New District-Wide Elementary School Breakfast Program Announcement

Lt. Governor Denn’s Announcement of New District-Wide Elementary School Breakfast Program

WHO: Lieutenant Governor Matt Denn
Julie Giangiulio – Principal, West Seaford Elementary School
Denise Jacono – Principal, Frederick Douglass Elementary School
Jeff Forjan – Principal, Seaford Central Elementary School
Heather Bethurum – Principal,Blades Elementary School
Patricia Cunningham – Nutrition Services Supervisor , Seaford School District
Dr. Kevin Carson – Interim Superintendent, Seaford School District
Students

WHAT: Announcement of New District-Wide Elementary School Breakfast Program

WHEN: Wednesday, March 19, 2014
11:15 a.m.

WHERE: West Seaford Elementary School
511 Sussex Avenue
Seaford, Delaware 19973

DETAILS: Lieutenant Governor Matt Denn will announce Seaford School District as the first district he has recruited to allow students to eat breakfast in the classroom in all of its elementary schools.

The Seaford School District joins Colonial School District in having all elementary schools allow students to eat breakfast in the classroom. Eating breakfast in the classroom has been a proven way to increase participation which increases grades, test scores, and positive behavior throughout the day. Across the country, eating breakfast in the classroom has also reduced tardiness, absenteeism, childhood obesity, and disciplinary issues.

# # #


Statement from Lt. Governor Matt Denn to Delaware Parents Who Receive Health Coverage through UnitedHealthcare

WILMNGTON – If you are the parent of a child in Delaware who receives health coverage through UnitedHealthcare, you recently received a letter stating that the current contract relationship between UnitedHealthcare and the Nemours Foundation (including A.I. duPont Children’s Hospital) is scheduled to expire on April 1, 2014.

I remain hopeful that UnitedHealthcare and Nemours will resolve their business differences so that UnitedHealthcare policyholders can continue to have A.I. duPont Children’s Hospital and Nemours pediatricians as in-network providers.  It is in the best interests of both parties and of the children they serve to resolve this issue quickly so that the care for these children is not interrupted or terminated.    Along with the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, I stand ready to work with both parties on resolving this in the next few weeks.

However, because neither UnitedHealthcare nor Nemours appears to be making serious efforts to resolve their differences – despite the best efforts of the state – it is also important that parents make plans to ensure that their children receive appropriate medical care after April 1, 2014.  There is no “grace” period. Unless you take active steps in advance, services provided by Nemours will not be covered.  We suggest the following to make sure you are prepared:

  • Children receiving Medicaid or CHIP benefits administered by United Healthcare.  Parents of children receiving Medicaid or CHIP benefits administered by UnitedHealthcare can ensure that their children continue to have access to Nemours pediatricians and A.I. duPont Hospital by calling the Delaware Medicaid Health Benefit Manager at 1-800-996-9969 and asking to switch their Managed Care Organization to DPCI.  The deadline for transfers is March 15, 2014. Parents who wish to remain with United Healthcare will need to select a new pediatric provider if they currently receive services from Nemours.
  • Children whose parents receive self-insured health insurance benefits administered by UnitedHealthcare through a private employer.  There are two different ways that Delawareans receive health benefits overseen by UnitedHealthcare through their jobs.  Some Delawareans work for companies that are self-insured and hire UnitedHealthcare to administer their self-funded health benefit plans.  You can find out if your company is self-insured by asking your HR or personnel department.  Some of these self-insured companies use more than one insurance carrier to administer their benefits.  If your company uses more than one carrier, you should ask your HR department if the company is willing to allow you to switch to another carrier that has Nemours in-network outside the normal open enrollment period.  If your company does not use more than one carrier, you should talk to your HR department about any medical conditions your child has that make it important that s/he be seen at A.I. duPont Children’s Hospital, so your employer can make an informed decision about how to address the situation with UnitedHealthcare.
  • Children whose parents receive health insurance from UnitedHealthcare through employer group health insurance or individually purchased health insurance.  If you are a UnitedHealthcare policyholder, through your employer or through a policy that you purchased directly from UnitedHealthcare, you have legal rights that are part of the insurance contract.  These rights include a minimal level of medical care that your child is entitled to receive.  If you have a child who is seen at A.I. duPont Children’s Hospital, you should immediately find out what UnitedHealthcare’s plan is for your child’s future medical care.  If you do not receive a prompt response or are unsatisfied with the response, you should contact the Delaware Insurance Department at 1-800-282-8611 or 302-674-7310 to receive help in enforcing your legal rights.


Economy on the Mend, More Work Ahead

In January, Lt. Gov. Denn spoke to the Greater Kent County Committee about how Delaware moves ahead after coming back from the worst economic crisis to hit the state since the Great Depression. In three editorials over the next few months, he will share his thoughts regarding the economy, controlling business costs and education.

The national Bureau of Labor Statistics put our unemployment rate in Delaware at 6.5 percent in November. That’s the best it’s been in five years — it essentially puts us back to where we were when the national economy crashed in late 2008. Some people say that number is deceptive because the labor force is smaller now, but the labor-force number goes up and down over time — our state labor force today is larger than it was in November, 2010.

How does that unemployment rate compare to our neighbors? Maryland is right around where we are at 6.4 percent — but with a full 25 percent of its non-farm workforce in recession-proof government work, compared to 14.7 percent of ours. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate is 7.3 percent. New Jersey’s unemployment rate is 7.8 percent. New York’s is 7.4 percent. Connecticut’s is 7.6 percent. Rhode Island’s is 9 percent.

Are we the best in the country? No. Are we even close to satisfied with being the best in the region? Absolutely not — we won’t be satisfied until every Delawarean who wants work can find it. But as we look ahead to determine how we will build on our success, we should appreciate how far we’ve come and the better place from where we start.

When we are at our best in Delaware in creating economic opportunity, we are doing three things well. First, we are making our state an attractive place for anyone to do business. We recognize that no one — least of all government agencies — bats a thousand guessing winners and losers in these unpredictable economic times, and we have to make sure that the fundamentals of our economy are such that we are an attractive place to move and grow for all types of employers.

Second, while we are strengthening our overall profile as a state to do business, we need to be smart about those economic areas where we have, or could work to have, strategic advantages, and pay special attention to those areas.

And third, when there are particular companies that are interested in locating or expanding here and offer the real prospect of putting Delawareans to work, we need to be extremely responsive to them. We can’t lose our focus on any of these three areas — it doesn’t matter, for example, how nimble or responsive we are to potential new employers, if the underlying economic environment in our state isn’t attractive to them.

Working with Chairman Gary Stockbridge, I recently announced that the state’s Workforce Investment Board is seeking permission from the federal government to implement a new program that would dramatically increase the workforce training funds made available to small businesses willing to hire and train new employees, and all businesses willing to hire and train Delawareans who have been unemployed for long periods of time.

If approved by the United States Department of Labor, the new program will allow the state to pay 90 percent of a new employee’s wages if that employee is hired by a business of 50 or fewer people or the new employee has been unemployed for over 26 weeks.

The program would be funded with existing federal workforce investment funds. The subsidy would last as long as the employee was receiving specialized training from the employer, and employers participating in the program would be required to demonstrate a commitment to keeping employees in the workplace after the expiration of the grant.

The program already exists in Delaware, but because it requires a 50-percent salary match from employers, it is not widely used.

It is a great opportunity for us to give our small businesses another tool to hire new workers and give them valuable training, and also a way for us to incentivize hiring of some of our neighbors who have been out of work for a long time. The best part is we can do it using job-training money that we already receive from the federal government.

The fundamentals are easily stated but hard to do. The governor and I hear them over and over from employers. Employers want a well- educated and trained workforce — students graduating from high school, college graduates, and adults who have learned skills after finishing school. Employers want a low cost of doing business. They want to be in a state that has a good quality of life — where they and their employees will want to live. And they want a supportive government, not one that necessarily gives them everything they want but one that listens and understands that for business, time is money.

On those fundamentals, we have solid progress to report but still a lot of work to do together.

Matt Denn
Lieutenant Governor


Lt. Governor and Attorney General Release 1st Report on Public School Anti-Bullying Compliance

WILMINGTON – Earlier today, Delaware Lt. Governor Matt Denn and Deputy Attorney General Patricia Dailey Lewis, Director – Family Division, presented “Unfinished Business: Implementation By Delaware Public Schools Of The State’s 2012 Anti-Bullying Laws.”

This report is the first issued since the General Assembly passed two new laws related to bullying in the state’s public schools in 2012 – Senate Bill 193 (cyberbullying) and House Bill 268 (reporting).

The anti-bullying effort, spearheaded jointly by Lt. Governor Matt Denn and Attorney General Beau Biden, aimed to improve on existing laws created to protect every student.

A few basic conclusions from the report:

  •  Public school districts, with few exceptions, have complied with the provisions of the state’s new cyberbullying laws and regulations.  The majority of charter schools are not yet in compliance.
  • There remains significant variation in the diligence with which schools make reports to the parents of victims and perpetrators in bullying incidents. 
  • The most prevalent reported causes of bullying in Delaware public schools are students’ physical appearance, student disability, and student gender identity. 

Held at Springer Middle, a school known for their impressive anti-bullying culture, the Lt. Governor and DAG Dailey Lewis were joined by Brandywine School District Superintendent Dr. Mark Holodick and Assistant Superintendent Dorrell Green, DSEA President Frederika Jenner, Department of Education School Climate and Discipline Associate John Sadowski, Roberta Gealt from the University of Delaware Center for Drug & Alcohol Studies, and representatives from Delaware PTA, Delaware Bullying Prevention Association, Prevent Child Abuse Delaware, Developmental Disabilities Council.

“”We hope that this report serves as a reminder to our schools of the importance of following the state’s new bullying laws,” said Lt. Governor Matt Denn.  “Bullying remains a real problem in our schools, and we need all of our schools to treat it seriously.”

“Children need safe, secure environments in schools where they can focus on learning,” said Patricia Dailey Lewis, who is the director of Attorney General Biden’s Family Division. “Bullying prevents kids from learning and can leave lifelong emotional scars. The legislation that Attorney General Biden and Lt. Gov. Denn developed in 2012 was designed to increase the reporting of bullying incidents so parents and educators can intervene. Schools are making significant progress, but there is still a lot more work ahead of us.”


Final Accelerated Academic Grants Awarded

Final Accelerated Academic Grants Will Allow Public Schools To Offer Advanced Coursework To Students

The Delaware Department of Education is pleased to announce the final two award recipients for the Accelerated Academic Grant program, the new state program that made funds available for programs targeted at academically advanced students.

Christina School District received $18,963 for teaching identified fifth to eighth grade students the fundamentals of debate in preparation for future intra-district debates. Debate will enhance the ability of students to read and understand complex material and then present, defend, and refute the opposition. Debate also promotes a high level of teamwork and planning.

Colonial School District received $34,501 to increase preparation for advanced coursework by adopting the College Board’s SpringBoard program for English language arts students in sixth to eighth grades. The program promotes rigorous extension of current material to emphasize working beyond a middle school setting.

In November, the department announced eight awardees with awards totaling $246,536. Overall, 10 awards were given for a total of $300,000.

“Local educators designed these programs to meet the needs of their advanced students,” Secretary of Education Mark Murphy said. “I am glad the state can support such programs that will push our students, offering the opportunity for those already excelling to expand their learning and challenge themselves in new ways.”

Local school districts and schools applied for start-up grants for programs targeted at students who are at least a half year ahead of grade level based upon state standards. Most of the programs are expected to be offered beginning in the 2014-2015 school year.

The program, created through legislation proposed last year by Lieutenant Governor Matt Denn and the chairs of the General Assembly’s education committees, allows school districts to design programs targeted at students who are ahead of grade level in reading, writing, math, or science.

“I am looking forward to visiting these schools to talk with students and hear about how much they are learning,” Denn said. “These programs are going to give many students the chance to excel in ways they weren’t being given before.”

House Education Committee Chair Darryl Scott, D-Dover, agreed: “By offering programs like these to middle school students, we will be challenging them to reach beyond their current levels and excel. I view programs like these as opportunities for students to take another step forward in their learning and become better equipped with the tools they need to be successful in today’s world.”