Great Oaks Charter School, struggling to meet enrollment levels included in its contract with the state, survived a formal review process and will be permitted to continue operations, Secretary of Education Mark Holodick announced Thursday at the monthly meeting of the state Board of Education.
Four other charter schools, each with a distinct curriculum model, received approvals Thursday from the state Department of Education to continue operations for the next five years.
Great Oaks, based in the Community Education Building in downtown Wilmington, saw its enrollment decline this fall to 217 students, or two-thirds of the 325-student level specified in its charter agreement. The Department of Education’s Charter School Office placed Great Oaks under formal review in September, triggering a series of meetings and public hearings that dug into a variety of issues plaguing the school.
Great Oaks, which opened in 2015 as a middle school, expanded to add high school grades but did not achieve expected enrollment growth. It then decided to phase out its middle school. It is serving grades 8-12 this year and will serve only grades 9-12 in 2023-24.
The department’s Charter Schools Accountability Committee (CSAC) recommended allowing Great Oaks to continue operations, albeit with 22 conditions, two of which are that it enroll 200 students in 2023-24 and that it has enrollment commitments from at least 180 students by April 1.
Holodick included all those conditions, which covered items like the school’s budgeting, professional certifications of staff members and student participation in annual state assessments, in his letter concluding the formal review. Many of those items have deadlines in the first half of 2023. If the school misses any of those deadlines or fails to meet any of the conditions, the Department of Education could take further action against Great Oaks, including revoking its charter.
Two steps that worked in Great Oaks’ favor during the formal review were a restructuring that included adding board members with experience at other successful charter schools and arranging with the Charter School of New Castle to have LaRetha Odumosu, head of its middle school, serve as a “critical advisor” to a revamped management team during the formal review and for its own charter renewal next year. Odumosu was one of several administrators recruited for the New Castle school six years ago as part of a transition from the troubled Family Foundations Academy, which had been under formal review because of mismanagement issues.
"We are pleased with the outcome of this formal review process. The leadership team is optimistic that Great Oaks will meet the conditions set forth by the authorizers,” Odumosu said. “Our teachers, staff members, and broader community of stakeholders will move forward in serving our students and families by continuing to provide the intimate, and personalized setting they desire, while simultaneously ensuring that the high school environment they’ve chosen prioritizes their voice and involvement."
The linkage between Great Oaks and the Charter School of New Castle is “emblematic of the charter school community, of one school helping another,” said Kendall Massett, executive director of the Delaware Charter Schools Network and a non-voting CSAC member. “Our charter schools are not working in silos. They’re part of a community.”
In addition to his Great Oaks decision, Holodick approved five-year renewals for four charters schools, as recommended by CSAC.
The renewals were granted to: Academia Antonia Alonso, a dual-language Spanish-English elementary and middle school near Newark; First State Montessori Academy, an elementary and middle school in downtown Wilmington; Early College School at Delaware State University, a middle and high school in Dover; and Thomas Edison Charter School, an elementary and middle school on Wilmington’s East Side.
The schools receiving renewals illustrate the diversity of the state’s 23 charter schools, Massett said. “We’ve got three dual-language schools, two military, and two Montessori schools,” she said.
Of the four schools whose charters were renewed, only Early College was subject to any conditions, and those were related to a misunderstanding concerning filing some documents related to the school’s curriculum, a matter that has already been resolved, Massett said.
Early College, which opened in 2014 as a high school on the Delaware State University campus, received authorization two years ago to add middle school grades. It now enrolls about 525 students in grades 7-12 and will add sixth-grade classes next year. The school’s curriculum model allows middle school students to earn high school credits, and high school students to take college classes with Delaware State students, making it possible for them to shave a year or more off the time spent earning a college degree.
Academia Antonia Alonso, which opened in 2014 as an elementary school in Wilmington’s Community Education Building and moved a year later to a suburban site on the Odyssey Charter School Campus, now enrolls more than 700 students at a new location outside of Newark. It added a sixth grade this year and will expand with seventh and eighth grade programs over the next two years.
First State Montessori opened in 2014 as an elementary school and subsequently added middle school grades. It now enrolls about 630 students.
Thomas Edison was one of Delaware’s earliest charter schools, opening 22 years ago. As of mid-September, it enrolled 636 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The school, whose enrollment is approximately 95 percent African American and 80 percent low income, has regularly outperformed comparable Wilmington schools in the state’s annual academic assessments.
Charter schools must seek renewal of their state charters every five years. (A 10-year renewal can be granted if a school demonstrates exceptional performance.) The renewal process includes an extensive examination of the school’s academic programs, enrollment, finances and governance.
