Education and Community News from Home Town Delaware

Are we forgetting our history, and making a big mistake pushing only college?

Wolfe Gary — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:41:07 +0000

Mike Rowe of Discovery Channels “Dirty Jobs” testified before the Senate about how we are slowly losing our tradesmans to retirement and not replacing them moving forward. This discussion is one that several of my fellow board members in Delaware have raised as our vocational schools have moved from there initial direction towards more of a comprehensive, college focused programs. Then add to the fact that like other comprehensive schools they have to meet the goals of NCLB and RTTT which means those students not wanting college still have to meet the DCAS and AYP that they are struggling with in their home districts. Our Federal and state governments continue to beat the drum that we as a Nation are falling behind other nations as to our technical knowledge and college educations. What they fail to tell you is that these same nations we are comparing too have programs in place for their tradesman that includes testing for placement in higher education or trades schools, and also state sponsered programs for apprentiships and internships. I will testify to the fact that in todays world even tradesman need a good background in language arts,reading, and math, but these need to be focused on the specific trades not a general college focus.
So our students who don’t want college still continue to struggle and as my title suggests are we bound to repeat the mistakes of the past because we are not learning from our past?

“Lessons from famous college dropouts” from CNN today

Wolfe Gary — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 17:55:55 +0000

As our Federal and State Governments push standardize testing and cookie cutter educations still some lessons these politicians can learn! I believe in college educations and giving our children every chance to succeed, but not everyone learns the same nor do they all need to attend 4 year colleges. I once heard it said that we as individuals are made up of our growth and experiences as we grow from toddler to adult, but what are we saying to the next generations if we force them to grow faster and take away the childhood experiences.

Check out this article from CNN I believe speaks volumes about what we may be losing down the road.

“Learning the Lessons of Business”

Wolfe Gary — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:13:12 +0000

Found this article in the American School Board Journal that some of my fellow board members in Delaware should take a look at. I am attaching a link, but here a re just a few lines I thought needed repeating:
“Perhaps the best lesson that school boards can glean from business is how to avoid decisions that lead to negative results.

Though most school board decisions will have their critics, I’m talking about those that have consequences either damaging to the perception of the board’s ability to function or to the community the board serves.”

Loss of a great Educator tonight

Wolfe Gary — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 02:36:39 +0000

Well tonight Ms Kanter announced her retirement at the end of the school year. After 38 years she is going to end her career just as she was starting to make some real changes in the Milford School District. I for one will be looking to see the direction the community pushes the board as they look to hire her replacement before the next school year begins. Let’s hope we can keep moving forward for the children as that’s who it’s suppose to be about!

AGENDA FOR MON.12/1211 Milford Board of Education, AT 7:00 P.M. MILFORD MIDDLE SCHOOL

Wolfe Gary — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 17:39:13 +0000

Attached is a copy of the Agenda for the upcoming meeting but wanted to point out that December is the time when Administrative Contracts are renewed in the district. These one-year rollover contracts beginning July 1, 2012, are for all specified district-level administrators as copied in the Boards Enclosure.If you are concerned about the directions of the Milford School District take the time to join us Monday.

DPAS II component 5-update

Wolfe Gary — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:51:04 +0000

This week I was given some materials that are beginning to be passed out to members of the state’s teachers associations pertaining to the dreaded Component 5 of DPAS. I am attaching to the post first the slides and actual DPAS5B “Measures Selection Form”, and also from the DOE some FAQs, and how the ratings for teachers is broken down. DPAS5A
Now,as I read through this information the first thing that comes to my mind is, “why would anyone want to teach today?” Teachers hands are being tied more and more everyday, and now we will be holding some teachers accountable for students they don’t even teach or see. The other side to this coin is that if you look at the ratings breakdown, we have some teachers who should not be in the classroom that can still be considered “Effective” making it pretty hard to remove them. My last comment is maybe the folks from the association can get a clearer picture from the author whose name appears on a couple of the pages, and clarify it for me.

Congratulations! Morris Early Childhood Center and the Milford School District for being recognized as a State Title I Distinguished Honoree.

Wolfe Gary — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:31:52 +0000

Congratulations, to Principal Conaway and ALL the Staff of Morris Early Childhood Center on this honor. Good Job to ALL.

Morris ECC Honoree Ltr Final

Early 2013 budget numbers being shared with Educators.

Wolfe Gary — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 03:38:28 +0000

By January 2012, the 2013 budgets for Delaware’s schools will begin to take shape, and it has already been rumored that our Leadership in Dover is looking to make even deeper cuts to Education. Already we have one district, Laurel, that is floundering on the edge of not being able to meet its finances after April 2012. Many administrators, school boards, and teachers associations have sat down and looked at where we are today compared to where we were just a few years earlier. Since FY2008, State funding has been completely eliminated for the following programs:
* Reading Resource Teachers $9,431,500
* Math Specialists $3,071,700
* Limited English Proficiency Grant $1,625,000
* Technology Block Grant $1,354,000
* School-Based Discipline Program $8,213,900
* Tax Relief Allocation $17,549,500
* Academic Excellence Allotment $4,595,600
* Extra Time Programs $10,428,000
* Tuition Reimbursement $1,100,000
* Teacher Cadre & Mentoring $1,128,400
TOTAL STATE PROGRAM ELIMINATIONS: $58,497,600
In addition to these program eliminations, many districts have also experienced several reductions in base funding levels:
Division II AOC(funding for classroom, and other day to day supplies)Unit Value $3,274,020 (FY08 $3,279 to FY12 $2,955 at 10,105 Dlv II units)
Division II Energy Unit Value $2,455,515 (FY08 $2,678 to FY 12 $2,435 at 10,105 Div II units)
Professional Development Funding $1,300,000 (FY08 $2,866,500 to FY 12 $1,566,500)
Beyond these program eliminations and base funding reductions, increasing demands are being placed on
local funds (Shift of 10% Transportation Costs $7,133,800) at a time when local assessed values are essentially flat, and other local revenues such as interest, indirect cost and cost recovery collections are in decline. For those wondering what losses looked like around the state:
FY 2012 Loss Based On 2008 Amount Per Unit
Appoquinimink ($3,216,675)
Brandywine ($6,967,025)
Christina ($10,594,538)
Colonial ($4,208,339)
NCCVT ($3,839,781 )
Red Clay ($9,297,025)
Caesar Rodney ($2,374,300)
Capital ($3,244,120)
Lake Forest ($1,591,437)
Milford ($2,757,148)
Poly tech ($554,096)
Smyrna ($2,906,050)
Cape Henlopen ($2,506,117)
Delmar ($814,812)
Indian River ($2,334,774)
Laurel ($1,803,148)
Seaford ($1,787,634)
SVT ($862,796)
Woodbridge ($1,357,726)
Total all Districts: ($63,017,540)

So bottom line is that the cost of educating the next generation is going up in a time when every taxpayer is doing more with less, and raising local taxes is not an option for schools. So what can all those who have a stake in Education do to prevent our students from being cheated out of an education? Here are a few ideas we are discussing in Milford on November 8th with the community at a district wide meeting at the Milford High School Auditorium:

~ Begin lobbying efforts now, prior to the Governor’s Recommended Budget
~ Focus attention on the cumulative state funding reductions that have occurred since FY2008.
~ E.mphasize that federal stimulus funding (State Fiscal Stabilization Funds and EdJobs Funding) were intended to ‘stabilize’ state and local agencies that were experiencing revenue reductions. As revenues increase, these funds should therefore be utilized to restore previous funding reductions.
~ Target restoration funding as follows: 1) restoration of EdJobs funding; 2) restoration of State Fiscal Stabilization funding.
~ Recognize the need for efficiencies and budget reductions, but public education has been disproportionally impacted in recent years.
~ Restoring the public education budget back to its FY2010 percentage of the total budget (33.33%) would add $59,650,400 to the public education budget.
~ Collaborate with DSEA to lobby for funding restoration.
~ Establish consistent individual district meetings with local legislators.
~ Provide legislators with specific legislation to support.
~ Provide flexibility to districts in severe fiscal hardship by allowing districts to ‘cash in’ as many units as necessary to maintain solvency, and to not forfeit Division IIIunit funding for cashed in units.
~ Target the message that the “Foundation is Crumbling”. While we have the benefit of many short-term funding initiatives (i.e. Race to the Top) the core K-12 public education finance structure is not sufficient to maintain current service and performance levels.

Dedication of the New Mispillion Elementary

Wolfe Gary — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 02:17:58 +0000

Unspoken side of Race to the Top plans

Wolfe Gary — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 03:38:34 +0000

Just recently RTTT has been finding its way into the News Journal again as the Governor is telling how the grant has helped improve education. Well one part of this plan that has not been discussed is one I’d like to open discussions on as it has come up in our district recently. Besides the accountability plans, that are still not finalized, the 90 minute collaborative planning time was a major issue with districts up and down the state. Many districts and their associations had to find ways to meet this major piece of the RTTT plan which stated that teachers needed 90 minutes of planning time per week to review the data generated by the 3x per year testing. To meet this planning time many districts went to what is called an A/B schedule that is kind of like the old 70′s odd/even gas rationing. The students schedules are divided up by blocks odd and even (1,3,5,7 and 2,4,6,8) then on Monday A day the students would attend blocks 1,3,5,and 7. Then on Tuesday the students would attend blocks 2,4,6,and 8, and then this alternating schedule would continue the rest of the week. Well the problem with this well intentioned plan is that last time i looked there were an odd number of days in a week so students would see some instructors 3 days and others only two days. There in lies my problem with this schedule as depending on the students schedules the face time for students is being minimized when it should be getting better if we want our students to pass these required tests!
This school year is the first time that Milford has used this scheduling in the High School and how this will affect our students test will be seen later on this year. If there are other districts using this method to meet these RTTT promises I hope you will let me know how its going, and what affects it has on your scores.