Tag: Christina School District

Wilmington kids being taught the lesson of failure

Filed in Delaware by on February 13, 2015 45 Comments

“ChipAs I sat down to draw a cartoon about the ongoing feud between Governor Jack Markell and the Christina School District, I realized pretty quickly I had a problem.

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DDOE Tells Christina To Close Or Restructure (Charter/Privatize) Its Priority Schools

Filed in Delaware by on February 11, 2015 28 Comments
DDOE Tells Christina To Close Or Restructure (Charter/Privatize) Its Priority Schools

There are actually three choices on the table: Closure, Charter Conversion/Privatization… and handing all 5 of Christina’s city schools to Red Clay. No matter what, Christina loses these schools.

The Christina school board must choose by Feb. 27 whether to close its three Priority Schools or hand them over to charter schools or other education management organizations, the Department of Education said in a letter to district staff Tuesday.

The letter leaves one possible alternative: If Christina works with the state on the possibility of redistricting schools so that it no longer operates city schools, it could be removed from the Priority Schools saga altogether.

The Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) is very good at closing down schools. Go speak with anyone at these six Priority Schools and ask them when DDOE showed up to “help” them. Surely DDOE has been in these schools for years – since these six schools have been struggling for a long, long time? Surely, DDOE can point to all the support they’ve given these schools over the years? I hear that DDOE didn’t step foot in these schools or offer assistance prior to Governor Markell’s Priority School announcement last fall. But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe DDOE has been working with the six priority schools for years and drastic action was needed because they exhausted all other options?

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All Drama, No KIDS

Filed in National by on May 12, 2011 5 Comments

That’s how I characterized the recent brouhahas of the Christina School Board with their RTT fiascos in correspondence with Pandora.

Now we have the next act of the Christina School District All Drama, no KIDS extravaganza as Councilman Jea Street weighs in to call for the State to take over the District.

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Guess I’ll Have To Listen To Jensen Today

Filed in Delaware by on May 3, 2011 110 Comments

Over at Kilroy’s, Nancy Willing states that John Young and Lillian Lowery will be on the Rick Jensen show today.  Warning:  Nancy’s info had better be correct!  😉 Consider this an open thread on the subject.  Hey, maybe someone will answer my questions! My questions: 1. Who wrote the assessment plan? Specifically, the part that […]

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Buckle Up As We’re In For a Bumpy Ride

Filed in National by on December 22, 2010 8 Comments

Though not an insurmountable stumbling block, Delaware’s Race to the Top runs into problems in the Christina School District.

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Christina Just Got More Transparent

Filed in Delaware by on July 7, 2010 5 Comments

Last night the Christina School District elected their new school board president, John Young.  John is a friend of DelawareLiberal and has been a tireless advocate for transparency in the Christina School District over at his aptly named, Transparent Christina. Congratulations, John.

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Christina School Board Reverses Decision

Filed in National by on October 13, 2009 9 Comments

I doubt anyone is surprised by this decision: A Newark, Del., first-grader suspended for bringing a camping utensil to school has gotten a reprieve. Six-year-old Zachary Christie, who attends John R. Downes Elementary School, was ordered to spend 45 days in an alternative school for troublemakers because he wanted to eat pudding during lunch with […]

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Zachary’s Story Goes National

Filed in Delaware, National by on October 12, 2009 118 Comments

Do you remember the story of Zachary, a 6 year-old student in the Christina school district who was suspended for bringing camping utensils to school? This story has been picked up by the New York Times. Finding character witnesses when you are 6 years old is not easy. But there was Zachary Christie last week […]

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