Responses to the JCC Forum
From the News Journal:
Lee took several opportunities to jab Markell — saying Markell’s support of charter schools was not wholehearted because the state teachers union opposes charters.
He also wondered if the three-term state treasurer is the one to bring real change to the state.
“We need real change, not just the same people in different jobs,” Lee said.
Hahahaha. Lee, who has run for this job now in three consecutive elections, is saying we need new people?
Bernard Malik, a Republican from Newark, said he thought Lee did OK, but “could have done much better. He came on a little slow, but this is his first debate.”
Markell’s defeat of Carney, though, could be a big boost for Lee’s candidacy, Malik said.
How? The only way this was going to be a close election is if Carney had won, because then Lee could simply run against the Minner-Carney administration. With Markell having already done that and won, Lee is left with only offering his plans. And they pale in comparison to Markell’s.
Sussex County attorney John Brady, Republican candidate for insurance commissioner, stood up on the platform so the audience could verify that he was “the biggest candidate.”
“And I will give you more per square inch!,” he said.
I like self deprication. I do it myself. But we get it. John Brady is fat. We have all accepted it and moved on. Can we find out what you are going to do for the Delaware consumer, please?
DelDem,
Brady is doing something he needs to do in order to get votes from the other side: He’s using humor. And the audience ate it up. On the issues, he clearly gave the best performance of the night and said he would run the office in an identical fashion to Matt Denn and he called himself a “progressive Republican.” Having met John multiple times, I’ve asked him about some of the pressing issues facing the IC. Let me tell you: He won’t be another Donna Lee Williams.
Don’t let your GOP-hate blind you on this one.
“Both men said they would do away with the unpopular Delaware Student Testing Program and replace it with a test that provided results and opportunity for change during and after the school year”
News Flash ! The DSTP “test” is being replaced, that decision has been made! Also, Delaware is part of a USDOE Test Pilot of the Growth Model which test students in the beginning of the year, middle and end.
DSTP is pretty much after the fact whereas the Growth Model offers insight to student’s academic deficiencies in a way to offer intervention.
“ Lee took several opportunities to jab Markell — saying Markell’s support of charter schools was not wholehearted because the state teachers union opposes charters.”
Lee is full of shit ! Lee and Copeland hold a few Superior rate charter schools up proclaiming charter schools are a total success and the way to reform public education.
The data speaks for itself, 17 charter schools in Delaware with “8” being under Academic Review and those schools are high poverty and predominately African-American. In contrast to traditional public schools high poverty students in charter schools don’t show real measurable achievement. Marion T Academy was closed last year for failing to make progress and unfortunately Academy of Dover charter school is on probation and shaky ground.
Lee and Copeland are blind and clueless because when more charter schools close which will be high poverty minority charter schools many will start questioning charter schools in Delaware. This may lead to changing the law to require open admission to all charter schools. Schools like Charter School of Wilmington and my favorite Delaware Military Academy would be devastated with unrestricted open admission. Bottom-line, if the bottom charter schools fail they will bring down the top.
In conversation with Jack Markell he and I agree there is a serious need to address the achievement gap in both charter and traditional public schools. The movement to reform public education was set in motion to address the achievement gap. However, elitist such as Charles Copeland many unknowing are re-segregating public education. Bill Lee doesn’t know the hard data in regards to these underlining concerns and is being spoon fed by his nursemaid Copeland.
I support charter schools but I support fairness and an equitable education for all children and I am convinced Jack Markell and Matt Denn have a better perspective on the core issues.
Blaming DSEA for all the failure in education is misguided as there are serious flaws in the oversight of pubic school funding and lack of legislation to hold administrators and school board accountable. Red Clay violated state contract bid laws in 2006 and 2007. They violated charter school approval laws in 2007 ignoring laws requiring a 15 day public notice before voting on a charter school application. They denied public comment by waving board rules. Where was Senator Copeland who senate district includes Red Clay ? Copeland is in bed with Red Clay school board’s charter schools agenda that extends back to the Don! Copeland refuses to step up demand accountability in his own school district to protect his special interest! We do not need leaders like Copeland
Mike, delaware dem honestly doesn’t give a crap about Brady. He made it perfectly clear yesterday about what he thinks of ANY and ALL republicans. John Brady is one of them.
Don’t let your GOP-hate blind you on this one
Seriously, is there any hope with that? His statement was quite clear and his stance on that was not refuted.
“The data speaks for itself, 17 charter schools in Delaware with “8” being under Academic Review and those schools are high poverty and predominately African-American. In contrast to traditional public schools high poverty students in charter schools don’t show real measurable achievement. Marion T Academy was closed last year for failing to make progress and unfortunately Academy of Dover charter school is on probation and shaky ground. ”
What would be your plan of action to close the achievement gap Kilroy?
Hire more teachers and decrease class size dramatically. For at risk kids whose parents are not functional, add support services both in the schools and in the community. Fire some administrators or consolidate some districts if you can. Cut a deal with the DSEA for givebacks and performance committments in exchange for hiring significantly more teachers.
anon
“Fire some administrators or consolidate some districts if you can.”
I can’t see consolidating all of school district in New Castle County but think Red Clay and Christina merge might be good. But before we go that direction we need real accountability and financial transparency of school funds. Copeland failed to get he job done and with his lack of engagement in the Red Clay due to not upsetting his local special interest he isn’t part of the solution.
“Cut a deal with the DSEA for givebacks and performance committments in exchange for hiring significantly more teachers.”
Sounds fair but what about state legislators giving back for their failure? Do make note DSEA holds no labor contract with any school district. Each district has their own local union and contracts vary. Healthcare is the big ticket item on the table and when teachers are forced to pay more it will trickle down through every state union member. I am not teacher but I pay out of pocket for healthcare for me and the family $10,024.00 a year and I wish that on no one. Make note the legislators about two three years ago pass legislation bumping up the school district’s required contribution to the pension fund.
Before we put the monkey on the backs of teacher’s charter and traditional public schools we need to reform public school funding from the top down. Though I can agree paying a third grade teacher more because they have a Master degree whereas someone with Bachelor’s should be sufficient enough to teach a third grader. F’ing Red Clay hired some administrators then paid for them to get their Doctorate to do their job they were hired for just to give them a bump in pay.
“What would be your plan of action to close the achievement gap Kilroy?”
Here is ONE: Adult Education. Consider this.
Early child education all day Pre-K and K, only lasts so long.
When the child gets older and needs more guidance and example, the parent without an education is a POOR example.
A Parent with a GED does so much more. And the educated parent IS MORE LIKELY to share that education. Whereas the uneducated PARENT sees the educated child as a threat to their authority and as an embarassment when the child is more intelligent and knowledgeable.
I believe, in this singular case, the “Trickle down theory” will work, as parents HELP their CHILDREN to SUCCEED.
PS: I teach in Adult Ed.
You know what Rsmitty, I wrote that wrong yesterday. I obviously do not hate any and all Republicans. My three best friends from college and law school are all deeply conservative Republicans. I don’t hate them. I don’t hate Joanne Christian. I don’t hate Tyler Nixon.
So you are right, I overspoke yesterday. I guess what I should say is that I will always hold that evil sin, of politicizing 9/11, against the Republican Party.
gun dummy
“What would be your plan of action to close the achievement gap Kilroy?”
After we pass real financial transparency laws.
Add public pre-school to the mix!
Factor in poverty level when allocating teacher units. Currently the formula is x number of students to x number teachers. There are programs such as Title 1 a federally funded program that is meant to supplement reading and math for high poverty students however many agree the supplemental program is now a supplant program. School district pay their supervisors of regulated programs out of the funds received. I’ll put bets on 20-25% of federal supplemental programs are eaten up by so-called administration cost.
Remember parents are their children’s first teacher and many are failing that responsibility. Lets say there is intended ignorance and unintended ignorance. The parents with unintended ignorance often lack social and educational skills to effective help their children. I don’t think the federally funded program Even Start is in use in the Wilmington / New Castle Region:
http://www.ed.gov/programs/evenstartformula/index.html
“This program offers grants to support local family literacy projects that integrate early childhood education, adult literacy (adult basic and secondary-level education and instruction for English language learners), parenting education, and interactive parent and child literacy activities for low-income families with parents who are eligible for services under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act and their children from birth through age 7. Teen parents and their children from birth through age 7 also are eligible. All participating families must be those most in need of program services.”
We need to get serious about “effective” community out reach added accountability to the SES providers. Believe it or not Red Clay is classified as and SES provider and we can’t keep them honest with regular funding let alone SES funding.
There also still exist a technology divide! Basic computer are relatively cheap and used computers can be recycled however, internet access is a barrier for many poor. You would think a small city such as Wilmington would have free Wifi. Many of the poor kids know how to use computer whereas their parents don’t.
I can ramble all day long here! The fact remains we need reform in school finances, better effective community outreach and serious accountability from top down. Tell me this Why did the legislators repeal Title 14, Chapter 2, Subchapter I section 207 ? This legislation held state legislators accountable to require written educational impact analysis studies prior to voting on education legislation. Within it required the identification of funding source! For years they ignored this “law” pointing the finger at the Controller General while many unfunded and mores so under-funded state mandates were passed not complying with this legislation. Copeland knows all about it! But he wasn’t behind the actual movement to repeal it.
But then again what the hell do I know, I am just a GED flunky with a pocketful of college credits. I can honestly say my concerns right or wrong are driven by passion and Lee and Copeland are all driven by pure hard nose politics. They lack real deep insight to social aspects associated with public education. They’ll blame DSEA however won’t blame themselves for lack the effective social and communication skills to overcome the barriers within the deadlock in legislative hall.
Kilroy, I love your passion. Two more questions. What are the approx. class sizes of the failing charter schools?Why are they failing?
gun dummy // Sep 12, 2008 at 12:29 pm
“Kilroy, I love your passion. Two more questions. What are the approx. class sizes of the failing charter schools?Why are they failing?”
http://profiles.doe.k12.de.us/SchoolProfiles/District/Charter.aspx?checkSchool=0&districtCode=-1&district=Charter%20Schools
At quick glance class sizes in the high poverty schools may be 22-25 on average.
http://www.vision2015delaware.org/resources/PPI_Haycock.pdf
The real question I, are these schools failing or is there shortfalls in our ability to identify appropriate interventions?
Teaching 22-25 students of high poverty surely is more a challenge teaching 22-25 students coming from affluent families. My best bet would be many parents of students falling below the achievement gap where students themselves in the same situation. Many of the same parents don’t know how to effectively advocate for their children.
When the court order desegregation took effect the “white flight” took effect heading to private schools. What we are seeing with charter schools in Delaware is what’s called “the bright flight.” Russo called CSW the best free private school in Delaware. Nothing wrong with parents wanting what’s best for their children. However, even though may people don’t give a rat’s ass about children of color and poverty, I do. The call for educational reform was to address the achievement gap and it’s apparent the elitist have capitalized and rather then build schools to help close the achievement gap they built schools to serve themselves. Copeland knows the game and unfortunately Bill Lee doesn’t comprehend the negative trends.
Lee and Copeland blame traditional public school teachers for the failure of high poverty students but yet they don’t criticize charter school teachers in the same situation. Public school teachers don’t pick and choose their students nor does many of the high poverty charter schools. Charter School of Wilmington has a selective admission process where the student must meet the rigorousness of the schools curriculum. In others word them must be overachievers from day one. Can a good student who struggles academically be admitted to CSW? No! Don’t get me wrong overachievers need a place to thrive.
HMMMM…. I think that you missed a few points:
John introduced himself as a lawyer and as a person that wants to run a positive campaign. He pointed out that he is working in Sussex as Recorder of Deeds and has been able to cut costs without raising fees and that he wants to continue Matt Denn’s good work in cutting rates.
Tom Savage agreed with john and if I didn’t know better he alsmot endorsed him. He pointed out that his focus will be single payor healthcare/universal healthcare. He also pointed out that, aside from John, he is the only candidate for Insurance Commissioner that has not accepted any money from the insurance industry.
Karen Weldin Stewart stated that she wants to set a higher standard. She stressed her work history as department receiver and consultant for other states and her experience in her own businesses and organizations she was/is a member of. Her focus will be health insurance, cutting costs, a smart card that includes medical information and a billing component, high risk policies for individuals with illnesses that find themselves unable to get health insurance. She also mentioned creating a blue ribbon task force for catastrophic illnesses. (OH boy another expensive task force to ignore)
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Question for the candidates:
What will you do to encourage doctors to practice in Delaware and to encourage them to work rather then retire?
KWS
– we need more companies to write insurances, the costs are high because there is no competition
– Doctors need to get paid quicker
– Doctors should not lose their homes
TS
– Look at awards for malpractice suits and limit them
– Suits need to be legitimate
JB
– Court Reform is needed
– Availability of doctors (more doctors means lower insurance costs)
– We do not have jury awards in Delaware that shock
– More options and more insurance fcompanies for doctors to chose from
Question for the candidates:
How can the office of the insurance commissioner help boost Delaware’s
economy?
KWS
– Attract insurance and re-insurance companies
– Licensing fees (does that mean she wants to raise them or lower them? She did not say)
– Insurance exchange (Say what?)
TS
– Healthcare costs should be no more then 2% of the gross income, leaving more money in peoples pocket that can then boost the economy. Additionally it should not be administered by insurance companies that
pocket a big chunk of the money for themselves.
JB
– Economic development, i.e. tax credits for small businesses that offer health insurance for their employees
– Cut rates
– Increase opportunities for businesses
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS from the JCRC
After some closing statements everybody went to get cookies and look at the information on the tables in the hallway. Many people chose Brady bookmarks and yard signs. Overall most people took the puscards and only a handful refused to take them after looking at the name.
COMMENTS OVERHEARD IN THE HALLWAY ABOUT THE INSURANCE COMMISSIONER
CNADIDATES:
– “Brady is definitely the best guy for the job. Savage was nice and funny too, but Brady knew what he was talking about.”
– “That Woman was a nutcase. I will vote for Brady.”
– “She was crazy, she had no clue.”
– “I’m a democrat but I will vote for Brady”
– “Brady seemed the most knowledgeable”
– “She is crazy”
John Brady gets my vote.
KWS whacky!
Savage has the plan.
Brady is smart and wants success.
“The only way this was going to be a close election is if Carney had won, because then Lee could simply run against the Minner-Carney administration. ”
Could the NRA Letter have been intended to exploit this possibility, to elect a Republican?
yes it is right, one has to do everything to get votes without breaking the rules.
Arden Kaisman
From what I heard and saw at the forum, Brady is running unopposed! Dems for Brady! Scares me that dems are going to do extremely well in November and may just carry this woman with them! Talk to your friends! Tell them to vote for Brady.
John Brady wears the brand Republican like he would wear Chic jeans – uncomfortably and without hiding vital parts. Sorry for the visual!
If you look back at Brady’s life and experience, you will find he’s a Republican by happenstance. His father is a life-long Democrat who held office as one. John was a Democrat until he took a job at Legislative Hall as a staff attorney, and there were no open slots alloted for a D. In that office he was not only the most prolific drafter of legislation, he also worked openly with members of both sides of the aisle, a trait that more than once nearly cost him that job. When he ran for his first office, Register in Chancery (an office he vowed to abolish if elected) he was stuck doing it as an R if he intended to keep the Leg Hall gig. His association with the power-base of the R party is tenuous at best. They tolerate him and use him where it suits them, but according to many party insiders he is viewed as something like a crazy cousin. You have to invite him to Thanksgiving dinner, but you hope he doesn’t make it into the family pictures. And I ain’t talking about how he looks.
I don’t do endorsements of anyone, so don’t view this as that. It’s just a tale that might contain a lessson about Delaware politics. Sometimes what you see is not what you get and brands don’t always mean what we think they mean.