Delaware TELL Survey Closed!

This is old news actually.  It closed the 25th of February after being open for a month.  Originally it was to be open for two weeks, then with a lack of participation, was extended for two weeks more.

To understand education in Delaware you need to see the results here….

Originally the anticipated rate was 50%.  Some of us encouraged more to participate,  in order to get a fuller picture of what problems were being faced with the corporatization of Delaware’s school system.  Otherwise known as the “Pay To Learn Plan”…(PTLP)..

6025 out of 10731 educators completed the survey.  That is over the target by 10 percent.

There was another contingent of educators that was encouraging teachers not to take the test.  It was a trust issue, and to be valid, if the results were changed from negative, and switched over to that of supporting by those now with access to the raw data,  a favorable outlook could then be presented without it really being true.  Having a majority appear to sign on to something done in secret, and no one really knows if the data is accurate,  could be damaging to our students if the data were not trustworthy and true…

Granted, this manipulation is easily done in a digital age…

However, some of us realized that if the concerns of our teachers were not met, our children were doomed.  We understood that the test could be manipulated to show wrong data.  There existed this  option where if the data was being  manipulated, we were damned if we did, and damned if we didn’t.

Tennessee is undergoing terrible times right now.  They rushed into the RTTT with Republican Legislatures and a Republican Governor, and immediately unions were dissolved.   Although now its structure is in place with testing out the gazoo, they are in dire straits to fill teaching positions that are rapidly being vacated by disillusioned educators heading out for other states.

Tennessee’s  children will now suffer worse with RTTT than had their state not opted to Race To The Top.

That is why, only a true representation of teacher’s views toward the handling of the imposition of Common Core, (this race to scrap our entire current public educational system and instituting a brand new corporate one),  could lead us away from Tennessee’s fate.

It was the only defense against having Tennessee’s trauma inflicted upon us.

If they choose to manipulate the data, our children are doomed as well.  If they don’t, and our surveys are taken to heart, and teachers have a role at the table, and the administrators listen to them for once, our children will probably get the best possible education available.

However not filling the survey out as a protest,  I believe, left an avenue that not taken, could never bring the possibility of positive results….

Anyways, …. here are just some of the participation rates…

Christina  47.13%

Red Clay  56.50%

Brandywine  64.82%

Cape Henlopen   40.00%

Colonial  66.76%

Capital  73.50%

Every parent should go on site, click on their district and it expands so they can get a read-out of each and every school.   I would then encourage you to have a dialogue with their teacher to find out in depth why they chose to go the way they did.  Remember, whether a teacher went for it or against, it as with the child’s welfare first at heart…  The one thing that is not at issue is every teacher’s care and concern for every child…  What is important is that you, the parent, has a buy-in to this new educational system by sharing your concerns with your child’s teacher..

There is no good or bad here;  there is only progress, … and that is something all will agree is necessary to have…

Citizens Fight Crime

Jump out squads are the new topic.  What a dumb name.   I glad Mayor Williams is distancing himself from such.  It is funny how names get formed.  I think it was Mayor Baker or Sills whose press agent when pressed, was the person who named them such?  It may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but a better name would be something that is less aggressive.

Of course sounding tough as an intimidating factor always makes one feel big.  But it also acts in a different way.  It imposes upon a community their powerlessness.  First against the criminals, Then against the justice system.

Both Williams and the Police Chief know this!.

A city’s police force is there as part of the city residents life experience, and their job is to protect the good of which they are apart and diminish the power of the bad, the criminal element.

A better name would be something like:  ”Citizen’s Response Team”.  For after all, they are there  only at the behest of citizens who want their neighborhoods to be safe.  Let the criminal elements call them “jump out squads”;…  let that be the word on the streets.  But officially, a name that conveys the idea that the police are just an extension of society at large, they are there to do what society wants, is far more appropriate in this case than one of surprise and intimidation.

Neighborhood society has no problem with these individuals involved.  Most grew up there; they’ve known them since they were little kids. The problem is crime, and every individual in a neighborhood has a choice on whether they want to side with crime, or side with stopping it….

The election on September 11th, I think emphatically gave a mandate that a very large majority of Wilmington sides with those forces stopping it.

Now there is something every citizen can do….

I messed up.  As I pulled of the side street and onto the main street, a parked car held me up, It was some type of SUV with New Jersey plates.  Leaning into its passenger window, was a big black dude, scruffy beard, Army issued overcoat, black pants, who as I pulled up, backed away, and as the car pulled off, the crossed the street in front of me….

If I’d been thinking, I could have pulled my phone, looked like I was talking or texting (as do 99% of Delawareans when they are behind the wheel anyways), and clicked a picture of the car complete with plates and the guy doing the drop.

I could have then sent that to police.

Police later show up at the house of the car’s owner,  Ask what they were doing at that location.  Who was in their window?  Then monitor any call going out from that house that says:  ”Dude, you better be careful…someone’s on to you… Really man?  What did they say?”

So, what if the police advertised a hotline or email address or account where anonymous picture of licensed plates of drug deals in progress, could be drop loaded?  How many citizens of Wilmington would love to turn in the street bully they’re deathly afraid of, but can’t because no system exists where the information is completely untraceable?

Why hasn’t this been thought of before?

Rule is:  these pictures can never be used as court evidence and be traceable.  They can only serve as probable cause, upon which all secondary evidence can then be admitable….

And it would cost nothing.

.

Possum Park Ain’t Playing Possum

Tom Gordan has a chance to show what he is made of.  If he comes down against Abbot’s developer, Frank Acierno, we will know he is the real thing back in action supporting the wills of residents over the wills of  Pam Scott’s friends   Briefly here is the deal. On one hand you have:

• Developed floodplains.
• Horrendous traffic intersections.
• Change in the actual character of the Community
• Shopping Center across from church and school

On the other hand:

• More money for Frank Aceirno and Rich Abbot.

You know who is for it; here is a list of those who are against it….

• City of Newark; City Government
• Holy Angels  School and Church
• McDonalds Main Street Newark
• State Rep. Mike Ramone
• State Rep. Paul Baumbach
• State Rep. John Kowalko
• State Rep. Edward S. Osienski
• State Rep. Joe Miro
• State Sen. David Sokola
• Windy Hills Community Association
• Every single human being whose commute takes them through Possum Park intersection.

This is a healthy reminder as to why we have democratic government.   The tract  includes some nice forests – a 60 acred piece that is
almost totally wooded and has WCC frontage and 2 blue line streams with
forested buffers. All in all some great habitat.

The perpetrators are attempting to sneak through a rezoning of  a piece of property considered green, consisting of  protected resources – eg. Critical Natural Area, Creek, Stream, Floodplain, Wetlands, Steep Slopes, and Mature Forest and have it rezoned into Regional Commercial. Once that rezoning is complete, anything can be done to that property at any point into the future, no matter what the current assurances by the developers are.  With this month’s rezoning if it takes place, in 10 years, with a more favorable administration,  a hot, drippy sex club could be built on that property. Who knows!

However, a wall of bipartisanship  has swelled up against this project. Every one, Democrat,  Republican, Independent thinks it is a bad idea….. This again is the classic tale of people versus  big money.

We know who should win; but we don’t yet know who will win….

Call Tom Gordan and let him know.  We had an election.  Developers don’t run New Castle County any more.

News Journal SLAMS Caesar Rodney Institute of Education

Kilroy lambasted the Caesar Rodney attempt to stir up sentiment towards Charter Schools in rural Smyrna Delaware.

The News Journal played along too, here.

The meeting was attended by the following.

• Jim Hoseley, the Caesar Rodney Institute’s director of the Center for Excellence in Education.
• Priest of St. Polycarp Roman Catholic Church.
• A woman in the middle of the room wearing a purple knit hat.
• “Honey Bun”.
• The Rev. Thomas Flowers.
• One woman in the crowd who wondered aloud “where are the black people” as she looked around at a crowd of white faces.
• Mike Matthews, a Red Clay Consolidated special education teacher and union supporter,
• And one man who blurted out,  “Does he also believe in Santa Claus?”

Which would leave 25 others also down there, with the backdrop of the room filled with American flags and images of Jesus….

One would assume, except for Mike Matthews, that all those in attendance were people unfamiliar with education, period. Most of us would probably call them gullible.

Delaware Today magazine was then taken to the woodshed by Mr. Hosely of the Caesar Rodney Institute because it did not include charters with its public school rankings report. Instead, Delaware Today magazine charter schools were ranked in another issue of the magazine that was dedicated to private schools.

(The obvious reason it did so, was because Charter Schools are run like private schools and not, like public schools. Obviously missing the logic that if they were run like Public schools,and funded by the public school system, they might as well be Public Schools. That they are run like a Private School, is the whole point of charter schools…)

Next, the Caesar Rodney spokesperson bashed Markell because his state of the state did not mention vouchers. There are those who “philosophical” believe that there should be more of a “free-market” approach to our schools because this will push students to higher rates of achievement.

Governor Markell’s Delaware’s public schools have been failing minority students at a higher rate than their white peers, Hosley said.

This is where the lady looked around and said,” Where are all the BLACK PEOPLE!

In the past, black people is a group that the Caesar Rodney Institute hasn’t often found strong support among this community — earlier there was insulting criticism of brown-skinned people’s reasoning on there strong support for President Barack Obama.

Unfortunately, there were quite a few things that Mr. Hoseley of the Caesar Rodney Institute, failed to mention….

He failed to mention:

• That charter schools are generally no better — and often are worse — than their traditional counterparts…
• State and local agencies and organizations in Republican districts that grant the charters have been increasingly hesitant to shut down schools, even those that continue to perform abysmally for years on end..
• Only 17 percent of charter schools provided a better education than traditional schools, and 37 percent actually offered children a worse education. Meaning a charter school has only a 1 in 7 chance of being any better than a public school… And a 2 in 7 chance of completely ruining the kids in its care.
• Standards being used by the charter authorizers to judge school performance are terribly weak.
• For the majority of schools, poor first year performance will give way to poor second year performance.

States that are in a hurry to expand charter schools should proceed with caution. The evidence of success is not all that ample.

Advocates of Charter Schools who “philosophically” believe in the “Free market system” cheer when they see a charter school closes… “See, that’s what we are talking about!  Yeah, Baby!  It failed.  Shut ‘er down!  The market system works.  If it succeeded and had done well, it would have prospered. Now that it is closed, it can’t destroy any more children.  The free market system works.  Woo Hoo!!! “…..

When asked, they could provide no answer of what to do with those children who were now,  unable to go to school…..

Ban Guns, Support Gums

With the anticipated demise of the NRA, I have found a face saving solution… They can switch their charter to become a political organization in support of good dentistry.

They would just have to make a little curvy thing on the “n” in guns, and turn all their literature into saying “gums.”

I don’t need any thanks. Consider it a public service.

Open Letter By John Kowalko…. Saving You $25 Million!!!

In recent years I have intervened in several cases involving Delmarva Power‘s rate increase requests filed before the Public Service Commission. The process  is cumbersome and complex; it requires resources and time that is not always available to me. Unfortunately without me, the public, the ratepayers, and my constituents interests have been inadequately represented in these proceedings.  My obligation and responsibility as an elected representative is to ensure some fairness in both the discussions and decisions rendered.

The most recent filing in which I have intervened is identified as PSC Docket # 11-528  and involves a request for rate increases which includes recovery of depreciation values by Delmarva for obsolete meters that have been replaced with “smart-meters” for Delmarva residential customers.  I, as the people’s representative,  objected to any ratepayer funding for any new technology costs such as advanced metering purchase and installation…  simply because… the economic benefit from these devices rests solely with the utility. I have adamantly opposed any recovery of “lost” depreciation for any obsolete equipment that is removed from service especially since there has been no substantiated breakdown of any economic loss to the utility!  And, absolutely no justification for any single ratepayer to subsidize this company’s loss.  Please read the most excellent News Journal article in the business section of Sunday’s (Oct. 21st) paper for its startling exposure.

The odd request by this utility has caused me to defend all ratepayers against  a system that has major flaws which can obstruct honest and fair due process. One identifiable flaw has been the palpable lack of enthusiasm from those entities required by law to represent the consumer! This leaves the average ratepayer at a huge disadvantage.

During the “evidentiary hearing”  I was given the privilege to represent ratepayers and to cross examine the witnesses from DP&L, PSC staff and the Public Advocates office.  I expended great effort to determine how the $25 million in  lost depreciation value  was calculated.  I asked how this numerical value was determined.., particularly when noted  that the average age of a discarded meter was 22 years yet the total life-expectancy was only 30 years.  Over 73% of the life-expectancy had already been consumed and that legally  should be prorated into any calculation. I also requested  the original equipment costs of 22 years ago.

Objections to my cross-examination were raised by both the attorneys’ for Delmarva Power and the Public Advocates office. They wrongly asserted that it was already in evidence admitted. Although my queries were made in a legitimate attempt to ascertain vital information, the objections were sustained by the Hearing Officer. I also asked for the amount of recovered equipment costs garnered from ratepayers over that 22 year span and the amount recovered during that time-span from “depreciation” tax credit recovery and I was rebuffed with the same objections. 

To date there is no valid, statistical accumulation of numbers which justify any $25 million recovery of lost depreciation revenue owed to Delmarva Power…  Its ratepayers have already paid many times over the cost  of those meters in the prior 22 years.  Many times. The approval process has too many flaws and all of them must be addressed by me, and my colleagues, in Dover beginning this upcoming January.  Trust me.  I will be working to assure corrective action is moving forward.

The harm in allowing Delmarva to recover unproven and unsubstantiated expenses from the ratepayers is a matter of immediate concern and should be denied by the PSC Commissioners. Any action short of total relief from this asking amounts to an abdication of the government’s obligation to ensure fairness for its citizens.

Sincerely:
John Kowalko

Like A Real Witch, Christine O’Donnell Also Says Rape, Even Of A Child, Should Not Stand In The Way Of A Republican’s Election

Thank you Delaware Liberal.  I don’t know where I was to have missed this.  And it is rare I comment on something already out there.

This boggles the mind….  This person, beat Mike Castle?  What the hell is wrong with Sussex County?  David Anderson.  You  better explain yourself.  And your beat-up, tattered party, Mr Seigler, is a disgrace.   Putting your party’s well being ahead of  a child’s rape is unconscionable.  Mr. Seigler, this is your doing.  As head of the Republican Party of Delaware, you sir, are entirely responsible.  Where is your outrage over Christine’s statement?  Didn’t think it was even worth commenting on….

Please read the redacted document.  Read it all 113 times.

Oh, that’s “tacky” to bring that up  before election time says the woman who tried hard to smear old Mike Castle as being gay, two weeks before the 2010 primary election. … Child rape… ha ha ha.. Republicans don’t care about that…. Mr. Seigler hasn’t even apologized to Sussex County yet.. WGMD is still trying to propagandize these indictments as lies,  made up and brought to bear upon an innocent man.

Let me tell you one thing, Republican Party of Delaware….  My favorite football program is under sanctions for something far, far, far, less egregious then what you, Mr. Siegler,  Christine O’Donnell, and staff of WGMD, are trying to cover up…..

Anyone, anyone who votes for any Republican in Delaware this election, any Republican especially in Sussex County, will be  guilty of promoting child homosexual rape by association…..

Seriously Delaware.  if you dare vote for any Republican, if you dare;  whether its Greg LaVelle, Cathy Cloutier, Dori Conner, Evan Queitsch, or Brian Pettyjohn, …. you are showing your support for Mr. Seigler, Jeff Christopher, and all those who knew and kept this quiet..  All should resign immediately.  And every Republican who wants to run in the future, (are you listening Mr. Kovich and Mr. Craig) should immediately suspend their campaigns over this issue, toss in the towel, and say, that they cannot be apart of any organization that puts their party’s win/loss record, as a higher priority over that of  the safety of a child….

Republicans:  Christine O’Donnell is your voice, like it or not.  She is your highest profile candidate, and like it or not, she SPEAKS  FOR YOUR PARTY.    The only recourse any decent human being has in the Republican Party after today, is to walk away….  Just say, “I’m not dealing with this crap; I quit….”

Tacky, my ass…

Republicans Now Have Their Own Solyndra

A fourth Texas high-tech startup that received taxpayer money through Gov. Rick Perry’s signature economic development fund has filed for bankruptcy, pushing the total losses in the $194 million portfolio beyond what the state says the fund has earned.

The collapse of bioenergy producer Terrabon Inc., which was awarded $2.75 million in 2010 and was backed by large Perry political donors, raises the question of whether the state’s Emerging Technology Fund that began in 2006 is now worth less than what taxpayers have put into it.

Just like Solyndra, the culprit is Obama’s aggressive and extensive natural gas drilling occurring domestically, that has drop natural gas prices so green energy can’t compete.

Rick Perry, who accused Obama of cronyism over Solyndra, is now guilty of the exact same himself. I wonder if next we find Rick Jensen started up a green energy company using money from his beer distributor friends?

Do Something About This Economy….

Reading a recent critique of the debates, it focused on a fact. Millions of Americans are not enjoying the benefits of this economy. Romney had the lucky position to point out all that was wrong, without the responsibility of finding any solution to fix it.

His line, “bring down the rates, broaden the base.” simply has not worked. It didn’t work in Reagan’s time. It didn’t work for Bush HW. It didn’t work for Bush W. It is called: “trickle down”.

Clinton, who practiced kavipsian Economics, raised the rates, causing profits to revert back into the economy stimulating even more growth; that growth grew people’s incomes. That is the key. People will take lower wages if they know they will grow out of them. But ever since Republican Tax Rates went into effect, wage growth immediately stopped. 99% of Americans are earning exactly what they did in 2000. It’s been twelve years since wages for the 99%, increased. Higher taxes takes away all incentive for any employer to pay his people more.

Here is the funny part. To actually do something about the economy, President Obama has to eradicate the Republicans. Get rid of them. Make them a non player. Republicans and republicans alone, are the reason the economy is in such a slump.

Let’s review.

Republicans fought the stimulus.
Republicans fought the car buying incentive.
Republicans fought infrastructure development.
Republicans fought giving Veterans jobs upon returning to USA after fighting for years.
Republicans fought lowering insurance rates.
Republicans fought lowering gas price legislation.
Republicans fought regulating big banks from literally stealing your money.
Republicans fought against balancing the budget.
Republicans fought against payroll increases for all Americans.
Republicans fought against lowering medical costs.
Republicans fought against a better economy.
Republicans fought against hiring more policemen.
Republicans fought against hiring more fireman.
Republicans fought against hiring more school teachers.
Republicans fought against building roads and bridges that were sorely needed.
Republicans fought against not defaulting on the US Dollar.
Republicans fought against strengthening America Abroad.
Republicans fought against stopping corporate corruption.
Republicans fought against fighting wealthy tax cheats.
Republicans fought against closing the loopholes Romney used to get rich.
Republicans fought against raising wages for all Americans.
Republicans fought against legislation that allowed workers to ask for more money without being fired.

yeah. There is a reason the economy is bad. It is called the Republican Party.

Having “No Republicans” equals massive investment back into our economy. The formula for a successful America is…..

NO REPUBLICANS EVER ELECTED AGAIN = MASSIVE AMERICA ECONOMIC GROWTH

So Obama, you are at fault according to Mitt Romney and the Conservative Cheer-leading squad… Because you didn’t get rid of Republicans… Shame on you!!!!

I guess it is up to us, to do so if we EVER want our economy back.

If not… I guess every vote for a Republican is a vote in support of Communist China…..

Smokescreen Romney

There are a couple of issues where Romney is not forthcoming.   His tax returns.  His Bain Capital Investments.  His relation with his church. Privacy is important.  We support keeping what is meant to stay private, private.

But one can not surpass a smile, when one sees a younger Mitt Romney before the National Press Club on January 3, 2000, brag about the openness he brought to the scandal ridden Olympic committee.

Nor can one surpass a smile, when they hear the young Mitt Romney say he underestimated the budget and the costs required to pull it off.

Nor can one surpass a smile, when they hear the young Mitt Romney say:  we couldn’t do it ourselves;  we had to get help from the Federal government.

And when they hear Romney telling of the four time attempt to the grasp the gold for Dan Jansen, they are reminded of Romney’s own lost election attempts.

In regards to openness, Romney after taking over the scandal ridden committee, hammers out a code of ethics and has everyone sign them.  One of those items on that list was that all transactions, every invoice, would be open to public scrutiny.  Mitt brags:  ”All the documents inside our organization are available to the public.  Simply submit a form saying which document you want to see.  For instance I want to see all the letters written by Mr. Romney to Mr. Samaranch.  You’ll get them all.  Takes us about twenty days for the people to go through and get those things. We collect them and provide them to any citizen that wants to have them”.  Quite different from his currently establishing a new precedent of only showing his tax returns for the years he “knew” he was going to run for president.  Will the public be then prompted to ask:  ”What kind of character do you have?  How do you act when you are NOT running for president?”  We shall see.

It is equally interesting to hear Romney speak on his budget overage.  When he inherited the Olympics, they were $378 million behind.  Up to his entry, they had raised $13 million and had only one sponsor. They predicted they would need to raise $900 million.  Actual cost was $1.8 billion, double the original total. “We were off.   We estimated we would generate $859 million dollars in sponsor revenue.  Of course we calculated that without knowing what had been raised before.  Turns out the all time record for sponsorship revenue, came from Atlanta: $480 million raised in sponsorship revenue.  Our numbers are a little off.  Sometimes when cities get together and get excited about how much money they are going to make on the games themselves, the numbers are not quite accurate.  There is a reason for that.  There is no general accepted accounting for the Olympics. “

His success wasn’t his alone.  ” It is not something which we have done by ourselves.  It is not something we can accomplish by ourselves.  Everything we have accomplished has been done by virtue a collaboration of all sorts of leaders through out our country.  I want to acknowledge the support of the Utah delegation, many the members of which, and their offices are here today, which have been enormously helpful in providing funding for security, for housing, for transportation and so forth.  We also have here today Mickey Ibarra. I don’t know where Mickey is, but Mickey is special assistant to President Clinton for intergovernmental affairs, and he is also, I want to get this title right… he is also vice chairman of the  presidential task force of the Olympic Games.  The Clinton administration has been a ‘friend of the Olympics.” and has worked hard to make sure our Olympics are successful. … We depend enormously on the support of government and all its agencies to make sure we can be wonderful hosts, to the world. ”   Apparently in the real world outside politics,  “everyone” needs a little help.

Some more vignettes that cause the mouth to curl…. ” I believe we should judge people, celebrate people,  not by what they have, but by what they are. “   One can’t help but smile when they remember how Mitt always responds to the question, “what Sir,  qualifies you to be president…”

Of course this is just my opinion  made while suppressing a smile, but I would gladly wager that the Mitt Romney of yesterday (2000) would be a lot stronger of a candidate if  he were running against todays Obama  instead of the Mitt Romney of 2012,….  come November the Republicans would have lost by a much, much smaller margin.