By Glenn Rolfe

MILTON — Uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 is impacting opening plans for the Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence, a proposed charter high school based on service learning that’s now on hold until possibly 2023.

Alonna Berry, BASSE founding member and board chair, announced Tuesday the decision to delay BASSE’s participation in the charter school application process with the intent to reengage with the Delaware Department of Education in January 2022.

“This year has been hard on the education system. Our schools and parents and students have had challenges connecting, being connected with, connecting with one another — and we thought it made sense to pause, where we were in the process, really so that we had more time to really connect with parents and students. And just to take a moment to listen and learn,” Ms. Berry said.

“We know that this is a pivotal moment for education and that what comes next is going to look different from what we currently have and how we educate our students and engage our parents.”

This additional year will help BASSE finalize building plans, conduct additional outreach to parents and families and determine the impact the pandemic has had on schools.

“So it felt like a responsible choice to pause in this moment and listen and learn before we press forward with designing our new school and model,” Ms. Berry said.

A site specifically in the Milton or Georgetown area is being sought for the school, named in honor of Cape Henlopen High School graduate Bryan Allen Stevenson, a prolific social-justice activist, lawyer and author from Milton, whose memoir was the basis for the 2019 legal-drama film, “Just Mercy.”

Mr. Stevenson also is founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative.

One of BASSE’s challenges during the pandemic is that site development and the construction process would likely be delayed.

“We’ve got several prospects. We’re hoping to announce the site over the summer. We wanted to wait and make sure that we found the right site,” said Ms. Berry, who also is a cousin of Mr. Stevenson’s.

An initial option to base BASSE at least temporarily in the former Richard Allen School, a historic structure on Railroad Avenue in Georgetown, has been abandoned.

“The barriers with an older building and the renovations needed didn’t seem like the best investment for us at the time. So that is why we shifted from the Richard Allen (School),” Ms. Berry said. “We’re now looking at property in … Milton and Georgetown. That’s our target area.”

Initially, BASSE will open with ninth and 10th grade students and expand over two years to grades nine-12.

“Our school model plan, student enrollment, none of that has shifted. It will still be to start with grades nine and 10. The only thing that has shifted is that it would delay our opening year. Instead of the fall of 2022, we are looking at fall of 2023,” Ms. Berry said.

In mid-February of this year, in a Zoom meeting before a DOE charter school liaison, founding members and others offered testimonial support for BASSE in hopes of garnering DOE approval. Now, with the one-year delay, that will have to be redone.

“We will, next year, have to reengage in the process,” Ms. Berry said. “There will be similarly two public hearings next year, as well.”

For now, BASSE is offering opportunities for the community to learn more about the school and its model and provide input:

• On Monday, BASSE, in partnership with the Kim & Evans Family Foundation, will host its first golf fundraising event at The Peninsula Golf & Country Club in Millsboro. Money raised will support two BASSE initiatives for 2021 — to provide much-needed clothes and footwear to local in-need elementary students, as well as necessary supplies to area veterans.

• On April 24, BASSE will host its inaugural education conference, “The School and Community Connection,” via Zoom. The conference will focus on BASSE’s mission “to create pathways, through proximity, for our students, their families, and our community” and examine how schools can have lasting impacts on the community and its students through partnerships and networking. The conference will run from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. To sign up, visit here.

• BASSE is also planning to partner with EJI and the Delaware Social Justice Remembrance Coalition to host a spring writing contest, participate in the Seaford Festival of Youth (June 5), host an African American music festival (June 27) and arrange several meet-and-greets at local restaurants across the county.

Additionally, BASSE will be hosting a virtual summer book study of the young-adult version of Mr. Stevenson’s bestselling novel, “Just Mercy.”

For more information, visit here.