Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence was first placed on review in late 2025 and had their first meeting with the Charter School Accountability Committee last month, where BASSE leadership answered questions about enrollment, financial and organizational concerns.
Now, the committee again raises concerns to school leadership following a downturn in enrollment and student retention. BASSE has lost nearly half of their enrolled students since opening.
BASSE school leadership acknowledges the registration concerns but believes the formal review process might be hampering enrollment.
Candace Shetzler is Staff Representative on BASSE’s Board of Directors.
“We can’t recover enrollment when we’re starting in August with ‘Is the school going to be shut down?’ That’s how we started our school year. You can’t recover like that.” she said. "Formal review may have started in the letter that you all sent out... but this has been going on for many of us for a much longer period of time."
The school first opened for 6th-8th grades in the 2024-2025 school year. Its enrollment has dropped by nearly half since that time, leaving it 6 students below its authorized minimum of 125.
Chantalle Ashford, BASSE’s Dean of Academic Excellence, says it’s critical the school meet that minimum benchmark in the coming weeks.
“I think there’s kind of two parts to this: I think at least to meet the minimum threshold, to get the opportunity to continue to recruit over the summer, we need to make sure we can guarantee that we’re going to have 125 students next school year, and then that gives us the opportunity to appeal at the public hearing next month.” she said.
Delaware Charter Schools Network executive director Kendall Massett said during the meeting that those numbers can make or break the school’s case for remaining open.
“If you want to save this school, every single one of your parents needs to stand up and say so. And, not 20 in February and 20 in March. You need to get applications before public comment ends" she said.
Public comment closes on March 12th, according to CSAC's timeline
That public hearing is scheduled for March 9th in Georgetown, where Ashford says the community will have the opportunity to voice their support for the school and its impact on the community.
Ashford adds the school has been involved in social media and targeted ad campaigns, as well as in person recruitment events, in order to increase the school’s enrollment numbers
If closed, it would be the 14th charter school to be closed by the state and the first in nearly seven years, the last being Design Thinking Academy in 2019.
Delaware Secretary of Education Cindy Marten is scheduled to make a final decision on the school’s future March 19th.
