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

Due to enrollment concerns, Secretary of Education Mark Holodick has placed Great Oaks Charter School in Wilmington on formal review. Formal review is an investigatory process that will allow the Charter School Accountability Committee (CSAC) to determine whether the school has violated terms of its charter.  

The school’s current enrollment is 236 students, which is 73 percent of its authorized enrollment of 325 students. Great Oaks, located in the Community Education Building at 1200 North French Street in Wilmington, serves students in grades 8 to 12.

This matter will be referred to CSAC for review and recommendations. A timeline and more information about the formal review process is posted online here.

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

Traditional family engagement models often look like school staff up front presenting, families receiving and sharing feedback. The ParentCamp model transforms such stand-and-deliver sessions into facilitated dialogues “where the entire room is the expert and everyone brings important and unique perspectives to the table.”

Kuumba Academy Charter School was the first Delaware school to launch a ParentCamp during the 2021-22 school year. This fall, Great Oaks Charter School – Wilmington, Odyssey Charter School and Sussex Montessori School also will engage families in this new model. The U.S. Department of Education has used ParentCamp as a model to provide examples to bring families, educators, and community leaders together in a professional manner.

The design of the ParentCamp model is two-fold: equality conditions plus purpose. Equality conditions mean every person can talk, listen, encourage, and connect with others as feels right to them. Purpose means family, school and community decide not only the session topics but also the purposes around the topics–connect, strengthen and collaborate.

The goal is for participants to have their “universal human needs” met. Participants identified such needs as things such as acceptance, connection, hope, understanding and support.

Kuumba’s first ParentCamp in August – held virtually due to COVID-19 precautions – drew 75 family, school and community participants. Afterwards, parent Jenna Prosceno said she felt “overjoyed

“Such a great support system of educators, parents and community for our children,” she said. “Everything that I heard tonight was so valuable. I’m really excited for this move for my son. I have no worries about him going to a new school this year.”

School staff also value the sessions.

“I’m grateful for the interaction with parents. And most valuable to me was hearing feedback,” Kuumba staff member Christopher Caldwell said after the August session.

Learn more about the great things happening in Delaware schools in this month’s Take Note: Education in the First State eNewsletter: https://conta.cc/3Nw3BBA. Sign up to receive Take Note at Take Note Newsletter – Delaware Department of Education. Take Note is published the final Wednesday of each month. Media contact: Alison May, alison.may@doe.k12.de.us, 302-735-4006.

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

“Whether they are providing individual instructional support, preparing nutritious meals, keeping our buildings safe and clean, safely transporting our students to and from school, providing the technical support our educators and students need or supporting our educators and families through their administrative office support, these individuals are vital to the daily operations of our schools and our students’ academic success,” Secretary of Education Susan Bunting said. “I laud each of these nominees for his or her outstanding work and thank them and all the colleagues whom they represent.”

Now in its second year, the Delaware State Educational Support Professional of the Year (ESPY) program recognizes outstanding service by school employees who provide direct or indirect services to students and their families. The Delaware Charter School Network also is invited to participate. Employees considered for the award include:

• Paraprofessionals
• Custodial staff
• Secretaries
• Nutritional staff
• School- and district-employed bus drivers
• School- and district-employed bus aides

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 $1,000 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. State winners receive an additional $1,500 personal award from DDOE as well as $2,500 to be used for the educational benefit of his or her students.

The 2022 state winner will take over the title from 2021 Delaware Educational Support Professional of the Year Alice Williams, senior administrative secretary at Christina School District’s Jennie E. Smith Elementary.

A selection committee made up of DOE and non-DOE judges is reviewing the local winners’ state applications, and Bunting will announce the state winner later this month.

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

The 19 2022 nominees are:

• Appoquinimink: Wendy Schweiker, paraprofessional, Appoquinimink High School
• Brandywine: Angela Hamilton, paraprofessional, Concord High School
• Caesar Rodney: Alma Bartolomeo, paraprofessional, W.B. Simpson Elementary
• Cape Henlopen: Bryant Hazzard, paraprofessional, Mariner Middle School
• Capital: Darien “Stretch” Robinson, paraprofessional, William Henry Middle School
• Charter Network: Rachael Dallas, systems administrator, MOT Charter School
• Christina: Clara Doyle, ESL paraprofessional, Leasure Elementary School
• Colonial: Jennifer Dunford, child nutrition worker, Colwyck Center
• Delmar: Danielle Youngblood, administrative assistant/eSchool coordinator, Delmar Middle and Senior High School
• Indian River: Gwendolyn Gillespie, paraprofessional, Georgetown Elementary School
• Lake Forest: David Thomas, computer lab/technology paraprofessional, Lake Forest East Elementary School
• Milford: Patrick Seibel, technology specialist, secondary campus
• New Castle County Vo-Tech: Lindsay Gliniak, senior secretary, St. Georges Technical High School
• POLYTECH: Sandra S. Henning, information technology help desk technician, POLYTECH High School
• Red Clay Consolidated: Christopher ChuJoy, autism instructional support paraprofessional, Anna P. Mote Elementary School
• Seaford: Mark Murphy, custodian, Seaford Middle School
• Smyrna: Donella Berryman, financial administrative assistant, North Smyrna Elementary School
• Sussex Tech: Jacques O. Bowe, Jr., paraprofessional, Sussex Technical High School
• Woodbridge: Virginia Martinez, ESL paraprofessional, Phillis Wheatley Elementary School

Find photos of the nominees and learn more about the program here.

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

Twenty Delaware teachers have been nominated to be named Delaware’s 2022 State Teacher of the Year.

Selected from among the almost 10,000 public school teachers in the state, the candidates were nominated by their districts or the Delaware Charter School Network because of their ability to inspire students with a love of learning, demonstration of professional traits and devotion to teaching. Already leaders among the colleagues in their buildings, each now has assumed a role representing educators in their districts or the charter network. In October, one will take over the state title from 2021 Delaware Teacher of the Year Kimberly Stock, an English language arts and English learner teacher from the Red Clay Consolidated School District.

The 2022 District/Charter Teachers of the Year are:

• Appoquinimink: Amanda Binkley of Odessa High (engineering and computer science)
• Brandywine: Jahsha Tabron of Brandywine High (special education)
• Caesar Rodney: Karine Scott of Simpson Elementary (physical education)
• Cape Henlopen: Maura Johnson of Shields Elementary (third grade)
• Capital: Morgan Jewell of Hartly Elementary (kindergarten)
• Charter Network: Diana Magaña of Las Américas ASPIRA Academy (third grade Spanish immersion)
• Christina: Carla Probst of Downes Elementary (fourth grade)
• Colonial: Robert Poore of Southern Elementary (physical education)
• Delmar: Sonja Warner of Delmar High (mathematics)
• Indian River: Haley Mears of East Millsboro Elementary (special education)
• Lake Forest: Clarence ‘Clay’ F. Beauchamp II of Lake Forest South Elementary (kindergarten)
• Laurel: Jessica Pajda of Laurel High (social studies)
• Milford:  Sarah Simon of Morris Early Childhood Center (kindergarten)
• New Castle County Vo-Tech: Dustin Craighton of St. Georges Technical High (science)
• POLYTECH: Debra Castille-Hall of POLYTECH High (English)
• Red Clay Consolidated: Matthew Marion of Linden Hill Elementary (music)
• Seaford: Melissa Pinkerton of Seaford High (English)
• Smyrna: Lauren Mohamed of Sunnyside Elementary (music)
• Sussex Tech: Stephanie Pegelow of Sussex Technical High (English)
• Woodbridge: Kira Wagar of Woodbridge High (English)

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