Secretary of Education Mark Holodick has approved the Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence’s request to delay its opening by one year.

The planned Georgetown-based charter school was slated to open for sixth and seventh graders this fall. BASSE leaders requested the change to allow them more time to attract students. Delaware’s charter school law states all charter schools must have 80 percent of their enrollment by April 1^st to operate the following academic year. BASSE is 76 students short of its April 1 goal of 200 students, school leaders said in their request for the delay. If the school is able to attract the needed students over the coming year, the new opening date would be September 2024.

The 124 students who had enrolled in BASSE for this fall can attend their home feeder schools for the 2023-24 academic year or apply to choice into another school with remaining capacity.  Although the School Choice application deadline was in January, the delayed opening is considered “good cause” under the law to allow the students to participate.

Media contact: Alison May, alison.may@doe.k12.de.us, 302-735-4006

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