Wilmington City Council vs. Newark Charter School

Anyone else get the feeling that education in Delaware is about to explode?

Personally, I’d like to slow the entire Charter (and Choice) train down.  I can’t keep up, and can’t shake the feeling that these Charters and our legislators are privy to information that the rest of read only after the deal is done.  Basically, I’m not supposed to keep up or catch up.

Meanwhile, things are moving forward in City government:

#3640
Sponsor:  Council Member Walsh

Wilmington, Delaware
March 1, 2012

WHEREAS, there is no public high school in the City of Wilmington
that is affiliated with the Christina School District and, as a result, all
Wilmington public school students who are City residents must leave the
City in order to attend public high school; and

WHEREAS, the Newark Charter High School, which is a part of the
Christina School District, has plans for expansion into an additional
building; and

WHEREAS, there exists a five-mile radius around the Newark Charter
High School for the purposes of students applying to attend that school; and

WHEREAS, students from the City of Wilmington cannot even be
considered for admission to the Newark Charter High School because of the
said five-mile radius limitation; and

WHEREAS, the poverty rate and minority enrollment for the Newark
Charter High School are vastly lower than those of the public schools that
do serve students from the City of Wilmington, which creates racial and
economic segregation; and

WHEREAS, the proposed Newark Charter High School will not have a
cafeteria and therefore will not serve free and reduced-price meals, further
alienating low-income students who rely on federal food programs.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF WILMINGTON, that the City Council requests that the Delaware
Department of Education deny the use of public funds for the expansion of
the Newark Charter School and institute corrective action in order to
provide both racial and economic diversity to a school using public funds.

Passed by City Council,
March 1, 2012

ATTEST: _________________________
City Clerk

Approved as to form this ______
day of February, 2012

_______________________________
City Solicitor

And City Council aren’t the only ones pointing these poverty discrepancies out. Hop on over to Don’t Destroy Christina blog and read the emails she posted.  I’m only posting the first in the name of fair use.

From: Shipley Glenn (LegHall) on behalf of Sokola David (LegHall)

Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2012 2:05 PM
To: Kowalko John (LegHall); Schooley Terry (LegHall); Peterson Karen (LegHall); Osienski Edward(LegHall); Hall-Long Bethany (LegHall)
Cc: Sokola David (LegHall); Shipley Glenn (LegHall)
Subject: RE: Proposed Newark Charter High School

Good afternoon: We were all copied on the below email and attached letter from Mrs. Lois Hoffman, who has expressed her sincere concerns about the proposed Newark Charter High School.Years ago, when I served on the Newark Charter Board, I always held the belief that the student population accurately reflected the area demographics rather well. To make sure that I had the latest factual information available, I asked Greg Meece to respond to Mrs. Hoffman’s letter. For your records and information, I am attaching a copy of his response to this email. I have just shared Greg’s response with Mrs. Hoffman, and I am hopeful that the information will help to alleviate some of her concerns and provide her with additional background on this matter. I think it is very important that we not discourage a successful and committed program, such as Newark Charter, and wanted to take this opportunity to share my thoughts and sentiments with you.

Thanks,

Dave Sokola

Let’s stop here for a moment and discuss several points.

First, why would Senator Sokola go to the head of the Newark Charter School for info readily available on line?  After all, I produced all the Red Clay numbers easily enough.

Second, it’s obvious that Senator Sokola is a supporter, and former board member, of Newark Charter School, which is fine, but… asking Mr. Meece, head of Newark Charter School, to provide evidence on whether Mrs. Hoffman’s concerns are valid is… well… hardly reliable.  Unless, anyone thinks Mr. Meece would say that Mrs. Hoffman is correct and NCS’s poverty rate doesn’t reflect the surrounding community.  Um… I’m not seeing that happen.

Don’t Destroy Christina posts Mr. Meece’s response (which is a doozy), and then quickly points out that Mr. Meece used the “Newark city limit” population numbers to frame his school population numbers to the best advantage.  Huh, we’re back to numbers that don’t agree again?

All education roads keep leading to numbers – And everyone has a different set of numbers.  We really need to slow this down and get everyone on the same page.

Yeah, this issue is about to blow.  You might want to duck.

EDIT: If you are interested in seeing the discussion of this issue at City Council last night, here it is. This is approx. 8 minutes long: