Delaware
Civil rights complaint targets English learner support in southern Del. school district
‘This is not how it’s supposed to be run’
Michaud Ngido, who has taught in the district for nearly three years and previously worked as an ESL (English as a second language) teacher in Tennessee for seven years, was surprised to find that Mariner Middle School lacked designated English learner classes.
“I assumed with time we could develop the classes and they would let me kind of pull out and teach my own classes,” she said. “But they started to pull back on that, and so we weren’t even allowed to create makeshift classes anymore for the newcomers.”
As a result, students with little to no English proficiency are placed directly into general education classes with no specialized instruction.
“They were just 100% all day in regular classes,” she explained. “I knew the law, that this is not how it’s supposed to be run. I didn’t feel like we were being heard and were being taken seriously.”
When she voiced her concerns to administrators, she said they dismissed them, claiming Delaware had no specific requirements for ELL instruction and that parents could not sue.
“Which is not correct. That’s not how it works,” she said. “So I just realized I have to go to the next level.”
For students caught in this system, the consequences are clear: Many fall through the cracks.
“Because they’re in regular classes, they’re hiding, they just sort of disappear,” Michaud Ngido said. “They don’t understand what’s being spoken. They sometimes can do Google Translate and translate the worksheet, but they have kind of missed the lecture or they’ve missed the presentation, or if there’s a video clip, they can’t understand that.”
She noted that grades do not always reflect a student’s true comprehension, as teachers often try to be lenient.
“If they really gave an honest, truthful grade, they’d probably all be failing every single class because they can’t read the material. They can’t write in English. They can’t understand the lectures,” she explained. “Teachers are very charitable and if you’re making an effort, then they’re going to give you a good grade and they realize your struggle. So grades are kind of a hard marker to use.”
Dewey Beach restaurants and bars on gloomy Memorial Day weekend
As they say at The Starboard, “When it rains, we pour.”
No, Taylor Swift was not in Dewey Beach this weekend.
However, there was a little truth to the rumors that pervaded social media.
Travis and Jason Kelce were invited to a wedding in Dewey this weekend, Starboard owner Steve “Monty” Montgomery said.
“The groom played football with them at Cincinnati and is close with those boys,” Montgomery said.
The Starboard is one of Dewey’s most iconic bars and restaurants and has offshoots across town, such as Starboard RAW and Starboard Sauced.
Montgomery said he did close Starboard RAW for the wedding party May 29, but the professional football-playing brothers and Travis Kelce’s ultra-famous fiancée, Taylor Swift, did not end up attending the wedding.
Reach Shannon Marvel McNaught at smcnaught@gannett.com or on Facebook.
MUNCIE, Ind. — Indiana State Police is investigating an officer-involved shooting that took place in Muncie early Sunday morning.
According to ISP, around 12:13 a.m., officers from multiple agencies were called to an event in the area of Bunch Boulevard and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on reports of a person shot.
A Delaware County Sheriff’s Deputy arrived at the scene and approached on foot. While the deputy was walking, he made an encounter with a vehicle and discharged his sidearm at the vehicle.
The circumstances and reason behind why the deputy fired his weapon remain under investigation.
The gunfire struck the vehicle, but no one was injured during the course of the incident.
The ISP Criminal Investigations Division is investigating the deputy’s use of force. Once the investigation is complete, the findings will be used by the Delaware County Prosecutor’s Office for review.
The investigation remains active and ongoing; no additional information is available at the time of this article’s publication.
This is a developing story; check back for updates.
A new study released by the Delaware River Basin Commission says PFAS contamination remains widespread throughout the Delaware River Basin, raising continued concerns about drinking water, wildlife and long-term environmental health across Pennsylvania and neighboring states.
The report, released Wednesday, summarizes more than 20 years of research into PFAS — commonly known as “forever chemicals” because they break down extremely slowly in the environment.
The study is especially significant for Northeastern Pennsylvania because several counties either fully or partially fall within the Delaware River Basin, including Pike, Monroe, Wayne and parts of Carbon County, where many communities rely directly on Delaware Basin waterways for drinking water and recreation.
Other NEPA counties with portions connected to the basin include Lackawanna, Luzerne, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties.
Major waterways tied to the Delaware River Basin in Northeastern Pennsylvania include the Lehigh River, Lackawaxen River, Brodhead Creek, Tobyhanna Creek and portions of the Lackawanna River watershed, along with numerous streams throughout the Pocono region.
Researchers found PFAS contamination consistently present in surface water, sediment, fish and blue crab tissue samples collected at 21 locations throughout the basin.
Officials said contamination levels increased as the Delaware River moved downstream toward Delaware Bay, suggesting ongoing pollution sources such as industrial facilities, wastewater discharges and stormwater runoff.
“Safeguarding water for over 14 million people requires science-informed management actions,” DRBC Executive Director Kristen Bowman Kavanagh said in a statement.
PFAS are used in a wide range of products because they repel water and oil. They have been linked to a variety of health concerns and environmental risks.
The study identified different PFAS compounds in different sample types, highlighting what researchers described as the complexity of contamination throughout the river system.
“The Delaware River Basin is a global hotspot for PFAS pollution,” said DRBC Senior Chemist and Toxicologist Jeremy Conkle, who led the study.
The commission said continued monitoring will focus heavily on the tidal Delaware River and tributaries impacted by development and population density.
Officials also announced the launch of a new interactive online mapping tool that allows the public to explore PFAS contamination data across the Delaware River Basin, including local watersheds.
The tool combines information from federal and state agencies along with other organizations to provide a regional look at known contamination sites.
The DRBC will also host a public webinar on June 15 to review the study’s findings and demonstrate the new mapping application.
The Delaware River Basin provides water resources to more than 14 million people across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and New York.
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