Del. Teachers Can’t Decide.
While it seems that the most important and all encompassing decision facing Delaware voters is who is Delaware’s Hottest Blogger, the executive board of the Delaware State Education Association was more concerned with who to endorse in September’s Democratic Party. And they could not choose! Is that allowed? I was not allowed to give two different answers on my tests back when I was in school.
[T]he Delaware State Education Association, which claims 11,500 members statewide, announced today that it is endorsing both Lt. Gov. John Carney Jr. and state Treasurer Jack Markell — the first time the association has endorsed two people in the same party’s primary.
Board members were sure, though, that they want a Democrat to be governor. Either one, they decided, is better than the Republican options — retired Superior Court Judge Bill Lee and Hockessin pilot Mike Protack.
The DSEA board found that Carney and Markell both have “outstanding ideas and excellent records when it comes to public education,” President Barbara Grogg said in a prepared release. They both have “sophisticated” understanding of the issues, the group’s release said.
Meanwhile, Retired Judge Lee seems a little angry and unhinged at the DSEA’s decision.
“DSEA just declared war on me by making an asinine statement, and we’ll go from there,” Lee said. “I am shocked by the tone of their statement. That was not the sense of the meeting I had. But it tells me their attitude. I answered every question they had. To make a statement like that is insulting and asinine.”
Jesus, Bill! Are you going to kill every last teacher in Delaware just because they don’t want you to be Governor? And the appropriate emotion in losing this endorsement is disappointment, not murderous rage. I seriously have to question Judge Lee’s mental state given this response. War??!!?? They did not declare war on you, Bill. They just did not endorse you. They feel you would not be a good Governor on the issue of education. And your reaction is to go literally postal.
Finally, it was no contest as to who the DSEA thought would make the better Lt. Governor: Matt Denn hands down.
I would imagine that was a hell of a shot to Carney.
Yep. I thought the DSEA was in his pocket.
Comical and bizarre – but I like it!
Normally when a group is deadlocked they will announce “no endorsement.” I think this is creative and better, given the circumstances.
Not sure why they couldn’t have endorsed Protack over Lee for the Repub nom though.
but I don’t belong to an organized political party – I’m a Democrat.
It was probably not an exact quote. Sometimes the ship-to-shore connections are pretty bad, and I’m sure Lee was on a cruise somewhere enjoying his retirement.
Thanks for stopping by, Bill. They have great Internet connections on the Lido deck, eh?
As part of the NEA, the DSEA has a goal of mainainting a costly level of mediodrity in education as well as promoting a ‘progressive’ agenda.
Note their efforts to combat charter schools.
This is not to denigrate the many wonderful teachers. They are just stuck with a union.
I think I can hear Al logging in now…
Look unions watch out for their members, it’s what they do. Sometimes they make dumb moves because they think it is in their best interest. This isn’t one of those dumb moves. The charter school movement may or may not be a good move. There are problems with charters, but there are good things about them also.
When charters are forced to take kids with behavior problems and they cannot just send them packing, then we might have a more level playing field.
I deleted a comment that was just a press release from the Lee-Copeland campaign. That is spam, and if you want to post it on the internet, you can find a right wing blog to do so.
Let’s put it this way. If the DSEA endorses you, you’re not bringing change.
Censorship is beautiful. W would be proud.
As much as it pains me to say it DD, especially since I am only a fan and not a front-pager – deletion is frowned upon here. Post it and we’ll deal with it in our own DL anon way.
I am censoring Lee campaign propaganda, literally. If you want Judge Lee’s opinions, go to his website.
DD, I have to concur… We prefer to just abuse the hell out of them.
Alright. If you all think I was wrong, I won’t do it again.
It’s just the way that we have dealt with it in the past. No biggie.
It’s flattering that the Lee Campaign thinks that advertising here would be a good idea. It’s likely a bad idea, but I don’t plan to tell them that.
Geek…is there any way to rescue that comment? I suppose not.
“I would imagine that was a hell of a shot to Carney.”
Actually, I heard the exact opposite.
Word on the street is that this was the one major union the Markell people thought they could count on. Jack has been working them shamelessly for many, many moons and I’m told that they thought they had the DSEA in the bag as recently as last week. They put a lot into this one (something you don’t do if you think the other guy has them “in their pocket”) and basically got nothing for their efforts.
I think the reality is this one is a loss for Markell.
DD – I think it is gone…
DSEA, to use a phrase you shall understand, is like the “Dick Cheney” of mediocre public education.
I always vote for the opponent of whomever they endorse.
I remember those well trained teachers!
Holy Cow. Was this statement;
“DSEA just declared war on me by making an asinine statement, and we’ll go from there,” Lee said. “I am shocked by the tone of their statement. That was not the sense of the meeting I had. But it tells me their attitude. I answered every question they had. To make a statement like that is insulting and asinine.”
made after one, or maybe two red plastic cups….? 🙂
Hmmmmm…again….
Is this early sign of Walter Matthau and Jack Lemon personalities, just the beginning of a trend that is starting to form, and we on the other side actually had nothing to do with spinning it…….?
Hmmmmm….
Did Republicans jump the gun when they blindly followed their lieutenant governor’s choice of a gubernatorial candidate?
Nah….. they chose a fine man….. 🙂
I have this picture of Lee reeling back and forth, slurring, “I’m gonna kick their ass!”, then falling asleep.
Apparently, the DSEA wants to select of the Secretary of Education and the governor’s education advisor – Lee stands in opposition to that. Good for him.
The Union wants to be in charge of the entire process. The state has to speak for more than just teachers when making educational policy. It’s galling that the DSEA would expect to have control over this process, and it’s disgusting that Carkell and Marney seem to think that’s perfectly fine. Shame on them.
The DSEA isn’t some independent think tank devoted to improving education – it’s the teacher’s union. The job of the union is to improve the position of its leaders and members – not to determine the criteria on which its members are to be graded.
http://kilroysdelaware.blogspot.com/2008/07/dsea-calls-it-right-this-time.html
“I don’t know how to express my opinion in any other way. It’s like your standing on stage and your running mate is holding up his fingers making rabbit ears behind your head with one hand and the other hand is making an obscene gesture to traditional school teachers!”
Kilroy, since you brought it up, this is from Lee’s quote in your post: “One thing that we can do immediately is increase the percentage of our education dollars spent in the classroom, which means more resources for our students and teachers and a forced reduction in administrative costs.”
How does that translate into walking away from public schools? Increasing classroom funding should be a dream to every teacher in a public school. The only reason the DSEA opposes it is that their leadership has “graduated” from the classroom into the administrative positions Lee wants to reduce.
RickJ19958 // Jul 15, 2008 at 7:56 am
“Kilroy, since you brought it up, this is from Lee’s quote in your post”
Bill Lee’s website,
“That right is under heavy attack from the special interests who thrive in our broken, status-quo, bureaucracy-driven education system.”
Is he referring to DSEA opposition to charter schools? It’s bit ironic that his running mate is up to his ass in the charter school movement who overreacted when Blevins call for a moratorium on charter schools to study where were at and where were going. Marion T Academy charter was revoked because it failed to meet the standards and three more high poverty predominantly African-American charter schools are on academic review and could fall like Marion T. I wonder what the position would be if those schools where white. Also, three potential charter schools that haven’t even applied for a charter school application were given a buy to appease those running a charter school agenda.
“School choice and charter schools are a necessity for parents and children who have been failed by our current system and must be protected.”
What does this message say? Public traditional public teachers are scum? Or is he talking in the board sense blaming legislators as well?
Bottom-line Lee position on education is not define and is confusing. Do we want a Governor that relies on Jimmy the Cricket sitting on he shoulders advising him or do we want someone with a defined clear education plan? There is a charter school train wreck coming our way and the writing is on the wall. When the high poverty charter schools fails those kids go back the, “our broken, status-quo, bureaucracy-driven education system.”
Your smugness knows no bounds deldem!
You cannot accept the fact that some people do not support your choice of “candidate”.
I am registered independent.
I vote for the best person in my view, regardless of party.
I like industrial unions, but I despite DSEA and other white collar unions. Their very existence mocks the pain, blood, sweat and tears for which unions were originally created to address.
I remember a Red Clay teacher who had 20 years in the system. She could not spell. She was borderline psychotic. I have no idea how she got to 20 years, but she could not be fired.
Every student who passed through her class and every parent who dealt with her remembers what a human turd this person was, and what coiled sphincters Red Clay and DSEA were for allowing her to remain in contact with children.
I will never forget that. I will always vote against the DSEA candidate, and for any candidate who challenges DSEA arrogance.
So there you go, ya smug little liberal. History and bias, fully justified.
DSEA –
So there you go, ya smug little liberal. History and bias, fully justified.
Yes, by a single incident. A perfect description of why some people should be institutionalized. I bet there was a mean person of every minority group in your pantheon of “things that piss me off” to justify hate and fear of each group.
Let me put your complaint in context, you likely had somewhere north of 50 teachers in your 13 year school experience (counting kindergarten). You had one that was awful and for that, their union is a piece of garbage?
“DSEA Blows”
Then the legislators who failed to implement real accountability laws on teachers, school board, school administrators and themselves accountable sucks!
I am still piss at DSEA for their little game blocking the Conduit Loan for DMA. However, they have a point, they don’t pick and choose students to teach. Some charter schools do cherry pick. Don’t get me wrong I do support charter schools.
DSEA didn’t block open transparency for school districts. Legislators did! Copeland will fight his ass off for opposing a moratorium on charter school application to the point of trashing Blevins out but where is his ability to lead as a Lt. Governor if he couldn’t get the school transparency legislation passed. He’ll rally parents to come to the call for charter schools to point the finger at DOE but didn’t lead the same fight against those legislators who blocked his legislation. What does this have to do will Lee? Everything!
Was it Draft Bill Lee or recruit Bill Lee ? I like Bill Lee and wish him the best but a vote for him will be a vote for an agenda of his associates bad as DSTP.
Fully justified to me. deldumb was denying my personal experience by chalking it up to a Lee campaign trick.
I hold DSEA responsible because all they had to do was admit this one person wasn’t meeting appropriate standards. That’s it. They chose not to.
So yes, their union is a piece of garbage. It chose an illiterate menopausal crackwhore over the well being of the hundreds of children who endured her nonsense.
The guys cheering at the gangrape are just as guilty as those dipping their wicks!
Bill Lee’s website,
“That right is under heavy attack from the special interests who thrive in our broken, status-quo, bureaucracy-driven education system.”
“Is he referring to DSEA opposition to charter schools?” – Kilroy
Is he? Would you dispute that our public school system is wildly top heavy, with far too much money being spent on administration, and not nearly enough in the classroom? According to the numbers, Delaware is 8th in per student spending, and 33rd in student/teacher ratio. The money isn’t being spent on teachers, but the money is being spent.
Kilroy, fixing public schools and supporting charters isn’t mutually exclusive. You (and other opponents of charters) are quick to itemize failed charters, but tend to gloss over the thousands of individual failures in the public school system. Support for school choice only sounds like an attack on public schools if you are willing to submit that public schools are substandard. If the goal is to improve public schools, then it’s about providing options to parents and students.
From the DSEA’s website:
Our goals
… to increase the capacity of the local affiliates and members to effectively ADVOCATE for their needs
… to ADVOCATE and build public support necessary for a quality public education for all students
… to increase MEMBERSHIP, member commitment and involvement in activities of the union and its affiliates, and
… to maximize member involvement in the POLITICAL ACTION process in order to impact policy and laws for the benefit of our members
… to increase the capacity of our human resource, fiscal and communication SYSTEMS
… to utilize the best TECHNOLOGY available to collect and share information that will enable effective decision-making.
DSEA believes…
… that public education is the best way to provide opportunities for all in a democratic society;
… that our members in public education and public health are our most valuable resources. It is through their empowerment and involvement that we will achieve our mission and goals;
… that advocacy on behalf of our members and public education is the primary focus of our organization; and
.. that we build relationships based on fairness, dignity and respect.
DSEA and NEA both have a long history of commitment to respecting and involving all members – no matter their color or creed. NEA requires its state affiliates, in fact, to submit a “Minority Action Plan” each year about how it will achive ethnic-minority delegate representation within our Association in numbers commensurate with the population of the state. Posted here is a copy of DSEA’s current Minority Action Plan as approved by the NEA Board of Directors in January of 2008.
If you’re curious as to where students, parents, class size, class spending, and results are in the above statement, you haven’t been paying attention.
they just want a dem in the govs office so tony marchio can be appointed and nancy doorey wont have a shot
RickJ19958
“Kilroy, fixing public schools and supporting charters isn’t mutually exclusive. You (and other opponents of charters) are quick to itemize failed charters, but tend to gloss over the thousands of individual failures in the public school system.”
Wow you just clarified that there is a black and white charter schools system!
I don’t oppose charter schools but some how you put me in the opposition group because I raise concerns based on facts that charter schools with high poverty and predominately African-American are failing and some how it offends those who are colorblind as few Republicans.
I support Conduit Loans for charter schools, you don’t right!
I support only DOE permitted to approve charter school application not school district such as underhanded Red Clay, you don’t right !
I support greater tax credits for those business supporting charter schools with a poverty rate of 40% or higher, you don’t right!
I support prohibiting state legislators from sitting on charter school boards and committee, you don’t right.
When DSEA opposed the Conduit Loan for Delaware Military Academy I went public using my real name ripping them and Barbara Grogg a new ass! What did you do? Continue to hide behind you screen name!
DSEA may be about self-preservation however it seems our legislators aren’t any better.
DSEA is fear because they have great reach into the community. So why did Lee and Copeland even take the time to address DSEA.
The fact still remains Lee’s position on education reform is seeded with spite and not providing the community a vision with a plan. However, he will have one going into the general election and honestly it may be too late to really sell it. As far as charters they will be around for a long time by why trash DSEA the keeper of the charter school rejected and unwanted! Should we force all charter school to have open admissions and be required to seat aside seat for 20% poverty? That’s what you want isn’t? I can believe this is what you want! Relax not putting words in you mouth! See what’s happening in Texas and Ohio charter schools and you will see Delaware’s charter schools future. The lower performing charter schools will cause the collapse of the top performing charter schools. Why do you rhink I am suggest greater tax credits for business who provide support to charter schools with 40% or great of poverty? Now is the time to address these needs not after the fact. Study the data but then again if it’s only whites you are concern with just stay on the train as it wrecks.
One of the few semi decent articles in the News Journal:
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080620/NEWS03/806200335
DSEA folks are just a bunch of fat Delaware blowhards who get uppity watching Sylvester Stallone in F.I.S.T.
Philadelphia white collar unions are becoming jokes. What do you think that makes Delaware white collar unions?
By the way, DMI got their conduit financing through Arizona. Delaware lost out on the finders fee normally awarded to the conduit. We never would have been on the hook for anything if they defaulted.
Wow. We are so smart, aren’t we????
Any other bright ideas, Babs, you twit?
“By the way, DMI got their conduit financing through Arizona. ”
That’s good to hear for DMA. Did ISDC broker the deal ?
So tell me why do legislators continue to support prevailing wages?
F.I.S.T, Federation of Interstate Truckers!
Don’t all union monkeys imagine themselves as trucker heroes?
Yes, truckers rule. Pretenders do not.
Not sure who brokered it. Pima County was the conduit I think.
I don’t know why Delaware “legislators” (ha!) do anything. Good reason to have all documents on line and all sessions recorded and distributed.
The only thing a Delaware legislator should be allowed to fold up and flush is toilet paper.
DSEA Blows
“ Good reason to have all documents on line and all sessions recorded and distributed.”
This is where true educational reform begins! Now if we can harness the energy spent on legislators involved in building and protecting charter schools to get the job they were elected to do that benefits all residence we can move forward.
Legislators have no business meddling with education at all. There should be a fixed formula for state’s portion of funding and Secretary of Education should be an elected position.
DSEA Blows // Jul 15, 2008 at 1:53 pm
“Legislators have no business meddling with education at all. There should be a fixed formula for state’s portion of funding and Secretary of Education should be an elected position.”
I agree with 100%. They should focus on ensure education laws are followed, revised and written to ensure accountability for all including parents, teachers, principals, administrators, school boards, DOE and themselves to ensure quality and equitable education for all students.
The handful of Republican legislators trying to help build charter schools are actually hurting the process because they hold up high performing charter schools proclaiming charter school success in Delaware when in fact one charter school was closed and three are on academic review. The last thing we need is hand on legislators building a new school system when they have their backs turned on the old ones. DSEA may suck at times but do they pick and choose their students?
Do the righteous legislators take the time to come to traditional school board meetings or even spend a day with a DSEA teachers? Where were the pricks when the Red Clay community needed them? Only one Republican legislator out of the 4 living in Red Clay showed any interest and attending community meetings. Gilligan a democrat stood up and ripped Red Clay administrators and new ass. The Red Clay community ousted 2 board members and more next year and the year after that. The current board vice-president was overthrown by the newly installed board members. Red Clay is still boning the community and three of our 4 Republican legislators don’t give a rat’s ass because they are too busy working for private corporations called charter school organization.
They act like all kids aren’t getting an education in public schools! We’ll I know the one who have parental involvement like making sure their homework is done, the get breakfast before going to school and getting a ass-whipping for misbehaving in school are getting a fine education.