Red Clay District Priority School plans taking shape

After refusing to sign onto a state plan to turn around three low-scoring Wilmington schools, Red Clay School District officials have crafted an alternative that removes or reduces some controversial details.

Gone are mandatory $160,000 salaries for new school leaders and an explicit requirement every teacher reapply for his or her job.

Still intact is a strategy to exempt the schools from most district rules, allow them to manage their own budgets and give them flexibility to change things like the school calender, hours and curriculum.

The district is hoping its proposal is approved before the end of the year, when state officials could choose to shut down the schools or hand them over to charters or other outside operators.

"We've been able to work collaboratively with the Department of Education and our school communities to come up with a plan that we think is in the best interest of these schools and their students," Deputy Superintendent Hugh Broomall said.

District officials caution that the proposal is only a draft and could change after discussions between the School Board and the Department of Education, both of which must approve it.

In September, Gov. Jack Markell and other state officials announced that six city schools would receive a total of $5.8 million and be given flexibility to develop individual plans to improve student performance. The schools are Red Clay's Warner, Shortlidge and Highlands Elementary and Christina's Bancroft and Stubbs Elementary and Bayard Middle.

The state had asked districts to sign rules requiring them to, among other things, pay principals a minimum of $160,000 and force every teacher to reapply for their jobs. After an outcry from parents and teachers, both districts rejected those rules and decided to go to their school communities to write new proposals.

Christina is still working with school communities to work out its own version, spokeswoman Wendy Lapham said.

A series of meetings are scheduled for each of Christina's targeted schools next week.

Red Clay officials' draft proposal places school leaders on the district's regular salary schedule.

The proposal also does not explicitly require every teacher re-apply for their jobs, as the state's did. That was a sticking point for teachers who argued it blamed them for low test scores when the real problem is poverty, violence and other factors outside their control.

The plan requires any teachers to sign onto their school's individual plan. If the district decides to transfer a staff member, they would need to do so based on the state's teacher evaluation system, the teacher's "commitment to the school plan" and observations by the principal and district officials.

All teachers would be paid extra if the school plan requires extra teaching time for things like an extended school day.

Members of the Red Clay Education Association teachers' union, which fiercely opposed the state's proposal, are encouraged that the district's proposal doesn't force everyone to re-apply. But its members still need to see more details, President Mike Matthews said.

"There is still plenty of work that needs to be done to come to an agreement that respects the teaching profession," Matthews said.

Broomall said the district needs to iron out an agreement with the union that would determine what happens if a teacher wants to stay at one of the Priority Schools but the school leader or district doesn't think they would be a good fit.

Broomall encouraged anyone in the affected schools' communities to read the plan and reach out to the district if they have concerns.

Department of Education spokeswoman Alison May said the department would not comment until a final version is officially submitted, but said the state has worked with Red Clay throughout the process.

Contact Matthew Albright at malbright@delawareonline.com, 324-2428 or on Twitter @TNJ_malbright.