Despite months of outcry from the charter school community, the Delaware State Board of Education voted Thursday night to create a pathway for charter school leaders to be certified under the same requirements as district leaders. It’s a move that Kendall Massett, executive director of the Delaware Charter Schools Network, previously called offensive, degrading, ridiculous and infuriatingly insulting when Regulation …
Revamped summer school lets students get ahead, stay active
Summer school once summoned images of unhappy students who had failed a class trudging off to classes to make them up while their friends played in pools. Not anymore. Schools now offer extensive summer programming for all ages meant to support the whole student academically, emotionally and socially while catching up or accelerating their learning to get ahead of the …
Court says Holodick must rule on charter school paymentsÂ
A Delaware Superior Court judge has ruled that the state secretary of education must verify or deny invoices for special needs services for students sent from charter schools to districts. The opinion said there was not enough information for him to order the state to pay the $4 million for which the Delaware Charter Schools Network and 11 charters sued …
5 school districts drop virtual option for board meetings
Five of Delaware’s 19 school districts no longer livestream their board meetings. Caesar Rodney, Delmar, Laurel, Smyrna and Woodbridge school districts removed the virtual option this years as students and faculty return to an in-person environment with pandemic restrictions diminishing. John Marinucci, the executive director of the Delaware School Boards Association, said the organization pushed for legislation that allowed, but …
Bill lets districts say no to busing some charter students
A bill giving school districts power to tell charter schools to transport students living within the district passed through the House Education Committee Wednesday. House Bill 81, sponsored by Rep. Kim Williams, D-Marshallton, the chair of the committee, could force charters to privately contract their own buses to bring students within a district to the schools. Rep. Rich Collins, R-Millsboro, …
Bill to foster mentoring in schools draws bipartisan support
A bill that would establish a 17-person task force to focus on mentoring and improving literacy rates for Delaware’s youth unanimously passed the House Education Committee Wednesday. “We believe that the 18,222 children in charter schools across our state benefit not just from the educators in the building, but from the village that helps educate them,” said Kendall Massett, executive …
Charter Schools sue Holodick over special ed payments
The Delaware Charter Schools Network, 11 charter schools and the Delaware secretary of education are waiting on a judge’s ruling in a lawsuit about $4 million in tax revenue the charters say they are due. The network and the 11 charter schools sued Education Secretary Mark Holodick in Kent County Superior Court in July to get the money and to …
State moves to control charter school leader certifications
The state is in the process of creating rules that govern the licensure and certification of charter school leaders. It’s a move that the executive director of Delaware Charter Schools Network said is offensive and degrading. “It’s absolutely beyond ridiculous and it’s infuriatingly insulting,” Kendall Massett said Tuesday. “Especially the suggestion that those of our current leaders that do not …
3 Sussex charters ask for more legislative help
Officials from three Sussex County charter schools told state representatives Thursday they need more legislative support to best support their students and communities. “We don’t have the available resources for a wellness center,” said Eric Anderson, head of Sussex Academy. “Our kids are like any other, and they need these supports.” His school hosted a joint breakfast that included Sussex …
School choice applications close Jan. 11
Delaware’s school choice application period is closing Wednesday, Jan. 11. That means families who want to send their children to a school outside of their regular feeder pattern for the 2023-24 school year only have a few days left to submit their paperwork. The good news: It’s mostly online. The First State is one of 13 in the country in …