The Wilmington Redding Consortium's next phase of work includes discussion of student reassignments, staff logistics, and a transition period.
The Consortium, created in 2020, will produce a plan and recommendations to consolidate Northern New Castle County districts into one for the General Assembly to and Delaware Board of Education to review in early 2027. The first phase set a framework for a plan to merge Brandywine, Christina, Colonial and Red Clay school districts.
Redding co-chair State Sen. Tizzy Lockman (D-West Wilmington) said the consortium's previous work this year on needs assessments and review with national experts will, "guide the deep work that they that we are now ready to do."
The group of parents, lawmakers, and school superintendents will start working group meetings in October to narrow down approaches to the stipulations it agreed on previously.
"We are indeed in position to deliver on the stipulations that we've discussed," she said. And it will take public input, "making sure that members of the public are able to give us feedback… before we start locking some of this stuff in."
One priority is to establish a comprehensive high school in Wilmington. Another area that will be addressed is barriers to school choice caused by limitations to transit.
The consortium will meet in six working groups, including the Redding executive committee.
The executive committee has eight members, including the Delaware State Education Association’s president, Tameka Mays, and State Rep. for District 1 in Wilmington Nnamdi Chukwuocha (D-Wilmington).
This group is set to lead conversation in the next phase on "transitional governance, capital assets, fiscal obligations, and other key operational considerations that may not be in statute but are essential to an effective merger."
