May 31, 2017

Delaware News

The News Journal
Another $30 million axed from state budget: education, public health hit
The Joint Finance Committee cut another roughly $30 million from Delaware state government’s budget on Tuesday, with lawmakers fretting over cuts to everything from health services to educational programs to foster care assistance. The cuts were handed down during an occasionally tense meeting in which multiple committee members bemoaned the scale of the cuts.

Newsworks
Solutions floated to mitigate ‘cold realities’ of Delaware school budget cuts
Proms, finals and graduations are dominating the final days of the school year, but most eyes in Delaware’s academic circles are focused on Dover. One month from now state lawmakers will decide the fate of Gov. John Carney’s proposed $37 million in cuts to K-12 education. Right now, though, the state’s school community is in turmoil — a state of uncertainty and fear that may or may not be alleviated when the General Assembly fulfills its statutory obligation to pass a balanced budget by June 30.

Delaware 105.9
Bullying on the rise in Indian River School District
Bullying appears to be on the rise for the Indian River School District in Sussex County. In the 2015-2016 Annual Report Incidents of Bullying in Delaware Public School Districts and Charter Schools, Indian River School District was found to have the largest increase among school districts in Sussex County. “In Sussex, it looks like Indian River School District had a lot more of what they call reported potential incidents and they have to verify it,” said Ohlandt.

Newark Post
Despite challenges, deaf student pursues dream of playing drums
Tylee Thomas was in eighth grade when Christiana High School’s steel drum band performed a concert at his school and although he couldn’t really hear the music, he was fascinated by what he saw. “It was the way they played; how they moved when they were playing,” Thomas, now 18 years old and a senior at the Delaware School for the Deaf, explained.

Cape Gazette
H.O.B. kindergarteners host Mother’s Day Tea
Nina Wilkinson’s kindergarten class at H.O. Brittingham held a Mother’s Day Tea May 12. Mothers and grandmothers were impressed by sandwiches, sweets, and tea. The students also serenaded their moms with a song and wrote them beautiful notes.

National News

Education Week
Is your child showing grit? School report cards rate students’ soft skills
Where report cards may have once had a handwritten teacher’s note saying a student “plays well with others,” parents in some districts are now more likely to see a box that shows whether their child performs at grade level in such areas as “relationship skills.” Schools are increasingly rating students on a variety of social competencies and “learning skills” alongside their traditional grades in academic subjects.

NPR
English learners were hurt the most when Texas limited special education
Angel Vazquez is 9 years old, has hearing loss in both ears, trouble speaking, and struggles to concentrate in class. He’s a year behind in school, just learned how to read, and is still learning English. For nearly two years, his mom, Angeles Garcia, tried to get him evaluated for special education at his elementary school in Houston. Garcia sent the school three letters, pleading for an assessment.

Chalkbeat
For Betsy DeVos and her former advocacy group, the future of education means ‘personalization,’ including virtual schools
When Betsy DeVos returned to the advocacy group she used to lead last week, she told attendees to push for systems where students could attend any kind of school. Traditional, charter, religious, and virtual schools should be options for students, the education secretary argued, as should “an educational setting yet to be developed.” “Our current framework is a closed system that relies on one-size-fits-all solutions,” DeVos said.

The 74 Million
When kids can’t attend the great school just across the street: We must break down the invisible walls
On Wednesday, May 17, Los Angeles families woke up to a new reality for education in the nation’s second-largest school district. Voters in two Los Angeles Unified school board districts voted resoundingly for change, electing two young progressive educators — both of them either current or former teachers — as our newest school board members. These two new board members–elect, Nick Melvoin and Kelly Gonez, ran on a simple message: Our students deserve better, and to deliver for them we must start prioritizing their interests over those of the entrenched education bureaucracy.

Daily Iowegian
STEM Council to launch 15 more school-business partnerships in Iowa
The Iowa Governor’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Advisory Council invites proposals from school-business partnerships across the state to compete for 15 Iowa Businesses Engaging Students and Teachers awards. STEM BEST, a STEM Council priority, drives community collaborations where schools work together with local employers to create work-based learning experiences linked to local business and industry applications.