We knew that… Now you do too.

If you haven’t yet heard: the Delaware Department of Education (not a state board but a collection of bureaucrats hired out of the semi-private corporation Rodel which is unfortunately heavily invested in those charter schools which would have been competing against  these alleged priority schools,)  said the citizens of Christina District be damned, whatever parents want does not matter, and that the Christina District must close these fine schools or turn them over to charters… The Christina Board voted none of the above… (Instead it plans to transfer them over to Red Clay, a move which should eventually remove Evans from the board (now you understand his objection) since Wilmington is “His” district.

  • Bear in mind, the Christina District held countless sessions with the public and put together a well-thought plan agreed by all parties.  The DOE said “too bad, you people don’t count; this is what we are going to do”.
  • Bear in mind, these schools are not the worst in the state.  Their only mark of distinction is that they are geographically close to the new charter schools going into the property now owned by the Longwood Foundation,
  • Bear in mind, 99% of Delawareans are against this takeover.   It is happening anyway.
  • Bear in mind, 49% of the highly effective and effective teachers in these schools, will lose their jobs, and those jobs will be given to substitute teachers who have no idea of either the subject material, or of how to effectively teach.
  • Bear in mind, despite the alleged inadequacies supposedly surrounding these schools, ALL EVIDENCE IN THE KNOWN UNIVERSE, shows that public schools still teach better than do charters….Across the span of 25 years, not one piece of evidence has yet surfaced showing charters to be better at teaching than public schools.  Contrary in fact, across 25 years, 83% of all known evidence has proven beyond any and all doubt, that charter schools teach worse than public schools… Beyond all doubt.

    You wring your hands and say … how can they do this?

By a test…. They say enough students did not pass this test and therefore they will close down the school… It matters nothing to them if all the worst performers just happen to live in that single feeder pattern… or were selected based on the additional needs required of them, as was the case when they revoked the license of two of Delaware’s charters which were founded specifically  to help very challenged students… The DOE says… “oops, your scores are lower than wealthy white schools; sorry, you’re closed.”

How can we render this out-of-control DOE impotent?

  • First and most importantly, by boycotting this year’s test…  If waves and waves of citizens all opt out their own children from taking this test…. then the entire “charterization” process, which is nothing more than giving state dollars to friends of the governor to run these schools, “(Oh, Jack, won’t you buy me… a Mercedes Benz?  All my friends got Porsches, I must make amends) grinds to a halt….
  • Secondly, by asking your legislator to pass legislation requiring both houses and the governor’s signature before charterization of a public asset can occur. Is it a good idea to let a renegade Secretary destroy schools for years to come?  (Look at what happened in Philadelphia when it went charter, before you answer that… )
  • By telling your friends and neighbors to vote FOR the referendums that school districts need to become independent of these renegades.

But most importantly…. Stay away from the test.… This will have the greatest effect of showing the world that education is too important to let ones kids suffer in order that others can jump ahead on a corporate ladder, once their public stints are fulfilled….

What is at stake for you, is who is in the best position to judge your child’s worth… A teacher who worked closely with your child for 180 days?  Or someone in a cubicle several stories high, in a warehouse outside Minneapolis who has 4 minutes to look over your child’s work and then…. issue a score… before he moves on to the next one?

You know the answer…. That person or one just like him decided the fate of all those children in those 6 urban schools in Wilmington!  Now get serious about your child’s education and opt them out… You don’t have to sign anything except an excuse whenever the test is done that says… Please excuse my child for missing the past 6 days of school  He/she had the flu…..   But all of you have to do it… One or two won’t cut it… It needs to be everyone….

IF you don’t?

It will be your schools, and your children, which will be the next ones disrupted….  Stop the test. Opt out.