June 22, 2017

Delaware News

Newark Post
Newark High School lauded for energy saving efforts
The Delaware Municipal Electric Corporation (DEMEC) recently awarded the Christina School District with a check for more than $11,000 for its efforts last year to reduce energy usage. DEMEC spokeswoman Heather Contant said Newark High School’s chief custodian, Rod Harden, turned off lights and air conditioning in unused wings for 10 to 15 minutes at a time throughout the summer.

The News Journal
Bear teacher named global learning fellow
The NEA Foundation named David Ostheimer, a 1st-grade educator at Kathleen H. Wilbur Elementary School in Bear, one of 48 public school educators to become a member of this year’s class of Global Learning Fellows. Ostheimer will spend a year building global competency skills. Fellows also create global lesson plans for their students that are freely shared with educators around the world through open-source platforms.

The power of public-private partnerships
Opinion by Tony Alleyne, founder and director of Delaware College Scholars at St. Andrew’s School
As Delaware’s top decision makers work to balance a state budget that has an almost $400 million deficit, one thing is clear – funding reductions are happening and government agencies, nonprofits and businesses alike are going to share in the sacrifice. But by working together, there is an opportunity to still achieve shared goals with less money. At Delaware College Scholars, our goal is to ensure high-achieving low-income high schoolers have an opportunity to attend competitive four-year institutions. We do it through public-private partnerships.

Rodel Blog
Digging deeper: The shocking pervasiveness of ACEs and trauma among Delaware students
Delaware kids are experiencing trauma at alarming rates. Trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are alarmingly prevalent among Delaware’s children. One out of five kids in Delaware have experienced two or more ACEs. However, it’s not just low-income kids or kids of color that are afflicted. Trauma and ACEs impact all children, regardless of race, socioeconomic background, or ability.

National News

ADN
Proposal would require Alaska high school students to take standardized test only once
Alaska students may have to take a statewide standardized test in high school only once, instead of twice, if the State Board of Education and Early Development adopts a new regulation proposed by the state education department. Under the proposal, Alaska students would take the statewide standardized tests in English and math in grades three through eight and at least once in high school, meeting the requirements under federal law.

Chicago Tribune
How unionized charter schools benefit public education
Commentary by Chris Baehrend, president of the Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff
When I was hired at my charter school in 2009, there were no computers for classroom use. There was no budget for textbooks. We were taken to an educational materials recycling center, where the only textbooks available for my speech class were published in 1979. There were almost no pictures of Latino students in those books, which is perhaps just as well, because almost all of the faces were marked up with racist comments and features.

Governing
The worrisome relationship between population projections and state spending on kids
Should geography determine a child’s chances for success? A new look at how much states spend per kid indicates that might be the case. An analysis by the Urban Institute found that states that spend more per child tend to have better outcomes when taking public education, health, and social services into account. At the two ends of the spectrum, Vermont spends nearly three times as much annually on children as Utah. The national average is $7,900 per child.

The News Tribune
Threat of shutdown looms as Legislature heads into triple overtime over budget
Facing the threat of a partial government shutdown, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee called a third special session of the Legislature on Wednesday to try to get lawmakers to reach a budget deal. If lawmakers don’t agree on a budget and get Inslee to sign it by June 30, most state government agencies will either fully or partially shut down starting July 1. On Thursday, about 32,000 state employees will start getting notices warning them they could be temporarily laid off next month.

The Washington Post
Fairfax schools brace for bigger class sizes, new student fees amid budget woes
When schools in Fairfax County open next fall, students and teachers are expected to contend with larger class sizes. Hundreds of teachers will go without raises they were anticipating. Alternative schools are bracing to trim programs. Student athletes who take the field will be asked to pay a new $50 fee. Facing a revenue shortfall, the county school board slashed more than $50 million from its spending plan last month, forcing cuts that will be felt in a multitude of ways across the 188,000-student district.