Statement regarding Voices 4 Delaware Education Action Fund
This statement is being released by Leah Davis, Kim Williams, and Eric Randolph. We are former Red Clay PTA leaders, a former Red Clay teacher, a parent of former Red Clay students, parents of current Red Clay students, and all three of us are current sitting members of the Red Clay School Board. This statement is not a statement from the Red Clay School District or is it a statement from the Red Clay School Board, we are speaking as individuals.
We are concerned for our school district and angered by a faceless organization called Voices 4 Delaware Education Action Fund who is spending what must be thousands of dollars on Delaware school board elections without disclosing whose voice they represent or the sources of their funding. How can we evaluate the interests of this group and their educational beliefs without knowing whose on their board of directors or the sources of their funding? Voices 4 Delaware Education Action Fund appears to be using loopholes in the tax code to shield their identity and activities. This nameless campaign tactic needs to stop. Transparency is needed. We are parents, former PTA leaders, former Red Clay teacher and school board members who are trying to make informed decisions for children. We try hard not to let that focus be misdirected by politics.This loophole in Delaware election law hopefully will be closed soon but it may be too late. The lasting impact to our school districts may be felt long after this election. With just five days before elections in Delaware’s two largest school districts, we need answers now. We call upon this group to come out of the shadows and to be accountable for their position prior to the School Board election day on Tuesday, May 8th.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Can you provide a link to this statement?
The link is right here as its breaking news! My source is 100% secure and approved
Steve Newton pointed out in his blog that DSEA has used a similar strategy in the past.
Most of the current “outrage” appears to come from people that new and might even have benefited from this. If that is true (notice the if), the fact that they react in such a way when they are beaten at their own game is hypocritical and shatters their credibility.
I am interested in learning about the facts and explanations for such a change of heart if it occured.
This issue, has been great drama from all the blogs covering it, but has become very confusing to me, the voter. You can look at it as Rodel “buying” school board seats, or is it current board members distracting us by inferring nefarious acts to push for their preference of candidate. I really don’t know, but will stay tuned. I agree with Newark, that if the DSEA has used similar stategy in the past, why the outrage if the tables were turned? It’s a shame that it seems a person, who is just a regular mom or dad, with no big backers (DSEA or Rodel) would seem have no hope in winning a board seat because you would obviously need this big money to compete.
Wow, now we have real life Manchurian candidates huh? Here’s a thought: vet the candidate and win the election on the merits of your platform instead of crying when somebody else uses your own tactic against you.
Wow, now we have real life Manchurian candidates huh? Here’s a thought: vet the candidate, challenge him on his record and win the election on the merits of your platform instead of crying when somebody else uses your own tactic against you.
newarkmom, I agree with your comment. It is confusing. To me it just seems like Rodel backing candidates vs DSEA backing candidates. Or is it charter supporters vs non-charter supports. Or are those two the same as each other??
I just went to the DSEA website to make sure I had it correct in my mind as to exactly which candidates they back. I think I would have been able to tell anyway without going to the site and without reading anything the candidates have to say. Just have to read the blogs.
Someone on here said they thought the CSD candidates seemed neutral on charter schools. I did not see it as that. S. Saffer used the term for charters ‘islands of excellence’. I do not like that term and I believe it was used by a lot of NCS ‘bashers’. I think NCS is excellent. I do not think it needs to be an island. I think that other schools could use it as a model, low poverty, high poverty, or somewhere in-between.
There are other charters that have higher poverty. I do not see them being used as models either so that argument doesn’t fly with me. I see S. Saffer as having the same ideas as some of the people on here who seem to have blinders on when it comes to some schools like Glasgow and Shue. Those schools need a fixin. I will not vote for someone who seems to downplay the problems and just points out the great things going on at those schools. Of course some great things go on at all schools.
Answers you see on here like ‘it won’t work in a high poverty school’ don’t fly with me. It sounds like giving up. Some things would need to be tweaked, I’m sure, in a school that does have high poverty.
Pencader Charter high school has almost 40% poverty level families and has never required a security guard, does not have fist fights, fire starters, or bullying. Families with kids with special needs were crying at Pencader last summer when it almost closed. Families who felt like they made ‘the great escape’ from CSD where their child had been bullied. There were at least two families there whose kid started Pencader in 10th grade, having gone to a CSD high school freshman year. And some others who had problems in CSD middle schools.The kids now feel safe at Pencader. BTW, of course I don’t know the reason, but it seems odd to me that the majority of kids at Pencader, which is all the way by the bridge in New Castle, come from CSD. Maybe there are just a lot of business oriented kids in CSD? I doubt that.
I support the kids at CSD. I do not think families who choice out are escaping the kids. They are escaping the schools. You could say the kids ARE the school. The kids are not the school. Right now, they just seem to be the victim of it. I know some schools are making positive changes right now. That is a good thing. But it needs to be faster and more dramatic. @newarkmom, if you want to feel less confused, go to Val Harris website and contact her. Try to talk to her on the phone or in person. And then do the same for S. Saffer. And then trust your gut.
There’s a history here that goes back before PACs. For almost a decade I have been pointing out the politicizing of school board elections. PACs are the tactic and focus now, but the game has been being played (quietly, for the most part) since the 1990s.
So, no crying here, but no jumping to conclusions either.
And what about Stephen Lee? There are three candidates for CSD !! Just wanted to throw that out there. Is he a dad who is fed up with what he sees and wants change too? I’ll have to look him up in the News Journal when I get home. Does anyone know if he has a website or anything? Can we expect some ‘secret’ backing of him by McDonalds or something? Maybe they want to bring Big Macs and fries into the schools.
@pandora, what was the politicizing force before the PACS’s, was it the political parties, or another group?
@pencadermom…I agree, everyone should do their own homework on each candidate. At this point, I do lean toward supporting the candidate that is more supportive of charters and choice, because that does affect my child. Or maybe I’ll just vote for the third guy, he doesn’t seem to get much attention!
I should mention (and omg Kilroy will make me late for work again so I am leaving after posting this) that I think charters are in PART an escape. For many, they are not. They are great choices. Pencader does have a lot of students who I am guessing are in it for the business aspect. It seems like many of my sons friends have parents who are small business owners. I believe in charters and choice and think it is sad that some of us feel we do need them as escapes.
The really sad part comes into play when I have to wonder if some people even use vo-tech as an escape. They had to turn down 500 kids.. I am thankful my 8th grader got in. For him it was not an ‘escape’. It is where he/we feel he should be and will thrive. How many of the 500 that got turned down, really really wanted vo-tech and only vo-tech and possibly lost a seat due to someone who felt like they had to escape the alternatives?
I believe that AFSCME and other unions contribute to campaign materials for other board members, don’t they? If that is correct, is anyone “investigating” those contributions?
Pencadermom:
NCS can be viewed as an island of excellence in the sense that it is isolated in terms of quality relatively to other public schools. I would like to know what the candidates think about the role of Charters in the local public school system and what type of plan would they like to see implemented.
I cannot vote, but I would probably not vote for someone that would seek to make small changes to the system.
I am also curious about the ideas that someone that comes from outside the “establishment” might bring in.
Schools (all of them) are only a choice if there are spots available for any student that wants to come in. I think that a situation where students can choose the school that best fits their needs should be an objective for the school system. It does not mean that we have to make exact replicas of successful schools but we need to offer a quality education to all students.
As a taxpayer I am not happy for paying for a quality education to upper middle class people that can afford private school while people that need a free quality education do not get it.
I would like to see more Charters focusing on low-income and special needs students and build up from there.
I would have given the comments by these three Board members more creditable if they would have revealed who provided funding support to them and what organizations supported them, and what organizations supported the other Red Clay Board members.
A kind friend pointed this out to me…. I know that NCS issue is history. But is NCS a govt agency or govt run. I thought that all charter school are independent. Then should their fund raising be authorized by a Govt website?? NCS fund raising is on delaware.gov website!!.
Take a look
http://shop.delaware.gov/index.php
I’ve reported on that issue before. title 14, Chapter 5, Section 504
(a) A charter school shall be organized and managed under the Delaware General Corporation Law.
(b) The board of directors of a charter school shall be deemed public agents authorized by a public school district or the Department with the approval of the State Board to control the charter school. No person shall serve as a member of a charter school board of directors who is an elected member of a local school board of education.
(c) A charter school shall be considered a public school for all purposes.
(d) A charter school may sue or be sued to the same extent and on the same conditions as a public school district, and its employees, directors and officers shall enjoy the same immunities as employees, directors and officers of public school districts and other public schools. The approving authority of a charter school shall have no liability for the actions or inaction of a charter school.
Look at (c)
I think using the technology is good but do question any real administration cost incurred by the state. All charter and public schools should take advantage of this feature.