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When Exit Becomes a Messag: What Enrollment, Teacher Attrition, and School Choice May Be Telling Us in Red Clay

Devon Hynson, MBA Special Education Expert & Policy Analyst INTRODUCTION: SEGREGATION DIDN’T DISAPPEAR- IT EVOLVED Most people assume school segregation ended decades ago. The signs came down, the laws changed, and the Supreme Court declared separate schools unconstitutional. But segregation never really disappeared — it adapted. Today, students are not formally assigned to schools by race. Instead, they are sorted by access. geography, transportation, program placement, admi

For many parents, an Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting can feel like stepping onto a foreign stage. You’re surrounded by educators, therapists, and specialists who speak in a language of acronyms and educational jargon. The table, stacked with reports and data, can feel less like a collaborative workspace and more like an imposing fortress. But it doesn’t have to be this way. With the right preparation, you can transform from a passive observer into the confident

How Two Complaints, a Policy & Response Reveal a System Willing to Gamble with Children's Lives It started with a mother who wouldn't stop asking questions. Jennifer Howard sat through meeting after meeting; October 29, December 3, December 16, December 17, January 6, January 20, and January 21. She sent emails. She cited federal law. She pointed to the danger. She explained, in clear and patient terms, that what the district was about to do was not just wrong—it happened be

This missive constitutes a second formal notice and demand that the Board reassert its non-delegable fiduciary and policymaking responsibilities under Delaware law. On multiple occasions, board members have publicly stated that the Board must ‘listen to the district’ , trust the district’, as well as the district staff rewriting documents on matters of policy development. Board members have indicated that community participation should be observational rather than substantive

Why Parent Engagement Is Not Optional — And Why Red Clay Needs a Policy That Treats It That Way For decades, public education has spoken about parent involvement  as if it were a courtesy rather than a requirement. Flyers go home. Meetings are scheduled. Surveys are sent. And when families don’t show up, the system quietly blames “lack of engagement.” But federal law tells a very different story. Parent engagement is not optional. It is a legal obligation , a civil-rights saf

Misconception:  The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act forces schools to pass failing students to the next grade (i.e. mandates ‘social promotion’). Reality:  NCLB does not require automatic promotion of students. Nowhere does the law prohibit schools from retaining low-performing students. NCLB focused on school accountability through testing and interventions, not on dictating local decisions about promoting or holding back individual students. In fact, NCLB explicitly states