State's top 10 real estate deals in 2018 June 26, 2018 | Vol. 5 • No. 13 | DelawareBusinessTimes.com | $2.00 13 THE DRONE ECONOMY'S NEW RECRUITER How Theo Nix is preparing a new generation of drone professionals and entrepreneurs | 10 FINAL THOUGHTS WITH ELTON BRAND General manager, Delaware Blue Coats 30 2 | June 26, 2018 DELAWARE BUSINESS TIMES DelawareBusinessTimes.com WE STAND FOR TURNING PASSIONS INTO PROFITS. Talk to one of our Business Associates for loans to make it happen. At WSFS Bank, we prefer to do business your way. Always right around the corner, and ready to help you grow, diversify and thrive. We oer solutions to tackle challenges, make the most of opportunities, and better manage your finances along the way. We’re WSFS Bank, and we stand for what’s possible. We Stand For Service. WSFSBANK.COM / 1.888.WSFSBANK WSFSBANK.COM / 1.888.WSFSBANK ©2018 Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB | Member FDIC DelawareBusinessTimes.com DELAWARE BUSINESS TIMES June 26, 2018 | 3 FIRST LOOK Founded 2014 A Biweekly Newspaper Serving Country’s ‘best public schools’ within Delaware’s reach Delaware’s Business Community Vol. 5, No. 13 dated June 26, 2018 e Delaware Prosperity report — schools that “demonstrate higher levels of © Copyright 2018 by Today Media, Partnership has begun its strategic English language arts or math pro ciency than their All Rights Reserved. planning process to gure out the peers relative to overall school low-income population, This newspaper or its trademarks may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any form or by best way to bring more businesses and perform above the state average.” any means electronic or mechanical, including to Delaware and keep businesses Principal Brown’s methods included: photocopying or recording, or by any information here by helping them grow. One of • Setting a culture of high expectations. storage and retrieval system now known or the most e ective tools they could • Extending the school day. e new principal was hereafter invent without written permission from the Publisher. For licensing, reprints, e-prints, plaques, have would be the ability to say able to pay the teachers to work another 2 hours per e-mail [email protected]. Rob Martinelli that Delaware has the best public day four days a week. Publisher CEO/President schools in the United States. • Using data frequently to drive instruction. Every Publisher Of course, we don’t. A recent day the teachers would get together and collaborate on Robert F. Martinelli report by the Rodel Foundation, titled “2017-18 Public which students didn’t get which assignments that day. Associate Publisher Education at a Glance,” is sobering. Statewide in 2017- • Using small group tutoring. ose students that Fay Steiger 18, 54 percent of Delaware public school students didn’t get the assignment that day would have small Digital Editor/Senior Reporter achieved pro ciency in English language arts, and group tutoring sessions. Alex Vuocolo 45 percent in math. And in a measure of the state’s • Investing in teachers. A lot of the grant money Vice President of Business Development “achievement gap,” only 37 percent of low-income went to training and developing the teachers. Charlie Tomlinson students achieved pro ciency in English language It gets even better. Sales arts, and 29 percent achieved pro ciency in math. A national study by Roland Fryer, a professor of Lisa Fleetwood at puts Delaware at or slightly below the national economics at Harvard University, supports Dale Brown’s Roger Girke average in reading and math pro ciency. We’re in the methods. Fryer has done a lot of study on closing the Tiffany Giroux middle of the pack. e top performing public school achievement gap in public schools, and his research Director of Digital Strategy system in the country is in Massachusetts. What if I shows that public schools can succeed in closing the gap Greg Mathias told you we could overtake Massachusetts in ve years? by doing ve things: Extending the school day; using Production Manager e solution can be found in Dover — not at data frequently to drive instruction; having a devotion Donna Hill Legislative Hall, but at Booker T. Washington to high-quality teachers and principals; having a culture Art Director Elementary School, where a principal named Dale of high expectations; and using small group tutoring. Chris Johnson Kevin Brown was lured out of retirement in Maryland e need to boost public school performance in Graphic Designers with the task of turning the school around. Armed with Delaware could not be more urgent. Delaware has C. Belinda Cimo $250,000 in Race to the Top money, Brown transformed already seen an exodus of taxpayers drawn across the Rosalinda Rocco the entire learning culture at Booker T. Washington, border by Pennsylvania’s superior schools, and this Copy Editor starting in 2012. trend has tremendous negative impact on Delaware Al Kemp e Booker T. Washington changes in numbers business and economic development. Book Of Lists/Audience Development Specialist are startling by any measure. Students at Booker T. e good news is, we already have a solution to the Mike Rocheleau Washington, 66 percent of whom come from low- achievement gap. If we can achieve what Booker T. Founding Publisher income families, achieved math pro ciency of 70 Washington achieved in ve years with our lowest Sam Waltz percent, and English language arts pro ciency of 71 performing schools, it will push the state averages to Today Media percent — well above the state average. ey were the point where we could say, “Delaware has the best President: Robert F. Martinelli labeled one of ve “equity bright spots” in the Rodel public schools in the United States.” Vice President: Ralph A. Martinelli Secretary-Treasurer: Richard Martinelli Chairman: Angelo R. Martinelli WHAT’S INSIDE ON THE COVER GET MORE NEWS For advertising information [email protected] In Review 4-7 302.504.1270 For subscription information 5Q 8 DelawareBusinessTimes.com/Subscribe Book of Lists 21 800.849.8751 Know How 22 To submit press releases or story ideas Want more news while [email protected] Biz Calendar 23 on the go? 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Spotlight: Real estate Information in this publication is gathered from DuPont Country Club, a roadside attraction and two Greenville shopping @DEBusinessTimes sources considered to be reliable, but the accuracy ad completeness of the information cannot be guaranteed. centers were among the 10 priciest real estate deals in the fi rst half of No information expressed herein constitutes a 2018, according to CBRE. Meanwhile, on the residential front, a hot market Linkedin.com/company/delaware-business-times solicitation for the purchase or sale of any securities. is spreading west in Sussex County. | 13-17 4 | June 26, 2018 DELAWARE BUSINESS TIMES DelawareBusinessTimes.com IN REVIEW NEWS BRIEFS Beebe Healthcare announces revised plans for expansion Beebe Healthcare has announced revisions to its strategic expansion rst announced in 2017. Among other tweaks, the new plan no longer includes the construction of additional inpatient rooms at the Lewes Campus. Instead, it places greater emphasis on outpatient services and access to advanced medical technology. “Hospitals and health systems throughout the country have worked very hard over the past few years to transform the way that healthcare is delivered,” said Jerey M. Fried, president and CEO of Beebe Healthcare. “e future of healthcare includes more care being provided in convenient and ecient outpatient settings, and less care requiring an extended stay in a hospital.” Friend noted that Beebe is looking to reduce the rate of inpatient hospitalization through new approaches to health management. “After careful review, we strongly believe that this is the right approach to ensure that we can remain focused on providing the right mix of inpatient, outpatient, and emergency care services to improve the health of the communities we serve, enhance is staying the same.e new South Coastal Campus including interior renovations, expansion of the patient experience, and provide care in the most in Millville is set to begin construction this fall, and West Lobby, additional parking, beautifying the cost eective and scally sound manner possible,” the Specialty Surgical Hospital in Rehoboth Beach corner of Fourth Street and Savannah Road, Fried said. is slated for this spring. and remodeling of patient rooms. Much of the ambitious expansion plan, however, e Lewes Campus will also get improvements, Chemours ex-worker pleads guilty in China trade secrets case A former employee of a chemical company spun o from the DuPont Co. has pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal trade secrets and sell them to Chinese investors. Former Chemours Co. worker Jerry Jindong Xu, a Canadian citizen, was arrested in New York last August and entered the guilty plea. He faces up to 10 years in prison at his sentencing on June 27.