The Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence charter school will close its doors at the end of the school year.
BASSE was first placed on formal review late last year Secretary of Education Cindy Marten and the State Board of Education decided to revoke the school’s charter Thursday.
Marten and the board acknowledge the impact the school has on the surrounding community, noting the decision was not because of a lack of passion from school leaders and staff.
State Board of Education President Jon Sheehan
“This was a hard and painful decision. As I said in my remarks last night, I know the decision does not reflect a lack of effort, or a lack of caring, or a lack of love for the students.” he said.
School leaders met with the state Charter School Accountability twice earlier this year to address issues that the Committee had with the school- once in January and again in February.
Enrollment ultimately was the school’s undoing. Marten says BASSE was below its required minimum number of students and had no clear path to reach it .
School leaders and community members expressed concern during public hearings about options for their students if the school were to close, and argued that the school was not given enough time to properly establish its feasibility.
BASSE Board Member Dr. Katherine Cauley reiterated that sentiment in comments made to the board on Thursday,
"Making a decision to revoke a charter school on less than two years of operations for reasons other than significant financial malfeasance or safety issues in the school is unprecedented in Delaware" she said. "Indeed, schools have had at least three to give to establish viability. Members of CSAC, State Board of Education, and Secretary Martens: You should have given us a fair chance."
Sheehan called for some changes to be made to the formal review process, asking that the visits to the schools in question be made by board members as part of the public record process,
"I know from being an educator myself that data is important but getting into a school building and seeing what's going on gives you a much broader perspective" he told DPM.
BASSE’s minimum enrollment requirement was 350 students, it had 119 students at the time the review process began. BASSE leaders said that the school required at least 125 students to be viable.
The school will officially close when its school year ends on June 11th.
BASSE is the first charter school to be closed in the First State since Design Thinking Academy in 2019.
