Talent Retention Program - The Department of Education Tries Again

The DOE has pushed another email out to school districts of identified schools to encourage participation in their Talent Rentention Program - essentially an incentive pay system for teachers of students who show a certain level of growth in their DCAS-tested subjects.  The very waterdowned version of this program is that these incentives are not schoolwide and do not apply to all teachers and/or adults who contribute to the education of the students in these schools. 


I have shared my personal thoughts regarding this program with DOE:

Dear Mr. Ruszkowski,

I am in receipt of the following email and attached letter. Thank You for providing additional information regarding the Talent Retention Program for Year One.

It is my personal feeling that participation in the program as currently designed is demoralizing to the many wonderful educators in my district who are dedicated to seeing our children achieve college and career-readiness. It takes a village to educate a child. In Christina, that village exists across the City of Newark municipal boundaries and into unincorporated portions of New Castle County , stretching down 15 miles of highway to include approximately two square miles of the City of Wilmington. Yet, in each school, regardless of location, I have front-line educators teaching children who fit the same demographic as those students in the schools identified by DOE as being eligible for the talent-retention program. My village consists of more than math and English/language arts teachers. Art, music, gym, science and social studies teachers, special educators, librarians, school nurses, and the oft-forgotten paraprofessionals, custodians and child nutrition service workers, bus drivers and their aids, administrators and secretaries, interventionists, and specialists of every kind - they, too, are vital members of my village who make an impact on student achievement each and every day. To deny any one of them the opportunity to participate in the program so that a handful of select educators can is simply implausible to me.

To date, the talent retention program is far too under-developed and likely under-funded to garner my support. Thus, I preview to you that should participation in this program come before my school board to be voted upon, I cannot support it.

It takes a village, Mr. Ruszkowski, to forge a well-rounded education, not just the blacksmith.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth A. Scheinberg

Member, Board of Education

Christina School District