The takeover madness that threatens our schools

A recent headline in the News Journal stating that “State says Priority School principals must go” inaccurately reflects the reality that it is not the “State” as comprised of the legislative branch and the judiciary that is forcing this unsubstantiated and judgmental attack on these school principals’ credentials and performance.

It is not pronounced or embedded in state code or law but rather a loosely defined interpretation of a Department of Education regulation that was manufactured by that department under legally challengeable circumstances that appear to have violated the processes for creating such regulations as permitted by law.

Despite the presumptuous attitude of this administration and DOE that it has unilateral authority over local school districts’ personnel issues, it is obvious in reading the Christina District’s response to the Dec. 15 letter from DOE that the department and administration are grossly overstepping their authority without any legitimate efforts or intentions to fairly evaluate the performance of these school leaders. In a letter dated Dec. 7, Penny Schwinn informed Christina District that the principals at Stubbs and Bancroft were ineligible to retain their positions merely because of their presence at these schools while the schools were designated as either Turnaround or Transformation reform models.

This completely disregards the reality that they presided over measurable achievements at these schools. The Dec. 15 response from Christina District informed Ms. Schwinn that these two principals’ performance had been reviewed by the Delaware Department of Education, the University of Delaware and the Delaware Academy of School Leadership under a “Comprehensive Success Review” conducted in November that gave an overall high rating to two “Priority Schools” in Christina, notably Stubbs and Bancroft. Both schools received the highest rating of “4” in the categories of Policies, Procedures and Structures, School Leadership Decisions, Time Management and Curriculum and Instruction among other subjects. In fact, if you go to the CSD website you can access the full reports and dialogues. There is an obvious lack of objectivity and a major disregard for a factual assessment by Ms. Schwinn and DOE.

After examining the facts perhaps you’ll feel, as I do, that Penny Schwinn on behalf of DOE, Secretary Mark Murphy and Gov. Markell are engaged in one of the more disturbing attempts to abuse power that I have ever witnessed as a state legislator. With absolutely no data driven information or statistical proof, it appears that Ms. Schwinn, on behalf of DOE, has indicted and declared failing the principals of Stubbs and Bayard despite the preponderance of evidence to the contrary in the “Comprehensive Success Reviews” report. This callous behavior and obviously errant judgment on the part of Ms. Schwinn, who is authorized by the DOE, suggests that both she and Secretary Murphy should consider resigning their respective appointments.

Maligning the performance of these dedicated school leaders with arbitrarily contrived performance perspectives is an audacious and outrageous attempt to continue denigrating Delaware public education and ignores the real needs of our inner city children. The ongoing efforts by this administration, the secretary of education and DOE staff to wrest the legal power and authority from the duly elected local school boards is tantamount to an illegal abuse of power and a violation of the separation of powers. As long as this administration proceeds down a path strewn with bullying and coercive demands attempting to intimidate and denigrate highly qualified educators and administrators with no legitimate plan to enhance educational opportunities for our children, then one must conclude that there is another less obvious agenda.

This administration and its allies have long displayed a propensity for a corporatist takeover of education with achievable goals of privatization and charterization of Delaware public schools. The preponderance of Race to the Top money awarded to the state never reached the children in the classrooms and the path to creating new charter schools has been smoothed with a verve belying the reality that charters perform no better or worse than traditional schools with like circumstances and similar population diversity. The only difference seems to be unaccountable access to taxpayer money that is not available from traditional schools.

This ongoing takeover madness has harmed the reputations and psyche of many dedicated educators and will irreparably harm Delaware’s public school children and the state’s economic vitality. The public must join together, on behalf of honesty and justice, and demand that this Administration stand down from its pedestal of self-aggrandizement and recognize its own shortcomings.

State Rep. John Kowalko represents the 25th House District.