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Please read this article that is on Delawareonline...I am hoping that everyone who reads this will go out and post a comment. It seems the school districts are having a lapse of memory of what a great high school PS was. It is just sitting there in all it's glory. It needs to come back as a high school...and I am sure most of you agree!
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 Post a Comment  View All Comments |
Rose(Watson)Culver
PS duPont Class of 1971
2 school districts proposed to serve city
Report favors high school in WilmingtonBy Antonio Prado
Staff Reporter
The Wilmington Education Task Force approved a recommendation to reduce the number of school districts serving the city from four to two in an effort to create community centered schools.
In a divided vote, task force members voted 15-8 for the recommendation to only have the Brandywine and Red Clay Consolidated school districts serve the city of Wilmington, with Market Street as the divider. This would divide the city East and West and would eliminate the presence of two districts: Colonial, which primarily serves New Castle and Delaware City, and Christina, which primarily serves greater Newark.
School district sub-committee co-chairman Arthur Boswell said the decision to divide the city between Brandywine and Red Clay, which are both true suburbs of Wilmington, made the most sense and “rests on the logic on people being closer to their schools.”
That has not been the case since 1978. That is when a U.S. District Court Order went into effect in order to create racial balances in city and suburban schools. The consolidation of 11 formerly independent school districts into the New Castle County School District led to metropolitan dispersion – the scattering of students away from their neighborhood schools.
The Wilmington Education Task Force was created by a joint resolution passed by the Delaware General Assembly. Sen. Margaret Rose Henry (DWilmington East) was the resolution’s sponsor. The task force studied the present and future of Wilmington schools because 53 percent of black students graduate, 42 percent of Hispanics graduate and 68 percent of non-Hispanic whites graduate from local high schools.
The task force’s proposal for two districts addresses the fact that there are splintered communities in the current system, according to the sub-committee’s report. Research shows that neighborhood cohesion and local community investment foster pride of ownership and more involved community members. A key component of creating a cohesive community is having schools that are the center of the community.
“The conclusions are that where people feel involved and have more access, they’re more likely to participate,” Boswell said. “Kids who don’t have to (travel) as far are more likely to be involved with extra curricular activities.
‘Opportunities for parents’
“There will be opportunities for parents, because of proximity, that they otherwise don’t have,” he said, referring to the report. “There are opportunities for coordination of services with community based agencies that otherwise wouldn’t exist. And we needed to do these things because, frankly, the dropout rate is horrendous as things stand right now and, from my perspective, has grown and will grow with no indictment of anybody other than all of us. We are failing. That’s why we’re here in terms of keeping kids in school.”
The sub-committee determined “there is no obvious logic” as to how the Christina School District, the state’s largest, is laid out, Boswell said. Christina is composed of the former Newark Special School District and one-fourth of Wilmington, a satellite 15 miles away, as one of the leftovers of the 1978 consolidation. (Brandywine, Christina, Colonial and Red Clay were created by the General Assembly in 1981.)
As a result, Christina students have the longest bus rides in the state, Boswell said.
“We can’t prove that has an impact, but common sense tells us that it will have an impact,” he said.
In addition, Colonial serves less than 200 city students out of a total of 4,600 city children, Boswell said.
“And when you look at the geography and you look at the allocation of resources, it’s really hard to make any sense of that,” he said. “… Two (districts) seems twice as likely to be effective as four.”
Sub-committee member Emily Knearl said the changes to district lines should allow for tax revenue to be distributed equally.
“This one is going to be really hard,” she said.
Why the division?
The Community News asked why the sub-committee used Market Street to divide the city East and West instead of the Brandywine River, which naturally divides the city between the North and South.
Boswell said the number of students involved was the primary reason for choosing Market Street.
“I think there are about 2,000 kids who would be added to Brandywine and about 2,600 to Red Clay by that configuration,” he said. When asked why the district did not propose creating one school district for the city, Boswell said the sub-committee may have recommended one if it were politically viable.
“There is a strong sense that there ought to be one district,” he said. “In fact, some of us were part of an effort 30 years ago to deal precisely with that issue. Someday, hopefully, that will be politically viable.”
Knearl said there has been a lot of discussion on whether Wilmington should have its own school district.
“A lot of the research shows that if the average poverty rate were 40 percent or more in a district, that’s when it starts to fall off a cliff,” she said.
Brandywine Superintendent James R. Scanlon asked for clarification on what kind of financial impact the division of the city will have on Brandywine and Red Clay.
Boswell said the Market Street divider made sense in terms of the numbers of students.
“It may not work when you start talking about the revenue sources,” he said. “It’s going to take some sort of different shape as you take a look at industries that are present on one side or another. That’s the difficult work that will come in.”
Scanlon and Brandywine Board President Joseph Brumskill were among those who voted against the measure.
Scanlon said he voted no because of the cost. Given Brandywine’s declining enrollment, which has led him to propose closing two schools, Scanlon was asked why he would not welcome the addition of students.
“When you start looking at the cost per kid, I don’t know where that’s going to come from,” he said. “We’ll probably pick up facilities … and what kind of shape are those facilities in? Are we going to end up having to repair them?
“It will lower tax assessments. That’s a pretty big piece that’s missing, I think,’” he said. “It’s either revenue neutral or its not. Anything is possible but there’s a price tag. A lot of work needs to be done.”
Disagreement on vote
New Castle County Councilman Jea Street (DWilmington South) also voted no.
“I will not be supporting this recommendation even though I believe and agree with some of things that got us to that. In my rationale, these five school districts need to be abolished,” he said, including the New Castle County Vocational- Technical School District, which serves the entire county and does not use feeder patterns. “We did that under the desegregation order by the court. We did it overnight with the stroke of a pen (in 1978).”
Among those voting yes were State Sen. David Sokola (D-Beech Hill).
The divided vote reflects the emotion, history and, for some, the political practicalities involved, Sokola said.
“I realize that things will be fleshed out … in the districts, the Legislature,” he said.
City high school debated
Addressing another related issue, the task force voted, 18-4, that a high school in the city is feasible.
Scanlon and Christina Superintendent Lillian M. Lowery had opposed the plan.
A report by Scanlon and Lowery said a new high school in the city for 1,000 students would cost an estimated $71.4 million, which they believe is too expensive. And, the report said it would not be feasible to convert P.S. duPont, Howard and the Wilmington High campus back into high schools.
The report also said the number of young people in the city would decline by 1,313 by 2030, referring to state Treasurer Jack Markell’s “Delaware Facing Forward” report.
But task force member H. Raye Jones Avery questioned the validity of that projection. Avery asked City Council President Ted Blunt for his input, and he said 10,000 people had moved into the city since the 2000 U.S. Census.
Street also was skeptical of Scanlon’s and Lowery’s recommendation. He said the 2,282 city students who attend 10 suburban high schools and Cab Calloway is a big reason the sub-committee did not recommend a high school.
As for financial issue, State Rep. Joseph Miro (R-Pike Creek) said the money can be found to have a high school in the city.
“There’s no question about it,” he said. “We have to have a high school in Wilmington.”
WHAT'S NEXT
The task force will write a report that will be forwarded to the General Assembly. The Legislature will ultimately decide the realignment of the school districts.
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WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Should school districts be reduced to two and should there be a high school in Wilmington?
You can send your comments to “Letters to the Editor,” c/o Community Publications, P.O. Box 549, Hockessin, DE, 19707.
Or e-mail them to editor@community pub.com. Or fax them to 302-239-7033.
All letters must include name of writer, town and telephone number. Note: Telephone number is not for publication but for verification purposes only.
Pierre Samuel duPont?
Pierre S. du Pont
industrialist, philanthropist
Born: 1/15/1870
Birthplace: near Wilmington, Del.
Died: 4/5/1954
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
He was the son of Lammot du Pont and great-great-grandson of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, a great French economist (the extra "de Nemours" was added by the original Pierre to ennoble himself after he was elected to the Constituent Assembly).
Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours' son, Eleuthere Irene du Pont, who emigrated to America with his grandfather, founded the DuPont company in 1802 and his descendants were among the richest American business dynasties of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Pierre was born in Wilmington, Delaware and was named after his famous ancestor. He graduated with a degree in chemistry from MIT in 1890 and become assistant superintendent at Brandywine Mills.
He and his cousin Francis Gurney du Pont developed the first American smokeless gunpowder in 1892 at the Carney's Point plant in New Jersey.
Most of the 1890s, he spent working with the management at a steel firm partly owned by DuPont (primarily by T. Coleman du Pont), the Johnson Street Rail Company in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Here he learned to deal with money from the company's president, Arthur Moxham. 
In 1899, unsatisfied with how conservative DuPont's management was, he quit and took over the Johnson Company.
In 1901, while du Pont was supervising the liquidation of Johnson Company assets in Lorain, OH he employed John J. Raskob as a private secretary, beginning a long and profitable business and personal relationship between the two.
He and his cousins Alfred I. du Pont and T. Coleman du Pont purchased the E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company in 1902, in order to keep the company in family hands, after the death of its president, Eugene I. du Pont. They set about buying smaller powder firms.
Until 1914, during Coleman du Pont's illness, Pierre du Pont served as treasurer, executive vice-president, and acting president.
In 1915, a group headed by Pierre, which included outsiders, bought Coleman's stock. Alfred was offended and sued Pierre for breach of trust. The case was settled in Pierre's favor four years later, but his relationship with Alfred suffered greatly and they did not speak after that.
Pierre served as DuPont's president until 1919. Pierre gave the DuPont company a modern management structure, modern accounting policies and made the concept of return on investment primary.
During World War I, the company grew very quickly due to advance payments on Allied munition contracts. He also established many other DuPont interests in other industries.
Pierre was a significant figure in the success of General Motors, building a significant personal investment in the company as well as supporting Raskob's proposal for DuPont to invest in the automobile company.
Pierre du Pont resigned the chairmanship of GM in response to GM President Alfred Sloan's dispute with John J. Raskob over Raskob's involvement with the Democratic National Committee.
When Pierre retired from the Board of Directors, it was the largest company in the world. Pierre retired from DuPont's board in 1940.
He also served on the Delaware State Board of Education and donated millions to Delaware's public schools, financing the replacement of Delaware's dilapidated negro schools.
Pierre is famous for opening his personal estate, Longwood Gardens, with its beautiful gardens, to the public.
Pierre was a longtime bachelor, eventually marrying his cousin Alice Belin in 1915 after the death of his mother, and had no children.
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By Jesse Chadderdon
Staff Reporter
Posted Thursday, December 6, 2007
On Wednesday, the district’s Space Consolidation Committee reviewed four proposals – all of which would cut the district’s excess capacity by more than 50 percent by closing schools before the 2009-2010 school year.
With an aging population in Brandywine Hundred, and the increased availability of charter schools, the district can’t fill its 17 buildings. This year the district has 10,368 students, 2,718 shy of capacity. The district projects it could lose another 700 students by 2014.
“We’ve got to look at closing schools in order to protect the integrity of the programs we offer,” said Brandywine Superintendent James Scanlon. “We want to put more money into our programs and less into paying to maintain excess space.”
The district is not planning to close any schools that have been renovated since 1999, and Scanlon said there was a commitment to maintain economic diversity in all of the district’s schools. He said the district would not approve a plan unless every school had between 20 percent and 50 percent of its students receiving free or reduced lunches.
Each plan would move the district toward uniform grade configurations, with elementary schools housing kindergarten through fifth grade, middle schools housing sixth through eighth grade and high schools housing ninth through 12th grade.
One school – most likely P.S. duPont – could ultimately house kindergarten through eighth grade. With its large music rooms, large auditorium and excess classroom space, John Read, the district’s construction project manager, called P.S. duPont “a natural” for that type of configuration.
One model suggests closing Darley Road and Carrcroft elementary schools and Hanby Middle School to reduce capacity by 1,611 seats.
Costs would be minimal, Scanlon said, because most of the schools remaining open would not change in their function.
“It would mostly be a matter of dragging furniture,” he said.
As is true in other plans, however, P.S. duPont would become a middle school, although the kindergarten center there would remain.
Under this plan, Harlan, Lombardy and Mt. Pleasant elementary schools would feed P.S. duPont as a middle school. P.S. duPont, in turn, would feed Mt. Pleasant High School. Forwood, Lancashire and Maple Lane elementary schools would feed Springer Middle School, which would in turn feed Brandywine High School. Brandywood and Claymont elementary schools would feed Talley Middle School and then Concord High School.
This plan seemed to emerge as the favorite among many committee members, largely because the three schools being closed are scattered throughout the district and because it provides for geographically-defined feeder patterns.
Proposal two calls for the closing of Darley Road and Brandywood elementary schools and Hanby Middle for a capacity reduction of 1,645.
That proposal would have Harlan, Lombardy and Mt. Pleasant elementary schools feeding into P.S. duPont as a middle school, with P.S. duPont again feeding into Mt. Pleasant High School. Forwood, Maple Lane and Carrcroft elementary schools would then feed into Springer Middle School and then Brandywine High School while Lancashire and Claymont elementary schools would feed into Talley Middle School and then Concord High School.
But with Brandywood and Hanby just a half-mile apart, several committee members were concerned about closing two schools in that portion of the district. “The community there would say you’re taking both our schools,” said Mary Ann Marshall. “We can’t do that to one community.”
Similar problems exist in both scenarios three and four, which suggest closing Darley Road and Maple Lane elementary schools – both in Claymont.
Plan three would yield a reduction in capacity of 1,634 seats by also closing Hanby Middle School.
Harlan, Lombardy and Mt. Pleasant elementary schools would feed into P.S. duPont as a middle school and P.S. duPont would feed into Mt. Pleasant High School. Forwood, Lancashire and Carrcroft elementary schools would feed Springer Middle School and then Brandywine High School, while Brandywood and Claymont elementary schools would feed Talley Middle School and Concord High School.
With the closing of Maple Lane, however, district officials would be forced to find a new site to house its balance calendar program for at-risk students.
The fourth proposal would close four of the district’s elementary schools: Brandywood, Carrcroft, Darley Road and Maple Lane to achieve a capacity reduction of 1,832 – the most of any scenario.
In this model, P.S. duPont would remain an elementary school and along with Lombardy, would feed Springer Middle School, with Springer feeding Mt. Pleasant High School. Forwood, Harlan and Mt. Pleasant elementary schools would feed Hanby Middle School and then Brandywine High School, while Claymont and Lancashire elementary schools would feed Talley Middle School and then Concord High School.
Committee member Dave Berlin said he disliked this scenario because it did not have students attending the schools that were closest to them.
“If I were a student living in downtown Wilmington and I had to ride past Springer to get to Hanby, I’d be pretty unhappy,” he said.
The facilities subcommittee is due to meet again Tuesday at the Pennsylvania Avenue district office in Claymont. In the meantime, Scanlon said district officials would run an economic analysis on each of the scenarios to ensure that each leaves schools that meet the district’s self-imposed reduced lunch standard. He said his staff would also begin analyzing what effect each scenario would have on existing programs offered at specific schools.
The subcommittee will meet again December 18, at which point two or three scenarios are expected to be finalized and submitted to the Brandywine Board of Education. A public meeting is slated for January 2, with a board workshop to follow on January 7.
The board is scheduled to vote on which schools to close at its February 25 meeting.
Historic school gets $44 million facelift
Restoration of iconic Brandywine district school mixes old with new
Today, the northeast Wilmington building is undergoing one of the most expensive school renovations in state history, a $44 million makeover that dwarfs the $1.9 million it cost to construct seven decades ago, which included innovations for its time such as an intercom system, laundry room, freight elevator and built-in vacuum-cleaning system.
"This was the model of where education was going," said John Read, the Brandywine School District's construction project manager.
The 220,000-square-foot, Georgian-style building was designed to accommodate 2,250 students -- far more than the elementary's sub-650 enrollment -- by architect E. William Martin, who also designed Legislative Hall in Dover and Zwaanendael Museum in Lewes. It is undergoing a top-to-bottom remodeling that started this summer and will finish in time for next school year. During the renovation, most of the pupils are attending classes in the high-rise Burnett holding school, just a block away.
Most of the school renovation deals with interior restructuring, but workers will fix some exterior masonry, replace the parking lot and repair sidewalks around the building, he said.
Children and others returning next year could be most surprised to see the new look of their cafeteria. Four bathrooms will be added in the cafeteria area because there had been no such facilities nearby, and two pyramid skylights that were boarded over long ago will be re-outfitted with glass to let in the light. The cafeteria design also will undergo a big change.
"This food area is going to resemble a food court like you might find at a mall," Read said. "We want students to want to be here."
The school's auditorium also will undergo a remake. Its 1,200 theater seats are being sent out for professional restoration, and new lighting and a state-of-the art audio-visual system will be installed.
"We'll be able to activate the curtains with a switch," Read said.
The school's ornate-looking library -- with chestnut woodwork and carved plaster ceilings and walls -- originally was designed to hold only 8,000 books, but an auxiliary library under construction will raise that capacity to 18,000.
Paul Steiner of Paul's Pointing Inc. is heading the historic masonry restoration, making sure the integrity of the original work is not compromised.
"This building is a reflection of the Depression-era generation," he said. "It is their legacy to us. And after the restoration, it will be our legacy to future generations."
The 72-year-old building appears especially majestic from the perspective of North Van Buren Street. A red-brick walkway leads from curb to three arched entrances, and marble and terrazzo lobby flooring greets visitors as they step inside. Ceilings tower at 14 feet rather than the standard 8 feet.
Steiner said the cheaper labor and materials of the 1930s allowed the original contractors to build such a solid structure, and he compares the construction to that of the Brooklyn Bridge, which had the reputation of being built three times stronger than it needed to be.
The 52 contractors working on the job are reusing the building's quality materials whenever possible, rather than buying new.
For instance, slate floors from the basement shower stalls will be used to repair broken windowsills, Read said. Chestnut shelving in some of the storage closets that are being expanded and turned into rooms will be sent out to be milled and become trim to surround blackboards.
Chestnut in buildings is rare today because many of the trees were wiped out during a blight in the 1940s, he said.
Read said the district saved taxpayers $150,000 in dismantling and hauling fees by not removing the building's four old boilers. Two new boilers -- they are more efficient, so half as many are needed -- will go nearby in what used to be the coal storage area, a relic from when the building was heated with coal.
A room off the lobby formerly used for book storage will be remodeled to replicate the 1935 period and will house the schools' archives. It also will be used as a meeting room.
There also will be touches of new to go with the old, including a proper air conditioning system.
"They actually had a unit in the basement they would load with blocks of ice," Read said of a former system that was then ahead of its time.
"From every teacher's desk, they will be able to send images to an overhead projector in the ceiling," he said. "The day of wheeling a VCR down the hallway is no more."
And ultraviolet air-filtration systems will be installed in kindergarten classrooms.
"Research tells us that it will help with the sniffles and colds," Read said.
Renovation of P.S. du Pont's competitive swimming pool, in its own brick building behind the school, started last spring and was completed recently, Read said. The pool, which is used by the Brandywine School District's high schools and others for practices and meets, features a digital timing system and a chairlift that was added so children at P.S. du Pont Elementary can use the pool for physical rehabilitation.
The construction manager said he is proud to help restore such an architectural icon.
"We've taken something that has always been great and made it more modern and shined it up. If you've got something nice to work with, it's going to come out nice."
Contact Edward L. Kenney at 324-2891 or ekenney@delawareonline.com.
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Click on link below to read the latest discussion of the school
district...
http://communitypub.com/stories/08-21-2007/008_wilm_task_force.html
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Wilmington News Journal
November 24, 1955
Click on image to view larger
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February 19, 1965
Morning News Journal
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February 20, 1965
Evening News Journal
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May 11, 2001 Brandywine Community News
PS duPont High School Class of 41' recalls bygone era...
Click on article to view
P. S. duPont High School Class of 1957's 50th Reunion
Dynamiters who answered the call for comments about their experiences at PS have their say here
To those who moved Judy's tiny Crossley car up the front steps of PS, she says, "Thanks for the memories!"
Judy Sutton with Coie Morley
P. S. duPont High School Class of 1957's 50th Reunion
Comments To Savor About Our Teachers
What's your take on our high school teachers? Did they lead you on the right path, inspire you to a specific goal or make an impact that shaped your life?
The following reflections on the education we received from the faculty and staff at P.S. duPont High School are excerpted from a mailed survey. One of the questions was: "What high school teacher influenced you the most? Why? How?
All of the responses will be included in a booklet available at the 50th Reunion.
Nat Bender (Physical Education Teacher and Boys Swimming Coach) For Charles Derrick, Nat Bender was a mentor and inspiration "because swimming opened the door to college and several jobs." Derrick says he lives on an island in the Gulf of Mexico, one block from the beach. His most treasured memory of PS is being selected as an All-American swimmer.
Miss Catherine Bryson (English Teacher, Advisor to the school newspaper "The Clarion." Miss Bryson received the most mentions as an influential teacher. She was recognized by Susan Bleiberg, Ruth Eisenstat, Barbara Haldas, Mary Jo Haverbeck, Mary Ellen Stewart, Marcia Toselli, Ken Shelin, and Ernie Levy. Ernie thinks that Miss Bryson "tried to bring out [his] best" and Ken said Miss Bryson's "gentle sweet disposition hid a strong character that had high performance expectations that she never compromised, and that [he] always wanted to meet."
Mary Bukay (Spanish Teacher) Ann Remedio said, "Miss Bukay, a young Spanish teacher, treated her students with a caring attitude, setting the mood for class by playing Andres Segovia recordings." She also said that Bukay taught her that learning could be fun.
Al "Buddy" Clark (Social Studies Teacher, football and boys' basketball coach) Al Yeatman took a look at the lighter side of Clark. Yeatman earned a varsity letter playing football for Clark. "He could throw a book clear across the room and miss a sleeping student's head by an inch."
Ruth Green (Advisor to Future Teachers of American, Math Teacher) Mentioned by Tom Leach and Carolyn Joyce, Tom credits Miss Green with showing him he could do it. Tom graduated from Annapolis, then earned a PhD in English from the Univ. of North Carolina where he was chair of the English Department for 21 years. "Miss Bryson would not have believed it," he said. Carolyn refers to "Ma Green" as someone who "made a dull subject like math interesting."
Mary Heindle (Language Teacher, Honor Society Advisor) For Linda Mountz, her favorite classes were French and German, and she especially remembers Miss Heindle, "who forced us to study hard." Linda earned a graduate degree in French education.
Annabelle Groves Howell (Choir Director, Studio Club Advisor) Carol Toomey and Janet Truax both remember Annabelle Howell, the choir director and a teacher who advised students with musical and dramatic talent. Janet says Annabelle Groves Howell arranged for her to compete for a scholarship in voice. Carol's dream in retiremen is "to find Shirley Noznisky (a PS classmate) and go on tour with Bob Dylan!"
Jeannette McDonald (Dean and Guidance Counselor) For Patricia Howardd, Dean McDonald was always positive, encouraging and supportive. "She told me to always speak up when something was wrong and never to back down. To know what [I was] talking about and keep accurate records -- unusual advice for women in the 50s."
Esau H. Loomis (Science Teacher) Maxine McWhorter formed a special bond with Loomis. "(He) taught me the beauty of the stars and that it was all right to dream and to be different." Loomis is the Godfather to her twin daughters.
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City of Wilmington’s Proposal
On July 30, Christina Superintendent Dr. Lillian Lowery received a proposal from the City of Wilmington that suggested the district renovate Bayard Intermediate School as a middle school serving grades 6-8 and convert remaining schools in the city to elementary schools serving grades K-5. This proposal is consistent with the feedback shared by those who attended the Neighborhood Schools workshop meeting on July 24.
“The ideas contained in the City’s proposal are the same as those shared by the community,” said Lowery. “The proposal also contained many ideas for supporting our city schools with additional programs. We look forward to exploring how the City of Wilmington and the Wilmington business community could assist the Christina School District in achieving the objectives contained in the City’s proposal.”
The proposal also suggested that the Christina School District consider inter-district actions and agreements to address the Neighborhood Schools Act, and suggested specifically that Christina “Move Colonial (School District) students who live in the city to Christina Schools (none go to schools in city) to help fill city schools and focus city’s attention.” The proposal also encouraged Christina to support Vision 2015 funding reform and recommended Christina build a magnet high school in the city.
“Any discussions related to inter-district actions such as those the Mayor suggests would have to include representatives from the state, and would likely require action at the state level,” said Lowery. “In our public workshops, there has been a lot of discussion about a high school in the city. The consensus we have reached is that Christina should not consider a high school project as part of the Neighborhood Schools Plan we are developing at this time. However, we are open to continuing the dialogue about a future city high school and welcome continued participation in this discussion by all members of the community, and particularly the City of Wilmington and its leaders.”
By Antonio Prado
Staff Reporter
Posted Thursday, July 26, 2007 at 1:30 p.m. | Comments
Brandywine School District Superintendent Dr. James R. Scanlon recommended Hohler’s transfer to the Brandywine Board of Education, which approved the move at its meeting Monday night.
Under state accountability law and the federal No Child Left Behind Act, P.S. duPont is under corrective action and has a school improvement plan because of its low scores on the Delaware Student Testing Program.
Harlan parent Leeanne Henretty said she found out about the pending move about an hour and a half before the board meeting started at 7 p.m.
“I am extremely, extremely beyond upset at the moment, that this could possibly be occurring,” Henretty said. “Mr. Hohler is a phenomenal principal as you obviously know because you would like to take him and bring him to a different school.”
Many of the children at Harlan have already been through significant transition, she said. Hohler was a teacher for about 10 years at Harlan before he became principal, replacing Anita Thorpe who retired two years ago.
“There are so many people I’ve come into contact with over my years as a Delawarean who tell me I’m crazy to live in Delaware. I am crazy to send my children to public school,” Henretty said. “Why don’t I consider moving across the line?
“When I chose to send my son to Harlan last year, it was because of the staff and the reputation of the principal. I have told people repeatedly throughout the past year how pleased I am with that school,” she said. “I would not consider moving across the line because I’m completely comfortable with my child being at Harlan. I have two more to follow; I hope they can go to Harlan.”
Harlan teachers Sally Todorow and Jennifer Bojarski, at the meeting with about 20 colleagues, expressed the staff’s sadness because of the departure of Hohler.
“Linc has only been with us for two years, but he is Mr. Harlan. He is the heart of our school,” Todorow said. “How will this decision impact Harlan? Harlan has experienced many administrative changes over the last five years, and we were looking forward to having one team in place for more than one year.
“We were fortunate to have Anita Thorpe and Lincoln Hohler working together for so many years,” she said. “With this team, (including assistant principals Yulonda Murray and Hekima Wicker), Harlan stayed a great place to work and the staff continued to be unified.”
Scanlon said he appreciated everyone coming out, calling it “a great tribute to Linc Hohler” and the kind of person he is.
“I know that Linc spent 14 years at Harlan,” he said. “He was a teacher there and he worked under the leadership and tutelage of Anita Thorpe, who was also part of teaching the attitude and mindset at Harlan Elementary School. She was a big part of that and Linc continued that tradition.
“The concern I have as the superintendent looking out at the entire school district is the situation with regard to P.S. duPont,” he said.
P.S. duPont students and staff have been displaced because of the ongoing renovation and some administrators have recently left, Scanlon said. He learned a week ago that P.S. Principal Kenneth L. Goodwin Jr. was leaving for a new career.
“I’m looking for a strong leader to help us with that, someone who understands the grades four to six curriculum, who understands the community around P.S. duPont. And Linc Hohler is absolutely the best person to do that. I know that doesn’t please the people of Harlan and … I certainly understand that.”
P.S. and Harlan are blocks apart in the city of Wilmington’s northwest section known as the Ninth Ward and both are used as “intermediate” schools that teach fourth through sixth grade. P.S. duPont was a high school, once the home of the Dynamiters, until a U.S. District Court order mandating busing to achieve racial quotas in city and suburban schools went into effect in 1978. The busing order was lifted in 1995, and the state General Assembly enacted the Neighborhood Schools Act when local districts kept busing patterns. Brandywine, under former board president Nancy Doorey, successfully argued for the act’s exemptions, claiming the law would cause hardships for its schools and students. Brandywine uses Harlan and P.S. duPont to bus suburban students into these city schools.
Board President Joseph Brumskill, Vice President Debra Heffernan, Mark F. Huxsoll, Olivia Johnson-Harris and Patricia Hearn voted to approve Scanlon’s personnel recommendations. Sandra S. Skelley, who was present for the first part of the meeting, left early and missed all of the board’s action items. The board has one vacancy because Doorey resigned with two years left on her second, five-year term.
The board adjourned shortly after its vote, but after protests by Henretty, the board briefly went back into session to allow her to speak.
“There’s no discussion about Mr. Hohler?” she said. “It’s already been decided?”
The board discusses personnel issues in executive session, which is closed to the public, Scanlon said.
“So, they were already discussed before anyone came here to speak to you tonight?” Henretty said. “The decision was already made?”
“My decision was made, yes,” Scanlon said. “They (the board) approved that.”
The personnel action approved by the board included appointing Thorpe as interim principal of Harlan.
In addition, Cordie Greenlea III, who had been assistant to the principal at Brandywine High School, was promoted to assisted principal. James Simmons III, acting assistant principal at Mount Pleasant High School, was named assistant principal at the school. Goodwin’s resignation was also accepted.
In other business, the school board approved a reorganization of the central office, which included the elimination of the vacant assistant superintendent’s position and the supervisor of Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate and vocational education. Since Dr. Tammy Davis left last Summer, Brandywine has been without an assistant superintendent. Brandywine is authorized by the state funding formula to have two assistant superintendents given its size and it has used the funding for those two positions for Chief Financial Officer David J. Blowman and Director of Elementary Education Judy Curtis.
Among other changes, Scanlon will now oversee secondary school principals as well as district office directors, and he will serve as spokesman for the district. Public Information Officer Rob Ziegler is no longer with the district, and the position will remain open for at least six months. During that time, Scanlon and a newly formed marketing and communications committee will determine the district’s public relations strategy. Then, he plans to hire a public information officer.
Among the moves, Director of Secondary Education Dr. Ed Harris is now director of curriculum and instruction for kindergarten through 12th grade.
“Brandywine wants to have k-12 curriculum alignment throughout the district in the strategic plan,” Scanlon said.
Curtis will also oversee administrative services, which means she has several kindergarten through 12th-grade responsibilities as well. She is responsible for the annual summary of the strategic plan, will supervise the school improvement process for kindergarten through 12th and will oversee the school choice program.
Blowman will continue to supervise the business office, the budget, other finance reports and the unit count (the number of employees the state will fund based on enrollment). He also will now supervise human resources because the biggest part of the budget is salary and benefits.
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PS duPont Remodeling Schedule
Bancroft Construction
Click on image to enlarge and view.
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Here's a great article when they filmed at PS in 1987...
Starring Ron Liebman
For many, a sad day when P.S. duPont became an elementary school
Staff Reporters
Published: November 16, 2006
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A Georgian school building stands majestically in a scenic residential neighborhood in Wilmington’s Ninth Ward, its white columns and stone steps a contrast against red brick.
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Photo by Andrea Miller
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| The P.S. du Pont High School building, remodeled in the late 1990s, serves as an elementary middle in the Brandywine School District. | |
So stunning is the classic design and craftsmanship, artists have painted the 1935 building and photographed it for greeting cards.
At one point the city’s largest high school with more than 1,500 students, P.S. duPont High was changed into an elementary school sometime after a 1978 U.S. District Court desegregation order closed schools across the county and mandated busing to redistribute the city’s predominantly black student population.
Alumni who remember the grand hallways, three-stories of classrooms and massive gymnasiums of P.S. still have a difficult time envisioning it as a place for 9 to 12-year olds.
“Look at the place. It has high school written all over it,” said Bill Lawrence, of Greenville, a 1955 graduate.
From high academic standards, to close friendships, to sports and great teachers, good things happened at P.S., graduates said, and they hated to see it end. But despite the good, the years preceding its closing were fraught with racial tensions, and in Delaware places like P.S. fell victim to attempts to remedy the problem.
In 1968, the school’s homecoming queen was black, but a Catholic boy wouldn’t dare date a Jewish girl, for fear of what the families would do, said alumnus John Flaherty. It was a school where black and white athletes played side by side, but Jewish teens had their fraternities and the greasers had theirs.
It was a school where riots happened in the cafeteria, the National Guard patrolled the parking lot and citywide curfews followed the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Amid that undercurrent of racial tension, in 1971, several Wilmington families filed suit against the Delaware State Board of Education. They argued that Delaware had
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Photo by Antonio M. Prado
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| P.S. duPont High School graduates Daniel Young, with his yearbook, and (from left) State Rep. Dennis Williams, Oscar Potter and Wilmington City Councilman Charles Potter meet at Fox Point Diner in Wilmington regularly. Young and Charles Potter are members of the class of 1973, and Oscar Potter and Williams graduated in 1971. | |
re-segregated when Wilmington, which had become more than 90 percent black, was left out of a statewide school district reorganization in 1968. The court sided with the plaintiffs and ordered the legislature and state school board to find a solution that would re-integrate the schools.
The public, the state and the board of education resisted, but in 1978, a court order went into effect that closed or converted several schools, including those at P.S.
Former students, both black and white, recall the closing with mixed feelings.
Alumnus Daniel Young, who loved the fierce rivalry with the cross-town Wilmington High School Red Devils, couldn’t understand why the order had to happen, because no one really thought about their school’s shift from 95 percent white in 1957 to 95 percent black by his graduating year, 1973.
“We had problems like any other high school,” said Young, of Wilmington. “But at our high school, black kids, white kids or Jewish kids never worried about race. You know what we worried about? Beating Wilmington High, beating De La Warr, beating Howard or beating Sallies.”
Some alumni from earlier generations couldn’t understand either.
“When we went to school, we all knew that it wasn’t right that the black kids who lived a few blocks from us had to go to Howard High School,” said John W. “Jack” Hudson, a 1950 graduate who was a P.S. student during the dual-school system era. “So, they changed it. I’m just not sure that was the right move.”
Another 1973 graduate, Wilmington City Councilman Charles Potter, said one of the problems with today’s integrated system is that cultures clash inside the schools, often at the expense of minorities.
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| P.S. duPont cheerleaders (left to right) S. Jacobs,T.Wells, S. Jenkins, S. Moss, D. Sigmund, M. Lee and J. Slovin cheer for the 1969 “Pierrean” yearbook. | |
“When our young people go to schools outside of the city, they can do something that’s (acceptable) within our culture and other people feel it’s taboo or out of line,” he said. “Then, they put names on them that never leave and they end up in alternative schools when all they needed was a strong, male figure to help straighten them out.”
At first, P.S. class of 1965 alumnus Arthur Goldman, of Brandywine Hundred, was delighted that the schools would be more equal.
“Then, after several years, it was apparent that busing was not achieving what it set out to accomplish. Children were spending up to three hours of the school day riding buses, and they seemed to segregate themselves at any school they were sent to,” he said.
What especially saddened some P.S. students was the way the closing was handled.
According to the New Castle County Planning Board of Education, its Pupil Assignment Committee was charged with deciding which schools to close or convert and where students would be assigned. With regard to the consolidation of 11 school districts into one, the committee said, “Former identities and alliances will diminish in time.”
While that didn’t bother some alumni, like Joseph Pennington (P.S. class of 1954), who said life goes on, others saw it differently.
“They threw out the big Dynamiter (mascot),” Young said. “It was in the trash, all broken and everything. That actually broke my heart. We used to touch the thing when we came out for football games. Everybody would touch it.
“The court order destroyed the cross-town rivalry. It destroyed the fact that the city of Wilmington had high schools,” he said. “When they were gone, they were gone. And when they left, you know what left with them? A sense of belonging, a sense of pride.”
Young remembers his teacher Wodeman Schock filling in for his father at a sports awards banquet. He remembers Willy Miranda, his Spanish teacher, and the two ended up working together at Brandywine High School. Young was the best man at Miranda’s wedding.
P.S. was a neighborhood school, and many alumni share a strong conviction that neighborhood schools are the best way to instill a sense of community.
Beverly (Sutton) Potter, a 1960 P.S. duPont grad, said she understood the shift in population made it necessary to put her alma mater into service as an elementary school. However, she said, “the changes brought about by taking children out of their neighborhoods has had more problems than advantages in my opinion.”
Others agree.
Jeffery Lewis, of Greenville, a P.S. alumnus from the class of 1967, played baseball and football and was the yearbook literary editor.
“I think it was wrong to force racial quotas and it was a mistake to close P.S. There are still families and high school-aged kids living in the neighborhood that could benefit from the sense of community,” he said. “Educationally, P.S. prepared me for college and life. Socially, there were many kids from all walks of life and I had many friends, some with whom I am still close.” Today, Lewis is the first vice president and a financial advisor for Merrill Lynch.
While the court order was well intentioned, it really affected the concept of neighborhood schools, said Dr. Nick Manolakos, of Limestone Hills, a 1969 P.S. graduate. Today he is an administrator in the Red Clay Consolidated School District and state representative elect from the 20th House District.
Manolakos said he has worked to establish a strong sense of community in his schools, because “20 or 30 years later, we’re finding that personalized schools is one of the keys.”
Some alumni still hope that eventually, P.S. will come back as a high school, though the Brandywine School District has no current plans to do so.
“I’m still hopeful one day they’ll bring it back. We have a very strong community in the Ninth Ward,” Charles Potter said. “It would be even stronger when we are able to educate all of our children – black, white, Hispanic – in a unified way.”
State Rep. Dennis Williams, P.S. class of 1971, is skeptical about having city high schools because people are more mobile now. He also worries about how Wilmington would be able to support the local portion of expenses, a concern shared by Mayor James M. Baker. (The state usually pays for 70 percent of educational operations and 60 percent of major construction projects. Local taxes and federal money funds the rest of operating costs, and referenda authorize the Delaware Department of the Treasury to sell 20-year bonds that pay for the 40 percent local share of major construction projects.)
Even so, Williams, of Wilmington, said P.S., where he played baseball and football, was his second home, and thinks it would be good for the city to have community schools again. Because those types of schools weren’t around when his children went to school, they graduated from St. Mark’s High School in suburban Wilmington.
“You want to know why? Because I had no faith in the public schools.”
Potter would have sent his sons to P.S. but they attend Archmere Academy in Claymont.
“It’s a loss of community and being able to gather at a place where you know a lot of the alumni and people,” he said. “It’s a proven fact that back then our graduation rate (in the black community) was at least 75 to 80 percent. Now we’re down to 30 percent or something. Something is drastically wrong that needs to be fixed.”
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History of Warner School
Warner School was built in 1928 as part of the Wilmington Public School District. It was the first junior high school in Delaware. It was named after Mrs. Emalea Pusey Warner, a woman who had done a lot to help education in the state. The cornerstone was laid on November 28, 1928. Some interesting things like school board records, newspapers, and some coins were put inside the cornerstone. Miss Sallie R. Shaw was the first principal. Mr. Frank Heal was the first vice principal. He later served as principal for many years.
In the late 1960's Warner was renovated. A new gymnasium, library, auditorium, art room, and music room were added. Warner was a school for seventh, eighth, and ninth graders for about fifty years, and many Wilmington students attended this school. In the back of the school there is a huge stone which is a memorial to the Warner students who died in World War II.
Then in 1978 because of a court desegregation order, Warner became an elementary school for fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. It became part of the New Castle County School District. Later that district was divided into four districts, and Warner became part of Red Clay Consolidated School District. Around that time another change was made. The sixth grade moved out and the third grade moved in. From then until 2000 Warner was a school for third, fourth, and fifth graders. In 2000 first and second grades were added to the school. Also, from about 1994 - 2001 there was also a Warner Kindergarten Center in the same building. It had a different principal and operated independently from Warner Elementary School. But, then in 2001 the Kindergarten Center joined with the other grades in the school and became part of Warner Elementary School. So Warner is now a K - 5 school.
There are over 875 students at Warner. Some students walk to Warner from nearby neighborhoods. Others are bused from the suburbs in the Stanton and Hockessin area. Warner is known as the thunderbirds. Indian symbols are used on the school seal because the school stands on the site of an old Indian trail. The school colors are red, white, and blue.
40 years after prom night, flowers found
Christina River cleanup volunteers uncover box, search for owner
Volunteers have pulled tons of trash from the Christina River and its tributaries in annual spring cleanups, but organizers want to return one item steeped in romance and mystery.
It's a box of prom flowers from the 1960s.
"In 15 years, this is the only thing we've ever saved to try to give back to the owner," said Shirley Posey, coordinator of the Christina River Watershed Cleanup. "It was so perfectly preserved, so precious, we just couldn't throw it out."
An unidentified volunteer turned in the dirty, slightly water-stained box at Brookhaven Park off Harmony Road, where White Clay Creek snakes through the Stanton and Ogletown areas, said Barbara Jennings, who managed that cleanup site.
The delicate flower box and perfectly dried flowers "obviously were special to the girl who saved them," said Jennings, who took them to a post-cleanup brunch.
"Everyone who opened the box was amazed," said planning committee member Nancy Parker, one of Artesian Water's representatives in the annual project.
The lid of the six-sided box bears a note in blue ballpoint pen, written in loopy, feminine hand:
"Given by: Truman E. Clothier on: May 19, 1967 (Senior Prom) (He gave me his butineer [sic] after he brought me home from the After Prom Party!)"
Inside is a corsage of shriveled flowers -- apparently carnations around a central flower, possibly an orchid -- in a cushion of powder-blue nylon net. Its blue lace streamers, a sprig of baby's breath, lace backing and cloth leaves look fresh. Nestled in the corsage is a tiny silver heart with rhinestones -- still shiny bright.
With it is a single dried carnation boutonniere, the glass-headed lapel pin stuck in its hand-wrapped stem.
The corsage was purchased at Penny Hill Flower Shop on Concord Pike in Fairfax. The shop -- founded in 1953 by William and Elizabeth Weldin Taylor and later run by their son, Troy -- was Delaware's largest retail florist, with another shop in Newark, producing thousands of arrangements and prom flowers.
But the rescued box and dried flowers inside outlasted the flower shop, which closed in recent years.
Wilmington High tie-in
Truman Clothier's name surfaces from News Journal files in the obituaries of his parents.
In 1967, the family lived at 1312 Washington St. in Wilmington. His father, Truman S., was a longtime employee of Delaware Importers who died of a stroke in 1983. His mother, Catherine, a longtime secretary at St. Francis Hospital in the city, died four years later of a heart attack.
The couple left three children -- James T., Deborah K. and Truman E. Clothier. Deborah K. Clothier-Buccio, now 70 and the oldest of the children, is a retired teacher living in Hockessin.
When told of the discovery of the flowers that her brother gave a prom date, she said, "That's just amazing."
Eight years her junior, Truman attended Wilmington High School, while she and her other brother, James, went to Catholic schools in the city, she said.
She recalled the girl he dated in those years, his prom date, and that her name was Diana Bader, but she didn't know what school she had attended or what became of her. "They dated for a while," she said. "She married someone else, and Truman never married."
Truman's former girlfriend's married name was Porter, Clothier-Buccio said.
'Unique find'
The box of prom flowers was wiped down and placed for safekeeping in the office of Christina River cleanup planning committee member Nancy Parker. When Parker looked at the box and flowers, she couldn't help but wonder about Clothier, who his date was, if they ended up together and how the flowers got to where they were found.
Recently, Jennings and Rep. Pamela Maier, R-Drummond Hill, a cleanup volunteer, delivered the fragile find to the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, one of 28 estuary programs nationwide and a supporter of the Christina cleanup.
The estuary program is adopting the effort to find the flowers' owner. Spokesman Shaun Bailey called the salvaged treasure "a unique find."
"Amazing," he said. "It was, after all, salvaged from approximately 20 tons of muddied, churned-up debris."