Margie Lopez Waite: A Walking, Talking Conflict of Interest
Guest Post By The One-And-Only Kevin Ohlandt Of Exceptional Delaware.
In the 27th State Rep. District, incumbent Eric Morrison will have a primary against Margie Lopez-Waite on September 10th. I felt it was necessary for the voters to know what Lopez-Waite stands for. It is all about positions she is already in that would create major conflicts of interest for her if she were to be elected.
As of this writing, Lopez-Waite is the CEO of Aspira of Delaware Charter Operations. In this role, she is the boss of both the Las Americas Aspira schools in Newark, the K-8 school and the high school. But the many boards she sits in are already present conflicts of interest for the role she currently has.
Lopez-Waite sits on the board of the Delaware Community Foundation (DCF). On their 2023 990 tax form, Margie’s charter school received $10,000 in donations from DCF. Margie also sits on the board of the Rodel Foundation of Delaware. Rodel donated $100,000 to Aspira as well. Margie sits on the board of the Community Education Building (CEB), the home of two Delaware charter schools in Wilmington. CEB received $86,350 from DCF in 2023.
Margie also sits on the board of the Delaware Charter Schools Network, a non-profit supporting charter schools in Delaware but they are also one of the biggest lobbying groups at Legislative Hall. It is this role that would create major conflict for Margie should she be elected.
The Delaware Charter Schools Network pushes legislation aimed to benefit charter schools, often to the detriment of the public school districts that provide the students for charter schools through school choice. Margie has been on their board for over 10 years, during the development of some very controversial charter school legislation. One example: In the epilogue language every year is what is known as the “charter school transportation slush fund.” If the Delaware charters do not use all their transportation funds, they get to keep the surplus. For some charters this has resulted in adding hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money being diverted from its intended use into discretionary spending.
Lopez-Waite’s attempted intervention at the former Delaware Academy of Safety and Security (DAPSS) eventually caused the charter school to shut down prematurely. They were already facing formal review from the Delaware Dept. of Education due to low enrollment in 2017. Margie came in and took over as the President of their Board of Directors. Within months, she managed to tick off parents so much they began disenrolling their children from the school. She wanted to turn the first responder-themed charter school into a dual language school. At the time, ASPIRA did not have a high school. Her aim was to morph DAPSS into a high school for ASPIRA.
By the summer of 2018, she resigned as President of the Board and was appointed Head of School. Financial shenanigans and low enrollment caused the school to shut down for good that September when students had just returned to school.
A former board member of both ASPIRA and DAPSS, Donald Patton, currently serves as President of the Christina Board of Education. Patton, who has come under heavy fire recently due to his leading the effort to oust beloved Christina Superintendent Dan Shelton, is good friends with Margie. Despite the public outcry against him, Patton had Margie give public comment at the May Christina board meeting to talk about how great Patton is.
While not proven yet, it is widely rumored Lopez-Waite and the DCSN have been helping Patton in an effort to get more charter schools going that he could be in charge of in Wilmington. Because of these efforts, it is actually interfering with the eventual goal of the Redding Consortium to have the Christina Wilmington schools moved to the Red Clay and Brandywine school districts. (Editor’s Note: Nobody, but NOBODY, is covering the scandal in the Christina SD like Kevin. Read all about it!)
Lopez-Waite also served on the board at Delaware State University. There was a bit of controversy during her tenure there concerning the University’s Kirkwood Highway address. Margie wanted the university to finish building the site and then turn it over for her charter school rent-free for a period of time. Thankfully, Lopez-Waite resigned from the board this past January, probably in anticipation of her State Rep. candidacy.
This did not sit well with then-Provost Tony Allen, despite their years of friendship. A State Representative votes on many budget issues and education legislation. Margie has far too many conflicts of interest that would only further her own education ambitions for not only her own charter school, but all charter schools in the state given her board roles. This is not someone who would be able to truly represent her constituents but would do what she has been doing for years, furthering her own charter school interests.
The General Assembly, over the years, had legislators that served various functions throughout the state. Never before has a candidate with voting power on the boards of so many non-profits that seek funding from the state also a seat in the General Assembly. Her hand is in too many pockets that send money to her own school and also to each other. It is dangerous and would not serve her constituents or the State of Delaware well at all.
“She wanted to turn the first responder-themed charter school into a dual language school. ”
LOL… I SO hope this is true. I’m just imagining a bunch of (mostly Trumper) parents told that their school would become a “dual language” school.
Kevin sometimes gets out over his skis, but he is bearing witness, putting in the work, and filling the void left by Kilroy’s old education blog. Not sure how he does it, but much respect!
It’s time to ‘Just Say No’ to the Charter School Network.
No more expansion, shutter the ones that don’t perform, and make sure that whatever they were taking from education funding goes to public education.
“No more expansion, shutter the ones that don’t perform”
I say we FORCE them to expand. If their methods are so successful, they should work for more students too.
We don’t really know if charter methods are “better” or not. All we know is that the students they accept perform better.
The real test of teaching methods is if they help higher-needs students perform better. Because that’s the challenge charters are designed to avoid.
They aren’t actual charter schools. They’re magnet schools. Big difference. Charter schools experiment with teaching methods. Magnet schools teach to a specialized curriculum.
Real charter schools develop methods that can be transferred to other schools. Magnet schools don’t. And if you check the enabling legislation, charter schools’ whole raison d’etre is the opportunity to develop alternative methods. Most of the state’s chartered schools should not, by those standards, even exist.
The number one method of charter success is excluding those who are not likely to succeed. That method is not transferable.
Right. Plus they’re not supposed to be specialty schools, like the military academy and the place that teaches Greek.
“And if you check the enabling legislation, charter schools’ whole raison d’etre is the opportunity to develop alternative methods.”
Can the DOJ intercede? This is fascinating. I had no idea they were bypassing the legislative guidelines which justify their existence.
What you need is a governor who will commit to strengthening public education.
Carney coasted for eight years with his signature lack of vision.
We also need to make sure that charter advocates like Waite don’t get into office.
Oh and this post lays bare the rot that charter schools have brought to Delaware, and their inextricable symbiosis with Delaware Way corruption.
I was present at a meeting of the 27th RD Democrats where Margie Lopez Waite did an introduction and took questions.
She said that her main platform was education, but did not give a real answer to a question as to why she was running for state representative and not school board, and got facts about how the student count is conducted wrong.
Most disturbingly, she announced that she had “just found out” that the state representative job is part time. This meeting was nearly a month after she had filed. What kind of a person with a full time job doesn’t find out until a month after they have filed as a candidate whether or not they’d have to leave their job if they win?
At this month’s meeting, the 27th RD Democrats unanimously endorsed Eric Morrison.
When asked outright if she would continue in this line of work if elected, all she said was that she didn’t have to give up her job. So 1) No, and 2) As through some law or rule would require it instead of simple ethics.
This race has also seen a roughly $100K PAC called “Hammer & Nails Club” intervene on her behalf with a pro-her, anti-Morrison mailer dropping in district this week. A bit odd to have both on the piece compliance wise, and the involvement of the PAC is strange given its builders funding it not charters. Funds going out to both Ds and Rs, but Morrison isn’t even on the Housing or Business committees so it seems odd to target him. All other expenditures are simple donations not communications… Someone draw an arrow to the reasoning for me please.
A tip of the hat to Kick-Ass-Kevin.
Anyone who votes for Waite should be waiting outside of a neurologist’s office for a head check.
HEY, KIDS! Guess who has a job at Aspira Academy.
Give up? This guy:
“Mr. Isaiah Waite
Student Engagement & Inclusion Specialist”
Yes, Margie Lopez Waite’s son. Your tax dollars being flushed down a toilet.
Speaking of which: Who does she think she is? Bethany Hall Long?