DDOE Tells Christina To Close Or Restructure (Charter/Privatize) Its Priority Schools
There are actually three choices on the table: Closure, Charter Conversion/Privatization… and handing all 5 of Christina’s city schools to Red Clay. No matter what, Christina loses these schools.
The Christina school board must choose by Feb. 27 whether to close its three Priority Schools or hand them over to charter schools or other education management organizations, the Department of Education said in a letter to district staff Tuesday.
The letter leaves one possible alternative: If Christina works with the state on the possibility of redistricting schools so that it no longer operates city schools, it could be removed from the Priority Schools saga altogether.
The Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) is very good at closing down schools. Go speak with anyone at these six Priority Schools and ask them when DDOE showed up to “help” them. Surely DDOE has been in these schools for years – since these six schools have been struggling for a long, long time? Surely, DDOE can point to all the support they’ve given these schools over the years? I hear that DDOE didn’t step foot in these schools or offer assistance prior to Governor Markell’s Priority School announcement last fall. But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe DDOE has been working with the six priority schools for years and drastic action was needed because they exhausted all other options?
I’ve always been neutral on the State and Federal Department of Education, but I’m changing my mind. They really do more harm than good. It would be one thing if these DOEs actually supported and worked with the schools they oversee, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Instead, it appears they sit in their offices and issue edicts from on high while rarely, if ever, stepping foot into the schools they are in charge. Perhaps it’s time for DDOE to have a small Dover Office while relocating its other offices inside public schools? That way every public school would have at least one DDOE employee in their school on a daily basis. And in the technological age, this is not only possible, it’s easy.
Please don’t forget that these six schools were designated Priority Schools by the DDOE based on a test that the DDOE scrapped because it wasn’t good enough to base results on. Also keep in mind, despite claims last fall, these schools were not the lowest scoring.
My youngest graduates this year. She took the Smarter Balanced test last year (her school was a pilot school) and said it was a confusing mess. Don’t believe her? Take the test. Kavips has them. My husband and I looked at the beginning of the 5th grade reading test and the 3rd and 5th grade math test. It’s really quite poorly written and almost deliberately confusing. We found ourselves rereading questions several times to determine their meaning – and even then we got answers wrong. My husband argued for his (wrong) answers, explaining why – given the question – he was right. (FYI, he’s an engineer with an engineering graduate degree. His main complaint with the test was that it was so poorly written that its scores couldn’t be used to judge student subject knowledge.) I agree with him, and am still bracing myself for the parent explosion when these test scores are released. Get ready for more Priority Schools, because these scores are going to be bad.
Moving on… Let’s take a look at the 3rd option:
The letter leaves one possible alternative: If Christina works with the state on the possibility of redistricting schools so that it no longer operates city schools, it could be removed from the Priority Schools saga altogether.
[…]
If the advisory council’s recommendations are implemented, Red Clay would get Christina’s city schools, including the three Priority Schools. That district has already struck a deal with the state on its three Priority Schools.
Hear the applause? That’s the entire Christina suburban community clapping. But what about the Red Clay (RCCD) community? I honestly don’t know what their reaction to this plan is. If this redistricting plan goes through then RCCD would be adding 3 more Priority Schools (Stubbs Elementary, Bancroft Elementary and Bayard Middle School) to its plate, plus 2 additional Christina elementary schools (Palmer and Pulaski). That’s over 1800 (as of today) new children, most of which are high needs, moving through Red Clay’s elementary, middle and high schools. Can Red Clay’s middle and high school buildings handle the additional population? I’m not sure.
Will RCCD receive additional funding? It should. Or will the standard of the “money following the student” only apply? What are the capacity numbers at RCCD’s middle and high schools? Will RCCD receive support, not only financial, when its 3 Priority Schools turns into 6? I have questions. That doesn’t mean I’m against this plan, I’m just curious as to why RCCD would agree to a plan that would increase its high poverty/high needs population. After all, RCCD hasn’t done so well with its existing high poverty schools and I’m having trouble seeing the RCCD non-city residents being okay with this plan – especially given the Cooke Elementary freak out over including a Lancaster Court Apartments (low income students) into their attendance zone. Something tells me the RCCD suburban community isn’t going to be happy with this idea.
And what about the Christina teachers? What happens to them if the schools close (not going to happen) or convert to charter/privatize? What happens to them if RCCD takes over Christina? Questions, questions, questions. Hopefully, our readers have some answers.
Tags: Christina School District, City of Wilmington, Featured, Priority Schools, Red Clay
I think it’s essential that the Speaker and the President Pro-Tem recall the General Assembly for an emergency session. This move by the Governor and the State Department of Education defines the term ‘anti-democratic’.
Much like the proposed takeover of the Port of Wilmington, this governor has taken it upon himself to ram a guaranteed-to-fail plan down the throats of parents, children, and educators. The only beneficiaries would be charter school operatives, not the kids. Enough. It is time for legislators to reassert their rightful role in public education.
In addition, the Joint Finance Committee should seriously consider a major reduction in direct funding to the Department of Education, and reallocate tens of millions of those dollars directly to the classroom. I mean, who the fuck is Mark Murphy, anyway?
It is more than ironic that a bloated Department of Education, which wastes an incredible amount of money, seeks to apply standards to schools that it has never imposed, nor would impose, upon itself.
I think this is a governmental crisis, with the oligarchs seeking to impose on everybody else something that is close to universally unpopular. Oh, and with a deadline that just HAPPENS to take place during a legislative recess. Call ’em back, Pete and Patti. The future of public education is at stake.
It might be worth noting that some of the BofA charters are having enrollment issues. This move might help them increase their charter populations.
And the suburban community should pay attention – this nonsense is heading their way – especially after many of their kids fail the Smarter Balanced test. Next up for Priority School status – schools on the fringe of the city – and a huge portion of Christina – and districts like Seaford. This should be everyone’s fight. No one is immune.
And for those Christina parents cheering the redistricting plan… be careful what you wish for because all this is heading your way – as Mike O. and I have pointed out for years. Encourage/cheer on this behavior? Then don’t act surprised when the groundwork laid by priority schools hits you. There’s a bigger end goal here. Ignore it at your own risk.
I agree with El Som…scary power grab. An unelected Sec. of Ed. has more power than the elected school board in the district and isn’t being checked by the elected legislature? Come on, that’s absurd. How extensive is his teaching experience, anyway? How many schools has he run that have turned around? The public outrage would be there if this was in their back yard…and it will be soon. They’re hoping to pick off one area at a time so no one notices before its too late.
BTW, Murphy was a Phys Ed teacher who got a master’s in ‘school leadership’. From the DOE website:
“Bachelor of Science in Physical Education – State University of New York; Master of Education in School Leadership – College of Notre Dame of Maryland”.
No dates are provided on the site, so we have no idea how long a stint he served as a PE teacher.
In fact, what we have here is a guy with limited classroom experience who reinvented himself as some sort of ‘school leadership’ guru:
“Prior to his appointment, Mark served as Executive Director of the nonprofit Vision Network in Delaware, focusing on leadership development at more than two dozen schools across the state. He also served as Executive Director of leadership development at New Leaders for New Schools, designing and implementing school leadership standards and assessments and supported the development of more than 200 school principals across ten cities.”
Vision Network is a Rodel-sponsored deck-chair operation:
http://www.contentdelaware.org/?FID=110&page_id=39
New Leaders for New Schools appears to be a waste of money thrown at creating ‘transformative’ leadership for urban schools, based on comments by current and former employees. A typical example?:
“After a year working there, I still didn’t understand what they did. Senior management only knows how to communicate in jargon. They can’t explain what they do in plain English. It’s a wonder they get funding.
I was hired to do a job that nobody wanted and nobody cared that I had nothing to do.”
Always wrong, but never in doubt. Kinda like what the governor has become.
“The public outrage would be there if this was in their back yard…and it will be soon. They’re hoping to pick off one area at a time so no one notices before its too late.”
Exactly. This community only focuses on the battle, not the war. And when it hits them – which it will – they will have helped create the precedent that allows the state to take over their schools – I’m looking at you, Seaford.. Expect a ton of Christina suburban support – the plan to remove this district from the city knew its audience well. That said, I’m expecting push back from the RCCD community… unless this plan comes with a ton of money, the conversion of Warner, and others, into a middle school and a city high school. Without those things why would the RCCD community (outside the city, and even that’s iffy) support this plan?
And, like I said, I’m not against this plan… altho I’ll point out that the Brandywine school district was included in the initial phases – what happened to them? Did they laugh? I wouldn’t blame them since they are the only district that defied the NSA and actually worked to improve all their schools.
I just have a lot of questions. If I had to guess… my guess would be that existing RCCD schools in affluent neighborhoods (Highlands and Warner) would benefit by redrawing feeders and possible magnet conversion. Shifting the populations and focus at Highlands and Warner would result in removing two priority schools (as well as quiet the voices of two very active communities)- altho, RCCD has been trying for years to add a middle school to Warner, so maybe Warner is part of the plan to house these 1800+ students?
Not sure, but I think Mark Murphy was a gym teacher for three years. If I’m wrong, someone please correct me.
I’m all for giving gym teachers a chance to better themselves, but I find it hard to believe that Murphy is the only gym teacher “qualified” to be Delaware’s secretary of education.
The only way the rest of Delaware is going to care about this is if you attach “Gas Tax” to the headlines. Elected officials included.
The silence from Dover on this is deafening. If this happened in Red Sussex is would be an unlawful power grab by an appointed bureaucrat.
“If this happened in Red Sussex is would be an unlawful power grab by an appointed bureaucrat.”
But I thought conservatives loved privatization? Not sure how they’d feel about forced privatization by the state…almost counter intuitive. Hopefully Seaford and some other schools that way show some improvement, or we’ll find out in a year or two.
According to: http://news.delaware.gov/2012/04/27/education_nomination/
Murphy began his career in the classroom, as a teacher at a high-poverty Title I school in Maryland, where he served on the leadership teams that guided the school to Blue Ribbon Status and National Title I Distinguished School status. He then served as an Assistant Principal at an elementary school before becoming principal of George Washington Carver Elementary. As the school leader he led the lowest-performing school in the district (and the two surrounding districts) to some of the strongest academic gains in the district – a 30 percentage point gain in achievement levels in four years. Staff turnover went from 30 out of 50 the year before his arrival to almost none. Behavioral referrals dropped as well, from 200 behavioral referrals per month to almost none.
Just an FYI
Red Sussex is not for privatization as it is not really available down here, so in the meantime, they prefer local control over their school districts. That’s why consolidation is a non starter down here.
As for Murphys presser, with such a stellar resume (and we all know how accurate resumes are) he should be able to swing in on a rope and test Wilmington to within an inch of its life to gather data and turn those schools around, Morgan Freeman “Lean on Me” style.
With all his expertise in turning schools around, his idea is to close them down? Really?
A vague resume, centered on a bump in standardized test scores. I’ll keep an open mind, but this could be a classic case of a coach who is lifted from the ranks of more knowledgeable women. There are cases where this works [guys who are actually savvy pedagogues and confident leaders, e.g., Dan McGinniss, Charlie Williams], but many more where it doesn’t.
If Murphy has had such stellar success, why has he not been working with the districts to initiate the changes that would lead to similar success? And, what’s going to happen to all the kids in these schools if they don’t fit with whatever charter takes over?
For the conspiracy minded, here is Murphy’s connection to Pearson Education.
I’m so horrified and sickened I have no words. Had RCCD agreed to take these schools? If Red Clay has 3 underperforming schools, why do they get more? Because they agreed to play nice with DOE? I don’t have kids, so that puts me in a fairly unique position of having no experience with schools, other than my own education in Red Clay, and no stake in the issue other than wanting every kid to have a chance to have a good education. So what do I do? Protest at DOE? Call legislators? March on Leg Hall? Adopt a Wilmington family and pay their moving expenses to Canada?
When this shakes out, we’ll see that Red Clay didn’t get the Christina priority schools because of any belief that they would do a good job running them. Rather, it will become clear that Markell/Murphy/DOE could not bring in a charter operator or turnaround manager to take over the Christina schools, and Red Clay is merely a marriage of convenience. Red Clay, Delaware’s undisputed champion of choice, has done little in the last two decades to advance the interests and serve the needs of low-income children in Wilmington. It has pandered to its suburban constituents and blatantly promoted the resegregation of city and suburban schools. Do not consider a Red Clay takeover of these three Christina schools a reward, and do not assume that Red Clay officials are welcoming the prospect.
This will not end well but Markell will be well out of the governor’s office when it ends, and Mark Murphy will most likely be well out of state.
Murph is not the problem here. He is just a political appointee carrying out an agenda. If it wasn’t him it would be somebody else at his desk demanding the takeovers.
El Som is right – the solution can only come from the General Assembly. The current path is madness. And no, Red Clay does not need any more high-poverty schools, not until it can do a better job with the ones it already has.
MikeO, it’s indisputable that Murphy is a political appointee, but he’s more than Markell’s water boy, more than Markell’s executioner. He’s the governor’s junior partner in this unprecedented dismantling of two school districts.
I will give Markell and Murphy credit for finally focusing attention on groups of schools where students are not performing well, but their dubious reliance on an outmoded testing system to justify their selections and their ham-handed efforts to jam a my-way-or-the-highway reform plan down the throats of elected school boards does little to engender confidence that their efforts will prove successful.
Both will be long gone when it’s time to clean up the mess.
El Som may be right that action by the General Assembly is needed now — in a special session — but that is only because this takeover by the executive branch is so bollixed up. The General Assembly gave us the 1968 Educational Advancement Act, ruled unconstitutional, leading to desegregation. It offered dubious deseg plans that no court would accept. It gave us choice and the Neighborhood Schools Act, the two disastrous ideas that brought us to where we are today. And its passage of charter school legislation has promoted the balkanization of our traditional school districts.
Bottom line here — I’m not convinced that the General Assembly is capable of giving us anything better than Markell’s plan. In fact, I rather doubt it. But they are capable of slamming the brakes on implementation, so something a little more sensible (I’m not hopeful of something”good”) might be put in effect as of the fall of 2016.
let the state take them over. they will own it. doe can’t effectively role out the new testing initiative. they will have no impact on turning either of those schools around. the other problem is that the charter market is saturated. call their bluff and give them the schools.
Pandora, your characterization of CSD in a state of wild joy is coming from a strange place. We tried like hell to satisfy the whip masters here. Our district did not want to lose these schools. Here is an exchange I had tonight on fb
Timothy Crawl-Bey Wow! The District passed a resolution on the interim recommendations. This is the out the Christina School District has been looking for. Will Red Clay pass a resolution next week? Don’t hold your breadth……
Nancy Willing Christina was only in a position to look for an ‘out’ because of the impossible time pressure put upon us by the governor. We (my district) put in a huge effort to develop the MOUs and schools’ plans for a fair and sure result to bring about the mandated improvement these students’ grades and we would have considered Paying Steeply for Our Plans’ Implementation. But the governor’s people shot our plans down over objections to a sliver of language in the documents revolving around due process for employees and common sense and trust in the course set by our Superintendent and board. Our district may legally have to follow the constraints around our neck tied by DDOE’s ESEA waiver and their clever maneuverings within the epilogue language of a 500 page bill introduced days before the end of the session but heck, handing these precious students to the care of city leaders is a good sight better than selling them off to faceless charter or education management types.
Timothy Crawl-Bey I’m just a little surprised at how quickly the resolution was done. With all the comments and input that is being solicited, isn’t it possible that the context of some of the interim recommendations could change even if the recommendations themselves don’t change?
Nancy Willing yes, but it was the strength of the membership of the WEAC and its early position (especially their January 26th letter) that pressured the governor to open that door. Secretary Murphy laid the invitation on the table. It is by no means an easy task to step through it.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/wilmingtonschools/
IS the problem Murphy’s CV or that a governor would put that CV up for a cabinet post. Choices define leaders.
Jack Markell’s certainly define him.
This… “Red Clay, Delaware’s undisputed champion of choice, has done little in the last two decades to advance the interests and serve the needs of low-income children in Wilmington. It has pandered to its suburban constituents and blatantly promoted the resegregation of city and suburban schools.”… is what concerns me about RCCD taking over CSD’s part of the city. Even if many of todays RCCD board members’ hearts are in the right place they haven’t fixed their existing problems. Adding more high poverty schools seems like a recipe for disaster.
Nancy, I wasn’t clear. My point wasn’t about CSD and their board, it was about the non-city Christina community (Not all, but most) – a community that has been quite vocal (endlessly vocal) about being a non-contiguous district and how they should not be part of the city and how busing was worse than Ebola. 😉 They will love this plan while Red Clay’s suburban community (not all) will not.
Like I said, I’m not sure how I feel about this city plan. There are a lot of unanswered questions. I am, however, thrilled that we are finally having a conversation about our high poverty schools.
John: Markell and Murphy are a tandem, united in their goals. At this point, they countenance no disagreement. They are going to impose this disaster and, quite possibly, end up with jobs with the corporate entities that have profited the most from this wrong-headed venture.
BTW, I HIGHLY recommend reading Jason’s links to the stories on Pearson:
http://www.newleaders.org/pearson-partnership-announcement/
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/pearson-education-115026.html
THAT is the state of education in the United States in 2015.
Yes, Murphy from New Leaders before Vision/Rodel
Exactly, El Som and Jason, follow the money.
This is like watch the Donner party loading up the wagons and saying to each other, “Do you think we packed enough food?”
Thoroughly looking forward to Dems tearing each other apart limb from limb. I’ll bring the hot sauce!
That analogy would make Republicans what — the hostile natives? It’s not as if the Donner Party could have just asked an obviously hostile entity for help, which is exactly how the Republicans figure into this one: The only way it could be worse is if we allowed Republicans to get involved.