstacles leading up to their graduation
Losing his house made him value what he does have: family, friends. “It really hurt,” Tower Hill senior Rodney Orr Jr. says simply and calmly about the Sept. 10 fire that destroyed his New Castle home. No lives were lost, but he did lose “photos, things I had grown up with, small things I never realized I would miss.”
Class notes: NCCo Head Start program in top 10% in federal review
The New Castle County Head Start program earned top marks in a recent federal review, scoring in the top 10 percent of all such programs receiving federal grants across the country.
The missing part of our nation’s desegregation story
An opinion by Harry Themal
The courageous actions of the former Arden and Claymont school boards seem to have been overlooked in the recent local and national commemorations and articles about the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board desegregation decision. The Arden School and Claymont High School two years earlier voluntarily admitted black students to their previously all-white schools, the first to do so in the 17 Southern and border states.
Yank HB 355 now or else
A letter to the editor by Billy Papilli, Wilmington
Mr. Scott’s bill is ludicrous. I hope all tax-paying citizens will call their representatives to defeat this bill. We, the working and middle class, are tired of breaking our backs only to watch our hard-earned dollars being taken from us from over-taxation from our city, county and federal governments.
Cape Gazette
Sussex Tech, Widener partnership topic of open house
Sussex Technical High School held an open house May 5 for students and parents interested in learning more about Widener University courses and the Early Career and College Partnership. Sussex Tech’s ECCP provides Sussex Tech students with the opportunity to complete Widener University classes as dual-enrollment courses, earning both college and high school credit.
Sussex Tech seniors receive over $3.4M in awards
Over $3.4 million in scholarships and awards were presented to members of the class of 2014 at Sussex Technical High School during ceremonies held May 27. Of the 308 graduates, 277 are eligible to receive SEED scholarships from Delaware Tech.
Coastal Point
Comolli brings passion to teaching at Indian River High
Diane Comolli has been named Indian River High School’s Teacher of the Year. This is Comolli’s fifth year at IR, ninth in the district and 14th teaching. She worked for 20 years in marketing and advertising production for a Fortune 500 company. A temporary job as a substitute teacher became her passion.
National News
The New York Times
New standards face a new wave of opposition
Opposition to the Common Core has gathered momentum among state lawmakers in recent weeks, with Oklahoma and South Carolina among states considering repeal-and-replace bills
Bangor Daily News
Maine gives school districts option on diploma law
The Maine Department of Education will allow school districts to slow the process of implementing a law that requires students to graduate from high school only after demonstrating they have met a set of state standards.
Vermont Press Bureau
Vermont’s universal preschool plan becomes law
A new law signed by Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin will open up early education to every child by offering 10 hours of early education to every 3- and 4-year-old in the state.
Education Week
Louisiana bill would empower IEP teams
Louisiana lawmakers approved a bill that would give teams of teachers, administrators and parents wide latitude in determining grade promotion and graduation requirements for students with disabilities.
How to build a better teacher evaluation
An opinion by Nicholas A. Fischer, Superintendent, New London public school system in Connecticut
This month, U.S. News & World Report gave New London High School a “bronze” ranking for performing better than expected on state tests and better than the state average for the least-advantaged students. As a small, urban school district located along six square shoreline miles in southeastern Connecticut, New London has approximately 3,300 students. Fifty-eight percent are Hispanic, and 27 percent are African-American. Eighty-two percent of our students live below the poverty line.
EdSurge
Video games in the classroom?
Game-Based Learning and Gamification — the idea of incorporating video games into classroom instruction — are gaining some real traction in the teaching community.