In the age of social media, getting a snapshot of people’s lives and their reactions to events in the world around them can be as simple as logging on to Facebook or Twitter. During World War II, it required much more initiative and work. This month “History Matters” shines the spotlight on a Delawarean who made that effort, and the unique glimpse into the lives of the “Greatest Generation” her endeavor created.

As part of May’s recognition of Jewish American Heritage Month and observation of Memorial Day, DFM News examined the “Dear Mollye” letter collection at the Jewish Historical Society of Delaware. During World War II, Mollye Sklut, a secretary at the YMHA (predecessor of the Jewish Community Center), took it upon herself to write to as many of the 700 Jewish Delawareans in the armed forces at that time as she could. As the servicemen wrote back, Mollye published many of their letters in the local Jewish community newsletter, providing families and the community a valuable connection to those serving overseas. Today, the letters in the “Dear Mollye” collection offer an uncensored view of history and additional insight into the sacrifices the veterans of that conflict made.

History Matters – The “Dear Mollye” Letters.

DFM News examines World War II era “Dear Mollye” letters at the Jewish Historical Society of Delaware

Producer/Editor/Videographer: Ben Szmidt

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As public meetings are held throughout the state this month to get feedback on proposals from Auburn Heights to Trap Pond State Park, DFM News’ Patrick Mairs hit the trails to get first hand reaction to the effort to make the First State more bike-friendly.

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The Delaware Health Tracker web site offers a wide array of health data organized to make that data more useful in improving overall community health. The project is the first database of its kind in Delaware.

Lisa Schieffert, director of health policy for the Delaware Healthcare Association, discusses the Delaware Health Tracker.

Lisa Schieffert, director of health policy for the Delaware Healthcare Association, discusses the Delaware Health Tracker.

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“We call it a one-stop shop for information,” said Lisa Schieffert, director of health policy for the Delaware Healthcare Association, the hospital advocacy group that launched the site last month.

Schieffert said her group recognized the need for a centralized data source while working on community needs assessments. “What was available had been in Excel spreadsheet form and that means you’re left to interpret the data and for people who don’t have a background in health statistics or epidemiology, that’s a real challenge,” she said.

Delaware is the fourth state to sign on to the service, which is run by a California-based vendor and kept current with regular updates from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Schieffert. Delaware Health Tracker (dehealthtracker.com) is funded by United Way of Delaware, Christiana Care Health System, Bayhealth Medical Center and Beebe Medical Center.

The site provides a dashboard of options from disease statistics for asthma and diabetes, for example, to economic, education, lifestyle and environmental data. “What it does that makes it so special is that it takes a lot of really diverse data from a variety of sources and sews it together,” said Emily Knearl, chief of health risk communications at the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services.

Emily Knearl, chief of health risk communications at the Delaware DHSS outlines the benefits of the Delaware Health Tracker.

Emily Knearl, chief of health risk communications at the Delaware DHSS outlines the benefits of the Delaware Health Tracker.

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Topics can be drilled down by county and, in some cases, census track, and compared with the rest of the country. Users can also search the site and identify red flags for health issues that need to be addressed.

Health industry experts said that while the data hasn’t yielded any surprises at the statewide level, it has provided some insights into the problems facing some communities.

“I think we’ve learned that there are some issues, for example, childhood asthma, that need to be addressed immediately because those numbers are going up,” said Schieffert. “We’re also looking at the obesity issue here in Delaware because we fall somewhat short of the national goals.”

Having a vetted and centralized source of data will also make the policy process less cumbersome and more productive, experts said. “There was a lot of great data but it was all over the place,” said Michelle Taylor, president and CEO of United Way of Delaware. “You had to go to numerous sources, and in some cases, even some of the data on the same information was slightly different.”

The launch of the web site is the first part of a much larger initiative, in which stakeholders will work together to move the less-than-favorable indicators in a more positive direction.

“I think one of the most critical points to consider regarding this is it’s certainly a collaborative effort which for years we didn’t engage in, especially in a public forum,” said Megan Williams, director of population health at Beebe Medical Center. “That’s quite groundbreaking for Delaware.”

Williams feels the lifestyle and environmental data give stakeholders a better understanding of how to partner for preventive care. “We need to allocate resources and programming to address obesity out in the community, and that means establishing a collaborative relationship with organizations like Sussex Outdoors whose mission is to improve physical activity.”

Organizers say that while the site will mostly attract healthcare providers and government officials, anyone with an interest in public health and wellness, including parents, teachers and other caregivers, can access the user-friendly data. “A parent who’s concerned about HIV can take actual information and show (their child) what’s happening in their own backyard,” said Kate Salvato, director of education at Bayhealth Medical Center. “Information is power.”

Governor Jack Markell’s Weekly Message

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With the prom and graduation season beginning in Delaware, Governor Jack Markell emphasizes the importance of making sure that underage drinking is not a part of these celebrations. Gov. Markell notes that Delaware’s Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement has initiated a program, “Buyers Beware”, to remind adults that buying alcohol for minors is “not only dangerous; it’s illegal.”

Full text of Governor Jack Markell’s weekly message:
It’s prom and graduation season in Delaware and many families are celebrating together the milestones they and their teenagers have achieved. We, meanwhile, are working hard to make sure there will be jobs available for our young people when they are ready for their careers. Whether they are going to college, into the military service, onto employment training or travel, our young people will be moving in many new directions.

It’s a time of mixed emotions as we celebrate something they have worked for, for so long. Because we want to see every single one of them graduate and seize the opportunities in front of them, we are doing our part in the state to raise awareness about the safety issues that often accompany this time of year. Our Delaware Division of Alcohol and Tobacco enforcement has launched a prom and graduation campaign, called Buyers Beware, to help prevent underage drinking. While some teens attempt to get alcohol by making a purchase from a retail store, others get alcohol from family, friends and even strangers who agree to buy it for them. This is not only dangerous; it’s illegal. In Delaware, it could mean a $500 fine and up to 30-days in jail.

Every year, hundreds of teens lose the chance to toss their caps at graduation, hug their best friends, or thank their parents. Car crashes remain the leading killer of teenagers –more than drugs, alcohol, or violence, combined. Unfortunately, most of us can remember some of the terrible tragedies that have resulted over the years because of poor judgment about drinking among friends who were simply on the road out to have a good time. As the father of two teenagers myself, I understand the distractions, the peer pressure and the temptations that abound.

Let’s work together to make sure our high school graduations and proms and the celebrations related to them are not marred by tragedy – that our sons and daughter get to live the next chapter of their lives and fulfill some of their dreams. Let’s thank the proud Moms and Dads who drove the carpools, helped with homework, or made the lunches that helped get their children to graduation day. By doing so, you not only shaped your family’s future, you helped shaped our community’s future as collectively, we all work to keep Delaware – and our young people – moving forward.

Social media sites lit up with anger among job seekers and workers across the country, and politicians jumped into the fray to condemn the practice.

Even Facebook’s management added their condemnation, threatening legal action against employers who pressured individuals to hand over their passwords:

“In recent months, we’ve seen a distressing increase in reports of employers or others seeking to gain inappropriate access to people’s Facebook profiles or private information,” wrote Erin Egan, Facebook’s chief privacy officer in March. “We’ll take action to protect the privacy and security of our users, whether by engaging policymakers or, where appropriate, by initiating legal action, including by shutting down applications that abuse their privileges.”

The uproar prompted Maryland and Illinois to introduce legislation curtailing employers from asking for passwords, and earlier this month Maryland became the first state in the nation to ban the practice.  And in March, two U.S. senators called for the Department of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate the procedure.

Now Delaware is getting in on the act.

Rep. Darryl M. Scott (D-Dover) introduced H.B. 308 on April 26 calling for the prohibition by employers from asking workers for their social networking logins and passwords.

“We were hearing about and reading about this occurring and had a concern about it occurring in Delaware,” said Scott. “The concern led some of us to believe it is worth pursing legislation.”

Here’s a synopsis of the bill:

Under current law there is no recognized right to privacy in an employee or applicant’s social networking site passwords and account information. This Bill makes it unlawful for employers to mandate that an employee or applicant disclose password or account information that would grant the employer access the employee’s or applicant’s social networking profile or account. This Bill also prohibits employers from requesting that employees or applicants log onto their respective social networking site profiles or account to provide the employer direct access.

In this digital age, workplace practices are changing rapidly, largely benefitting from the easy-to-access, endless data and unprecedented connections the Internet affords. But among the winners there have been some casualties, most notably the private lives of workers as employers increasingly look to social networking sites as a resource to screen job applicants or keep tabs on their existing workers.

According to data from the Society for Human Resource Management, or SHRM, 56 percent of human resource managers use social media sites when they research job candidates today, a huge increase from the 34 percent in 2008.

Most employers use LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter when checking out job seekers, the organization reported.

“Employers are increasingly using social networking sites to engage passive job seekers – those who aren’t really actively seeking new jobs, but might change for the right opportunity,” said Mark Schmit, vice president of research at SHRM. “These sites can be valuable tools for organizations to find prospective employees with the specific skill sets and experience that they might not necessarily find through more traditional recruiting methods.”

The main reasons employers are checking workers out online, according to SHRM are:

•   to source passive job candidates who might not otherwise apply for open jobs or be contacted by the organizations’ recruiters (84 percent);

•    to use a less expensive method than other ways of recruiting job candidates (67 percent); and

•    to increase employer brand and recognition (60 percent).

But how much is too much when it comes to spying on employee cyber habits?

Scott believes forcing workers to hand over their passwords crosses the line.

“If you have information you have protected with a password and you share within a private network of friends and family, you shouldn’t be forced to disclose that information,” he explained.

For some employers, however, getting to that information can be valuable.

While Richard Heffron, senior vice president of government affairs for the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, doesn’t think employees should have to hand over their passwords in order to get jobs, he does believe employers should be able to get access to social networking accounts if a company suspects wrongdoing.

“For example,” he said, “if an employer is seeing propriety company information being sent via social media, then you want the right to ask for an employee to give it.”

In the case of health care organizations, he added, a hospital may want to know if an employee is sharing private patient information.

Heffron is not questioning the intent of Scott’s legislation but he does want an amendment of some sort to deal with situations like these.

The main issue is analyzing all the possible scenarios and figuring out what’s best in this ever-changing digital world, he stressed. “You always have to be careful with new legislation,” he advised. “Only one other state has passed something like this and we don’t want to look back next year and say, ‘What did we do?’”

Scott said he’s also heard concerns from law enforcement in the state, because for many the practice of asking for social networking passwords has become part of standard procedure when checking out applicants.

Indeed, much of the hubbub nationally about password disclosures began when a story about a Maryland corrections official demanding the password in order to recertify a worker broke last year.

While such stories get a lot of publicity, the majority of employers don’t ask for employee or job candidate passwords, maintained Nick Fishman, co founder of EmployeeScreenIQ, an employee-screening company.

“The cases of employers asking for this are few and far between,” he noted. “At the end of the day, I don’t think employers should be asking for passwords and I’m not against laws banning this, but in my opinion it’s a waste of time for lawmakers.”

For Scott, it’s anything but a waste of time. “The fundamental issue is a person’s right to privacy,” he stressed.

At this point, he’s considering additional language to the bill to deal with all the concerns from businesses and law enforcement, but he had one question for all the parties worried about the legislation: “What did you do before Facebook?”

Sheriffs’ powers bill passes House

The bill seeking to clarify the powers held by county sheriffs in Delaware passed the House of Representatives Thursday. House Bill 325 was approved by a 36-2 vote , with two absent and one not voting.

HB 325 aims to make clear that county sheriffs and their deputies do not have arrest authority.

The bill advances to the Senate a day after Sussex County sheriff Jeff Christopher filed suit in Superior Court against Sussex County, its county administrator, and county council asking the court to affirm he has the constitutional authority to to carry out a variety of law enforcement duties, including arrests and traffic stops.

The only no votes were from Rep. John Atkins (D-Millsboro) and Minority Whip Rep. Gerald Hocker (R-Ocean View). Rep. David Wilson (R-Bridgeville) was the “no vote”. On the House floor after the vote, Rep. Wilson explained he did not vote because he feels the question of the sheriffs’ powers is constitutional not statutory and best decided in the courts. he would have preferred an advisory opinion from the Supreme Court before pursuing legislation

“The question is simple:’Does the State Constitution give the sheriff enforcement powers?’ By passing House Bill 325, we are simply adding a statute that may prove unconstitutional,” said Rep. Wilson. “I see no reason to add fuel to a fire that doesn’t need to be stoked. Rather than add [this bill] to the statue, I prefer that the courts of the State of Delaware resolve this constitutional dilemma.”

HB 325 now heads to the Senate for consideration.

House Bill 325 is headed to the House floor after it was voted out of the House Administration committee Wednesday afternoon. The bill, sponsored by House Majority leader and House Administration committee chair Rep. Peter Schwartzkopf (D-Rehoboth Beach), seeks to make clear that county sheriffs and their deputies do not have arrest authority.

“It makes it very clear that [sheriffs in Delaware] do not have the power they think they do in Sussex County,” said Schwartzkopf. “[The sheriffs in New Castle and Kent counties] understand what the traditional role of the sheriff is. I don’t know why there’s such an issue in Sussex County with it, but there is … and that’s why House Bill 325 was produced.”

Nearly a dozen people spoke during the public comment portion of Wednesday’s hearing. The majority were Sussex County residents. Some raised concerns that lack of arrest power would compromise the ability of the sheriff and deputies to execute their duties. Others argued the bill strips the sheriff of his constitutional powers as a “conservator of the peace.”

Audio

House Majority Leader and House Administration committee chair
Peter Schwartzkopf (D-Rehoboth Beach) answers critics of HB 325.

Schwartzkopf says constitutional concerns are unfounded.

“What were doing with this bill does not change the [Delaware] Constitution. We are not amending the Constitution. We are clarifying the intent of the General Assembly,” said Schwartzkopf.

Georgetown police chief William Topping, representing the Delaware Police Chiefs’ Council, spoke in favor of HB 325 during public comment. He said Sheriff Christopher “is not a cop” and called his exercise of arrest and other police powers “a safety issue.”

“All of us are quite concerned [in Sussex County] about the qualifications of the sheriff and some his deputies to perform the duties they’re doing. They are not trained. They can’t be trained according to Delaware Code,” said Topping. “We have concerns about our own liability within our jurisdictions if they show up at scenes with other officers present.”

Schwartzkopf echoed those concerns.

“If something drastic happens with the sheriff in Sussex County hurting a citizen, you’re going to see one heckava lawsuit,” warned Schwartzkopf. “You’ll see an even bigger lawsuit if somebody in the public hurts one of our deputy sheriffs because he has a sheriff telling him he has the right to do things he doesn’t have a right to do. The family of that deputy sheriff will sue and get a larger award because his boss is telling him to do it when he doesn’t have the authority.”

Audio

House Minority Whip and House Administration committee member
Rep. Gerald Hocker
(R-Ocean View) offers objections to HB 325.

Schawartzkopf introduced HB 325 after a previous bill seeking the same clarification of powers, House Bill 290, was struck by its sponsor, Rep. Daniel B. Short (R-Seaford), hours before it was slated to come before the House Administration committee on April 25. Short said he pulled the bill because he did not ask for it to be placed on the committee’s agenda. Earlier in April, he asked the bill be tabled while a request was made to the Delaware Supreme Court to determine whether the sheriffs and their deputies have the authority to arrest under any provision in the State Constitution. Short previously stated the decision to put the bill back on the agenda without a request from him amounted to the legislation being “used as a pawn in an apparent game of politics.”

Short subsequently filed House Concurrent Resolution 42 asking the Delaware Supreme Court for an advisory opinion on whether county sheriffs have arrest authority. It was also considered at Wednesday’s committee hearing. In presenting the resolution, Short noted governors have previously sought advisory opinions and while he conceded he could find no precedent for the legislature seeking such an opinion, he believes only the court can settle the matter definitively.

“Irrespective of what [House Bill] 325 or 290 will do, we are probably still going to have the same problem we have today until we define this issue of ‘conservator of the peace’.” said Short. “I think it will save us time to get to the end result.”

House Speaker and committee member Robert Gilligan (D-Sherwood Park) sharply criticized Short’s argument, suggesting it would set a dangerous precedent.

“If we were to [seek the court's opinion], every time there is a controversial issue, people would say ‘let’s go to the court and ask them’,” said Speaker Gilligan. “We need to go to the courts after the legislation has passed.”

HB 325 and HB 290 were offered at the request of Sussex County Council, which has unanimously endorsed efforts to declare that sheriffs and their deputies cannot make arrests. Sussex County Council recently released a 64-page report detailing issues that have arisen relating to the Sheriff Christopher and his deputies making arrests. Sussex County officials have said that if the sheriff continues to make illegal arrests, the county could face serious lawsuits that could cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Addressing the committee Wednesday before Sheriff Christopher’s lawsuit was announced, Sussex County Administrator Todd Lawson reiterated the County’s desire for clarification of the sheriff’s powers either through legislation or the courts.

“This comes down to legality and liability. We feel as though the current sheriff puts the taxpayers and the county at great risk,” said Lawson. “This administrator supports this legislation or Mr. Short’s concurrent resolution—whatever will bring us clarity first.”

It now appears clarification may come from both the legislature and the courts. While the committee tabled Rep. Short’s concurrent resolution, HB 325 is on Thursday’s House agenda. Meanwhile, Sheriff Christopher’s is going forward with his suit that alleges county officials “have sought nullify Sheriff Christopher’s constitutional authority by any means possible,” including “arbitrarily denying” budget requests for equipment, training and staff salaries. Christopher is asking the court to declare he is “Chief Law Enforcement Officer of Sussex County”, and with that title has the power to carry a variety of law enforcement duties, including arrests and traffic stops. He is also asking the court to rule that his role and powers cannot be “abrogated or diminished in any way by any government official, branch of government or other entity within the State of Delaware absent constitutional amendment.”

(UPDATE – 1:30pm Thursday May 10)
Thursday, Sussex County responded to Sheriff Christopher’s suit in a statement.

“Sheriff Christopher has chosen to pursue litigation in trying to resolve the matter of the office’s authority under Delaware law. Sussex County stands firm in its belief, based on numerous State Attorneys General opinions and decades of tradition, that sheriffs and their deputies in Delaware are not law enforcement officers, nor does the County believe they are empowered with arrest authority.

This lawsuit is not litigation in the conventional sense, in which one party is suing another for monetary damages. It is a request for declaratory judgment. In the request for declaratory judgment, the sheriff has asked the court to determine what his authority is. The County intends to assert its position and protect the interests of Sussex County’s citizens.

At this time, the County has not been served. Once the County has received the lawsuit officially, legal counsel will review it and put together the appropriate legal response.”

(UPDATE – 5:00pm Thursday May 10)

The bill seeking to clarify the powers held by county sheriffs in Delaware passed the House of Representatives Thursday. House Bill 325 was approved by a 36-2 vote , with two absent and one not voting.

HB 325 aims to make clear that county sheriffs and their deputies do not have arrest authority.

The bill advances to the Senate a day after Sussex County sheriff Jeff Christopher filed suit in Superior Court against Sussex County, its county administrator, and county council asking the court to affirm he has the constitutional authority to to carry out a variety of law enforcement duties, including arrests and traffic stops.

The only no votes were from Rep. John Atkins (D-Millsboro) and Minority Whip Rep. Gerald Hocker (R-Ocean View). Rep. David Wilson (R-Bridgeville) was the “no vote”. On the House floor after the vote, Rep. Wilson explained he did not vote because he feels the question of the sheriffs’ powers is constitutional not statutory and best decided in the courts. he would have preferred an advisory opinion from the Supreme Court before pursuing legislation

“The question is simple:’Does the State Constitution give the sheriff enforcement powers?’ By passing House Bill 325, we are simply adding a statute that may prove unconstitutional,” said Rep. Wilson. “I see no reason to add fuel to a fire that doesn’t need to be stoked. Rather than add [this bill] to the statue, I prefer that the courts of the State of Delaware resolve this constitutional dilemma.”

HB 325 now heads to the Senate for consideration.

Lobbying reform bill heads to House floor

The House Administration committee also voted to release a bill aimed at shedding more light on the work lobbyists do in Dover. Senate Bill 185 would require that lobbyists specifically identify each piece of legislation, each area of the budget or the bond bill, or each proposed state agency regulation that they are lobbying to change. It would also require lobbyists to make those disclosures within five business days of having “direct communication” with a legislator or the Lieutenant Governor or Governor on a bill, or communication with a state agency employee regarding a proposed regulation. The reporting will be done electronically and be available to the public online.

The bill was voted out of committee over the concerns expressed House Minority leader and committee member Gregory Lavelle (R-Brandywine Hundred) that the bill amounted to “registering speech.” Lavelle has also offered an amendment that would require key executive branch legislative contacts to report in the same manner as lobbyists. During Wednesday’s hearing, some lobbyists and other public policy advocates asked that parts of the bill, including what constitutes “direct communication,” be better defined.

SB 185 passed the Senate last week by a 15-5 vote with one absent. Gov. Jack Markell (D) supports the legislation. It is part of open government agenda he highlighted in his January State of the State address.

Governor Jack Markell’s (D) tapped Murphy last month to replace Lillian Lowery, who resigned to become Maryland’s Secretary of Education.

“Making our public schools even stronger will be critical to our long-term economic success. Mark Murphy will hit the ground running to keep our school improvements underway. He brings a teacher’s heart, principal’s perspective and years of data-driven experience that are all necessary to keep making progress,” Gov. Markell. “I would like to thank the members of the Delaware Senate, particularly the Executive Committee, for their show of confidence. I would also like to thank Secretary Lowery for her hard work and dedication to Delaware’s children.”

During an hour-long confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Executive Committee, Murphy answered questions from Senator Anthony J. DeLuca (D-Varlano), president pro tempore, Senator Liane Sorenson (R-Hockessin), senate minority whip, and Senator Harris B. McDowell III (D-North Wilmington).

Murphy served as the executive director of the nonprofit Vision Network, an organization that works with leadership in 26 Delaware schools for two years. Prior to that, he worked at a New York education nonprofit, as a principal and a teacher.

In his position at Vision Network, Murphy has already been involved in statewide conversations on education reform. He’s also talked to teachers and administrators about programs implemented this year as a part of Race to the Top education reform.

Delaware was awarded the first Race to the Top grant in the nation and will use $119 million in federal funds over the next four years to jump start education reform. The goal of the competitive, voluntary grants is to make students “Career and College Ready” by closing student achievement gaps by 50 percent and getting proficiency test scores close to 100 percent by 2015. Programs run the gamut from administering core curriculum standards to revising teacher evaluations.

Questions from the committee focused on RTTT implementation and evaluation, something that would be very important in the beginning of Murphy’s tenure.

“We’ve seen some real successes and teachers and principals have seen those successes,” Murphy said of the RTTT programs. “We have seen considerable challenges. We are on a really strong path to excellence. This is where we see the small stuff, where we start to see how the implementation meets the staff. We need to make sure we get that right.”

He said implementing common core standards in schools across the state or revising teacher and administrator evaluations need to be coupled with communication and best practice sharing among schools.

After the hearing, Murphy said he was pleased with how things had gone and that he hadn’t been surprised by any of the questions.

“The exciting thing for me,” Murphy said, “was that all of their questions were really good. These are topics that have been discussed in the state and in the country for the last several years.”

McDowell, a member of the Senate Executive Committee, spoke in support of Murphy before the vote.

“I believe he brings the experience, the ability and the intellect to continue to improve public education for all of our kids,” McDowell said. “I believe he will take on the tough challenges and be proactive.”

Murphy was confirmed as the next State Secretary of Education with a 20-1 vote. Joseph W. Booth (R-Georgetown) was the lone “no” vote. Booth was present at the confirmation hearing and expressed concern about how current programs would continue once Race to the Top funding was discontinued in a couple of years.

Murphy said he has not discussed a start date for his new position, but current Secretary of Education Lillian Lowery agreed to stay in Delaware until a new secretary was in place.

Around 6 million bats have succumbed to a deadly fungus in just five years in the eastern United States and Canada. Some species, such as the little brown bat, have lost of 90-95 percent of their populations. This winter, the culprit took up residence in Fort Delaware State Park.

Holly Neiderriter of Delaware Div. of Fish and Wildlife discusses Fort Delaware’s role in protecting bats

Holly Neiderriter of Delaware Div. of Fish and Wildlife discusses Fort Delaware’s role in protecting bats

Video

“Honestly science has never seen a mammalian disease catastrophe like this,” says Holly Niederriter, wildlife biologist for Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife. “I’m not even sure that the Plague reached these proportions [in terms of percentage of the population killed] .”

Niederriter oversees the state park’s bat program. After finding a few sick bats at the fort this winter, her job instantly got more complicated.

Fort Delaware has long been a hibernation destination for bats. Without any mines or caves, the state offers few locations suitable for bats to overwinter.

This winter, Niederriter says that she counted around 100 bats hibernating in Fort Delaware, but added that was likely a small fraction of the number actually resting in the eaves. She cannot accurately say how many of those spotted were infected, since not all bats who have contracted WNS display visible signs.

Little brown bat; close-up of nose with fungus, New York, Oct. 2008. (Courtesy: Ryan von Linden/New York Department of Environmental Conservation).

Unlike topical fungi familiar to humans, such as athlete’s foot, this fungus invades skin cells and penetrates the wing fibers where it disrupts the physiological system, blood flow, and electrolyte levels. The telltale white fuzz only appears after the fungus has become fully established on the animal.

The fuzz on the wings can be enough of an annoyance to rouse the bat from hibernation to groom off the fungus. Once awake, the bat will fly off in search of food and water using up energy stores intended to sustain hibernation. Many do not survive the winter.

Healthy bats typically live around 30 years. Reproductive females give birth to just one pup per year and the rate of survival during normal circumstances is only 50 percent. With millions of bats succumbing to this epidemic, there is real concern that some species could face extinction in years to come, says DeeAnn Reeder, assistant professor of biology at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania.

Reeder’s lab has refocused nearly all research hours on white-nose syndrome since 2008, looking specifically at survivors in hopes of unlocking the secret to their resilience. If that resilience is heritable, natural selection could potentially work to save entire species.

Map of suspected and confirmed locations of WNS in the United States and Canada (click to enlarge) (Map by:Cal Butchkoski, PA Game Commission.)

“For now, we have virtually no tools for stopping this and keeping the bats from spreading the fungus. One of the things that we do have in our power is to keep people from spreading it,” Reeder says.

That becomes a daunting task at a major attraction like Fort Delaware.

Every year, some 20,000-30,000 visitors board the Three Forts Ferry to visit the Civil War fort and state park on Pea Patch Island. Most of them will never see a bat while on the island. The nocturnal mammals tend to come out after dark and the last ferry has returned to the mainland.

While white-nose syndrome does not affect people, visitors can unknowingly carry the fungus responsible for the syndrome to bats in other parts of the state or country.

Biologists believe that the fungus first arrived in the United States after stowing away on a tourist’s camera bag or hiking boots. The fungus is abundant in caves in Europe but European cave bats do not succumb to white-nose syndrome.

The floors and walls of the fort are covered with microscopic fungal spores, or conidia, lying in wait for a sleeve, shoe, or stroller to stick to and hitch a ride somewhere else.

Given the unique nature of Fort Delaware as a manmade structure that the bats have turned into a habitat rather than a natural ecosystem could in theory allow for chemical decontamination of the area. However, the fort is an historic building and there are concerns that the compounds could harm the actual building, says Niederriter.

Park officials have instead focused their efforts on visitor education. Before entering the fort, visitors are reminded to take care not to brush up against any walls inadvertently, especially the brick and concrete. On the way out of the park, visitors will are asked to walk across a mat containing a hospital-grade decontaminate solution. (Closed toed shoes are recommended to protect the skin from the solution.) Visitors are further advised to avoid wearing the same clothes and gear when visiting other natural areas.

Little brown bat with white-nose syndrome in Greeley Mine, Vermont, March 2009.(Courtesy: Marvin Moriarty/USFWS).

“This is a fairly unique situation because a lot of the caves where [WNS] been documented the answer is just close the cave. Or if you do let people go in, the people who go in are all cavers who really care and are really enthusiastic about bats and are fully willing to do all decontamination protocols if they are going to another place,” said Niederriter. ”[Fort Delaware] draws all kinds of people. It’s a tourist attraction.”

This weekend, park interpreter Laura Lee welcomed the season’s first 150 visitors. Once Lee reassured guests that the fungus presents no health threat to humans, she says that people seemed interested in helping out and learning about the presence of bats at the fort.

“I see this as a perfect teaching moment as an opportunity to make people aware that Fort Delaware has more than history. There is a lot of nature here as well, from the heron rookery, to the wetlands, to the bats,” Lee says.

While much of the public may not be very familiar with bats, they play a vital role in agricultural production, eating hundreds of tons of nocturnal insects that would otherwise devour crops intended for human consumption.

“We don’t fully understand yet what the ecological consequences of this epidemic will be,” says Reeder.

To volunteer to spend a week in Haiti:
Volunteers are needed for the final three weeks of the summer program, starting July 21, July 28 and Aug. 4. Volunteers should plan to spend about $1,000 for transportation, lodging and food.
For more information, contact Lynn Shapira at (302) 563-2296 or l. or Carole Downs at (302) 540-1842 or carole..

Doctors and other health-care professionals interested in working in a clinic in Jacmel should call Dr. Nadiv Shapira at (302) 561-4202.

To provide supplies:
Most needed crafts and sporting goods items include children’s scissors, new crayons, markers and colored pencils, popsicle sticks, large beads and elastic string, soccer balls and pumps, large coolers and a parachute. Volunteers will pick up donations. The organization is also seeking use of a rental unit to store its supplies until they are taken to Haiti.
For more information, contact Carole Downs at (302) 540-1842 or carole..

To make a contribution or send a child to school:
A donation of $150 will cover a child’s tuition for one year at the Salvation Army School in Jacmel, plus books, supplies and uniforms. HFI is also planning several fundraisers and special events.
Send checks payable to the Haiti Family Initiative to P.O. Box 3774, Wilmington, DE19807, or use the PayPal link on the organization’s website, www.haitifamilyinitiative.org. For any additional details, visit the website.

McGinnis, a computer sciences major in the Honors Program, spent a week in and near Cap-Haitien, a city of about 190,000 on the northern side of the country, working on a service project that grew out of a class he took last year on how to develop educational games for computers.

Haiti “was totally different. I was out of my element — in a good way,” said McGinnis, who lives in Catasaugua, Pa., near Allentown.

He worked at a school in a rural area outside Cap-Haitien, creating an easy-to-use computer application that translates basic English phrases into Creole, the primary language in Haiti.

The school was “almost like in a jungle,” a drive of 45 minutes to an hour over unpaved roads leading out of the city, he said. “It was probably 15 miles, but it felt like a lot longer.”

McGinnis was in Haiti because of his familiarity with XO laptop computers, low-budget models developed by the nonprofit organization One Laptop per Child, which aims to create educational opportunities for the world’s poorest children. He had his first experience with the XO laptop last year, in a class taught by Dr. Lori Pollock, with projects that included developing games for use in a public school in Chester, Pa.

Pollock and a UD graduate research assistant, Richard Burns, accompanied McGinnis to Haiti. A group from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte also made the trip. Two nonprofit organizations, Waveplace Foundation and Mothering Across Continents, helped coordinate the project.

The computer application McGinnis developed works “more like a flash-card application than a translator.” It uses symbols used to denote about 80 basic words and phrases like “hello,” “goodbye,” “my name is …” and “how do you feel?” — “things you would learn in a first-year French, Spanish or German class,” he said.

The application was modeled on a Creole translation app that McGinnis had installed on his iPhone.

By using the application, the Americans were able to communicate with the Haitians, and the Haitians were able to build their English vocabulary, McGinnis said.

“Even in limited amount of time, I saw improvement in their pronunciations and vocabulary,” he said.

“Haitians want to learn how to use computers, how to look things up on the Internet,” he said. In the impoverished country, “if you can speak English, you can work as a translator and have access to other jobs, so you can make money.”

McGinnis said he spent most of his time working with college-age Haitian “mentors,” showing them enough about using the XO laptops so that they could provide instruction to the younger children, the equivalent of second- through eighth-graders in the United States.

“I hope we taught the mentors enough to sustain the program after we left,” he said.

Although Cap-Haitien suffered relatively minor damage during the January 2010 earthquake that devastated Port au Prince and the rest of southern Haiti, McGinnis said he found the city “very rundown, dirty, hectic, nothing like anything I had seen before.”

“My first impression was that we were in over our heads,” he said. “But after a day or two, we realized that this was no more intimidating than if a person from Haiti was visiting New York City for the first time.”

McGinnis said he would like to create a more sophisticated version of the English-to-Creole translator that the Haitians could download onto their computers via the Internet. And he would like to return to Haiti to check on the progress of the people he helped.

He won’t be doing it before graduation on May 26, but he may have a chance before he leaves the university for good.

“I’ll be a Ph.D. student at UD for four or five years,” he said, “so they’ve got me for the long haul.”

“How could I not do something like that?” she asks. “I have the resources. I have a comfortable life. We’re giving them an opportunity for some education, a chance to build self-esteem. They’ve never had anyone tell them they were important.”

Pfeiffer’s attitude is typical of those volunteering with the Delaware-based organization, created after the massive earthquake that killed an estimated 316,000 Haitians, injured another 300,000, and left about 1 million people homeless.

This summer, HFI will run a five-week camp that provides about a hundred children with a nutritious meal each day, along with an array of educational, recreational and arts and crafts activities. Women will be offered various educational, wellness, and esteem-building programs. HFI ran a similar camp in Jacmel for seven weeks in the summer of 2010 and for three weeks last summer. The city is about 40 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital.

Haitia Family Initiative was founded by Lynn Shapira of Arden and Carole Downs of Wilmington in 2010. They wanted to expand on the help offered by the Delaware Medical Relief Team, which brought primary care medical services to Jacmel the summer after the quake.

While many relief organizations tend to lose support as the disaster in question fades from memory, HFI is strengthening its foundation and broadening its reach for volunteers, Lynn Shapira said.

It has applied to the IRS for non-profit status, she said, and a decision is expected within 90 days. Thanks to listings on the Internet, Downs added, the Delaware-based organization has attracted volunteers from New York, Texas, California and Washington.

This year’s camp runs from July 7 through Aug. 11. “The first two weeks are full, with more than 20 volunteers each week,” Shapira said, “and the other weeks are filling steadily.”

Nonetheless, the group is looking for more volunteers and supplies.

Her husband, Dr. Nadiv Shapira, a thoracic surgeon with Christiana Care Health System, said he needs eight to 10 doctors and other health-care professionals per week to staff the medical clinic that will operate in conjunction with the camp.

Christiana Care continues to support the program by letting employees participate in HFI’s relief efforts, with pay, for up to two weeks.

This year, Pennsylvania Hospital, part of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, is also helping out. It will pay expenses to send 10 of its staff members to Jacmel for a week.

That donation — worth about $10,000, Shapira said — came about after Melissa Miller of Glenolden, Pa., a social worker at the hospital, heard about the HFI program from Pfeiffer, one of her friends, and decided to volunteer.

“I mentioned it to my supervisor, just to make sure I could take the week off, and she said, ‘you know, Penn likes to sponsor things like this,’” Miller said. “It just rolled from there.”

More than 10 hospital staff members are likely to volunteer, Miller said, so there may be a lottery to determine who makes the trip. “The big thing is that everybody gets an opportunity to go. It’s a kids’ camp, it’s a clinic, it has the women’s program, so people with just about any background can help,” she said.

The children’s camp, for youngsters ages 5 to 13, runs each morning, with volunteers supervising music and dancing, board games, arts and crafts, and sports like volleyball, soccer and baseball, along with walks to the nearby beach, Shapira said. Around noon, the children receive a hot lunch. Then they typically go home to nap and get out from the torrid afternoon sun, she said.

“In the first year, the hot lunch was the only meal many of them had all day,” Shapira said. “Last year, we noticed some improvement. There were not as many starving children.”

While the children are napping, the focus in the afternoon shifts to the women of Jacmel. “The women have never been educated,” Pfeiffer said. “We try to empower them, show them how to take better care of themselves.”

Each year, the program changes slightly to meet community needs, Pfeiffer said.

In the first year, right after the earthquake, the emphasis was on one-on-one trauma counseling, discussions about grief and post-traumatic stress, death and dying, anxiety and depression.

Last year, she said, post-traumatic stress was still an issue, but discussion topics expanded to include significant local health issues, including tuberculosis, malaria and cholera, as well as the female reproductive system.

Because jobs are scarce in Haiti, especially for women, the program includes talks on building self-esteem and instruction in skills like sewing, so the women have a better opportunity to develop a sustainable lifestyle, Pfeiffer said.

Team-building exercises and group projects also help the women learn to rely on each other, Downs said.

Many Haitian women lack knowledge of things most Americans take for granted, said Pfeiffer. “They don’t know what is normal [about their health] and what is not. If they are told they have high blood pressure, they don’t know what it means. If they are not seeing well, they think that’s just the way it is.”

“It’s rewarding to see these women begin to understand what we perceive to be the most basic things,” she said. “They really soak it up.”

To bridge the language gap, the program relies on a group of Haitian translators, college-age men and women who have learned some English while attending the Haitian equivalent of high school, Shapira said. Working as camp counselors, the translators will receive $15 a day, a boost from the $10 a day HFI paid in 2010 and 2011, she said.

“For some of these young adults, this is the only job they can get all year,” she said.

First-time volunteer Miller is looking forward to her experience in Jacmel this summer.

“I like the idea of letting kid be kids for a day, for a week, taking them out of their element. And letting the women come, and laugh, and do art projects and not be 100 percent focused on the grief that’s all around them,” she said. “I want to be part of something like that, something so simple that can really make a difference.”

Governor Jack Markell’s Weekly Message

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Governor Jack Markell discusses his participation two events this week – a national STEM Connector Town Hall and The Wall Street Journal’s annual Task Force for Women in the Economy conference. Gov. Markell saw both events as an opportunity to showcase the work Delaware is doing to create jobs and a strong workforce to a broader audience, including major employers, while surveying what’s being done elsewhere for new ideas that could work in the First State.

Full text of Governor Jack Markell’s weekly message:

This week, Delaware had two new chances to make its case in the national debate on how to get people working, make our schools even stronger and better prepare our nation for what is emerging as a global war for talent and jobs.

In part because of some of my experience in the private sector helping to build companies, but in larger part because of the progress Delaware is making on jobs, schools and competitiveness, I was asked to kick-off a national STEM Connector Town Hall last Wednesday. Sponsored by companies creating cutting-edge technology, the Town Hall brought together senior executives from some large employers to help figure out how we can best prepare our kids for the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math-heavy jobs that will give Delaware’s kids the strongest shot at economic independence.

And having that workforce ready to go – having adults or future leaders ready to jump in and succeed in new careers – is a critical part of attracting new jobs in the future.

Earlier on Wednesday, former G-E CEO Jack Welch and I were asked to be the closing speakers for the The Wall Street Journal’s annual conference , called Task Force for Women in the Economy. From academic leaders to the CEO’s of companies that collectively employ millions – including thousands of Delawareans – over 200 people came together to, as the Journal put it – create a “business-based, data-driven action plan to address an important economic issue: making better use of female talent to promote economic growth and competitiveness in the U.S. and worldwide.”

On a number of the topics – from supporting entrepreneurs, to improving STEM education – Delaware has a number of efforts underway. And the chance to make our state’s case to people who keep millions working was an opportunity we could not turn down.

As they build out their ideas own for new and best practices, we’ll be looking for new ways to partner, new answers to create more economic opportunity, and new approaches we can adopt right here as we keep working together to keep Delaware, moving forward.

The first heat of the Second Annual Quest Fitness Mud Run started promptly at 9 a.m. as individuals took off toward that muddy hole when they heard the starter’s pistol. They made their way up and over a mound that buried a pipe they would later crawl through and ran into the woods as one woman said, “Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!” with every step.

Then it was time for the teams to start. Most wore matching shirts with names on them like “No Teacher Left Behind” or “Muddy Mommies.” One team wore T-shirts featuring Mr. Spock that said, “Trek Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself,” while another paid homage to the “Hunger Games” tributes.

What’s a mud run? DFM News visited the 2nd Annual Quest Fitness Mud Run in Milton

What’s a mud run?
DFM News visited the 2nd Annual Quest Fitness Mud Run in Milton

Video

The team of “Things” was most notable, though. The four 10-year-olds were by far the youngest competitors in the run that fell somewhere between four and five miles. They could have waited for the youth fun run immediately following the race, but they had been training as long and as hard as any of the adults, and they were ready to go.

“We wanted to be different from everyone else,” said Wyatt Fruehauf, of Lewes.

“I just wanted to beat my mother in this,” said Lola Messick, also of Lewes. Where was mom? Lola estimated about 30 minutes behind her. The Thing team (wearing T-shirts modeled after the Dr. Seuss troublemakers) finished in just under 45 minutes.

Messick may have wanted to best her mom, but one of the themes of mud runs is teamwork. Runners stop to help each other over walls and through obstacles, in addition to just cheering each other on. Team Thing was no different. Before moving on to the next trial, all four teammates would assemble and encourage the final one under the ropes, through a pipe or over hay bales.

All four teammates said they’d like to do the race again next year. Enzo Zechiel’s sister, Lily, ran the race last year and he said he’s ready to go head to head with her; but, of course, “I’m the winner,” he said.

Enzo Zechiel’s dad, Zeke, also ran in a team of four men. Team “N+1” finished third in the team division in just over 30 minutes. The group of surfing friends travels to South America and Costa Rica to catch waves (their team name is the formula by which one determines how many surfboards are necessary. “N is how many you already have,” Zeke Zechiel joked.).

“This was this good camaraderie thing, you know what I mean?” said teammate Aaron Hood of Lewes. “And it turned out to be a beautiful day and it’s all good.”

Team “Muddy Mommies” finished around 45 minutes. The three women from Milton, Shannon Cathcart, Carrie Fischer and Iwona Hughes, all have children ranging from 14 weeks to three years old and set the mud run as a fitness goal while working out at a local gym.

The women said they chose this race because it was “something fun” and they looked forward to having the bragging rights of showing their husbands how tough they are. To prepare they did a lot of running, but also some weight training to work on upper body strength for challenges that included crawling under ropes and pulling themselves over walls.

“But we didn’t train with the mud,” Hughes laughed.

Getting dirty in Delaware

There aren’t many mud runs in The First State, but the popularity of two have certainly raised the profile of getting down and dirty.

Delaware Mud Run will run its third race this fall on Sunday, Sept 23. A 5K at Frightland near Middletown, the event draws thousands of participants and spectators. Delaware Mud Run, Jr., a 1.5-mile race for runners under 14, will be June 14, at the same site. Proceeds from both races go to the Leukemia Research Foundation of Delaware.

Matt Carter, of Quest Fitness, organized The Quest Fitness Mud Run in Milton with Tim Bamforth from Seashore Striders. The two men spent weeks designing and digging out the course on a farm one of Carter’s clients opened to the race.

“I wanted something besides the typical 5K or 10K road race,” Carter said. “Quest Fitness is about adventure fitness.”

Carter ran in a Tough Mudder race two years ago and that was the inspiration behind the Quest Fitness Mud Run. Last year, at the inaugural race in Milton, 300 people ran. This year about 500 people participated. Carter said he imagines the race growing each year. Proceeds from the Milton race go to Milton Fire Dept. and the Harry Bunk Agricultural Scholarship Fund.

The toughest of mudders

While hundreds in Delaware were racing Sunday morning, hundreds more were taking on what is probably the best known of the mud runs – Tough Mudder – in the Pocono Mountains.

At Pocono Manor, Mudders took on a 10-to-12 mile course that included obstacles like barbed wire and 10,000 volts of electricity. There wasn’t just mud, there was fire. The Tough Mudder is not for the faint of heart.

And Tom Salzbrenner loves it. He started out with a more mellow race, the Delaware Mud Run, in 2010. On the grounds of Frightland, the 5K is a bit more casual than the race modeled after Marine basic training, but it was enough of a taste that Salzbrenner took on the Tough Mudder last year.

“I wouldn’t even consider myself a runner,” said Salzbrenner, of Newark. “I work out to counteract the beer and cheesecake.”

“I guess it was just the fact that it looked really awesome,” he said. “I think the reason I don’t run marathons is the concept of running for 26 miles just really bores me. If I’m on the treadmill I feel like a hamster on a wheel.”

So he takes on climbing monkey bars and crawling under barbed wire. “It’s a story to tell and something to be proud of.” This race is not about winning, it’s about finishing. Salzbrenner said only about 70 percent of the mudders who start the race in the Poconos finish and he’s seen one or two people fall out of the run himself.

The next Tough Mudder Salzbrenner will run is in Virginia in September. His buddy Chris Peppi will meet him there. Peppi is stationed in Texas with the Air Force.

With 35 Tough Mudder events in four countries, the franchise has raised close to $3 million for the Wounded Warrior Project. Courtesy of Tuff Mudders.

There will be 35 Tough Mudder events in four countries by the end of 2012 and the franchise has raised close to $3 million for the Wounded Warrior Project, according to the Tough Mudder website.

The Tough Mudder website also warns potential runners not to take themselves too seriously. In fact, it’s part of the Tough Mudder pledge. This race is about challenging oneself, not about winning.

“It’s really about having that mental toughness and finishing because you want to finish,” Salzbrenner said. “Tough Mudder, it’s not a competition. It’s you versus you, having that mental toughness and overcoming that voice in the back of your head that says, ‘Hey, I’ve had enough.’”

High winds cause plastic debris to mix well below the surface where more than half of the ocean’s plastic pollution has swirled about, uncounted, according to Tobias Kukulka, a University of Delaware assistant professor of physical ocean science and engineering.

Dr. Tobias Kukulka
UD assistant professor of physical ocean science and engineering.
(Credit: University of Delaware)

In still water, plastic is buoyant, inevitably rising to the ocean surface, Kukulka explained in an email interview. “However, in a wind-driven turbulent ocean, this buoyant upward transport is balanced by a downward transport because plastic particles “catch a ride” with the turbulent motion,” he said.

Kukulka and co-lead author Giora Proskurowski, oceanography scientist at the University of Washington, published the results of a study of plastic pollution of the world’s oceans in the latest issue of Geophysical Research Letters.

In the ocean, winds pushing down on the surface of the water cause a similar disturbance to shaking a snow globe. Thousands of plastic particles that should in theory float on the surface of the salt water are thrust deeper into the water column.

In order to begin to understand just how much debris penetrates below the surface, Kukulka’s and his team spent a month cruising the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Bermuda during the summer of 2010. While aboard the 134-foot Brigantine, SSV Corwith Cramer, the 33-person research team collected samples at varying depths and hand-sorted over 48,000 pieces of plastic gathered in the ocean.

While plastic concentrations decrease with depth, collective sampling from various depths in a single water column found just as much, if not more, plastic churning underwater as floating on the surface, wrote Kukulka.

Plastic particles found in the ocean resemble colorful confetti. Thousands of these millimeter-sized fragments can emerge in a single tow.
(Credit: Sea Education Association, Marilou Maglione)

Analysis of the debris at depths up to 100 feet below the surface indicate that surface sampling can represent as little as three percent of the true concentration.

Understanding the extent of plastic pollution in the ocean is a vital part of assessing the health of the world’s oceans, the largest biome on the planet.

Public education campaigns have highlighted some of the effects on marine life posed by plastic refuse. For instance, sea turtles can mistake plastic bags floating on the surface for jellyfish and may choke while attempting to eat them. (Some municipalities have banned plastic bags for this reason.)

Such encounters with marine life only represent the beginning of life on the high seas for a plastic bag, disposable cup, or yogurt lid.

Measuring Plastic at Depth with the Tucker Trawl, courtesy of Sea Education Association.

Measuring Plastic at Depth with the Tucker Trawl, courtesy of Sea Education Association.

Video

While it takes at minimum decades for plastic to truly break down, items such as bottles, straws, and six-pack rings are easily torn, crushed, and shredded into tiny pieces. These millimeter-sized fragments make up the bulk of the plastic found in the oceans.

Each of those bits of plastic can become a vehicle on which microbes and contaminants can hitch a ride to non-native waters. This problem can occur near the shore where ocean waters mix with fresh water bodies, and potentially at various depths of the ocean, as well.

To better understand the movement of plastic particles in the ocean Kukulka and his team will be creating a three-dimensional simulator to study particle motion and ocean turbulence. Such a simulator can help Kukulka to study the physics involved in ocean mixing which can inform future study within the natural ecosystem.

The hearing, which Rep. Terry Schooley (D-Newark), the committee chair, said she believed was the first devoted specifically to charter schools since the current law was passed in 1995, came on the heels of heated debates on the future of the Newark Charter School and the Campus Community Charter School in Dover.

Before the hearing, Schooley said she did not know what provisions might be included in any reform legislation and she said she wasn’t certain whether legislation could be approved before the General Assembly session ends June 30.

“Whatever we do, I want it to be holistic and collaborative,” she said. “I hope at the end of the night we have a better sense of what the issues are.”

By the conclusion of the hearing, there had been movement in that direction.

Speakers at the hearing helped bring some issues into focus, as they raised concerns about current procedures for authorizing charters, monitoring them and approving renewals, the need to consider the impact of proposed charters on existing schools in the same community, disparities in funding between charters and traditional public schools, and whether charter schools’ populations are representative of the communities in which they are located.

Charter schools are independent public schools, free of most state and school district rules and regulations, that are encouraged to use different, innovative or proven teaching and learning methods. Their goal is to provide improved school and student performance and to give parents and students greater opportunities in choosing public schools. There are 22 charter schools, with about 10,000 students enrolled, operating in Delaware this year.

As the session drew to a close after nearly two and a half hours, Schooley announced that House Speaker Robert Gilligan (D-Sherwood Park) had agreed to create “a blue-ribbon committee or task force,” with Schooley as its chair, to study an overhaul of the current charter school law. The panel would include members of the House and Senate, representatives of the Department of Education and Gov. Markell’s office, leaders of charter schools and traditional school districts and other stakeholders. It will likely take a week or two to get the group organized and determine its scope, Schooley said.

One of the final speakers at the hearing hinted at the difficulties the panel will face and the importance of its decisions.

“I am saddened by the uninformed half-truths spoken tonight by both sides [supporters of charter schools and traditional districts],” said Gary Duren, whose credentials demonstrate that “I have lived and am living on both sides.” Duren is a middle-school teacher in the Caesar Rodney School District, a member of the Delaware State Education Association executive board, a member of the MOT Charter School Board of Directors and a parent whose children have attended charter schools and special education programs in traditional public schools.

“Dig deep on your questioning…. Research just the opposite of what you’re being told,” he urged the lawmakers at the hearing. And, he said, “when you act, act quickly. Our state cannot take this divisiveness much longer.”

That divisiveness was evident throughout the hearing, as nearly 20 of the speakers had some connection with either the Newark Charter School or the Christina School District, with many of the Christina supporters repeating claims made in the two months that Newark Charter’s plan to add high school grades (approved two weeks ago by the State Board of Education) would weaken the district’s three traditional high schools.

Paul Baumbach of Newark, in a statement read on his behalf by Eva Peterson, asserted that the State Department of Education was responsible for Newark Charter’s expansion becoming so controversial. “DOE’s application of the law is poor,” said Baumbach, who is president of the Progressive Democrats for Delaware. “Its accountability committee takes minimal public input when receiving an application, and they far too narrowly apply the existing approval criteria.”

Greg Meece, head of the Newark Charter School, said that charter schools “are headed in the right direction,” and claimed that they have been at the forefront of reform initiatives, including being the first to embrace accountability in performance, accountability and incentive pay for teachers, flexibility in spending and increasing parental participation in decision-making.

Several speakers discussed charter school issues in Kent County, with Capital School District Superintendent Michael Thomas noting that after voters had approved a referendum to spend $114 million to build a new Dover High School, the State Board of Education was preparing last year to consider applications for two new charter high schools in the district without reference to their possible impact on Dover High. The applications were eventually withdrawn but are likely to be refilled later this year, another speaker said.

“Charter schools cause districts to spread their limited resources even further,” added Dr. Linda Murray Jackson, a parent of a Dover High School Student.

The only Sussex County voices at the hearing came from staff and parents affiliated with Sussex’s only charter, the Sussex Academy of Arts and Sciences middle school. Those speakers were uniformly supportive of the school and minimized any suggestion of conflict with traditional public schools in the county. “We don’t see ourselves as competitors in the public school environment, but as collaborators,” said Mark Cook, a member of the academy’s board of directors.

Delaware officials assess Bloom Energy’s potential impact in Delaware.

Delaware officials assess Bloom Energy’s potential impact in Delaware.

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In a white tent pitched in the midst of 272 empty acres where Chrysler once produced cars, business and government leaders from across the state and across the country gathered for a symbolic groundbreaking for the new factory.

When it’s completed in 2013, the facility will make “Bloom Boxes”, stacks of fuel cells that generate electricity from natural gas or biogas and air, in a process that doesn’t involve the combustion that produces greenhouse gases, and will help customers such as Delmarva Power, Google, and AT&T to meet emissions-reduction targets by consuming electricity that’s produced with the clean technology.

The ceremony was significant for Delaware in marking the rebirth of one of the state’s most important former manufacturing sites; for California-based Bloom Energy which is making its biggest expansion – and its first on the East Coast – at the Newark location, and for the University of Delaware which is using Bloom as the first tenant at its new Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) campus.

Newark mayor Vance Funk and Gov. Jack Markell greet Bloom CEO K.R. Sridhar at Monday's groundbreaking.

Bloom CEO K.R. Sridhar said the company had chosen Delaware over other interested East Coast states because of its educated work force, a business-friendly climate, and because of the “integrity and transparency” of Gov. Jack Markell who worked hard to attract the company to Delaware.

Sridhar, a lean figure pacing the stage in an open-necked shirt, said Markell and other state officials had shown a “can-do attitude” during negotiations over the site, and had taken a straight, no-nonsense attitude in talks.

“There were no games,” he told the capacity crowd of about 275 that included both Delaware’s U.S. Senators; Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) Secretary Collin O’Mara; Delaware Economic Development Office (DEDO) director Alan Levin; First Lady Carla Markell, and members of the state legislature.

The 200,000-square-foot factory will help Bloom fulfill its global mission of providing clean energy amid the search for cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels, Sridhar said.

“The mission was to find a way to provide clean-reliable energy in an affordable way to 9 billion people,” he said, referring to the projected world population by 2015.

Customers discuss Bloom Energy technology

Customers discuss Bloom Energy technology

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The event introduced new customers including Owens Corning and Washington Gas, adding to an existing client base that include Google, Wal-Mart and Staples. Another existing client, Apple, is adding new orders for a North Carolina data center.

Gary Stockbridge, CEO of Delmarva Power, which has already agreed to buy 30 megawatts of power from Bloom’s servers, said the utility’s use of Bloom’s power will help it reach its target of deriving 25 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025.

The Bloom project is being helped by up to $16.5 million in state funding, tied to anticipated job creation. The company is getting $11.25 million on the condition that it creates 900 full-time direct jobs; up to $3.75 million to support 600 full-time indirect jobs, and up to $1.5 million for infrastructure investment.

Governor Markell said the new plant dispels any talk that manufacturing is past its prime in Delaware.

“When the Chrysler plant closed in 2008, people started to wonder whether our best days were behind us,” he said. “We refused to accept that answer.”

When he learned of Bloom’s plans to expand on the East Coast, Markell said he worked hard to make Delaware the favored location.

“They were going to build it somewhere and we were determined that they were going to build it here,” he said.

Its efforts are also getting help from surcharges to Delmarva Power ratepayers over 21 years.

The surcharges have been criticized by the Caesar Rodney Institute, a conservative leaning Dover-based non-profit think-tank, which was alone in opposing the plan when it was approved by the Delaware Public Service Commission in August last year.

David Stevenson, the Institute’s director of energy competitiveness, argued that the surcharge will have a negative economic impact on the state. In an interview with Delaware First Media before the groundbreaking, Stevenson also said Bloom’s contract with Delmarva Power may violate the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution because it did not allow other manufacturers to bid on the work.

“There should have been a competitive bidding process,” he said.

Construction vehicles stand ready to begin work on Bloom Energy's Newark facility on the University of Delaware's STAR campus

The Bloom project may represent Delaware’s best hope of becoming a center for green-energy business following the failure of Bluewater Wind to build a wind farm off Rehoboth, and fresh doubts about whether Fisker Automotive will build its long-planned hybrid-electric auto factory in Newport – a project that’s now on hold.

Alan Levin, director of the Delaware Economic Development Office, told DFM News that Fisker “is not done yet” despite the current halt to renovations at GM’s old Boxwood Road plant. “We think we are going to get there some way, somehow,” Levin said.

Regarding Bloom, Levin pointed out the estimated 1500 direct and indirect jobs created by Bloom in Newark will exceed the 1100 jobs that remained at the old Chrysler plant when it shut down for good at the end of 2008.

“Within 2 years, we’ll have more [people working] on this site than when Chrysler closed. So,it’s a big plus and a huge shot in the arm for this facility getting up and moving,” said Levin.

University of Delaware President Patrick Harker said the Bloom plant will prompt a two-way flow of expertise between Bloom Energy and UD, Delaware State University and Delaware Tech.

“They need talent, and we want to be the major source of talent for them,” Harker said. “It’s not just having the jobs, it’s also have the expertise of the faculty.”

Bloom Energy executives outline their Delaware plans

Bloom Energy executives outline their Delaware plans

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Construction of the new plant is scheduled for completion by the end of the first quarter of 2013, and the company plans to start producing fuel cells there later in the year. The output will represent a doubling of the company’s current capacity, said Barry Sharpe, the new plant’s manager.

Sharpe said the factory will emphasize lean manufacturing processes, and is working with two departments of the University of Delaware to develop curriculum and certificate courses centered on those techniques.

U.S. Senator Chris Coons said Bloom’s fuel cells have solved a conundrum that energy cannot be clean, safe and cheap at the same time, and represent an advance on earlier fuel cells that were first developed more than a century ago.

“There’s a catalyst in that humming box that has solved the problem,” Coons said, pointing at the gray Bloom server, about the size of a parking space, outside the marquee.

Coon said he had been distressed to watch demolition machinery tearing the Chrysler plant down after it closed in 2008 but that the Bloom project marks a new beginning for the site.

“It tore at my heart,” Coons said. “Today we see a different sort of crane and a different sort of shovel dig into the earth.”

Governor Jack Markell’s Weekly Message

Video

Governor Jack Markell looks ahead to Monday’s groundbreaking of Bloom Energy’s new fuel cell manufacturing facility at the University of Delaware’s new Science, Technology and Advanced Research campus being developed at the former Chrysler auto plant in Newark. Gov. Markell outlines how the state attracted Bloom Energy to the First State and how its presence will benefit the state.

Full text of Governor Jack Markell’s weekly message:

For generations, the Chrysler plant in Newark built cars that powered down our nation’s highways. Just down the street, the University of Delaware was building on its campus generation after generation of innovations and innovators to help power our nation’s economy. After the Chrysler plant closed in 2008, the University agreed to move forward and make those former Chrysler acres part of a new Science, Technology and Advanced Research campus. At the same time, Delawareans across the state were pulling together to try and attract a major new employer to that site. While the process was hard, the goal was simple – get people working there again, building again and create along the way hundreds of new, middle class careers.

One employer we pursued was Bloom Energy – an American company that manufactures innovative fuel cells that now help power some of our nation’s most recognizable companies – places like Google, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, eBay, FedEx, Staples, and Walmart. They told us the demand for their energy servers was growing so quickly, they needed to build a new manufacturing hub somewhere on the East Coast – a factory that would put hundreds of people to work to serve a growing roster of customers.

In return, we told them about Delaware’s great workforce, our strong schools, our responsive government and our unshakable commitment to get people back to work. We made clear we wanted those manufacturing jobs – those critical, middle-class careers- to be located here. From Delmarva Power, to our Congressional delegation, from the University of Delaware leadership to legislators from both parties in both chambers, Delawareans came together to help make those jobs more real.

This Monday marks a new chapter in that effort. Bloom leaders and some of those great Delawareans that I mentioned will come together on the University’s STAR campus to break ground on that Bloom Energy factory. We’ll be joined by senior executives from some of Bloom’s new customers who’ll share their excitement at having servers made here in Delaware power their companies around the country.

While we still have several steps to take before that factory opens, Monday is an important next step to create hundreds of new, quality careers here, as we work together to keep Delaware, moving forward.

The Red Clay Consolidated School District will offer a Spanish immersion program to about 100 kindergarten students and about 100 first-grade students at the William C. Lewis Dual Language Elementary School in Wilmington. Families outside the Lewis attendance area may apply through the choice program if spaces are available, a district spokesman said.

In Indian River, the Spanish immersion program will be offered to kindergarten students at the John M. Clayton Elementary School in Frankford. The district anticipates having about 20 students from the Clayton attendance area in the program and another 20 from other attendance areas who would enroll through the choice program, according to Audrey Carey, the district’s supervisor of elementary instruction. If more than 40 students are interested in the program, the district will use a lottery to choose participants, she said.

In Caesar Rodney, with more than 300 kindergarten families expressing preliminary interest in the Chinese language program, a lottery will likely be needed to determine the 100 students who will participate, said J. Scott Lykens, the district’s director of instruction. Classes will be offered at the district’s McIlvaine Early Childhood Center in Magnolia. For first grade in 2013-2014, the program will be offered at two elementary schools, W.B. Simpson and Allen Frear. Students who live in the attendance zone for W. Reily Brown Elementary would have to choice into Simpson to participate in the program, Lykens said.

Officials of the Colonial School District joined other Delaware educators in February on a trip to observe immersion programs in Utah, but they are not planning to implement a Chinese language program until 2013-14, and that is not definite, said Carlton Lampkins, the district’s assistant superintendent. The district must determine where space is available to house the program and “we want all of our kids to have access,” he said. If the district moves ahead, that will most likely mean placing classes at two sites, one in the northern part of the district and the other in the southern part, he said.

Rather, it’s the start of an extended journey toward passing Advanced Placement exams for college credit in Mandarin Chinese or Spanish by the time students are in ninth grade, and speaking the languages at an advanced level by their senior year of high school, said Gregory Fulkerson, education associate for world languages and international education at the Delaware Department of Education.

The Caesar Rodney School District will offer instruction in Chinese, while the Red Clay and Indian River Districts will offer instruction in Spanish. The Colonial School District is considering adding a Chinese immersion program, but will not do so this year.

The programs are the first steps in the Governor’s World Language Expansion Initiative, a plan developed by the Markell administration to equip Delaware students with the language skills needed to compete in a global economy. “By 2020, we hope to have 20 fully functioning immersion programs in Chinese and Spanish in the state,” Fulkerson said.

“All the research points to the earlier you start a language, the easier it is to learn,” said J. Scott Lykens, director of instruction in the Caesar Rodney School District. “Short of living in that culture in that land, immersion is the next best way to learn.”

To support the development of Chinese language programs, Delaware has joined the Chinese Language Education Consortium, a collaboration of education agencies in Utah, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Delaware, and four higher education institutions, Brigham Young University, Arizona State University, the University of Mississippi and Hunter College. The consortium, with Brigham Young and the Utah State Office of Education taking the lead roles, is working to create, implement and disseminate a K-12 curriculum for Chinese language study.

“When Gov. Markell went to look for a sustainable model [program], he turned to the other states, and he found that Utah already had a sustainable model,” Fulkerson said. “The Utah model can be adopted by any district that wants to use it.”

The new Chinese program is already drawing a strong response in Caesar Rodney, where more than 300 families of incoming kindergarten students have expressed interest in the program, Lykens said. About 500 students a year enter kindergarten in Caesar Rodney, he said.

“We expected a pretty good response, but I didn’t think it would be 300,” Lykens said.

The program will be able to serve about 100 students, and a lottery will be held if more than 100 applications are filed, he said.

In Caesar Rodney, and for the Spanish programs in Indian River and Red Clay, the districts will be using a “dual-immersion” system like the one now being used in Utah public schools.

“It’s absolutely amazing to see kindergarteners, after half a year, speaking Chinese fluently,” said Carlton Lampkins, Colonial’s assistant superintendent, who was among a group of Delaware educators who visited Utah in February to observe the state’s immersion programs.

In a dual-immersion program, each class has two teachers, with one providing a half-day of instruction in English and the other using the world language for the rest of the day.

In Caesar Rodney, Lykens said, a native Chinese teacher will teach science, math and Chinese literacy while an English-speaking teacher will handle English, language arts, social studies and “bridge lessons,” a sort of preview/review to make sure the students are picking up the concepts covered by the Chinese teacher.

Each year, the immersion programs will grow, with districts adding classes at the next grade level as the participants advance through the elementary and middle school grades, Fulkerson said.

The program should not require any additional staffing since each teacher will be working with the standard number of students in the morning and afternoon, Lykens said. As additional native Chinese teachers are needed each year, they will replace teachers who are retiring or leaving the district, he said.

The Chinese-language teachers are coming to Caesar Rodney through the Confucius Institute, a Chinese nonprofit organization that has already helped bring Chinese teachers to Alexis I. du Pont High School and the Conrad Schools of Science in the Red Clay District. The teachers receive training in U.S. teaching methods at UCLA and in Delaware before beginning their classroom assignments, Fulkerson said.

The Chinese teachers have one-year contracts with their districts and come to the United States on visas that are good for three years. “If they’re good teachers, we hope they stay for all three years,” Fulkerson said.

Fulkerson is in Spain this week, interviewing candidates for possible jobs in the Indian River and Red Clay immersion programs. Indian River is using an internet videoconferencing connection to participate in those interviews, said Audrey Carey, the district’s supervisor of elementary instruction. Hiring from Spain isn’t Indian River’s only option, she said. The district could also hire a teacher fluent in Spanish who is already in the area or who is graduating from a university in the region, she said.

“We want a teacher who is proficient in both English and Spanish, who has instructional background, strong proficiency and the ability to work as part of a team,” Carey said.

The immersion programs are the newest world language and international education initiatives in Delaware public schools, but they are not the only ones. The increased emphasis is understandable, since the state has added world languages to its high school graduation requirements. Starting with the Class of 2015, students must complete two years of study in a foreign language to receive a diploma.

Two high schools in the Red Clay district — A.I. du Pont and Conrad — began offering first-year Chinese classes last fall. The teachers at A.I. and Conrad are also serving as “conversation coaches” for students at the MOT Charter School and Dover Air Force Base Middle School who are taking a Chinese class online. The Caesar Rodney District hopes to add online Chinese and Spanish classes at all of its middle schools in the fall, Lykens said. Also, Caesar Rodney High School has added Arabic to its robust languages program, which includes Chinese, the venerable Latin and the traditional Spanish, French and German.

The state also recently renewed a memorandum of understanding with the French Académie de Créteil that provides for teacher exchanges and other partnerships. Through the agreement, a teacher from France, Fanny Valois, is teaching at A.I. du Pont High School this year. In addition, Fulkerson said, a physics class at William Penn High School is using the internet to connect with a physics class in France to solve problems.

“It’s bigger than just a French language program, and you don’t have to know French to take physics,” Fulkerson said. “It’s an opportunity to connect schools and to have students work with their counterparts in another country.”

Delaware Republican Party Chairman John Sigler offers his assessment of Mitt Romney’s Delaware primary victory..

Delaware Republican Party Chairman John Sigler offers his assessment of Mitt Romney’s Delaware primary victory.

Video

“I think the Republican voters in the state of Delaware said that it is time to coalesce behind one candidate. It’s time to defeat [President] Barack Obama and focus on retiring [Vice President] Joe Biden back to Delaware,” said John Sigler, chairman of the Delaware State Republican Party.

The results in Delaware may mean the end of the road for Gingrich’s campaign. He and some close to his campaign said before Tuesday’s vote that a loss in Delaware would likely force Gingrich to “reassess” his presidential bid. Speaking in North Carolina Tuesday night, Gingrich again said he would “look at where we’re at” but did not say he would end his campaign. North Carolina is among the next set of GOP primaries on May 8.

Gingrich was counting on Delaware to reenergize his campaign. The former House speaker made multiple visits to each of the state’s three counties, hoping Delawareans’ fondness for retail politics would trump the growing sentiment that Romney had already locked up the nomination. Gingrich’s efforts in the state led to a number of endorsements in the final week before the primary from key party leaders, including National Committeewoman Priscilla Rakestraw and Kent County party chair Hans Reigle, both of whom had previously endorsed Romney. Rakestraw said she wanted to reward Gingrich’s work in the state.

Audio

Delaware Republican National Committeewoman and Gingrich supporter Priscilla Rakestraw discusses Gingrich's loss in Delaware.

“I’m all about Delaware. All politics is local. I wanted it to be to perfectly clear that presidential candidates should come to Delaware, that they should interact with the party, that [voters] should have face-to-face retail time with candidates,” said Rakestraw. “I thought Speaker Gingrich’s visits and message would reverberate better in Delaware than it certainly has, but I think the message [from voters] is we’re voting for the person they think is most likely to beat President Obama.”

State House Minority Leader Greg Lavelle (R-Brandywine Hundred), a Romney endorser, said he’s relieved Delaware did not rally behind Gingrich.

“If Speaker Gingrich had won Delaware, it would have sent a mixed message and made things difficult,” said Rep. Lavelle. “You have the Speaker acknowledging he’s likely not going to be the nominee, so why would we give him the votes in this situation? It made no sense given where we are in the primary [process].”

Delaware House Minority Leader and Romney endorser Greg Lavelle on Romney’s convincing win in Delaware.

Delaware House Minority Leader and Romney endorser Greg Lavelle on Romney’s convincing win in Delaware.

Video

Turnout for the primary was low, even by presidential primary standards. Only 28,591 Delaware Republicans cast ballots—just 16 percent of the state’s registered Republicans. By comparison, turnout in the last two Republican contested presidential primaries, 2008 and 2000, reached 28 percent and 18 percent.

As a further point of reference, the 16,344 votes Romney received in finishing second to John McCain in 2008 was only 11 percent of the vote.

Many of voters who did come out Tuesday saw it as their civic duty.

“I always come out to vote. I never miss one,” said David, a 38-year-old musician who voted at Linden Hill Elementary School in Pike Creek and did not want to provide his last name. “I just want to make sure the right candidate is going for the Republican Party, even though it’s pretty obvious who it’s going to be. I still like to come out and show my support.”

“We have the power to make changes, and regardless of who they’ve already concluded may be the frontrunner, I think it’s important and a civic duty to come out and exercise your right to vote,” said 42-year-old Jackie Duffy as she cast her ballot at the Hockessin Public Library.

Linden Hill voter Bill Mooney explained why he was motivated to come out and vote for Romney. “I want someone with business experience. The main thing I’m really concerned about is government spending,” the 51-year-old Mooney said. “I think the government is just spending too much money. We need someone to come in and rein all that spending in.”

Mooney added that he liked Newt Gingrich but was not swayed by the former House speaker’s recent appearances in Delaware. “Maybe he’d join the cabinet, but I don’t think he’s really electable.”

Robert Kelley, 65, also backed Romney as he voted in Pike Creek. “I hope that we rally behind one candidate, and make that candidate stronger,” Kelley said.

Audio

Carl Thompson of Hockessin voted for Gingrich despite Romney's front-runner status.

As he prepared to vote at Henry B. du Pont Middle School in Hockessin, Carl Thompson said he had made up his mind to support Gingrich because of “his years of experience, his delivering a balanced budget for four years, his intelligence, and his ability to debate and probably negotiate.”

Eileen Craig said she heard Gingrich speak on Saturday in Wilmington, but voted for Romney at Linden Hill. “He’s very good,” Craig said of Gingrich. “But I personally feel he’s not the one for the office.”

Audio

Eileen Craig of Pike Creek explains her why she chose Romney over Gingrich.

Bob Schelich of Pike Creek was in the Romney camp but gave thought to voting for Rick Santorum until the former Pennsylvania senator dropped out of the race two weeks ago. “I like Mitt’s ideas. Anybody who’s running now for the Republican Party can do better than Obama,” Schelich said.

Seventy-nine-year-old Ray Smith, voting at Linden Hill, backed Newt Gingrich. “I think when push comes to shove, he’s going to be able to get the parties together and do what we have to do to defeat Obama,” Smith said. “I think we can’t lose sight of the fact that that’s what our intentions are.”

Audio

Joe Cook of Hockessin voted for Romney but unenthusiastically.

Joe Cook, a 65-year-old retired businessman voting in Hockessin, said he did so as a civic duty, although he did not see Romney as the ideal candidate. In fact, he called Romney the “best of the worst.”

Is he optimistic about a Republican victory in the November election?

“I would like to see that. I would hope so,” Cook said.

State party officials hope Delaware Republicans will now move behind Romney. Sigler admits that Romney’s only Delaware visit to date, a campaign stop in Wilmington that came on the same day that GOP gubernatorial candidate Jeff Cragg made his campaign announcement, left a sour taste in some mouths, but he believes that will pass.

“Family members sometime have differences of opinion and that’s what happened here. There was miscommunication and that was unfortunate, but it’s not life threatening,” said Sigler. “I can assure your the Delaware Republican Party is four-square behind Mitt Romney.”

Lavelle agrees.

“We have huge problems in Washington D.C. We have a stagnant economy. We have limited job opportunities. We have limited opportunities in general for young people. That’s the big picture,” said Lavelle. “We need to put aside our minor slights and what we would like to see in terms of the bow. It’s the package that’s important and the package is the White House.”

In addition to securing Delaware’s 17 delegates Tuesday, Romney also scored primary wins in neighboring Pennsylvania along with Connecticut, New York, and Rhode Island. Romney spoke to a crowd in New Hampshire Tuesday night in front of campaign sign reading “A Better America Begins Tonight, signaling his intention to move past the primary fight and on to general election campaign.

Junior Division:

Paper:
1st; Nathan Rose, “Revolution: Penicillin” Towle Institute
2nd: Kailyn Kampert, “Bullets buzzing, Bricks plummeting and Smoke Everywhere: The Riots of Wilmington” Ursuline Academy
3rd: Christine Ford, “Japanese Internment: A Reaction to Pearl Harbor” Ursuline Academy

Individual Exhibits:
1st: Chris Kramedas, “The Wright Brothers” Pike Creek Christian
2nd: Lauren Adamek-Dean, “Elizabeth Blackwell” Red Lion Christian Academy
3rd: Alexandra Coletta, “America’s Race to the Moon” Pike Creek Christian

Group Exhibits:
1st: Alex Maddams, Zacchary Maddams, “James Watt: A Revolutionary Engineer” Talley Middle School
2nd: Lydia Deaton, Annika Roberts, “Child Labor in History” Wilmington Christian School
3rd: Sydney Baffone, Jenny Kurlej, “The Revolutionary Journey to Freedom” Wilmington Christian School

Individual Documentary:
3rd: Abdul Ogembe, “The American Revolution: The Paul Revere Story” Nativity Prep School

Group Documentary:
1st: Janice Scott, Lauren Handerson, Maymuna Siddequea, “War of the Currents” Wilmington Christian School
2nd: Elizabeth McCole, Nicole Boylan, Michelle Ley, “Citizens of Germany: Before During and After WWII” Talley Middle School
3rd: Isadora Weinfeld, Nycere Walker, Elizabeth Sprague, “Segregation into Integration” Talley Middle School

Individual Performance:
1st: Matthew Cohen, “Thomas Jefferson and the Effects of the Declaration of Independence” Talley Middle School

Individual Websites:
1st: Jonathan Chick, “Cold War: America’s Revolution” Towle Institute
2nd: Samuel Ogunwande, “Microsoft: The Operating System That Changed Our World” Red Lion Christian School
3rd: Delaney Strange, “Tibetan Rebellion” Talley Middle School

Group Websites:
1st: Andrew Volz, Connor Pitmen “Revolution, Reaction and Reform: The Space Race” Wilmington Christian School
2nd: Phoebe Fowler, Rebecca Oberschmidt, “Royalty of the French Revolution” Talley Middle School
3rd: Elliot Miller, Ben Blatchford, “Ben Carson Revolutionizes Neurosurgery” Wilmington Christian School

Senior Division:

Paper:
1st: Isabel Nilson, “Mercy Otis Warren: Foremost Female Patriot of the American Revolution” Padua Academy
2nd: Cheyenne DeShields, “The Milford Desegregation Crisis of 1954: A Reform in Delaware’s Education System” Padua Academy
3rd: Jeremy Shatley, “Josiah Henson: A Man in Bondage Who Reacts to Slavery and is Instrumental in Its Reform” Towle Institute

Individual Exhibits:
1st: Madelyn Ray, “World War II Rationing” Padua Academy
2nd: Kenneth Robinette, “The Heliocentric Theory” Towle Institute
3rd: Hailey Curtis, “The Atomic Bomb” Campus Community School

Group Exhibits:
1st: Anna Smith, Julia Stratten, Jennifer Frazier, “Secrets Beneath the Sand”, Padua Academy
2nd: Sophie McCarthy, Emily Freebery, “Theoni V. Aldredge” Padua Academy
3rd: Carly Block, Clare Blessington, “The Reform of the Insane Asylums” Padua Academy

Individual Documentary:
2nd: Ella Flores, “Activists, Advocates and Agitators” Padua Academy
3rd: Hassan Henderson, “Racism and Discrimination within Current America” Newark High School

Group Documentary:
1st: Haley Schweizer, Mary White, Jaclyn Harkins, Tara Zdziech, “Revolution, Reaction and Reform of Communication with the Telephone” St. Mark’s High School
2nd: Max Sanders, Alec Ciarrocchi, Nate Foggy, Nathan Hickman, Matthew Piscitell, “Revolution, Reaction and Reform in Cinema” Wilmington Christian School
3rd: Katie Kempski, Carly Krajewski, Annie Reidinger, Shaina Sutten, “Prohibition” St. Mark’s High School

Individual Performance:
1st: Megan Julian, “The One Woman Show: Fanny Kemble and Her Revolution” Padua Academy

Individual Websites:
1st: Natalie Roddy, “Music of the Civil Rights Movement” Padua Academy Padua Academy
2nd: Devin Soliwoda, “The Greensboro Four” Towle Institute
3rd: Jordyn Buckingham, “Lewis Hine and the Child Labor Reforms” Towle Institute

Group Websites:
1st: Jasmine Camaclang, Justin Johnson, “Martin Luther and the Reformation” Campus Community School
2nd: Clare Nester, Bridget Novielli, “Italian Immigration” Padua Academy
3rd: Caitlin Wojcik, Paige Hearn, “The Asylum Movement” Campus Community School

University of Delaware Special Prizes:

American History:
Senior Division Hassan Henderson, Newark High School: Racism and Discrimination within Current America”
Junior Division winner: Alexandra Coletta, “America’s Race to the Moon” Pike Creek Christian School

World Studies/Area Studies Award:
Senior Division winner: Junior Division winner: Delaney Strange, “The Tibetan Revolution” Talley Middle School

Hagley Museum and Library Special Prizes:

Senior Division winners:
Haley Schweizer, Mary White, Jaclyn Harkins, Tara Zdziech, “Revolution, Reaction and Reform of Communication with the Telephone” St. Mark’s High School

Junior Division winner:
Alex Hantman “How the Assembly Line Revolutionized the Auto Industry” Pike Creek Christian School

Delaware Historical Society Special Prizes:

Senior Division winner: Luke McFadden, “Occupy Wilmington” Towle Institute

Junior Division winner: Maddie Smith, “Next Stop Freedom: The Delaware Underground Railroad” Towle Institute

Founder’s Award:
Raymundo Escobar, “Leonardo DaVinci: The Revolutionary Man” Nativity Preparatory School

Every school kid knows about the Constitution, right?

But understanding the past requires much more than memorizing dates. For National History Day (NHD), students throughout the state are delving deep into history around the world, from the Protestant reformation in the 16th century to the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.

So, how did the Germans react to the Berlin airlift in 1948? What impact did Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play in the Major Leagues, have on society outside baseball? How were people with mental illnesses treated in the late 1800s?

“The point of it all is teaching students to research all sides to an issue,” said Robert Ellenberger, who chairs the history department at the Towle Institute, a Christ-centered home school group based in Hockessin.

Click for National History Day 2012 Delaware competition slideshow
(photos: Ellen Rendle)

National History Day is year-long academic program focused on historical research for 6th to 12th grade students.  Started in mid-1970’s in Cleveland, Ohio, NHD is now the nation’s largest program of its kind for school-age children and operates as a self-sustaining non-profit organization. In the First State, the project is administered by the Delaware Historical Society and is open to students in public, parochial and independent schools, as well as home school groups.

“The teachers benefit from having to think like historians,” said Ellen Rendle, curator at the Delaware Historical Society in Wilmington and director of the program. “Students benefit from analysis, problem solving, research and communication.”

There are two levels of competition, for students in grades six through eight, and students in grades nine through 12. The young scholars can work individually or as a team. Projects are divided into five categories: papers; exhibits; 10-minute performances; film documentaries; and websites. Local judging this year took place April 21 at Delaware Technical Community College in Stanton. Top finishers in the state advance to the national competition June 10-14 at National History Day’s home, the University of Maryland at College Park.

Megan Julian, a junior at Padua Academy in Wilmington, placed first in performance at the Delaware state contest. An aspiring actress, Julian portrayed Fanny Kemble, a British-born actress who married Pierce Butler, heir to a Georgia plantation, and defied her husband by establishing a dispensary and nursery for slaves.

“She knew she was against slavery but when she came to America she was struck by the harsh reality of it,” said Julian, 17. “In fact, she felt like a slave because of the way her husband treated her.”

Julian and the other 250-plus students who participated locally learned how much heavy lifting historic research requires. Julian researched Kemble’s journals to write her script.

“They might need to go to the Library of Congress or interview someone at Colonial Williamsburg,” Rendle said. “You can’t just Google.”

To research her first-place paper, Isabel Nilson went to the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston to read letters written by Mercy Otis Warren, a prominent patriot who wrote plays published in newspapers supporting the American Revolution.

“I actually got to hold one of her letters in my hand,” says Nilson, 16, a junior at Padua. “She corresponded with George Washington. She was friends with John and Abigail Adams.”

Each year, the contest has a different theme. For example, one year the theme was innovation. Rendle recalls a group of girls who performed a skit that revolved around a Tupperware demonstration.

“It was a very cool idea about women taking control of their financial destiny by becoming entrepreneurs,” she said.

This year’s theme is “Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History.” Some storylines are ripped from local headlines, such as a project that focuses on the race riots in Wilmington in the late 1960s. Students also have researched Thomas Garrett, a station master on the Underground Railroad in the city’s Quaker Hill neighborhood, and the 89 schools P.S. du Pont founded for black children in the 1920s.

The sphere of interest also is as long ago and far afield as Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation and the Italian astronomer Galileo.

“Sometimes, the students know more about a topic than I do,” Rendle said. “It can be a little intimidating but it’s also very exciting.”

The project was launched in the First State by the Delaware Council of Social Studies, starting with a single teacher, Fran O’Malley at Padua Academy in Wilmington.

Padua has established a proud history in the program, making it to the national competition 10 years in a row.

National History Day is a requirement for all eleventh grade students in U.S. history and ninth graders in the Honors sections of World Civilizations. As many as five teachers and the school librarian are actively involved from October through March in guiding students through the process of selecting topics, meeting project milestones, and using primary and secondary research to flesh out their ideas. Seniors who participated as juniors serve as mentors.

“Since the program allows flexibility in the choice of topics as well as the category, we feel that History Day is one of the best academic experiences since students engage in in-depth independent academic work,” said Barbara Markham, who chairs the history department. “Although there is an annual theme, students often tailor their projects to fit individual interests and even family history.”

A team of two students—one who is fascinated with marketing, the other an ascendant computer programmer—took fourth place nationally in 2010 for “The Wish List: Mr. Sears Catalogue,”  a website about how retailer Richard Sears grew the iconic American retail giant.

In 2011, a student took fifth place in the finals for “The Women’s Army Corps,” weaving her grandmother’s experience as an army nurse in the larger story of women in the military during World War II.

“We also interviewed past participants and made a promotional video of their experiences. In a recent address to a class at the University of Delaware, we showed that video to student teachers,” Markham said. “We have seen this program truly enhance the academic and personal lives of our students.”

At Towle, the program is a requirement for history students in eighth and tenth grades, as well as students in honors classes.

“We have a tradition of first place finishes in the state and doing very well in the nationals,” Ellenberger said.

Last year, Towle took both first and second place in the performance category. In one project, a student played multiple roles to analyze President Truman’s airlifts of supplies to people in Berlin after the Soviet occupation of the city after World War II.

“She was a reporter at one point in her performance, then a German woman in another,” he said.

This year’s entries included a paper on Dorothea Dix, an advocate for the mentally ill in the 19th century, and Josiah Henson, an escaped slave from Maryland who fled to Canada where he became a noted abolitionist and minister, establishing a settlement and school for other slaves seeking freedom.

Of the 50 Towle students who are participating, the top three in each of the five categories are guaranteed a place in the state competition. Teachers and judges from the Delaware Historical Society evaluated the projects.

In the end, the home school group decided to submit several more projects in addition to the top three finishers, based on comments from the judges.

“They said that the students’ work was of such high quality that we should send them, too,” Ellenberger said.

Inside preparations for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

Video

Before joining the City Theater Company cast of “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,” Righteous Jolly didn’t know much about America’s seventh president, except for the fact that Jackson appears on the $20 bill. Now, it’s Jolly’s job to bring Jackson to life—in a decidedly modern way.

The rock musical portrays Jackson as a punk rock star and a “cutter,” someone who slices open his skin to relieve emotional pain. And even with all the fake blood—and expect a lot of it—the show is a comedy of sorts.

Why do a show about a lesser-known president? “It’s a cool play hot off the boards of Broadway into our little ‘black box ‘ in Wilmington,” said Michael Gray, producing artistic director of CTC. “No other company in the region will produce this play before we do. In fact, I think we will be the second or third company in the country to produce it following its Broadway run.”

Jackson certainly offers plenty of material. He’s often remembered for violently driving out native populations and taking over territories. He meets wife-to-be Rachel when she nurses him after he’s injured in a bar brawl with Spaniards. “She’s very pious and not glamorous,” said Kerry McElrone, who plays Rachel in “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.” “He was a better man for having met her.”

When they married she was not yet properly divorced. Accused of bigamy and vilified when Jackson ran for president, she died shortly after his election. He dedicated his presidency to her, but it was still beset by problems.

If You Go
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson


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• When: April 27-28, May 3-6, and May 10-12.
• Where: City Theater Company, OperaDelaware Studios, 4 S. Poplar St., Wilmington.
• Tickets: $25-40
• For more info: www.city-theater.org

“He did some good things, but he did it at a cost,” said music director Joe Trainor, who’s also in the five-piece rock band that’s part of the play. (Jolly, who trained as an actor at the Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York, is the lead singer of a band in real life.)

At the musical’s end, an old Jackson sits in a wheelchair, receiving an honorary degree from Harvard University. “He gives a monologue, leaving it open as to how history will judge him,” Jolly said.

Designed to educate while entertaining, “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” is “loud and in your face,” Trainor said. The f-word is not uncommon. If you feel a tad rattled, that’s all good. That means the edgy CTC cast is doing its job and doing it well.

Inside preparations for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

Inside preparations for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

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It’s all part of “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,” the rock musical that will serve as the finale to City Theater Company’s 2011-2012 season. The production, performed in the round at OperaDelaware, takes a comedic yet powerful approach to the life of America’s seventh president and the founding of the Democratic Party.

“One thing I love about the show, is that it’s very ‘in your face,’” said Joe Trainor, the production’s music director. “It’s loud and big and it’s supposed to kind of shake you.”

That’s nothing new for City Theater Company (CTC), which has been shaking things up since 1993, when it debuted at O’Friel’s Irish Pub in Wilmington. Don’t expect community theater. “City Theater Company is vastly different,” said Michelle Kramer-Fitzgerald, president of the board of directors. “You, as the audience, are right in the thick of things and sometimes involved in the action.”

You can’t do that at the DuPont Theatre or the Wilmington Drama League. “They’re not built for that,” she said. “They do their thing well, but we’re meant to be viewed by small audiences.” With about 100 people in the audience, the actors can visually connect with audience members and, sometimes, even touch them.

“It’s so powerful to me to see the raw energy and their emotions,” said Kramer-Fitzgerald, who often gets teary-eyed.

Not all the productions are hidden gems like “Bloody Blood Andrew Jackson.” CTC has also presented well-known productions. The approach, though, strays left of center. “You cast it in a nontraditional way,” said Michael Gray, the producing artistic director. “You’re inspired in your design and approach.” Yes, CTC performed “Hair,” but they included the nude scene that made it so famous when it was first on Broadway. In “Sweeney Todd,” the actors were dressed as British punk rockers

Gray, Tom Shade and Jon Cooper—who met as students at the University of Delaware—founded City Theater in 1993. After graduation, Gray and Shade worked together at the Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia. When Gray was accepted into a PhD program in psychology at the University of Maryland, he wanted to keep his link to theater. The founders selected Wilmington as CTC’s home because it was between Philadelphia and College Park, Md.

During its first season, CTC presented an evening of three short plays at O’Friel’s Irish Pub. The next season, it also held performances in OperaDelaware’s space. The Baby Grand Theatre served as CTC’s home for seven seasons, but it never felt right.

“It is very traditional, and everything we were about got lost there,” Gray explained. “We struggled to try and figure that space out.” The expected layout—the audience facing a stage with a backdrop—creates what Gray and other CTC members call “a fourth wall.” “It’s not how we see theater,” Gray said. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”

CTC, which returned to OperaDelaware in 2007, is the primary occupant of the space. In effect, CTC is the resident theater company of OperaDelaware, Kramer-Fitzgerald said. The black-painted room CTC inhabits at OperaDelaware is flexible; things move according to the production. The one constant is that all perfomances are in the round. (Technically, it’s more a rectangle.) During “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,” some audience members will sit at tables and chairs and become part of the performance. There’s also a working bar in the play.

If You Go
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson


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• When: April 27-28, May 3-6, and May 10-12.
• Where: City Theater Company, OperaDelaware Studios, 4 S. Poplar St., Wilmington.
• Tickets: $25-40
• For more info: www.city-theater.org

On a recent Wednesday evening, the cast gathered to rehearse. Wearing red boots, a scarf as a headband and a long gray jacket, Righteous Jolly from Bucks County, Pa. portrayed a rebellious Andrew Jackson. The actor is a newcomer to CTC. “It’s all worth it,” he said of the hour-plus drive one-way to get to rehearsal. “This feels good to me to be with this production.”

He and Kerry McElrone, who plays Jackson’s wife, Rachel, rehearsed a scene in which Jackson cuts himself to unleash mental anguish. Gray, still wearing his tie from his day job, blocked the scene while other cast members watched. Everyone attends rehearsals. There is no backstage, so performers are “on” all the time.

Many of the cast members also do more than act. McElrone, who played Sally Bowles in CTC’s “Cabaret,” also writes the website copy and press releases. Kevin Regan and Joel Rickenbach design video for the productions when needed. Vicki Neal and Richard Kendrick design lights and sets.

The cast and crew receive a nominal fee, although it’s not on par with Equity wages. “It’s not paying my mortgage,” Gray joked. “But even actors in Philly work other jobs.”

Each year, CTC puts on two mainstage productions and a community series that celebrates a local playwright’s work. How does CTC decide what to stage? Sometimes it’s a play Gray always wanted to do. Others are the result of recommendations. “Ultimately, it rests with me to choose the season,” Gray said. “Does there have to be a musical? No. Will there typically be a musical? Yes.”

In the beginning, a season offered up to four annual productions. The reduction is due to the higher cost of putting on a play. To be sure, the economy has had an effect. “It’s tough out there,” Gray said. “But I think we have a unique product and style that you will not see anywhere else. That uniqueness definitely helps us sell tickets.”

Governor Jack Markell’s Weekly Message

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As part of Delaware’s “Week of Service,” Governor Jack Markell discusses the importance of volunteerism and asks residents to share their stories of volunteering in the state. (See DFM News coverage of the ‘Week of Service” here)

Full text of Governor Jack Markell’s weekly message:

Recognizing the tough financial times our state and our fellow citizens faced, Carla and I replaced the traditional Inaugural Ball each Governor gets with a statewide weekend of service.

Over the years, we’d met so many wonderful Delawareans who gave so freely of their time, and their talents, to help their friends and neighbors.

At the time, we thought – forget having a party – let’s celebrate them, the volunteers whose enthusiasm and compassion help hold together this great state of neighbors. Let’s pull people together, across the state, and connect individuals looking to help with organizations who need a hand.

The response was overwhelming. So many people came out, so many people stood up and said – “let’s make Delaware the first state in service” that the original idea of one, inaugural weekend of service grew into an annual celebration of a full statewide Week of Service.

Carla and I – along with our new dog Rue –  were so happy to help kick off the 2012 week of service last Sunday by joining the brave men and women of our state’s national guard, who shared their stories of service and their particular project they call their “War on Hunger.”

All across our great state, either as individuals or part of a community group; either as a team representing a great small business or by the hundreds from some of our state’s largest employers, people have been going that extra mile to help each other.

They’ve been logging on to VolunteerDelaware.org to find ways to help, turning out  to the Delaware VOICES Listening Tour to share how they’re stepping up, or simply putting their head down and getting to work helping others.

It’s been inspiring to see, and inspiring to hear – and while we’ve been blessed to see so much of it first-hand, I’d like to ask a favor, if you don’t mind. If you’re launching a new volunteer effort this week, or keeping a weekly commitment- if you’re  spending time helping a friend or neighbor – we’d love to know about it.

Share a photo of it with us by email at Governor..us, tweet it, tag it for us on Facebook – or put it up on our “Delawareans who make a difference” board on pinterest.com/govjackmarkell/

Give us the chance to share your story of service – the critical work you and other volunteers do, not only this week, but every week, to pull together and keep Delaware, moving forward.