just in from Education Excellence.
A Charter School with a failure rate and worse scores than the 6 priority schools being converted over to private control in Wilmington, was just awarded as a Blue Ribbon School
It is worse than these “terrible” schools in Wilmington….. but hey!….this school is now designated a Blue Ribbon School!
If “they”…. can possibly stretch the myth that Charter Schools can educate poor blacks while public schools can’t, maybe there will be hope for the Bank of America building full of inner city children after all!
It should be easy to distort the truth they must have assumed….. No one ever looks at a school’s scores?
kavips 
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October 1, 2014 at 2:47 pm
Kevin Ohlandt
And their principal was FIRED!!!! http://exceptionaldelaware.wordpress.com/2014/10/01/academy-of-dover-principal-noel-rodriguez-fired-kilroysdelaware-ed_in_de-netde-edude/
October 1, 2014 at 2:52 pm
kavips
Unbelievable…. I guess we need to fire all principals in order to make Delaware a Blue Ribbon state….
October 1, 2014 at 2:55 pm
kavips
Seriously, if Common Core were outlawed, and the curriculum changed, scores would rise legitimately. … Firing the head of Delaware’s education and replacing him with someone who sees charters as an extra player to be sent to the sidelines (along with Common core), could really help Delaware rise up to meet the levels set by Massachusetts
October 1, 2014 at 2:56 pm
Joanne Christian
kavips, kavips, kavips,….it’s ok. This is like the Presidential Fitness Test for the middle-schooler. I’m just grateful my district doesn’t waste time and talent filling out the 20 page criteria sheet, for a banner and a plaque. I’m not speaking sour grapes here for the winners now and in the past….but seriously…..rather routine work, highlighted in education, with entry points at some pretty dismal entry points. Seriously, top 40% of overall “just about everything” in the state to begin entry…..and then take it from there……
Let them pass their fitness test……they ain’t Olympic qualifying trials.
Now back to real business.
And a great big cheer to the Blue Ribbon winners this year!!!!!!!
October 1, 2014 at 2:59 pm
kavips
Lol.. Joanne…before you wrote this,did you see that the leader of that charter was fired? Then the award came… Time for some drug dogs to ramble through the Townsend Building……
October 1, 2014 at 3:19 pm
Joanne Christian
Yup. I saw it. Which will only reinforce the impotence if connected. But, I don’t want to go there unfounded. I’m sure some story will come out soon enough, and then I’ll consider it fair game. 🙂
Speaking of drugs, my child’s tech teacher was arrested over the weekend, while shop(lifting) at WAWA, and in the presence of 40+ bags of heroin. So, I’m thinking maybe we should add a drug dog to the unit count issued every building!
Very sad. Excellent teacher, horrible pitfall. Hard road ahead.
So, let’s allow those winners their “Free Ice Cream Day”, before another adult screws it up for them.
Just making memories 🙂 !!!
October 1, 2014 at 3:29 pm
kavips
So sorry for your child. How are they taking it?
October 1, 2014 at 3:44 pm
Kevin Ohlandt
Joanne, so you could compare this award to getting a ribbon at a pie-eating contest because you came in 9th place?
October 1, 2014 at 4:35 pm
Denise
I was at RCCSD’s mtg. Kim Williams asked how the schools were picked. The answer was that there is a list. Then Dr. Broom all said,”they aren’t even the worst schools on the list.” Representative Williams asked how were they picked? The answer? Randomly.
October 1, 2014 at 6:19 pm
delawareway
I think the suspicion that these schools were picked for their proximity to the CEB building is on target.
October 1, 2014 at 6:49 pm
John Young
The guidance document for the picking of the 6 schools: Rand McNally
October 2, 2014 at 12:46 am
Joanne Christian
Well Kevin, I’m not quite sure I understand your question, but I’ll give it a try.
It’s not so much the 9th place–“you get a ribbon too” comparison, as it is which pie contest are you entering.
Although, certainly the Blue Ribbon Award as designated by the feds is an award or acknowledgement, I’m not so sure I’d want my district committing time on task by personnel in filling out the paperwork for a plaque and a banner. Now granted, the hook is that Washington DC handshake, when the USDOE gets to use the Rose Garden for the day, with presentations. And that’s exciting. And of course, our De. DOE does want to keep our name out there, so they are very encouraging for schools to apply. And that’s great for the winners who get there–clap, clap. Winning is great, we love winners, we love our winners……but……
Winning Miss Teen on the Scene 2014,is not winning Miss America 2014. It’s hardly discretionary, when automatically 60% of schools are denied access to the eventual rubric. Then that exclusion climbs higher, not because of lack of success, but because of demographic exploitation. Most folks don’t read the fine print, so it’s all a rush to fist pump our Blue Ribbon School, when the same success is generally in that school, and that school, and that school….and you get the picture.
But hey, every citizen should get the chance to go to the White House, be it an athlete, poet, poster child, rock star, veteran, hero, victim, housewife, or innocent bystander.
But let’s just call it a Willie Wonka moment. We all eat chocolate. Some of us as a diet staple, and in recipes and cooking. Or a treat. This award is for those who checked their labels for gold, and sent it in, to be chosen. Others, just unwrapped the chocolate, got to work, neverminding this gold wrapper thingey, and rules for selection and winning. Say what? I need money, not a plaque…..
Regardless, they won! They get the tour! Picked by applying, not identified and recognized for aspiring. And the feds do have the capability to do that.
So let’s celebrate their win, because it is good for all of us that something positive can be said about public education in Delaware. Let ’em have it, enjoy it, savor it,
And just remember the Pinewood Derby isn’t the Soapbox Derby, and designated AP proficient schools only recently started getting banners, and military school acceptances go largely unheralded, and national offices held by our students in agriculture, business sciences, social awareness, community issues, and ROTC has been rather routine without fanfare in our lil’ state. And let’s not forget the arts…..um Ken Burns, Rocky Myers, to start the list.
So if it starts with a Blue Ribbon school, we have plenty of them, but you have to apply for a try. And then maybe, just maybe, Willy Wonka picks you!!
October 2, 2014 at 12:59 am
Joanne Christian
And FTR, I too would accept with honor and pleasure the designation of a Blue Ribbon School, and get my visit in at the White House, with any official assigned to me for such purposes in the photo. It’s a momentous occasion (at least I think it would be) in a citizen’s life, so sweetie grab it for whatever reason you have been selected, and play well your part. Tomorrow, they got a volleyball team coming in 🙂