State probe targets Stevenson charter
The state has announced the second investigation in less than two years of the Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence in Georgetown, this one centering on declining enrollment and related financial troubles.
“Due to enrollment, financial and organizational concerns, Secretary of Education Cindy Marten, with the assent of the state board of education, has placed Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence in Georgetown on formal review,” according to a news release issued Dec. 19 by the state.
The probe will determine whether the school, which opened in fall 2024, has violated the terms of its charter, according to the state. The school, which focuses on service learning and educates students in grades 6 to 9, plans to expand to 10th grade next year, according to the state.
Rep. Bryan Shupe, R-Milford, said he requested an investigation at the end of the summer in a letter to State Auditor Lydia York, relating allegations from a constituent about financial issues and lack of accountability.
The auditor did not respond, but the Department of Education announced its investigation Dec. 19, Shupe said.
“I appreciate the secretary of education taking these concerns seriously and moving forward with a review,” Shupe said. “Oversight and accountability matter, especially when taxpayer dollars and students are involved.”
He said a constituent told him that she had put $8,000 for food, supplies and field trip costs for a summer program on her credit card and had not been repaid after several attempts.
Alison May, a public information officer for the state education department, said Dec. 22 that the matters to be reviewed focus around low enrollment and related financial issues. The enrollment was reported at 230 when the school opened in fall 2024. It has fallen to 123, according to the state.
“The Department of Education is recommending that this charter undergo a formal review process that’s based on concerns we have related to enrollment and also to the resulting financial impact that’s connected to that,” Marten said at a Dec. 11 meeting of the state board of education.
That raised concerns about the school’s long-term financial viability, sustainability and its ability to meet the terms of its charter, she said, noting enrollment is 35% of the level anticipated in the charter.
“To use an analogy, the check engine light is on at the school, and we’re just asking that you allow us and the Charter School Accountability Committee to open the hood and see what’s really going on in there,” said Leroy Travers, director of the state Charter School Office, at the Dec. 11 meeting.
Most of the enrollment decline occurred in the past six to eight months, Travers said. No possible causes were discussed at the meeting.
Shupe could not be reached Dec. 22 for additional questions, and officials of the school did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The schedule to investigate the school begins with an initial meeting Monday, Jan. 12, and concludes with a decision expected Thursday, March 19.
The school was placed on review April 10, 2024, almost five months before it opened. The state at that time inquired about policies concerning students with disabilities, and plans for academic assessments and interventions. Those policies were still being drafted and staff were being hired to implement them, school officials told the state.
At the conclusion of a meeting May 29, 2024, the state Charter School Accountability Committee voted unanimously to allow the school to move toward opening without imposing any additional conditions.
The school opened in the 2024-25 school year, after a one-year delay, with 230 students. It is housed in the former Howard T. Ennis School in space leased on the Delaware Tech campus.
The tuition-free charter school is named after Bryan Stevenson, who was born in Milton in 1959 and graduated from Cape Henlopen High School. He is a lawyer, professor at New York University School of Law, and founder and director of the Equal Justice Initiative. Stevenson has assisted in cases that have saved dozens of prisoners from death row and was profiled in the hit movie, “Just Mercy.”
He initiated the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Ala., which honors the names of more than 4,000 African Americans lynched in the 12 states in the South from 1877 to 1950.
Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence is one of three charter schools in Sussex County. There are 24 charters in the state.
Options following a review include no action, probation or closure. A recommendation to close would require action by the state school board and education commissioner, May said.
Thirteen charter schools in the state have been closed since 2000. The state charter school closure plan is laid out in a 13-page summary provided by the Department of Education.
Kevin Conlon came to the Cape Gazette with nearly 40 years of newspaper experience since graduating from St. Bonaventure University in New York with a bachelor's degree in mass communication. He reports on Sussex County government and other assignments as needed.
His career spans working as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers in upstate New York, including The Daily Gazette in Schenectady. He comes to the Cape Gazette from the Cortland Standard, where he was an editor for more than 25 years, and in recent years also contributed as a columnist and opinion page writer. He and his staff won regional and state writing awards.
Conlon was relocating to Lewes when he came across an advertisement for a reporter job at the Cape Gazette, and the decision to pursue it paid off. His new position gives him an opportunity to stay in a career that he loves, covering local news for an independently owned newspaper.
Conlon is the father of seven children and grandfather to two young boys. In his spare time, he trains for and competes in triathlons and other races. Now settling into the Cape Region, he is searching out hilly trails and roads with wide shoulders. He is a fan of St. Bonaventure sports, especially rugby and basketball, as well as following the Mets, Steelers and Celtics.
