Dana Carey, a counselor at Lake Forest School District, is Delaware's 2023 Behavioral Health Professional of the Year

Lake Forest’s Dana Carey named behavioral health pro 2023

Jarek Rutz Headlines, Education

Dana Carey – counselor at Lake Forest North Elementary School – is this year’s behavioral health pro of the year. “I would like to first thank my Lake Forest family,” she said. “Thank you so much for being here to support me and love me.  School behavioral specialists are typically psychologists, counselors, social workers or nurses.  They assist teachers by …

Delaware schools have a wide array of summer programming.

Revamped summer school lets students get ahead, stay active

Jarek Rutz Headlines, Education

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 …

Learning Collab seeks permission to extend planning period

Jarek Rutz Headlines, Education

The council of the Wilmington Learning Collaborative will ask the three participating districts to amend their memorandum of understanding to extend the council’s planning period.  “We’ve got one shot at this,” said councilman Lincoln Hohler, who is Brandywine School District’s superintendent. “We can’t come back to the community with another failed initiative and say we want to reboot, we get …

DOE wants students to save money, time with new credit guide

Jarek Rutz Education, Headlines

The state’s new credit for prior learning policy framework will reinforce a practice that WilmU has been using for more than 30 years, a practice other institutions of higher learning in the First State also follow. According to the Department of Education, the guidelines are intended to help colleges and universities develop policies and procedures for evaluating prior student learning …

Education Secretary Mark Holodick announced his list of 2023 Secretary of Education scholars.

92 honored as 2023 Secretary of Education Scholars

Jarek Rutz Education, Headlines

Ninety-two First State high schoolers have been named Secretary of Education Scholars. Mark Holodick, secretary of education at the Delaware Department of Education, announced the 2023 honor roll. “This is such an impressive group of young leaders,” he said. “The honorees have succeeded academically while also serving as leaders in their schools and communities.” Holodick said the scholars’ success is …

A judge said that the Secretary of Education must verify or deny charters' invoices.

Court says Holodick must rule on charter school payments 

Jarek Rutz Headlines, Education

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 …

A Redding Consortium work group agreed to explore services for middle and high schools. (Unsplash)

Redding Consortium: Need to add middle, high school services

Jarek Rutz Headlines, Education

The Redding Consortium for Educational Equity wants to add the same kind of support and wraparound services that elementary schools get to middle and high schools that need them. Those services include before- and after- school programs, summer programs, interventions, tutoring, wellness centers, child care and other social services. The topic took up about a half-hour of the consortium’s Social …

Charter leader certification requirements are likely to change.

State board: Charter head certification must match districts

Jarek Rutz Headlines, Education

A state board has recommended changing the certification and licensure requirements for Delaware charter school leaders to match those of school district leaders. The move by the Professional Standards Board must be passed by the State Board of Education before going into effect. The suggested change has angered charter school leaders and officials. Several wrote to the board prior to …

The second round of bonuses for child care workers will be for $700. (Unsplash)

Delaware offers second round of child care worker bonuses

Jarek Rutz Headlines, Education

Tiny Tots Childcare Director Jessica Burns got good news Wednesday: A second round of relief checks for Delaware’s child care professionals. That will help her workers pay for their certifications, which cost between $300 and $500, she said. “This definitely is a retention effort by the state,” she said. “My staff is very, very excited and hoping to get to …

Carl Rifino and Joshua Donophan have been selected as Delaware's 2023 delegates for the U.S. Senate Youth Program. (Unsplash)

Kent County seniors picked for U.S. Senate Youth Program

Jarek Rutz Headlines, Education

Joshua Donophan wanted to join a program that sends students to the U.S. Senate for a week because he believes it’s crucial to understand how the nation’s government officials think and how the government operates. Now the Lake Forest High School senior is getting a $10,000 college scholarship to do that. Donophan and Smyrna High School senior Carl Rifino both …