Parents and staff urge retention of interim principals at Bayard and Maurice Pritchard as WLC leads national search

Parents, staff and community members pressed the Christina School District board April 15 to reconsider principal selection at two schools — Bayard School and Maurice Pritchard Senior Academy — and to make the hiring process more transparent.

Bayard parents and staff: ask to retain interim principal Parents and staff from Bayard delivered multiple public comments asking the district and the Wilmington Learning Collaborative (WLC) to retain the school's interim principal, Dr. Ginyard, or at minimum to give parents a fuller role in the selection process. Speakers described multiple leadership changes, building moves and turnover over several years and said Bayard has begun to stabilize under the current interim leadership.

- Antoinette Curry (parent) said a petition gathered “278 or 287” signatures in favor of retaining the interim principal and asked where parents should submit the petition; the speaker said the signatures were gathered on short notice. - Tracy Lewis, math interventionist at Bayard, told the board, “We cannot afford to go backwards or restart our vision,” and said staff had been directed to pause planning for 2025–26 until the principal slot is resolved. - Vanessa Rose (reading specialist), Janessie Matia (second‑grade teacher) and other staff described improved communication, weekly faculty newsletters and rising morale under the interim administrative team.

Maurice Pritchard staff: support for interim principal Dr. Todd Staff from Maurice Pritchard Academy also urged continuity in leadership. Acting principal Sean Todd and several teachers described programs and partnerships launched under his interim leadership — including new intramurals and career/CTE expansions — and staff members said continuity would support student progress.

WLC national search and timeline WLC Executive Director Dr. Laura Burgos presented an overview of the principal search process for both schools. She said the search began in November and used a multi‑stage, competency‑based approach: a national posting, preliminary screening by Alma Advisory Group (a retained search firm), stakeholder interviews, and on‑site finalist days that included classroom visits and parent‑led evening interviews.

Key details Dr. Burgos provided: - Three finalists were identified and took part in an on‑site interview day that included classroom visits and parent panels. The WLC council planned to meet April 15 to review feedback and make a recommendation to the Christina School District board. - The WLC described the search as ‘‘reimagining school leader recruitment’’ using bias training for interviewers and broader community input. - WLC officials said this year is an “activation year” for the collaborative and noted a $10,000,000 allocation for nine WLC schools to use for flexible school supports; WLC said the chill‑room pilot (launched at Bayard and Pritchard) and educator supports are examples of the use of that funding.

How parents and staff characterized the process Speakers said they felt excluded from parts of the process and called for more transparency and time. Antoinette Curry and Salida Cherry urged that the interim principal be included among finalists; Cherry said the interim principal had not been given a chance to defend her candidacy during finalist interviews. Several speakers said communications about meetings and candidate engagement came at short notice and that parents were “last to know.”

District response and next steps Dr. Burgos and Superintendent Joyner said stakeholders had multiple opportunities to provide input since November (focus groups, student sessions, community workshops) and that the WLC would tabulate community feedback and present recommendations to WLC council and then to the Christina School District board. Burgos said the council would meet in executive session April 15 and make recommendations, which would then be forwarded to the district board.

Quotes - "We cannot afford to go backwards or restart our vision," said Tracy Lewis, math interventionist at Bayard. - "This search began with a number of interviews, student focus groups, community workshops," said Dr. Laura Burgos, WLC executive director, describing the multi‑stage process that produced three finalists.

Ending The board heard extensive public comment supporting retention of interim leadership at both Bayard and Maurice Pritchard and received a detailed briefing from the WLC on the national principal search. The WLC council planned to review community feedback April 15 and make a recommendation to the Christina School District board; parents and staff said they expect greater transparency and, in some cases, asked that interim principals be added to finalist consideration or be retained permanently.