October 25, 2016

Delaware News

Delaware Public Media
School safety committee recommends more mental health professionals
A school safety committee formed following the death of Amy Joyner Francis at Howard High School last April is offering its recommendations. “It’s sad that it takes something like that to try and have a conversation about some of these things to help make sure our schools are safe and that we’re providing supports to students to help them become mature adults,” said Colonial School District’s elementary school psychologist Emily Klein.

Delaware State News
Taking the beat to the Far East: Dover High Rolling Thunder to perform in Japan
The precision of Dover High School’s percussion unit is no secret, considering their drum cadences routinely boom off the walls of storefronts and buildings down Loockerman Street during parades. Dover High’s drumline, named Rolling Thunder, has also captured the attention of thousands of people at NASCAR races at Dover International Speedway, Philadelphia 76ers basketball games and many community events throughout the area.

Department of Education
Second round of community conversations will collect ESSA plan feedback
The Delaware Department of Education will host a second round of community conversations in November and December to collect public input on the first draft of the state’s plan under the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). In December 2015, Congress reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the main federal law governing public education.

Sussex County Post
Sportsmanship: It’s a three-peat feat for Sussex Central
Sussex Central High School’s banner year in ongoing sportsmanship now has an updated banner. For a third consecutive year, Sussex Central has earned sportsmanship honors from the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association. DIAA Executive Director Tommie Neubauer offered congratulations in a presentation during the Oct. 24 Indian River School District board of education meeting.

The Harrington Journal
Students take anti-bully message to town
To help drive home the idea that bullying is unacceptable, Lake Forest North Elementary School students went for a walk on Tuesday morning. A Bully Walk. “The Bully Walk was the culmination of a series of class assignments that discussed bullying, its effect on the victim, why bullying is unacceptable and what to do if you or someone you know are being bullied,” she said.

The News Journal
Pulaski Elementary evacuates moldy rooms
Pulaski Elementary School, still reeling from mold issues, has evacuated rooms revealed by continued testing to be affected by spores. The Christina school board was well aware Pulaski was suffering mold problems when members met Tuesday night, but a district facilities manager reported three rooms not originally marked for concern still had problems.

WDEL
Queen’s representative invites Middletown band to return to London New Year’s Day Parade
The Middletown High School Marching Band will return to London to perform in the 2018 London New Year’s Day Parade. Middletown High School students welcomed Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London Roger Bramble to Middletown High School Friday. Bramble invited the students to perform, and read the formal invitation.

National News

Dallas News
Latino superintendents lead the way in Texas’ largest school districts
When Richard Carranza was named superintendent of Houston ISD on Aug. 18, he addressed those in attendance in English and Spanish. Hired from San Francisco, the 49-year-old Carranza grew up in Tucson, the grandson of Mexican immigrants. When he entered elementary school, he didn’t speak English. After his short speech, Carranza — an advocate of Mariachi programs at every stop along his educational career — broke into an old standard, “El Rey,” with an ensemble made up of Houston ISD students behind him.

NPR
What are the main reasons teachers call it quits?
For Ross Roberts, it was a lack of resources that drove him from the classroom. For Danielle Painton, it was too much emphasis on testing. For Sergio Gonzalez, it was a nasty political environment. Welcome to the U.S. teaching force, where the “I’m outta here” rate is an estimated 8 percent a year — twice that of high-performing countries like Finland or Singapore. And that 8 percent is a lot higher than other professions.

The Hechinger Report
States can change the way they think about education, but will they?
When it comes to influencing education policy and cultivating innovative schools, all eyes are on the states. A new federal law hands more control to state leaders, untethering them from rules that threatened dire consequences for failing to achieve certain test scores. But in return for this freedom, states must come up with their own ways of ensuring that their schools give all students a high-quality, equitable education.

The New York Times
Parent group seeks more integration in New York’s schools
In the long-running battle over rezoning schools on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, the parent group that must ultimately approve a plan went on the offensive on Tuesday. The group challenged the New York City Education Department in a letter to go further in integrating neighborhood schools than it has been willing to go.