Red Clay Referendum And City Schools

Filed in National by on February 2, 2012

The Red Clay Consolidated School District is holding a Capital Referendum on February 28, 2012.  Included in this referendum is the addition of another new suburban elementary school.

Let me begin by saying that I wouldn’t have a problem with the new school if Red Clay would ensure that its other schools didn’t suffer when a new school opened.  Unfortunately, this hasn’t been the case.

In the past 10 days my email  has been filled with letters from community advocates and parents from the Highlands, Warner and Shortlidge community.  Everyone has the same concern:  New schools hurt existing schools, especially city schools.  The evidence backs up their concerns.

Take a look at one of the FAQs and response on Red Clay’s referendum site:

1. What happens if it [referendum] doesn’t pass?
Adjust feeder patterns at elementary schools, reconsider BSS K-8, remove programs at city schools (Pre-K, Parent Centers, Boost Up, Small Class Size).

Why wouldn’t all Red Clay Schools be subject to program cuts?  Why just city schools?

I have a question… Wouldn’t funding for programs come out of operating expenses, not capital expenses?  Remember, there are two types of referendums: Capital – which covers renovations and building, and Operating – which covers funding for programs, technology, etc.  I do understand that the two effect each other, but I still don’t see why city schools, and only city schools, lose programs due to capacity.  Unless… they intend to remove those programs to make room for more traditional classrooms?  Which is feasible since Warner is drastically under capacity, but I’m unsure as to who would fill those additional classrooms.

Unless… this is just a warning to suburban parents?  Vote for the referendum or we’ll bus you into the city.

Well… hey… lookie here.  Red Clay has updated the answer to the question.  It now reads:

We would need to consider a number of options.
• Readjusting feeder patterns in most of our elementary schools to shift the population to our schools in the city. This would be disruptive to all of our schools, and impact important programs in place at our city schools.
• Reconsider the BSS K-8 model.
• Continue to rent trailers, and add additional trailers

As a city resident I’m all for option number one, but I get that this is designed to have suburban parents running to the voting booths in support of the referendum.  Vote yes, or else we’ll put your kid on a bus and send them to one of those scary city schools.  Nice.  Remember this the next time Red Clay uses the slogan It’s for the Children.  That slogan should have an asterisk at the end of it.

Now let’s take a look at the history.  Old schools take a hit when new schools open.  Brandywine Springs Elementary opened in September 2000 as a K-5 school.  Let’s take a look at Warner in the years leading up to that opening.  (All info posted below is available at: State of Delaware School Profiles)

Warner:
1997 – 1998    906 students (3rd-5th)         37.4% Low Income       9.3% Special Ed
1998 – 1999    855 students (3rd-5th)         32.2% Low Income      10.3% Special Ed
1999 – 2000    823 students (3rd-5th)        34.9% Low Income      10.6% Special Ed

Side note:  800 – 900 students between 1997 and 2000 doesn’t seem to give credence to the District’s lack of capacity claim, especially since Warner’s current enrollment is 555 students.  The proposed new school will hold 600 students.  And please keep in mind that the Neighborhood School’s Law does not require building new schools.

Now let’s take a look at what happened to Warner when RCCD opened new schools:

Brandywine Springs opens in 09/2000 and Warner looks like this:

2000 – 2001    600 students (1st-5th)         51.3% Low Income      12% Special Ed

North Star Opened in September 2005.  Look at Warner for this year:

2005 -2006    686 students (K-5th)           82.1% Low Income       10.6% Special Ed

And what does Warner look like this year?

2011 – 2012     555 students (K -5th)       87.4% Low Income         16.6% Special Ed

Take a look at where our city schools were the year before Brandywine Springs opened and where they are now:

Highlands:
1999 – 2000     348 students (K-3rd)         44.8% Low Income        6.9% Special Ed
2011-2012        367 students (K-5th)          83.4% Low Income       10.9% Special Ed

Shortlidge:
1999 – 2000     483 students (K-4th)       70.8% Low Income         8.9% Special Ed
2011 – 2012      311 students (K-5th)        90.4% Low Income        12.9% Special Ed

Warner:
1999 – 2000     823 students (3rd-5th)        34.9% Low Income      10.6% Special Ed
2011 – 2012      555 students (K -5th)           87.4% Low Income      16.6% Special Ed

How are Red Clay’s new schools doing?

Brandywine Springs Elementary:
2011 – 2012    1088 students (K-8th)    14.5% Low Income       6.1% Special Ed

North Star Elementary:
2011 – 2012    735 students (K-5th)       3.9% Low Income        3.8% Special Ed

Does this look fair to anyone?  And I didn’t even get into minority breakdowns.  But Kilroy has an interesting post up on his blog titled:  Conrad Continues To Shed Black Students.  Kilroy’s blog is a font of information.

And the programs the District proposes to cut if the capital referendum fails will come from city schools?

And it’s not just city schools.  Some older suburban schools have taken the hit from the new schools as well.

Here’s my question:  Should Red Clay be allowed to open another new school without a serious plan designed, funded, and put in place, to help its other schools?

And why wouldn’t they at least try and make city schools more desirable to suburban parents?  Why not house a full time Talented and Gifted program at one of their city schools?  The Brandywine School District does this at Claymont Elementary and P.S. duPont Middle School.  Their IB (International Baccalaureate) program at Mount Pleasant High School.  All of these programs have one thing in common:  They are located in schools that were struggling for diversity and lack of students from higher socio-economic backgrounds.  Surely, Red Clay could learn something from Brandywine?

Here’s my last question:  Why would any city resident vote for this referendum?  Can anyone provide a reason?

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Comments (23)

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  1. kilroysdelaware says:

    Thanks Pandora for the link.
    Also, add this into the equation http://kilroysdelaware.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/more-on-the-demise-red-clays-lewis-schools-dual-language-program/ = a new dual language charter school has applied to open and it’s a few blocks from Lewis which is a Red Clay dual language school where the program is failing and at 73.6% capacity. This charter school with a former president of Red Clay school board will have 600 students and “will” drag Lewis enrollment down creating more seats in Wilmington Red Clay schools.

    Harsh as it may sound, Red Clay wants to pacify suburban more affluent parents creating neighborhood schools so that their children won’t be bused into Wilmington at the same time busing Wilmington kids to suburban middle and high school. Red Clay does not have traditional middle and high schools in Wilmington. If it’s good enough to bus minorities out of the city shouldn’t it be just as good to bus whites to Wilmington Red Clay schools? Also, why should city Red Clay taxpayers keep paying more taxes to build should their children won’t benefit? Honestly it time to address the inequities not support a wicket re-segregation plan.

  2. cassandra_m says:

    This is fantastic blogging, P!

    If I lived in Red Clay, I would vote against this referendum. This looks like the textbook case of diverting resources to suburban venues at the expense of the city schools, yet they are expecting city residents to help fund this discrepancy.

    There is a meeting about this in the city in the next week or two, right? Probably time to try to get city residents energized to get out to vote this down.

  3. pandora says:

    There is also a meeting at Shortlidge next Monday, Feb. 6th. City residents and politicians can, hopefully, attend both meetings.

    Suburban parents have been receiving phone calls on the referendum for weeks – see Kilroy again. And why is it okay for this to be promoted just in the schools? By the time word gets out about this to taxpayers who don’t have children in RCCD schools, or who don’t have children at all, it’s too late for for them to have their concerns addressed.

  4. jpconnorjr says:

    Those numbers should have Judge Schwartz doing subterranean back flips!

  5. Coolspringer says:

    Great post.

    I would encourage city residents to attend the public information session on the referendum that is taking place at Highlands Elementary on Thursday, February 16th, 6:30pm. I am making up a flyer to raise awareness of this meeting and hope to see a lot of representation from residents, community associations and council members in Red Clay!

  6. Mike Matthews says:

    Hey, everyone. Thanks for this post, pandora.

    At first, I was absolutely against this new school in Hockessin. Absolutely. 100%. Then I dug a little deeper and while I still question why this school is being built, I’ve come to see this from a very different perspective that makes so much sense.

    Most of the city schools are operating well under capacity. Some well under 80%. The common thinking is “Oh, that space must not be being used then.” Not true at all. I would say most of those city schools with such “low” numbers (and not just city schools, but ALL Title I schools, including my own) are absolutely using the space given to them. In my opinion, most of the ways for calculating these numbers are outdated and don’t take into account the many DIFFERENT learning styles we must accommodate these days. SO while a school may be nowhere near capacity, the space in those buildings is absolutely 100% being used to accommodate enrichment classes and other absolutely necessary small-group activities. I hate starting sentences with “Research shows…,” but research shows kids from impoverished backgrounds REQUIRE smaller class sizes. Many of these “vacant” classrooms are being used by resource room pull-out teachers, RtI teachers, and psychologists, speech and occupational therapists to provide needed services to students. And those services and providers aren’t calculated in those capacity numbers. Again, why we need to look again at rejiggering the formulas.

    Good question re: Why would a city resident vote for this?

    At a school like Warner, which, I believe is at 70% capacity (don’t quote me), those extra rooms are absolutely being used. What happens if this doesn’t pass and an extra 90 kids need to be sent to Warner? That’s four homerooms that will be required. Four fewer classrooms for teachers providing therapies, enrichment, or small-group services.

    Everyone knows where I stand on the Neighborhood Schools Act. It was a crappy piece of legislation that has led us down the path of defacto segregation and our schools are not better off because of it. I went to Shortlidge when it was a bussed school and, let me tell you, the climate was completely different. When districts concentrate the poverty and concentrate the wealth in separate schools, then we’ve nearly got Plessy vs. Ferguson all over again. Seriously.

    That being said, population has shifted in Hockessin. Kids are dropping out of private school in large numbers. They have the right to a public education. I’ll say it again: I have many reservations about this new school. MANY. My concern: If this school DOESN’T get built, those students will have to be sent to the other schools, further straining the space and potentially gutting the ability for schools to provide necessary services to the kids who need them most.

    I do not approve of some of my District’s wording in getting people to support this referendum. We can do this without playing to emotion.

    Sorry this post was so choppy. I have lots more to say, but I’m on my duty-free lunch here at school and just had to chime in immediately. I can appreciate arguments on both sides and please know I’m not towing any administrative line here in kinda-sorta coming out in support of the new building.

    I’m sure everyone knows, but there will be two lines on this referendum. One is the capital improvements and the other is the new school. Two separate votes. So, while you may be against the new school, I can tell you our schools definitely need the capital improvements. So vote accordingly!!! 🙂

  7. Mike O. says:

    Thanks, Mike M. for pointing out the referendum will have two lines, one for the new school, and one for renovations.

    FYI, the renovations will spend $98 million across Red Clay, including $20 million for renovating city schools. $20 million is the amount of the referendum for the new school.

    So having the referendum on two lines makes all the difference.

    The threats to cut programs and operational spending are unwelcome though. I’d like to hear the rationale for that.

  8. pandora says:

    Mike O.,

    I just posted this comment on your blog. (I will put up a post announcing your new blog soon! Welcome!)

    You ended your post by saying:

    Honest people can disagree on the referendum for many reasons, but just know that if you vote No on this referendum, you are voting against $20 million in renovations to city schools.

    City schools that many city residents can’t use. And, believe me, I tried. Red Clay, through Choice, re-segregated it’s city schools. Remember, Brandywine Springs started as an all choice school which resulted in the first wave of suburban flight. North Star allowed room for the remainder to get out of city and other struggling schools.

    Remember also, that Red Clay’s proposal for the Neighborhood School’s Law was an “All Choice” district.

    And I’m not against renovating existing schools. I do, however, find your cost comparisons argument unsatisfactory- simply because you want to compare schools by capital financial dollars without factoring in the fact that not all RCCD schools are created equally.

    (It kinda reminds me of how certain people focus on the dollar amount Mitt Romney pays in taxes and not the actual percentage.)

    In order for your financial comparison to hold up then no one in the suburban communities would have an educational problem with sending their children to city schools?

    In my opinion, and I would venture a guess that you are not a city resident, RCCD should make a commitment to improving all existing schools before we give them another new school.

    And, yes, we can respectfully disagree.

  9. Kilroysdelaware says:

    I support keeping our schools well maintained and indeed the referendum vote is two part. I won’t be supporting a new school in Hockessin. Lewis is going to fall to the new dual language school were a former Red Clay board president in on that board and were Rodel has a person on the board. 600 hundred students at this new school will crush Lewis! But it goes deeper than that! I feel Red Clay’s agenda is racially skewed. Wilmington Red Clay taxpayers paid for Brandywine which in fact failed referendum twice. The district “got creative” with help of the legislators and used portion of the sale of the administration office on Washington Street. The were to say money by moving the district administration offices in Brandywine’s annex building! Which they did! Then came Brandywine parents who forced Red Clay to expand Brandywine to K-8 forcing the district administration to vacate to a 7 million dollar lease deal in Linden Park Office Plaza and then to Baltz for another million dollars work of renovation and infrastructural upgrades.

    As far as Warner in this conversation. Why is it Warner has consistently failed over and over and over yet Lewis has been assigned a partnership zone school? Millions will be poured into Lewis even-though the new charter school will degrade it?

    If Wilmington parents and taxpayers don’t rally and vote no for the new school they’ll get what’s $$$$$$$$ coming to them! Being the servant to the status quo in the suburbs! Vote for the referendum part the repairs and upgrade existing schools.

    AS far as the meeting at Highlands! Don’t drink the Red Clay kool-aid! You’ll get shallow promises!

  10. Mike O. says:

    “In my opinion, and I would venture a guess that you are not a city resident, RCCD should make a commitment to improving all existing schools before we give them another new school.”

    There is no shortage of commitments and plans to improve schools.

    I agree with your statement, even though it would probably impact my suburban family. I lived in NYC for over ten years and I considered myself an urbanist, although we copped out and moved to the burbs to raise a family.

    My preference would be to divert operational resources from suburban schools and give them to city schools, combined with higher taxes if necessary. But not willy-nilly. There would also have to be a state and federal commitment to provide support to the families and neighborhoods, not just a money dump into the schools.

  11. pandora says:

    And speaking of Highlands…

    Here is a question on that RCCD FAQs page:

    What is being done about Highlands which is equally overcrowded?

    The District’s response:

    We have been working with engineers to look at possible options to provide additional classroom space at Highlands. We will work with the Highlands community as we have options to consider and have not ruled out any options.

    So… Highland’s overcrowding will not be addressed in the referendum? Let’s take a look at Highland’s enrollment history:

    2011-2012 367 students
    2010-2011 330 students
    2009-2010 329 students
    2008-2009 337 students
    2007-2008 371 students
    2006-2007 388 students
    2005-2006 400 students
    2004-2005 344 students
    2003-2004 326 students
    2002-2003 360 students
    2001-2002 368 students
    2000-2001 359 students
    1999-2000 348 students
    1998-1999 379 students
    1997-1998 346 students

    These numbers are pretty consistent. I don’t have current capacity numbers, but it would seem that given these enrollment numbers (and the fact that Red Clay included this question in their FAQs), Highland’s overcrowding situation is not recent phenomenon and should have been included in the referendum.

  12. kilroysdelaware says:

    Here you go Pandora! Highlands capacity is 356 and this years enrollment 357 103%
    http://www.boarddocs.com/de/rccsd/Board.nsf/files/8PCN8T5BC2D5/$file/Board%20Presentation%20for%20school%20capacities%202011.pdf

  13. kilroysdelaware says:

    Sorry enrollment this year is “367”

  14. Coolspringer says:

    The data here is wonderful and speaks volumes, I can think of little to add to it! In my opinion addressing the problem of ghettoized city public schools is a critical piece of the economic development prospects for the City of Wilmington (which will eventually affect the county, eventually the state) which is something I care about as much as I care about socioeconomic integration as a moral issue. I hope Red Clay’s city taxpayers will agree – or even give it any thought.

    At the risk of sounding self-righteous (I hope not, sorry) – I just think it’s time we consider how much we as individual parents are dividing our energies into fleeing from one neighborhood/school to the next and look at alternatives that elevate the entire community, not just privileged segments of it. A friend of mine* once said, referring to students at Warner (where we’re feeder-ed, though we live within blocks of Lewis, but don’t attend either), “Those kids are SCREWED!” – and I don’t disagree; I just don’t see how we can divorce their fate from the rest of us – we, and moreso our kids, are going to have to share a society with them one way or another! Pretending otherwise seems so shortsighted and scary to me. Much more scary than sending my 8yo to school with poor children.

    Don’t worry about the koolaid drinking, Kilroy – but I’m really looking forward to bringing more community members into Highlands for a change. Here’s hoping.

    *This friend has 3 kids. One in a private school, one at Odyssey Charter, and a third in the Brandywine School District. She’s not unique. This is the lot of the Wilmington parent these days. Good luck to us filling vacant properties and keeping the crime rate trending downward…

  15. Kilroysdelaware says:

    Coolspringer, good luck at Highlands. And do ask what happens to Lewis if the new dual language charter school is approved. That school will be 600 seats. It will impact Lewis and perhaps force Red Clay to rethink it’s dual language program.

  16. Coolspringer says:

    Thanks – I’m hoping well have plenty of people asking those questions and more!

  17. Jack Wells says:

    A few comments:
    1. When North Star opened we had one K-5 school with over 80% low income enrollment, we now have 6.
    2. Every school since NS opened enrollment declined except the 3 severely over crowded schools that were created by choice and failure to adjust enrollment patterns.
    3. Heritage Elem. is located 1.4 miles from Linden Hill one of the schools over-crowded, based on feeder enrollment last year Heritage was 286 chilren under program capacity. The Board has not discussed this situation. Why?
    4. Because of “choice” we had to pay thousand of dollars for portable classroom at Linden Hill, hear they were leased for 5 years.
    5. District reduced school capacity at Warner from 1105 to 600 after millions were spent on capital improvement,how is all that space being used.
    6. BSS is mostly choice and has K-8, we have added 6-8 at Cab and Conrad who had over 190 choice students from other school district. Why not use the space in these schools for 6-8 choice instead of BSS.
    7. Dickinson HS had 1100 students a few years ago, they now have 618, lots of space for 6-8, if 6-8 is acceptable for Cab and Conrad,why not for Dickinson? Could we change the attendence zones for Dickinson and McKean and allow Cab to use one of these schools?
    last year 49% of students at Cab were from other school districts.
    8. More capital for Wilmington Campus where at best 60% are RC students but RC property owners pay all local capital cost. Is it legal to use public funds for charter school facilities? Remember DMA was shot down.
    9. RC children choicing to charters after NS open increased by almost 100%.
    10. At what point does the cost of maintaining underutilized space going to result in closing schools, how will that impact on the travel time children will have to ride a school bus?
    We know the consequences after NS opened, what is going to happen if a “new” school is built and very few new homes are built?
    To me this is about the education consequences on our children and not just in K-5, when we increase the number of schools with low income enrollment over 80% from 1 to 6, that will impact on every school.

  18. the19802 says:

    @ Killroy I think your post on the changing racial makeup at Conrad might be faulty because you span the transition period. Conrad started as a school with a legacy feeder pattern and transitioned into a magnet school where ALL students had to “choice” into Conrad, and be accepted. I’m not sure exactly when that happened, but looking at the data I would guess around 2008 or 2009.

    In 2007 Conrad took all students from the mandated feeder pattern. In 2010 Conrad only took students who applied, and there was no feeder pattern.

    Therefore it’s an unfair comparison. Prior to 2008-09 there was a population of African American and Hispanic students who were mandated to go to Conrad, and that mandate ended around 08-09.

    A better indicator of any perceived bias would be the student population vs. the population of RCCSD, since all students in Red Clay (and from other districts) can “choice” into Conrad.

    Red Clay 2011-12 District Conrad
    African American 22.9% 11.6%
    American Indian 0.2% n/a
    Asian 5.7% 2.5%
    Hispanic/Latino 21.8% 22.0%
    White 48.4% 63.5%
    Multi-Racial 0.9% 0.4%

    Other Numbers
    Low Income 43.5% 36.2%
    Special Education 11.5% 4.1%

    So yes, Conrad is not as diverse as Red Clay, but I have to disagree with your blanket statement that Conrad is “Shedding Black Students.” I would also be willing to wager that Conrad is more diverse than any other school in the RCCSD, and in NCCO, since feeder patterns seem to create more mono culture schools.

    An important unknown is the demographics of the applicants. If only 10% of the applicants were African Americans, then Conrad accepted more than applied. If 20.9% of the applications were from African Americans, then there is indication of a bias. But no one has brought applicant data to the argument.

    Lies, damn lies, and statistics.