I'm Out and Minnehan's my Candidate

So, it's really kind of weird to visit the County elections website and see a big, bold WITHDREW next to your name.  But, yes, for those who are wondering, this sitting Christina incumbant did withdraw her candidacy for school board. 

For those close to our family, the decision to exit school boarding was not a surprise. I came to the CSD board with a host of personal ethics -

• An elected board member must come to the office with every intention of completing her term.  Early resignation is unacceptable, it denies the public their voice when a board member must be appointed from within or in the case of CSD, without. I'm not trying to offend those who have served and abdicated before me or after.  Sometimes the reasons for exiting an office before you complete the term are legitimate. But, if you start your campaign knowing that you may not be able to commit the full five years, you don't really belong in the race, do you?
• Your vote is sacred.  As long as you can defend it, it's yours to offer and own.  Votes are not to be bought or sold. And selling your vote to your buds "under the table" makes you responsible for the demise of your district.  
• Board members must be transparent and accountable.  If you can't promise that to the electorate, you're volunteering in the wrong capacity.  Recordings of school board meetings are good things. If you don't support them, you are hiding something. 
• Only those who choose children first can put their heads to their pillows and really sleep at night.  My pillow may be flatter and foamier than the corporatist's feather bed, but I sleep well. 
• I own all 17,000 children served by my district and its programs.  I expect every teacher, every principal, every administrator, and every other employee in my district to own all the children in their buildings every day.
• Zero tolerance was bad then, it's still bad now. It will always be bad.
• Class size matters.  If we don't invest in class size reduction now, we will invest in the criminal justice system later. 
• I didn't fight my way onto the BOE to make friends.  And I sure as hell haven't. 

 And then there are the things I have learned -

• Race to the Top is really Race to the Trough.  The program is a fraud, a bankroll of promises to parents that ultimately only enriched venture philanthropists and their consultants.
• Charter schools are no better nor no worse that traditional schools.  They are, however, competition. When a charter is additive to Delaware's educational environment, it's worth the experiment if the parents understand they are opting to participate in an experiment.  The charter movement needs to stop selling itself as a panacea from all things bad in the world.  A charter is just a school and it's only as good as its parents, teachers, and leaders chose to make it.  And sometimes, charter schools fail. 
• Because charters schools are here to stay, traditional school districts need to get competitive.  I think our local leaders underestimated the charter movement and the real loss of students to charters in the first decade of charter establishment.  In Christina, it feels like a capable leadership team is finally in place, ready, willing, and able to move on the big ideas (research proven ideas) that will make our district competitive again.
• Some of the best looking people out there are hideous on the inside. 
• Jack Markell is bad for education.  His blueprint for success has left us in chaos.  Chaos begets corruptible opportunity.  Venture philanthropist have seized on the opportunities to divert tax payer dollars from the classrooms and into their bank accounts.
• The best motion I ever made was the one that resulted in CSD leading the way in recording its meetings and creating a distribution point so that the public could have more meaningful access to the content of those meetings!
• Today's bullies are nothing like the bullies of my childhood.  Bullying is toxic.  Kids think it's okay to hurt other children b/c their role models set the example. Some of the worst bullies I have ever met are key figures in education in our state.  
• DOE hates kids.  

There are still good people who care about kids. One of the most compassionate people I have had the honor of knowing is campaigning for the seat that I will exit in a few short months. This wasn't a surprise to me.  I encouraged her candidacy.  I knew that if my family's circumstances continued as they were this fall, it would be very unlikely that I could commit a full five years to Christina. (Personally ethics rule #1, if you can't fully commit, you don't belong in the race.)  I had hoped the pieces would come together and allow me to continue to lend my passion for education to the Christina Board of Education. A wonderful constituency elected me and I like to think that for the most part, I have served them well. I felt deeply obligated to ensure that if I could not commit the full five years required of another term that those voters who believed that I had served Christina well would have a strong, independent, experienced, and knowledgeable candidate who shares my values of children, of special education, and of educators from which to choose.

So here we are - with my growing list of personal ethics and lessons learned.  I am looking forward to completing my commitments to my 17,000 students and then turning my attention to two very special students - the ones I brought into the world.  But, I am not leaving my 16,998 children without an advocate.  I have placed my support fully behind Harrie Ellen Minnehan.  Minnehan is a retired but home-grown CSD teacher.  She knows our district well, especially our urban students - because these were the children she chose to work with during her last decade in the district (the one ending in 2010.) Minnehan will bring a distinct and vital balance to the CSD BOE - on affairs specific to Wilmington and on matters that effect the district's ability attract, maintain, and support quality educators.  It's a keen perspective that has been missing since former board member Eric Anderson resigned mid-term last summer.  Yes, I support Harrie Ellen Minnehan. While there is another candidate, there really is no other choice. School boards need teachers.  In more ways than one.  

I hope you will join me in supporting Minnehan - let's put the voice of a seasoned educator on Christina's board.  And let's elect a board member that will fight for CHILDREN and EDUCATORS, FIRST!

And yes, Kilroy, I will continue to blog about education in Delaware despite my absence from the dais at the CSD board meetings.