Apr 16 2025
Board Meeting

▼Full Transcript Below

1. Public Comment
   ⏯ 0:13:16 - 25:20

   • • Charles Lockerman (Friends of AI) Advocated for increased bussing and redrawn attendance zones to boost enrollment and equity,

     • Jenny Howard (parent): Raised concerns about the long-standing facilities and financial arrangement between the district and CSW

     • Gianna Howard (student): Opposed CSW speaking at AZ Committee about their desire for one of Red Clay's buildings. 

2. Board Committee Report
   ⏯ 1:01:12 -1:08:31

   • • Board Member Vic Leonard provided an update on the Secondary Attendance Zone and Programming Committee March 20 meeting; The committee reviewed 12 attendance zone and consolidation scenarios, examined feasibility costs, CTE program disparities, and school size data. Ted Ammann, COO, joined the meeting to discuss reiterated the cost feasability with those scenarios. Superintendent Dorrell Green joined the meeting to discuss possible scenarios related to the outcome of Redding and city schools. 

     • Board Member Vic Leonard provided an update on the Secondary Attendance Zone & Programming Committee April 15 meeting. and Charter School of Wilmington wanting to expand to middle school. Research around school size and student achievement was discussed; Charter School of Wilmington made public comment about wanting a better facility; the committee discussed needing more time before making a recommendation to the Board in July.

     • Board Member Kecia Nesmith urged for more diligent communication about the committee's work; Both Board members acknowledged and commended Mr. Pruitt’s organization in guiding the committee’s work. 

     • Superintendent Dorrell Green remarked that sustaining CTE programs requires significant facilities investment and emphasized that the committee’s charge is limited to balancing enrollment, reviewing attendance zones, and evaluating programming within Red Clay providing ancillary space for schools outside of Red Clay.

⏯ 0:13:16 - 25:20

⏯Charles Lockerman: Good evening, Members of the Board. I've been here before. My name is Charles Lockerman. I'm speaking on behalf of Friends of AI. AI is doing a lot of great things. We plan next year to have more involvement with students. We're trying to help with some of their end of the year stuff helping kids with prom etc. We also want to communicate the benefits of AI not only for the students but the community. I also want to start by speaking to a survey that was done I think in the last couple years that was sent out to parents within the zones that said hey you know are you interested in sending your child to AI and a lot of them responded and said we are but the bus hub stops aren't conducive to our work schedules or the locations just aren't they can't the parents can't get to work and drop the kids off where the buses are. So that's direct feedback to say hey increased busing you know may help increase enrollment at AI. Also I wanted to continue to emphasize the need for redrawing the attendance zones as there needs to be a consolidated effort to have a balanced school district to be considered rightly consolidated. Right now things just aren't equal attendance-wise and our goal is to change that but we got to do it together. Last thing I wanted to speak of is just an idea that I had to campaign at the middle school level where you guys are looking at what the kids are doing right now. And just, you know, when I was coming out of high school, I, you know, there were college fairs.You can meet people in the gymnasium at the table, talk to them about the different programs that each institution has. But I don't know if that same approach has ever been done at the middle school level. And if the middle school kids, you know, have a voice and an opinion going into the world because they're going to be more independent in high school than, you know, having, you know, members of each school, AI, etc. McKean, you know, go to the middle schools to try to like, you know, for better, lack of a better way to put it, recruit the kids and just tell them why it's, you know, good to come there, what the benefits are, etc. You know, I think that also helps to educate the kids and that's what we're all here to do. And you know, they have to be aware of the world and they're walking into, so they should have input into where they're going a little bit. Um and the more information they have, the better decisions they can make. Thank you for your time tonight. Thank you. 

⏯Jenny Howard: Hi, good evening. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak tonight. I want to talk about the Charter School of Wilmington, known as CSW, and how it has historically benefited from a special arrangement with the Red Clay Consolidated School District. First, a reminder to the public. Charter schools are public in name, but they are privately operated. They're funded with public dollars, but they're managed by private boards, not the district. Students who attend charter schools like CSW are not considered Red Clay students even though the district authorizes the school. And while Red Clay oversees CSW's charter, it's important to understand that Red Clay does not owe CSW any facilities. Yet, for nearly 30 years, Red Clay has provided CSW with access to one of its own buildings, the former Wilmington High School, at little to no cost. CSW paid $1 a year in rent for the first 12 years. Today, CSW and CAB Callaway share the Wilmington campus, but CSW enrolls more students and uses more space, yet still only pays for 31% of the building's cost based on an outdated formula from a time when four other programs were in that building. That number has never been updated. To make matters worse, under the new lease, Red Clay is now paying CSW $50,000 a year per CAB students to participate in CSW athletics. This is a complete reversal from past agreements where CSW reimbursed the district. And while CSW students can take over 20classes at CAB, CAB students can only take three courses at CSW. That imbalance speaks volumes. Meanwhile, CSW is actively trying to expand and is now seeking to take over one of Red Clay's public school buildings. That's a problem because again, the district is under no obligation to give away space, especially when that space could be used to serve the broader Red Clay community. Let's not forget the equity concerns. CSW has historically enrolled few students with disabilities, limited numbers of low-income students, and has consistently failed to reflect the diversity of our district. The bottom line is this. CSW is a charter school that operates independently, yet continues to receive preferential treatment, public subsidies, and physical space at the expense of transparency, fairness, and district students. I'm not here to criticize excellence, but we are here to demand equity. It's time for Red Clay Community to take a hard look at this arrangement, protect its public assets, and ensure that every student in this district has a fair and equal opportunity. Thank you.

⏯Gianna Howard: Hi, my name is Gianna. Last night, I listened to the CSW students share their perspectives at the attendance zone committee about expanding and potentially moving into one of Red Clay’s buildings. Today I want to offer a different point of view. As a student who attends a traditional Red Clay public school, if CSW expands and more students leave Red Clay schools to go there, that means less funding for the schools we actually attend. Our programs, electives, and supportive service services could all get cut because funding follows the student. CSW is selective. Not everyone gets in and many students who need more support or learn differently don't even apply because they know it's not built for them. If CSW expands, it might create even more separation between schools for some kids and schools for the rest of us. CSW is trying to move into one of Red Clay's public school buildings. That space could be used for new district programs, career pathways, or help reduce overcrowding. Losing that building to a charter means fewer options for traditional public schools students like me. It feels like one school is getting all the special treatment, extra funding, nicer facilities, and more opportunities, while the rest of us are being told to settle for less. That's discouraging. We want investment in all public schools, not just one. CSW expanding might make it harder to unite the community around improving education for everyone. Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight.

⏯ 1:01:12 -1:08:31

Vic Leonard: Okay. I just want to say that we had two meetings and again it's a very intense group. We have the public and administration, teachers, etc. And it's very important for this committee to determine new attendance zones and any other school consolidations that we may have or some of the proposals. And at this meeting, we had some public comment from Charter School Wilmington. Mr. Pruitt, this is from the 20th March meeting. Mr. Pruitt reviewed the charge and a committee of the meeting norms. 

Dr. Green offered some insight into possible scenarios from the Redding Consortium and WLC concerning city schools. And this is just a brief overview. Dr. Green also offers some different models from around the country on CTE Innovation Centers and so forth. Since that's one of the scenarios we're talking about in this committee. We had a guest speaker - Ted Ammann Red Clay Chief Operating Officer - presented the very detailed feasibility study for each of scenarios we had 12 scenarios at the time the cost that would be associated with those scenarios, which was very useful to the committee. Then at the end Mr. Pruitt made a motion to have the April town hall meeting be used as a regular meeting so the committee could continue discussion and brainstorming on the many scenarios within the project. And that motion was passed. We had that meeting last night. 

And at that meeting there was a lot of discussion. Again we had several representatives - five I believe and all from Charter School Wilmington comments about the need for a new building. There also was a lengthy discussion for the need for more time to discuss the different scenarios that were brought up through the committee. It was agreed by the committee members to add additional meetings - possibly two per month and extend the deadline for final presentation to the School Board for vote from July to possibly August - September when no later than October 2025 so we can meet the deadlines for choice applications. Ms. Corey Heacock, manager of assessment and professional learning, gave a presentation on the state data concerning the correlation between school size with enrollment and student performance and research showed that the threshold for consistent student learning was around 1,500 but state of Delaware data was not consistent with that and for reasons suggested were demographics and magnet charter schools. 

Mr. Pruitt presented the results of an internal Red Clay CTE audit of all three comprehensive high schools AI High, McKean and Dickinson. The audit showed that Mckean had the most robust programs. They had seven in all CTE programs that were thriving while AI and Dickinson both had one each. And then Mr. Pruitt separated the committee into four groups for discussion and brainstorming. We are now down to 11 scenarios. Because the one was voted down by the committee to combine the AI middle school with AI high school for a 6 through 12 program. 

So it was a great discussion we had and we have a lot of work to do. So we did add another meeting on May 1st which means there'll be two in May and then we will decide then how much more time we need for the presentation to the Board for vote on the four scenarios that were outlined. Next meeting will be May 1st 2025. Thank you. 

Kecia Nesmith: Can I add to that? I just really briefly first I just want to say I am really impressed by the administrative team led by Mr. Pruitt. Okay, Mr. Pruitt with his organization and his leadership around this process - is it's very intricate and well planned. So, thank you for that. And then Dr. Heacock's information about the data in terms of comparing schools was interesting as well. And so lastly, I did mention the need for us to expand our communication around this committee's existence. Possibly a direct email to families in the district so that they are aware ahead of time before any decisions are made because we don't want us to make the recommendation and - I know there's a survey going out but just being very transparent about what we're doing and very uh not just not we're transparent but being very diligent about the communication so that if there's any ideas or concerns that they can come out before we make our recommendation from the committee to the Board. So, I look forward to continuing to do this hard work. It's a very difficult decision, but I know that Red Clay is ready to move forward. Thank you. 

Jose Matthews: Thank you, Dr. Nesmith. Any questions? Moving on. Wilson Learning Collaborative - 

Dorrell Green: Yes. No, I just wanted to clarify for the record that McKean and AI do have more than one CTE program. So I don't - I mean again - I know there's an imbalance and we're working on that imbalance. So I'm not sure, I wasn't present at the meeting. 

Kecia Nesmith: I'll answer that. So that was my other point. I forgot to say the data just a quick correction. It was in terms of the facilities and the the the viability of those programs within the facilities. It wasn't the programs themselves having more. It was more the spaces were more conducive to their programs within McKean. 

Dorrell Green: Right. Okay. So, I just wanted to be clear and I think that's one of the the challenges when we look at CTE programming and and how things are laid out in terms of us being a traditional school district - what it requires when you have CTE programs, what are the capital, minor cap needs to outfit spaces. Too often we wet CTE programs to individual staff members. That staff member leaves and that program goes with them. It takes a lot of investment. So I think part of this committee's efforts are for us to really look at not just from a programmatic need but a facilities need as well. 

I will go on the record to say that based on the direction that the Board provided with us with the charge. Providing or looking for ancillary space for schools outside of Red Clay is not a part of this charge in terms of what we're looking for. I know that media has grabbed this information and has kind of taken it and run with it. We're focused on balancing enrollment, looking at our attendance zones, and looking at programming across Red Clay Consolidated School Districts. I just think that needs to be stated clear for the record.

🌐Secondary Attendance Zone & Programming Committee webpage 

April 15, 2025 Meeting Materials 

📁Secondary Attendance Zone & Programming Committee Meeting Rolling Slides April 15, 2025

📹Secondary Attendance Zone & Programming Committee April 15, 2025 Meeting Recording

Secondary Attendance Zone & Programming Committee April 15, 2025 Meeting Minutes For convenience, the full meeting minutes are typed below. 

March 20, 2025 Meeting Materials

📁Secondary Attendance Zone & Programming Committee Meeting Rolling Slides March 20, 2025

📹Secondary Attendance Zone & Programming Committee March 20, 2025 Meeting Recording

📄Secondary Attendance Zone & Programming Committee March 20, 2025 Meeting Minutes For convenience, the full meeting minutes are typed below. 

March 20, 2025 / 6:00 PM / RCCSD Board Rm, 1502 Spruce Ave, Wilmington, DE 19805 

Zoom Meeting (For public only. Committee members are in person.) 

Attendance/Welcome Thomas Brucker, Emily Carroll, Dorrell Green, Antonio Gomes, Val Gould, Vic Leonard Sr, Jose Matthews, Caitlin Merto, Jodi Muffley, Kecia Nesmith, Mark Pruitt Jr , Madeleine Reitemeyer, Eric Sanford, Shawn Snyder, Kendra Todd-Dixon, Reggie Worlds 

Vic Leonard made a motion to start the meeting, seconded by Shawn Snyder. Motion passed. Meeting called to order at 6:05pm. 

Agenda Items 

Opening Items 

• Public Comment - Hadrian Cissell, Jenny Howard

• Approve Minutes from February 19th. Jose Matthews made a motion to approve the minutes, seconded by Jodi Muffley. Motion passed. 

New Business 

• The Committee’s Charge/Goal - Mr. Pruitt 

• Meeting Norms - Mr. Pruitt 

• Tentative Timeline - Mr. Pruitt - discussion of changing April meeting to a committee workgroup instead of public town hall 

• Redding Update/Implications - Dr. Green 

• Brainstorming Results - Mr. Pruitt - setting D building removed as possible solution from results, not tied directly to committee charge due to special education considerations 

• Models from Around the Country - Dr. Green and Mr. Pruitt 

• Guest Speaker- Ted Ammann, Chief Operating Officer- discussed the feasibility of brainstormed ideas. 

• Motion made by Mark Pruitt to push back April public town hall and instead schedule April as regular meeting. Seconded by Shawn Snyder. Motion passed. Red Clay Consolidated School District 1 

• Public Comment - Brenda Steffon 

• Adjourn - Caitlin Merto made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Jodi Muffley. Motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 8pm. 

Action Items 

• Moving analysis & discussion, straw poll to next meeting. 

• Additional research on the following models K-8, k-12, 6-8 

Next Meeting April 15, 2025 @6pm at RCCSD Board Rm, 1502 Spruce Ave, Wilmington, DE 19805 

This meeting is open to the public. The draft meeting minutes will be posted on the district’s website, redclayschools.com, within 3 business days of the meeting.

April 15, 2025 / 6:00 PM / RCCSD Board Rm, 1502 Spruce Ave, Wilmington, DE 19805 

Zoom Meeting (For public only. Committee members are in person.) 

Attendance/Welcome Jason Bastianelli, Tawanda Bond, Thomas Brucker, Emily Carroll, Amin Farooqui, Antonio Gomes, Val Gould(remote), Vic Leonard Sr, Jose Matthews, Kecia Nesmith, Mark Pruitt Jr , Jennifer Recchiuti, Madeleine Reitemeyer, Eric Sanford, Shawn Snyder, Kendra Todd-Dixon, Reggie Worlds Dr. Corey Heacock - guest speaker 

Mr. Matthews made a motion to begin the meeting, seconded by Mr. Leonard. Motion passed. 6:01pm. 

Agenda Items 

Opening Items 

• Public Comment - Chonnie Blair, Elaine Guo, Arianna Li, Amy Reynoso(Zoom), Kate Terranova 

• Approve Minutes from March 20th. Mr. Matthews made a motion to approve the minutes from March 20th, seconded by Mr. Worlds. Motion passed. 

New Business 

• The Committee’s Charge/Goal - Mr. Pruitt 

• Meeting Norms - Mr. Pruitt 

• Tentative Timeline - Mr. Pruitt - Group discussed timeline of committee, possible adjustments, and goals for board presentation. 

• Mr. Pruitt shared a CTE Audit summary focusing on the facilities readiness of CTE pathways across Red Clay’s 3 A-Z high schools. 

• Dr. Heacock shared limited research on optimal comprehensive high school sizes and grade configurations for K-12 schools. 

• Three groups completed a relevance, feasibility, and impact analysis of ideas presented to date. 

• The committee agreed that Mr. Pruitt will send out a straw poll allowing each Red Clay Consolidated School District 1 committee member to “tally” up to four ideas they support most at this point in the work. This information will be made available at the next meeting. 

• Public Comment - Jason Gleber 

• Mr. Matthews made a motion to add a meeting May 1st, seconded by Mr. Gomez. Motion passed with 9 yes votes and 5 no. 

Adjourn - Mr. Gomez made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Mr. Farooqui. Motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 8:20pm.

Action Items 

• Mr. Pruitt will email a straw poll for committee members' response. 

Next Meeting May 1, 2025@6pm at RCCSD Board Rm, 1502 Spruce Ave, Wilmington, DE 19805 May 21, 2025 @6pm at RCCSD Board Rm, 1502 Spruce Ave, Wilmington, DE 19805