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A new plan to reorganize Milton’s elementary schools is meeting resistance right out of the gate. The town has two elementary schools, each offering kindergarten through fifth grade. But a Cape Henlopen school board member wants to replace them with one school for kindergarten to second grade and the other for third to fifth grades.
The plan would keep a core group of children together through their educational careers, says Cape school board member Spencer Brittingham. At the same time, it would encourage diversity and equality. “This will give them more of a straight line from kindergarten through high school, so they can form bonds and friendships that last,” he said.
The plan also would address a gap between the two schools: While state evaluations call H.O. Brittingham a commendable school, Milton Elementary is considered a superior school. At H.O. Brittingham, 64.4 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-cost lunches, but that number drops to 34.4 percent at Milton Elementary, said Mike Kelley, district supervisor of curriculum and instruction.
Brittingham said he realized something needed to be done when a parent called him saying she wanted to choice her child out of H.O. Brittingham Elementary because he was in a class with a Hispanic child who spoke faltering English.
Brittingham met with the Milton Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) Wednesday, March 12. He says those in attendance were 100 percent against his proposal. The school board isn’t backing the idea yet either, he said.
“We need to do something more at H.O.B. It has the largest percentage of low socio-economic students. I don’t know if reorganization is the way to go, but we need to put more resources into the school,” said board member Allan Redden.
PTO members could not be reached for comment.
Why the resistance to reorganization? For Brittingham, race may be a factor.
“You cannot be a learned person and look at this issue and not see race come into it,” he said. In examining the pros and cons of a reorganization, any way you cut it, race enters the picture, he said.
Cape Henlopen schools offer all-day kindergarten but Indian River schools do not. Children from Indian River School District towns such as Georgetown can opt into H.O. Brittingham Elementary to take advantage of Cape’s all-day kindergarten.
But moving young children out of a school with a significant minority population instills in them the wrong values, said Brittingham. Diversity is one of the most important aspects of a young child’s education, he said. “Are these the values that we want to teach our children?” he asked. “When I went to Cape schools, the idea was that it takes a village to raise a child,” he said.
It is the inclusion of all races and all socio-economic backgrounds that creates the village in which children should grow and learn, he said. Keeping children together in that way lets them form bonds with all kinds of people, Brittingham said.
The issue is not entirely racial. Parents also move their children to Milton Elementary School from H.O. Brittingham to Milton Elementary because of the schools’ state ratings.
“I think they’ve done such a good job at Milton Elementary that parents see it as a good school and they want their children to go there,” said Redden.
But Brittingham says those kinds of moves disadvantage all children. “I’m not the type of person who looks at ratings. I look at what is best for the faculty and students of the district. Students in schools under review deserve the same treatment as students in superior schools. Those ratings don’t take into account all the issues kids face – some of them come from single-parent homes, some are disadvantaged. Ratings don’t look at adversity,” said Brittingham.
Taking the so-called “smart kids” out of schools under review is not the way to get those schools’ ratings up to snuff, he said. Brittingham said he has confidence in the ability of all the district’s teachers to educate children of all capabilities.
He readily admits that his is a fresh idea and by no means a sealed deal. He just wants people to talk about it. “Discussion brings out ideas, ideas bring out change and change is constant. I’m only one-seventh of the school board and we need four members to make a decision,” he said.
Redden said people in the district are worried that reorganization is a done deal. He wants to make sure people know that nothing has been decided. District Superintendent George Stone said reorganizing the schools might result in lower scores in both schools, and possibly land both under state review.
If anything is to come out of the proposition, it will come only after much discussion and community input, Brittingham said.
Contact Leah Hoenen at leah@capegazette.com
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