Delaware’s new Secretary of Education is sworn into office

Mark Murphy, the new Secretary of Education is already planning for the future, just one day after former Secretary Lillian Lowery stepped down from the Delaware Department of Education.

On Friday, Murphy spent his first day on the job where many of his new colleagues were excited to welcome him. However, before Murphy got settled, he was first sworn into office by Gov. Jack Markell, D-Del, who used the bible of Murphy’s late grandfather. A special touch to the humbling opportunity says Murphy.

While there are many things to tackle in the department, Murphy plans to start with empowering his staff in order to get the right support in place.

“I think first and foremost the goal is to ensure the work that we are doing is empowering our teachers and the people closest to our students to make a difference in their lives each and every day,” said Murphy.

Another priority is setting policies and implementing work. “Setting policy is one thing and implementing is another, and so a huge priority for me is sweating the details, paying attention to implementation, making sure that we get the work right at the level that matters most, which is the level around our students and our teachers, ” added Murphy.

Murphy also plans to continue with improvement work in the Delaware’s federal ‘Race to the Top’ plan.

“Strong public schools remain critical to our long-term economic success. Secretary Lillian Lowery and her team have created a strong foundation. We must continue to build upon that work in order to keep moving Delaware forward,” said Gov. Markell.

Prior to Murphy’s new position, he worked as teacher, principal and most recently an executive director of Vision Network, a non-profit organization where he helped to improve education in 26 schools across the state.