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Uncertainty at Elbert-Palmer Elementary as it preps for last school year

Sophia Schmidt, Delaware Public Media
Families and students gather in a hallway at Elbert-Palmer during the backpack and haircut giveaway

Wilmington’s Elbert-Palmer Elementary School is gearing up for what will likely be its last year, as Christina School District prepares to implement a consolidation plan for its city schools.

At a free haircut and backpack giveaway at Elbert-Palmer Tuesday, parents met the school’s new principal, Krystal Greenfield. Greenfield found out just days before that she’d be taking over as principal this school year—which starts Monday.

“I’m prepping for giving the kids the best experience that I can give them, and for supporting teachers and the community the best way I can this school year,” she said.

An student gets a free haircut at the back-to-school event funded by Capitol One Bank.

Greenfield says she hasn’t been told the details of Elbert-Palmer’s future.

A consolidation plan approved by the Christina School Board last winter would close it and move students elsewhere.

Shalonda Davis’ son went to Elbert-Palmer, and her grandson is there now. She says the plan has already caused changes at the school.  

“They lost a lot of teachers because of this. They lost their principal because of this,” she said.

Incoming Principal Greenfield says roughly a quarter of the school’s teachers are new this fall.

Kesha Monroe is the parent coordinator at Elbert-Palmer through Children and Family First. She says parents are feeling uncertain about the change.

“They really don’t know what’s going on. And they don’t want their kids to be housed somewhere else,” she said. “They want them to be housed where they live.”

Jacqueline Craig has one child who graduated from Elbert-Palmer, and another who’s there now.

Sophia Schmidt, Delaware Public Media
Backpacks remaining at the end of the back-to-school event Tuesday

She says Elbert-Palmer has gone beyond educating children, and helps connect parents with social services related to food, housing and career development. She describes the school as a community hub.

“They’re not just our friends, they’re our family. So I don’t think it’s right that they’re closing,” she said.

Parties to last winter’s Memorandum of Understanding have said that the building will hopefully be kept functioning as a community resource.

Although Elbert-Palmer students will likely be headed to Bancroft Elementary under the reconfiguration plan, Shalonda Davis says she hopes to get her grandson into charter school.

“I’m not going to subject them to public school anymore because of this. I don’t want to take them out of Christina School district and put them in Colonial, and they go through the same thing at Colonial,” she said.

But Davis says she’ll be praying all year for the Christina School Board to change its mind about the reconfiguration.

 

Sophia Schmidt is a Delaware native. She comes to Delaware Public Media from NPR’s Weekend Edition in Washington, DC, where she produced arts, politics, science and culture interviews. She previously wrote about education and environment for The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, MA. She graduated from Williams College, where she studied environmental policy and biology, and covered environmental events and local renewable energy for the college paper.
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