By Glenn Rolfe

GEORGETOWN — Aiming to chart an innovative, diverse, service-based course for education in Delaware, the Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence charter application reached the public hearing stage Monday.

In a virtual presentation before Leroy Travers, Delaware Charter School Office lead education associate, BASSE founding members and others voiced support, which they hope will garner Delaware Department of Education approval and an opening in Sussex County for the 2022-23 year.

“Our students need so many more skills,” said Chantalle Ashford, BASSE founder and vice board chair. “BASSE offers the opportunity to combine and innovate on educational practices — International Baccalaureate, service learning. ... They are going to be able to collaborate not only with their classmates but also the community partners … to help create change right now. I think our education system needs to shift in a way that allows all of our students to have access to those kind of life-changing opportunities.”

The hearing was held to provide opportunity for public comment to assist the DOE in its decision whether to approve the new charter school application.

Initially, BASSE will open with ninth and 10th grade students and expand over two years to a full high school with grades nine-12. Its mission is to develop 21st-century skills, provide real-world working experiences and facilitate service-based learning for all students in partnership with the community at large by creating a supportive learning environment where students are provided the tools to own their identities, successes and futures.

The school is named in salute to Cape Henlopen High School graduate Bryan Stevenson, founder/executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of the critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller, “Just Mercy.”

Betsy Renzo, a member of the school’s board of directors, spoke of the diversity BASSE will bring.

“This was the year that everybody started talking a lot about diversity and inclusion. We had marches. We had protests. We had signs,” said Ms. Renzo. “Then, the question is, ‘What happens next?’ And BASSE is what happens next. When Bryan Stevenson says you need to get proximate, he is saying we need to roll up our sleeves. We need to get involved. We need to actively come together and solve issues on a long-term basis.”

Another founding member, Dr. Teresa Berry, discussed the role of school choice.

“School choice is the ideal that parents should be able to choose which school they want their children to attend,” she said. “Charter schools are our best hope for meaningful change in education. The choice is crucial for students who can now learn and thrive in curriculum or learning styles of their home school. Students go to school to learn not only math, science, social studies and English, but also, they go to learn how to contribute, to be contributing members of society. Students need to embrace their individuality at this difficult time in their life. BASSE gives students not only the basic courses in education but the courses at an advanced level.”

BASSE’s commitment to diversity was the focus of founding board member Karen Higgins, who noted that her career was in law enforcement, not education.

“One of the features that really stands out is their commitment to diversity. When you think of diversity, a lot of times, the first thing people think about is race. But what I like about BASSE is they also think about diversity of opportunity,” she said.

During the hearing, Alonna Berry, BASSE founder and chair of its board of directors, shared her life-changing experience at Polytech High School, when, as a junior, opportunity arose for her to sit on the Youth Philanthropy Board through the Delaware Community Foundation.

“For me, that experience was transformational because it allowed me the opportunity to get proximate,” said Ms. Berry. “I was 16 at the time. I didn’t recognize that there was homelessness down the street from me or what some of my fellow students were dealing with at home. The opportunity to sit (on the) philanthropic board in high school actually changed the way that I saw the world. It got me out into the community. I got an opportunity to effect change.

“The seed was planted when I was 16, and I didn’t even recognize it would have such a major impact on my life. I believe the work of the Bryan Allen Stevenson School is to plant those seeds with kids in our community,” she continued. “There is value in students knowing that they have power, that they (have) voice and that they can make a change in their own community. It is literally in the spirit of what Bryan Stevenson says, that you have to get proximate. You have to go and do uncomfortable things.”

The Richard Allen School in Georgetown, which served as the heart of the African American community for over a half-century and, with desegregation, became part of the Indian River School District until it closed in 2010, is among the possible BASSE school sites.

“We are still in the process of finalizing the property and location. We are currently looking at multiple land sites in the Georgetown/Milton area, including the Richard Allen School,” said Ms. Berry.

Ms. Renzo further explained the service-learning component at BASSE, saying it will go beyond volunteerism, where one might “go into the community for a day (but) never go back.”

“We mean service learning, which means that what we intend for our students to do is to truly learn and to empathize and to understand, to question and think critically about issues in our society,” she said. “When I think about BASSE being a part of the community, I also think about the community being a part of BASSE.”

Dr. Berry made note that there will be a 9 a.m. start to the school day at BASSE.

“This allows students to work late into the day, helping students adjust easily to (a) real-life work schedule. Our society needs more innovators and inventors and people that will be inspired, like getting proximate at the BASSE. Here, students will work hard and strive to be like the school’s namesake, Bryan Allen Stevenson, … the founder of EJI,” she said.

“Children spend the majority of their time in school. This is (the) place where they start to develop their own personality, and they learn to interact with other individuals. Schools have a very strict system that does not allow many students to innovate on their own. This is not the case for the Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence. Students get to explore year one and two to decide what field of study they want to pursue,” she added.

Founding board member Dr. Joseph Kim, a family physician with TidalHealth Nanticoke, stated that BASSE will bring more educational opportunities to the rural, underserved community.

“COVID has exposed a lot of our flaws in population health. This is an opportunity to fix that problem. The Bryan Stevenson School (would) help broaden our health care team” and teach the “importance of social justice, diversity, service learning,” said Dr. Kim.

“School doesn’t look the same that is has always looked. It doesn’t feel the same that it has always felt. And it shouldn’t,” said Ms. Berry, who is also Mr. Stevenson’s first cousin. “This is a point in time, an evolution in our education system. It is a point for innovation. We know that this isn’t every kid in Sussex County, but, for the kids who want to wake up in the morning and feel like they are changing the world in high school, the Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence is the place where they can do that.”

Several others spoke in support of the charter application, including Dr. Katherine Cauley, a BASSE advisory board member. She said service-learning research has demonstrated that students learn as much outside of classrooms as they do in them.

In addition, Dr. Cauley said the National Education Longitudinal Study demonstrated that students in service learning in high school were 22% more likely to graduate from college and that “students engaged in service learning also scored significantly higher on measures of civic engagement, leadership and community service.”

Hearing transcripts will be part of the record, which is provided to the education secretary and the state Board of Education, Mr. Travers said.