Resolution on Educational Leadership in Delaware

WHEREAS, the Delaware Department of Education is charged with

leading education policy and initiatives in the State; and
WHEREAS, Secretary of Education Mark Murphy is charged with leading
the Department of Education; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Education unilaterally changed the
Measure B assessments and Measure C growth goals of the DPAS-IIR
Component V system without educator input; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Education has appropriated millions of
Race to the Top dollars to internal positions as well as external
consultant firms as opposed to investing in Delaware's students; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Education with the consent of the State
Board of Education has amended Department regulations to allow for
educators with shorter, less rigorous preparation periods to enter
Delaware classrooms; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Education has unilaterally awarded a
contract for Alternate Routes to Certification to a private contractor as
opposed to the long-running provider University of Delaware; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Education entered into a contract with
the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium to develop a state test
before obtaining legislative approval; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Education has continued to label and
slander Delaware's traditional public schools based on a test that's no
longer in use; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Education has identified six Priority
Schools in the City of Wilmington without having first engaged local
school districts and elected officials in meaningful collaboration; and
WHEREAS, in a December 14 column in The News Journal, Sec. Mark
Murphy made a comment that children at some of our schools are not
learning without providing meaningful evidence or context for said
comment; and,
WHEREAS, Sec. Mark Murphy has made public statements that he will
not sign off on the Department of Education's Comprehensive Success

Reviews showing that Stubbs and Bancroft Elementary Schools are

functioning effectively; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Education has failed to engage in the
Priority Schools process in a public and transparent manner; and
WHEREAS, communication from the Department of Education has
failed to include all stakeholders; and
WHEREAS, the Delaware State Board of Education has failed in its
oversight authority of the Delaware Department of Education,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Christina Education
Association:
1) Takes a position of no confidence in the Secretary of
Education, Mark Murphy, the Delaware Department of Education,
and the State Board of Education; and
2) Calls for legislative action to more clearly define the role of the
Department of Education in its ability to impose unilateral
changes on Local Education Agencies (LEAs); and
3) Calls for establishment of a policy to elect State Board of
Education members as opposed to appointing them.