Julia Keleher, a Pennsylvania educational leader who once was sent to prision on fraud charges, has been named the new executive director of First State Educate and First State Action Fund, two linked nonprofits devoted to improving education in the Delaware. She succeeds Laurisa Schutt, who helped found the organiztions. Schutt will remain on the boards but is pursuing other …
With the 2023 General Assembly session ending in June, educational advocates are cheering the legislatureâs action on early education, mental health support and transparency relating to school boards. One leader, though, would like to see bills that focus on letting parents know clearly and precisely whatâs happening in the classroom, starting with easy to find proficiency ratings. About 60 bills …
Although last weekâs school board elections had extremely low voter turnout, one education group points out this yearâs numbers rose in many prominent districts. It has been consistently said that only about 10% of eligible voters hit the polls in school board elections. Of the 11 school districts that had races this year, just one, Delmar, hit that mark, with …
Todayâs the day: after nine weeks of campaigning, 40 Delawareans will compete for 23 school board seats in Tuesdayâs school board elections. âOver the last couple of months, our campaign has had the opportunity to connect with thousands of voters whoâve shared their stories, hopes, and aspiration for Red Clay and its future,â said Jose Matthews, an incumbent board member …
Five of Delawareâs 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 …
A bill that would eliminate delays to school board candidatesâ names appearing on Delawareâs Department of Elections website was passed by the Delaware House Tuesday. House Bill 88, sponsored by Rep. Paul Baumbach, D-Newark, would require the state to publicly list school board candidates who are waiting for their background checks to be completed as a âprovisional candidate.â Due to …
The deadline for people to file to run for the May 9 school board elections has passed, but it may take weeks until the final list of candidates is published. The problem: A 2021 law that requires school board candidates to complete a criminal background check and a child registry check. These must be completed before candidatesâ names can be …
Candidates have 19 days left to file to run in the May 9 school board elections, and education advocates hope to encourage more people to run in those three weeks. âThere’s a lot more community members than there are elected people, so if you don’t like the direction that your community is going in, run,â said Laurisa Schutt, executive director …
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 …
Even though the job of superintendent of education is one of the most powerful in a school district, many Delaware districts donât perform annual reviews of theirs. âSome boards have a formal review, and some don’t,â said Donald Patton, board member of Christina School District. He was a teacher and principal for decades before being elected in May. âHow do …
