The National Common Core Standards (NCCS) are coming to a school near you. While the name might sound familiar, what do parents (and often even teachers) really know about the Common Core. Who wrote it? Where did it originate? Who owns it? What’s in it?
Most parents concerned with their child’s nutrition read beyond the labels, and look carefully at the actual ingredients.
Unfortunately, while they do this it is only affecting the current parents,
students and staff and our ability to bring in the level of student that
will help Pencader continue to succeed.
E-mail sent tonight:
https://groups.google.com/a/pencadercharter.net/group/parents/browse_thread/thread/b40d488e462c4f07#
Dear Pencader Family,
We are all very concerned and disappointed with what the News Journal is reporting and feel that a day is not enough time to deal with anything appropriately
but will keep the Pencader family informed as all of the information is reviewed. With regards to Mrs. Lewis’ degree, it is not something that is a requirement for her position. We are confident in her ability to run the school and her dedication and commitment is not in question, however, we take very serious the accusations and information that came to light in the article.Pencader is financially stable, our DCAS and SAT scores continue to improve every year and we continue to excel in BPA, Science Olympiad, Math League and next year will offer two new business programs that no other school in the state offers.
Pencader is not perfect and there are issues that still need work,however, where we came from in less than a year and the positive strides we are making daily make me very confident that the statements that are being made and the continued negative comments are just from those that have a personal agenda to see Pencader fail and Mrs. Lewis’ reputation ruined. Unfortunately, while they do this it is only affecting the current parents, students and staff and our ability to bring in the level of student that will help Pencader continue to succeed. We will however continue to succeed. We have an amazing staff and group of students who do nothing everyday but their best and it saddens me that the positive information is never reported on.
Feel free to contact me, or any other member of the school board, if you have any further questions or concerns and I invite you to come to the monthly board meetings at the school. They are held on the fourth Thursday of the month at 5:30pm in the second floor conference room.
Have a great evening.
–Judi Kennedy
Co-Vice President
Pencader Charter High School
http://www.delawareonline.com/videonetwork/1704081299001/School-leader-questioned-about-PhD
Today’s News Journal expose on academic fraud and dishonesty fails to mention the significance of the schools Board of Directors composition issues or the severe enrollment problem PCHS is facing, for a variety of reasons including poor/non-existent recruiting.
All that said, the main concern of Dan Cruce? Apparently it’s ass covering:
Cruce said he hopes any issue at Pencader does not “cast an unfair cloud” on leadership of the state’s charter schools. The school board is responsible for hiring a school leader, but the state has a responsibility to ensure that Delawareans know the educators at schools have academic credentials from reputable institutions, he said.
OK Dan, all is perfect in charter land, you keep denying NACSA problems, enrollment problems, and leader problems. You will find the DOE in an even more precarious spot than they are now.
The State BOE ought to be FURIOUS over this news. My guess though, is continued blissful ignorance at the expense of Delaware taxpayers like me and you. Let them eat cake!
The message needs to be clear and stark: now matter how good you think you are or that if a dedicated, small group of fans think you should never be cancelled, sometimes you still get cancelled:
GUIDING LIGHT’ CANCELLED
By MICHAEL STARR
CBS has cancelled “Guiding Light”–which has aired, in one medium or another, for 72 years.
The veteran soap’s last episode will air Friday, Sept. 18.
The cancellation of “Guiding Light” is yet another nail in the coffin of daytime soaps–many of which have fallen by the wayside due to declining ratings.
It’s not known what will replace “Guiding Light” on CBS’ daytime schedule. The show airs from 10 to 11 a.m. on Ch. 2.
“No show in daytime or primetime, or anytime, has touched so many millions of viewers across so many years,” said CBS daytime exec Barbara Bloom.“We thank the cast, crew and producers–past and present–who delivered this entertainment institution…”
“Guiding Light” began life in 1937 as a 15-minute radio serial, before switching to a 15-minute soap on CBS in 1952 (while continuing to air on radio until 1956).
The series moved to a 30-minute format in 1968 and expanded to an hour in 1977.
Jack Markell makes the only salient point in today’s 7 page online article:
Gov. Jack Markell said it’s important for the state’s educators to set an example for youth when it comes to higher education.
“If this is true, it is certainly sad because academic credentials in my mind set a standard for kids,” Markell said. “We are asking our kids to raise the bar and telling them not to take shortcuts. Diploma mills are shortcuts.”
from an earlier TC post:
Delaware Charter Network Internal Spies Report!:
Kendall Massett, executive Director of DE Charter network holding secret (admitted to this in public session) meetings with teachers and students behind the Board’s back with intent to train them overthrow the board.
Principal Lewis has locked Board President out of her office by changing the locks.
Kendall Massett and Principal Lewis asked for board’s resignation en masse.
All of this because the Board fired a teacher for swearing at a student. So, I am left to conclude that the DE Charter network supports unfettered power for school principals whose husbands cuss out kids and also believes that dedicated lifelong professionals serving voluntarily n Boards should be subject to being berated for conducting a proper investigation due to an obvious, nepotism based, conflict of interest. This sends just about the message I would expect from an bully driven organization: straight up screw the kids and fight for the adults!!! Awesome!!!
This is how the DE Charter Network rewards schools and school leaders who drive their school to enrollment death by abdicating their responsibilities to recruit and retain students in a bullshit competitive charter environment.
All I have to say to the DE Charter Network and this insane position they are taking is: Keep up the Good Work! Keep finger wagging and berating people…..the truth is oozing out of your open wounds.
Wow, backing the shameful Ms. Ann Lewis by acting as her henchman in a bully fight with the Board of Directors last April in a move designed to force THEM out and to instill even more unfettered and unchecked power in to the hands of a school leader who, by today’s News Journal article appears to be a pathological liar.
Delaware Charter schools, despite all of their flaws, certainly deserve better than that. She’s listed on YOUR website as an advisory board member, and a Dr at that! For shame! List as of 6/24/2012 9:39AM
Delaware Charter Schools Network
The Delaware Charter Schools Network Advisory Board
Schools that have current membership in the Delaware Charter Schools Network are voting members of the Network’s advisory board. Non-member schools and pre-operational school leaders are invited to attend advisory board meetings to ensure that all charter schools have the opportunity for support in this collaborative setting.
- Dr. Tennell Brewington - Family Foundations Academy Charter School
- Sean Moore – Family Foundations Academy Charter School
- Dr. Ann Lewis - Pencader Business and Finance Charter High School
- Salome Thomas-El - Thomas A. Edison Charter School
- Edward Emmett - Positive Outcomes Charter School
- Patricia Hermance - Campus Community Charter School
- Linda Jennings, Esq. - MOT Charter School
- Gregory Meece - Newark Charter School
- Jack Perry - Prestige Academy
- Dr. Patricia Oliphant - Sussex Academy of Arts and Science
- Noel Rodriguez - Academy of Dover
- Dimitri Dandalos (Interim Head of School) - Odyssey Charter School
- Sally Maldonado - Kuumba Academy Charter School
- Charles Taylor - Providence Creek Academy
- Dr. Lamont W. Browne - EastSide Charter School
- Margorie Lopez-Waite - Las Americas Aspira Academy
- Chuck Baldwin - The Charter School of Wilmington
- Jack Wintermantel - Delaware Military Academy
The PCHS School Board must terminate Ms. Ann Lewis for academic fraud and misrepresentation. Anything less would simply reveal the board’s utter and complete dysfunction.
Read the article here: http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20120624/NEWS03/306240050/The-lies-behind-diploma-mills?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home
If Delawareans cannot see the problems with unfettered Charter school growth as evidenced by the BOD selecting a school leader willing to falsify credentials in addition to all the other problems that accompany unaccountable, unchecked growth, then they are just ideologues living in denial.
Heck, the News Journal editors can’t even put the word Charter School in the headline. I guess David Ledford is a Charter school acolyte protecting charters too as the headline for the story proving Ann Lewis has perpetrated a fraud on DE taxpayers still calls her a Ph.D.
Red Clay Consolidated School District.
The Red Clay Consolidated School District is preparing to launch a 24-hour educational cable channel in January 2013, after the Wilmington City Council on Thursday voted 11-0 to name the district managers of the new channel.
The opportunity became available in December 2011, when Wilmington issued a “request for qualifications” (RFQ) to manage the channel, which is not yet activated.
At the time of the RFQ, Red Clay was planning district wide upgrades to career pathways for students, including the expansion of a communications pathway at Thomas McKean High School with upgrades to an existing radio station and construction of a television station.
The creation of the new channel will allow students in the program to create programs that will be broadcast to Comcast customers in Wilmington and all of New Castle County.
“Not only will students gain a valuable set of skills in this program, they have the opportunity to graduate with a portfolio of programs that have actually been aired,” said Red Clay Superintendent Merv Daugherty. “It will instill a level of professionalism in students that they can bring to potential employers or college admissions staff. We believe this program will open doors for students throughout the area.”
Under the agreement with Wilmington, Red Clay will make air time available to other school districts and schools in the greater Wilmington area. Working with an Advisory Board to the channel, Red Clay will create and publish guidelines to submit ready-to-air programs.
“Beyond providing career training to our students, we view this channel as a public service to young people, families and community members in Wilmington and the surrounding areas,” said Dr. Daugherty. “We will offer educational programming, informational shows for parents, and bring events from schools into people’s homes. We have an opportunity to reach many more people than we have in the past and we are very excited about that prospect.”
Students in the three-year career pathway will take classes at McKean High School that assign them the creation and production of content for broadcast. In addition to MHS student content, the district will produce shows for students, parents and the community. The channel will also feature a community calendar, allowing area districts and schools to submit information about programs and events.
More information about the channel will be released in the weeks and months to come as plans and guidelines are finalized.
Here’s Michael Dirda on the importance of Dr. Seuss:
Dr. Seuss has written more immortal works than any other twentieth-century American author. Think about it. Virtually every child in this country has read, is reading, or will read The Cat in the Hat, Horton Hears a Who, And to Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street, The Butter Battle Book, and perhaps a dozen others equally splendid. Consider too that each of Seuss’s more than forty titles is read not once, not twice, but scores of times, usually to pieces. . . . And what do we learn from Seuss? The joy of words and pictures at play, of course, but also the best and most humane values any of us might wish to possess: pluck, determination, tolerance, reverence for the earth, suspicion of the martial spirit, the fundamental value of the imagination. This is why early reading matter. At any age, but especially in childhood, books can transform lives. . . .— Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life
Local newspapers are filled with stories of teachers “getting ready for the Common Core.” What they mean is teachers are using the summer break to prepare for visitation from bloated, opportunistic blood-sucking Common Core vampire squad inspectors. . . making sure there’s no fiction glut depriving youngsters of their job skill opportunities.
If our professional organizations had any integrity, they would issue this WARNING: Close contact with Common Core standards may cause palpitations, irregular heartbeat, dark urine, dizziness, unusual bruising or bleeding.
And heartbreak.
But NCTE, IRA, and NCTM are too busy churning out their own books and teacher training videos on how to use the Common Core. Yes, the complicity of our professional organizations plus the complicity of the unions has made Common Core a done deal. But if you believe in heaven and hell, you know where the Standardistos who rob children of imagination and dreams will end up.
When a population becomes bullied or intimidated out of exercising rights offered on paper, those rights effectively cease to exist. This includes teachers. There are no excuses left. Either you join the revolt against corporate power or you lose your profession.
And your self.
