Townsend Is In!

Townsend Is In!

26 Comments
Received this just awhile ago:
Dear Friends, Today, I ask for your support as I announce my campaign to represent Delaware in Congress.  Delaware faces a significant challenge: rebuilding an economy that works for all Delawareans and that reverses the inequality spreading across America. That’s why our campaign will champion policies that grow and strengthen the middle class, provide every child with an opportunity to succeed, promote equal justice in the criminal justice system, and ensure retirement security for our seniors. Four years ago, I was joined by students, community leaders, and neighbors in a grassroots campaign for the Delaware State Senate. Although some doubted our prospects, Delawareans like you showed they’d back a candidate who reaches out, listens, and will always do the right thing for Delaware, even when it’s the hard thing.
Guest Post: Crossroads Wants to Tell Its Own Story

Guest Post: Crossroads Wants to Tell Its Own Story

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Crossroads and its principals have been much in the news recently and subject of a recent post here. Since Crossroads was not contacted in the recent post here, I offered them the chance to tell their story, themselves. That is the guest post from Alberta Crowley that follows. I'm also going to be clear that I know that Crossroads is doing incredible work with a population that is never well served -- urban poor kids with mental health and addiction issues. They've certainly had their problems -- with recent unethical behavior and with a long-running tug-of-war with the state over resources to serve these kids. I'm interested in helping these kids and the people who do -- which is why I'm posting Crossroads story here.
Guest Post: Opt-Out Ends The Madness Of High-Stakes Testing

Guest Post: Opt-Out Ends The Madness Of High-Stakes Testing

4 Comments
Kevin from Exceptional Delaware asked if we could share his post. The State Board of Education is having their monthly meeting at 1:00pm today. The Parent Strike press conference will begin prior to the meeting at 12:30pm in front of Legislative Hall in Dover. If any of our readers attend, let us know in the comments.
As a proud advocate of parent opt out, I watched in horror as Governor Markell vetoed legislation created for parents and their fundamental rights.  The News Journal  refers to House Bill 50 as giving parents the right to opt out.  This is wrong.  It’s about honoring a parental right that already exists, an attempt to codify that right and stop schools and the Delaware Department of Education from punishing schools over parent opt-out. Today, the State Board of Education will have their monthly meeting, and they will discuss Regulation 103.  To give some quick back-story here, Regulation 103 covers school accountability.  Born out of Race To The Top, Delaware won in the first round partly because we already had this regulation in place.  Race To The Top was an abject failure.  But the DOE and the State Board are attempting to further legitimize this program under the guise of the Delaware School Success Framework.  This “school report card” is nothing more than Federal mandate PLUS the many layers of complexity the DOE added to it.  This regulation will put any Title I school in jeopardy if the students don’t perform well on Smarter Balanced.  This week, we will hear about the creation of 10 new so-called “Focus Schools” and 4 “Focus Plus Schools”.  The DOE will attempt to sell this as yet another way of “fixing” these high-need schools.  The truth is, these labels are punitive in nature and are just another step before they become “Priority Schools”.  We all know how that went a year ago.
Carney Jumps in the Gov. Race, Expect the Musical Chair Race to Accellerate

Carney Jumps in the Gov. Race, Expect the Musical Chair Race to Accellerate

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Congressman John Carney (D) filed paperwork today to launch his campaign for governor next year.
"This is an opportunity to serve and meet the challenges that we face here in Delaware," Carney said during an exclusive interview with The News Journal on Wednesday. "They are frankly challenges that every community and every state in the country faces right now." Carney, 59, who will bring deep government experience to next year's race, said his campaign will focus on restoring Delaware's middle class, improving public education and addressing Delaware's budget issues. [...]
The Paper of Record notes Carney's long experience in government, with his connections to both Senator Carper and Senator Biden, and that it really was supposed to be Beau Biden running next year.
Carney spoke with the vice president by phone a little more than two weeks ago. Carney said he wanted to consult with the vice president about his plans to seek the governor's office. "This opportunity to serve comes because of the vice president and his family's worst nightmare, which is Beau'spassing," Carney said. "It's a very personal thing. I just needed to know that he was comfortable with it. He could not have been better, he encouraged me to run. I can tell you it's lifted a huge burden off my shoulders in terms of making that decision." Biden called Carney again Wednesday morning to wish him well, the congressman said.
Comment Rescue: Dorian Gray, Education And The Uncomfortable Truth

Comment Rescue: Dorian Gray, Education And The Uncomfortable Truth

16 Comments
I keep going back to Dorian's comment on my Education post. Here is what he said:
I have a solution that nobody will like. It’s warranted and would address the very neediest, but good luck convincing anybody… Start paying reparations in the form of schools. The idea that how good a public school is is based on where your parents/guardians live is one of the biggest examples of institutional racism I can think of (beside mass incarceration, maybe). What other public services work this way? Can you imagine if people moved to ensure their post office was the very best rated post office in the area!
Wednesday Open Thread [9.16.2015]

Wednesday Open Thread [9.16.2015]

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Vice President Biden took aim at Donald Trump’s hard line on undocumented immigrants, CBS News reports.
Said Biden: “I don’t want anybody to be down right now about what’s going on in the Republican Party. I’m being deadly earnest about this. I want you to remember, notwithstanding the fact that there’s one guy absolutely denigrating an entire group of people. Appealing to the baser side of human nature. Working on this notion of xenophobia in a way that hasn’t occurred in a long time. Since the Know-Nothing party back at the end of the nineteenth century.”
Politico: “The vice president offered no updates on his own 2016 deliberations. But he criticized the real estate mogul in unusually stark terms, while urging the crowd not to take ‘Trump and the stuff you’re hearing on the other team’ to heart.” He is definitely running a shadow campaign in all but name. Which I like because I like Biden and we need people out there criticizing Trump. But I also don't like it. Either announce or don't.
Tuesday Open Thread [9.15.2015]

Tuesday Open Thread [9.15.2015]

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Rick Klein: “If the first debate was all about Donald Trump, the second debate figures to be about the anti-Trump. The Republican race has not so much changed as it has solidified over the past six weeks, erasing any doubt about Trump’s front-running status. But now, Trump will have a different on-stage neighbor – Dr. Ben Carson – and a whole stage full of rivals who need to move to Plan B when it comes to handling the man in the middle. Trump is about to see more incoming fire than even he (maybe) is capable of effectively returning. The Club for Growth is announcing its anti-Trump media campaign on Tuesday, and Wednesday night is primed to become a Trump pile-on. It brings a new set of dynamics to the race – or, at least, the hope of that when it comes to the 15 candidates not named Trump.”