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 …

William Penn High School will close for the rest of the week. (William Penn High Facebook)

William Penn cancels classes to investigate Tuesday shooting

Jarek Rutz Headlines, Education

William Penn High School will close the rest of the week to allow the Delaware State Police to investigate an incident Tuesday in which a gun was fired. Friday, Jan. 13th is a professional development day, so students were already scheduled to have the day off.  Classes won’t be held virtually Wednesday or Thursday, and the Colonial School District has …

Reading score discovery at Colonial

2022 Rewind: Colonial Reading scores higher after COVID

Betsy Price Education, Headlines

This story was originally published in November 2022. Colonial School District Superintendent Jeffrey D. Menzer unearthed a surprising fact while he was devising a method to track the effectiveness of a new focus on student reading skills and scores. The 2022 eighth graders who had been at Colonial schools since second grade scored higher on reading proficiency tests than those in eighth …

Red Clay had six schools identified for having dangerous levels of lead in their water supply. (Unsplash)

Red Clay to independently test for lead in school water

Jarek Rutz Headlines, Education

A Red Clay Consolidated School District committee will hire an independent group to test for lead in water at district schools. The Lead in Water Action Committee will work with Batta, an environmental lab company that conducts tests for lead in water. “At this time we are working with our community experts, our facilities and maintenance department, and Batta to …

Wilmington's Riverfront Market will host districts and schools for Saturday's DE connectED event. (Riverfront Wilmington)

DE connectED to host schools, community event at Riverfront

Jarek Rutz Headlines, Education

A new education group will hold a multi-level event in Wilmington Saturday, Dec. 10, to help people find jobs in schools, register students for school and learn about public school options they may not know about. The ultimate goal for DE connectED – the name of the group and the Saturday event at Wilmington’s Riverfront Market – is to make …

District school boards are responsible with hiring and evaluating the superintendent. (Unsplash)

Many Del. districts don’t evaluate superintendents annually

Jarek Rutz Headlines, Education

Even though the job of superintendent of education is one of the most powerful in a school district, many Delaware districts don’t perform annual reviews of theirs. “Some boards have a formal review, and some don’t,” said Donald Patton, board member of Christina School District. He was a teacher and principal for decades before being elected in May. “How do …

School districts have until Dec. 1 to approve class size waivers. (Unsplash)

School district class size waivers moving through

Jarek Rutz Headlines, Education

Schools up and down the First State are asking their school boards to allow them to put more than 22 students in elementary school classes. Boards have until Dec. 1 to submit waiver requests to the state Department of Education. The waivers are required by Delaware law for kindergarten through third grade students in the core academic subjects of English/Language …

Colonial School District will get four new environmentally-friendly and fuel-efficient buses courtesy of a federal rebate program. (Pexels)

Colonial awarded 4 eco-friendly buses through federal grant

Jarek Rutz Headlines, Education

Colonial School District is adding three electric buses and one propane-powered bus to its fleet, courtesy of an $809,000 federal grant awarded to the state’s Department of Education.  In addition to a quieter ride, electric and propane-powered buses are said to be more environmentally friendly than gasoline-powered ones because they release less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Colonial Superintendent Jeff …

There are more than 70 libraries across the state that share 2.5 million ebooks and print books for the benefit of Delawareans.

Delaware to add school libraries into statewide catalog

Jarek Rutz Headlines, Education

The Delaware Library Consortium announced Tuesday that it will spend $1 million to add school libraries into the statewide catalog. The goal is to broaden the First State’s library catalog and provide more students an opportunity to conduct research or read for pleasure. “Over the years it seems like everything around literacy has been tweaked except school libraries, until now,” …

The four district superintendents watch from the front row as Jon Cooper, director of student services at Colonial, announces the new wellness centers.

New Castle launches 4 elementary wellness centers

Jarek Rutz Headlines, Education

Four New Castle County elementary schools are getting wellness centers that will offer medical, mental health and nutrition services to vulnerable students. Appoquinimink’s Louis L. Redding Middle School – which also serves Silver Lake Elementary – Christina’s Brookside, Colonial’s McCullough, and Red Clay’s Richardson Park elementary schools will receive $250,000 in funding for the next two years, for a total …