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Christina School District is facing a problem ? no one wants to go to public school anymore.
On March 13, the Christina School District will propose to the Christina Board of Education a three-year plan to close three schools and redistribute resources to accommodate the changing enrollment patterns.
Since desegregation began in the late 1970s, the Christina School District has bused students from Newark into Wilmington to fill its elementary and intermediate schools.
Kelli Racca, Christina School District director of facilities, said the response from parents has been in support of a change.
"The outcry from parents, district-wide, has been, 'Keep our kids closer to home for a longer period of time,' " Racca said.
Because countless students are bused into the city, the number of families who send their children to charter schools increased, she said.
"In our district, 2,129 students selected charter schools over public," Racca said.
John Mackenzie, vice president of Christina School District Board of Education, said the state Department of Education allocates funds to the district based on the student population. There has been an overwhelming increase in the number of students attending charter schools.
In Wilmington, which constitutes only 18 percent of Christina's total student population, 499 students have chosen city charter schools over public schools, Mackenzie said.
"Because so many students are choosing city charter schools instead of district schools, Christina does not have sufficient enrollments to support all its city schools," he said.
The district's proposal, which is still in development, suggests the closure of three schools: Elbert-Palmer, Stubbs and Pulaski.
This school year, Elbert-Palmer School has a total enrollment of 237 children from grades kindergarten through sixth.
Vicky White, a parent of two, said in her experience, Christina's busing is completely inconvenient.
Though White lives in the Newark area, her daughters were supposed to be transported to one of Christina's downtown intermediate schools. After her oldest daughter's busing experience, White said she refused to allow her second daughter to remain in the Christina public school system.
Instead, White placed her youngest in the Newark Charter School, which is designed for fourth grade through eighth grade.
"Every parent who lived in my development was filling out the application for Newark Charter. No one wanted their kids bused," White said.
All three of the schools in question are within the city limits of Wilmington.
New Castle County Councilman Jea Street said he recognizes the plan as fundamentally unfair. The purpose of the closures would be to remove suburban children from the city, creating a less-diverse school population.
Street said the closure will not help the district with its population distribution, but will instead shift the location of parental inconvenience.
"It has to do with accommodating suburban children off the backs of city children," he said.
Wendy Lapham, Christina School District spokeswoman, said the suburbs will bear an equal burden if three schools in Wilmington are closed.
"The suburban portion is not getting off scot-free," Lapham said.
In the 2002 referendum, the district gained approval for construction on a new middle and elementary school.
Porter Road Elementary School and Astro Middle School were proposed to be finished in 2007, but as the projected time period elapsed, the construction market inflation pressured Christina to halt the building process.
Despite the district's five-year promise to the suburbs for two schools, the proposal to continue construction on Astro Middle School will be made in addition to the intended school closures.
Christina Board of Education member David Resler said eliminating Elbert-Palmer, Stubbs and Pulaski will provide Christina with the opportunity to concentrate its resources into the two remaining downtown schools, Bancroft Elementary and Bayard Elementary.
The two schools have the potential to become centers of educational and developmental programs, such as English as a Second Language and specialized reading programs, Resler said.
"Now we can take all the services and consolidate into two buildings," he said.
Wilmington City Councilman Kevin Kelley said the plan will create a less enriching atmosphere for the students.
Instead of racial and socio-economic diversity, Kelley said the result will ultimately create more segregation.
"If Christina turns a city school in, we're not going to have racially diverse schools," Kelley said.
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