November 26, 2025

2026 Educational Support Professional of the Year to be named

The Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) is honoring 19 educational support professionals for their outstanding work supporting their students and school communities.

Now in its sixth year, the Delaware State Educational Support Professional of the Year (ESPOY) program recognizes outstanding service by school employees who provide direct or indirect services to students and their families. Employees considered for the award include:

From those nominated at a building level, one educational support professional of the year moves forward to represent each district or the charter school community in the state program. Each district/charter network winner receives a $2,000 personal award from the winner’s district or charter school. The state program then chooses one person annually to serve as Delaware’s Educational Support Professional of the Year. The state honoree receives an additional $3,000 personal award from DDOE as well as $5,000 to be used for the educational benefit of his or her students.

The 2026 state honoree will take over the title from 2025 Delaware Educational Support Professional of the Year Melissa Wilson, a registration administrative assistant at Smyrna Elementary School in the Smyrna School District.

A selection committee made up of DDOE and non-DDOE judges reviews the applications, and the state honoree will be announced at Delaware’s statewide ESPOY celebration the evening of Monday, Dec. 1 in Dover. The event will be live-streamed following the dinner portion of the evening; likely this will begin around 7:10 p.m.

DDOE is excited to recognize these outstanding professionals whose work is vital to students’ success.

PEFC advances school funding in series of public forums

The Public Education Funding Commission (PEFC) held community engagement sessions this month as part of its statewide review of Delaware’s school funding system. The series included two virtual forums on November 17 and 18, followed by an in-person event at Howard High School of Technology in Wilmington on November 19. Together, these sessions provided residents with multiple opportunities to learn more about the Commission’s work and offer feedback on proposed updates to the state’s funding structure.

Attendees at both the virtual and in-person sessions hear about the Commission’s ongoing analysis, including its hybrid funding model that combines student-based and unit-based components. This proposed approach is intended to better support diverse learners and provide schools with clearer, more responsive funding aligned to student needs. In all three sessions, participants asked questions, raised considerations, and shared perspectives that will help inform the Commission’s final recommendations.

The public forums are part of a broader engagement effort designed to gather input from communities statewide. Additional in-person opportunities will take place in early December: 

Sessions are also being considered for January/February to offer residents more opportunities to hear about the proposed model, understand the analysis behind it, and share feedback as the Commission’s work progresses.

Caesar Rodney educator earns top national teaching honor

Congratulations to Caesar Rodney High School educator Kristen Zeman, who has been named a U.S. Presidential Distinguished Teacher Award recipient—one of the nation’s highest honors for classroom teachers. Zeman, who leads the school’s Digital Communication Technology pathway, was selected for her exceptional instructional leadership and her commitment to helping students build real-world skills in media, design, and communication.

In her classroom, students engage in hands-on learning, take on authentic production roles, and develop the technical and creative competencies needed in high-growth digital fields. Her work has expanded opportunities for students to explore career interests, gain confidence in their abilities, and pursue meaningful next steps after graduation.

Zeman’s recognition also shines a spotlight on Delaware’s CTE system, which continues to receive national attention for its strong pathways and alignment with workforce needs. The state has prioritized expanding high-quality CTE programming, ensuring students can pursue rigorous coursework connected to industry standards and postsecondary success.

Educators like Zeman play a vital role in advancing this work—bringing statewide goals to life through engaging instruction and equitable access to future-ready career learning. Zeman will be formally honored later this year as part of the national award program.

What began as a berry garden has grown into a thriving mini farm at the Western Sussex Boys & Girls Club in Seaford—where youth are learning how food is grown, harvested, and prepared before it reaches their plates.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Delaware operates more than 42 centers and school sites statewide, serving youth ages 3–18. At the Seaford site, the Western Sussex Club prepares and delivers between 1,200 and 1,500 meals daily to 22 club locations, two charter schools, a behavioral health facility in Ellendale, and eight additional youth centers across Kent and Sussex counties. In 2019, a vision to connect agriculture to youth nutrition sparked the start of what has now become a vibrant Farm to CACFP model.

Under the leadership of Food Program Director Tony Windsor and the Western Sussex Club’s agricultural director, the club launched its first garden with support from a $50,000 Specialty Crop Block Grant from the Delaware Department of Agriculture. Today, that single initiative has expanded into a permaculture-inspired mini farm featuring more than 70 varieties of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and nuts—all grown using organic practices.

Youth are directly involved in planting, harvesting, seed starting, pollinator care, and hands-on cooking activities. Fresh produce makes its way into “snacktivities,” culinary lessons, and seasonal menu features, such as kale chicken salad. Families can also pick up produce from a community fridge located in the Western Sussex Club’s lobby.

“It has changed the way our youth and families think about food,” Windsor shared. “Kids who never tried kale are now asking for seconds.”

The mini farm is now woven into the club’s culture, fostering curiosity, healthy habits, and stronger connections to local agriculture. Students who once hesitated to garden are now tending beds with care and pride.

Behind the scenes, dedicated staff, strong partnerships, and year-round planning sustain the effort. Funding and staffing challenges have prompted creative problem-solving, leading the Western Sussex Club to build a wide network of supporters, including the DDOE, USDA, Director of the Delaware Farm to School Program, Christiana Care, Corteva, and the Harry K. Foundation.

Today, this program stands as a model for how Farm to CACFP can nourish youth, engage families, and uplift communities.

The Western Sussex Club story is part of the Delaware Farm to CACFP Spotlight series, created by the Delaware Farm to School Committee to highlight innovative farm-to-early-care and farm-to-youth programs across the state.

For centers interested in starting their own garden-based learning programs, the Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood (DIEEC) offers Let’s Grow Outside, an initiative supporting outdoor learning and farm-to-CACFP efforts.

Students, families encouraged to search for scholarships

With January scholarship deadlines fast approaching, Delaware students and their families are encouraged to search now for programs that will help offset the cost of their post-high school education plans.

Available online, the 2025-26 Delaware Scholarship Compendium provides a free, mobile way for students to find scholarships by category and deadline. The database includes more than 250 local and national scholarships – not just for four-year degrees, but for vocational/trade, two-year, graduate, and certificate programs, too.

DDOE believes all students need some sort of post-high school education to help launch a successful future. Any student seeking additional education is encouraged to visit the Compendium. Students and families can search scholarships by eligibility requirements such as county of residency, ethnicity or race, and profession – about 15 categories in all – as well as alphabetically or by due date. Users then can drill down for more details, including application information.

As in previous years, school counselors are encouraging students to visit the Compendium as well. The online resource is also highlighted during student and family sessions focused on post-secondary college and career planning.

The 2025-2026 Delaware Scholarship Compendium is available online at https://scholarships.delawarestudentsuccess.org/. To better meet the needs of all families, the Compendium is also available in Spanish and Haitian Creole.

Delaware Department of Education I education.delaware.gov