Reading Consortium presents three Wilmington redistricting options; model vote set for Dec. 16
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Summary
At a Red Clay School Board workshop, Reading Consortium co-chairs Senator Tizzy Lachman and Matt Denn outlined three redistricting models for Wilmington-area schools and said the consortium will vote on which model to draft on Dec. 16; American Institutes for Research cost estimates are due before that vote.
Senator Tizzy Lachman and former Delaware attorney general Matt Denn, co-chairs of the Reading Consortium, presented three remaining redistricting scenarios for Wilmington-area schools at a Red Clay School Board special workshop and said the consortium will choose which model to draft at a Dec. 16 vote.
The consortium described three options under consideration: consolidating all four Northern New Castle County school districts into a single Northern New Castle County district; creating a Metropolitan Wilmington district by merging Brandywine and Red Clay and absorbing students from Christina and Colonial; or keeping Brandywine and Red Clay separate while dividing Wilmington students between them (a variation often referred to as the "river" plan). "Our primary goal this evening is to listen to both you and to the members of the public who live in Red Clay," Lachman said during the meeting.
Why it matters: consortium leaders said the work is grounded in a legislative mandate to propose a redistricting plan that includes a detailed transition, resource and implementation plan covering 13 statutory stipulations. Matt Denn said the group has seen large disparities in student achievement tied to poverty levels and described the plan as a statutory duty intended to improve equity and opportunity across Northern New Castle County.
What the presenters said: the consortium emphasized that selecting a model on Dec. 16 will not finalize details such as governance structures, feeder patterns or leadership positions. Those items, they said, will be developed in a subsequent full draft and subject to public hearings and State Board of Education review before possible submission to the General Assembly. "We don't have these cost estimates yet, and they will only be estimates. But they are scheduled to be delivered before our December 16 vote," Denn said regarding the American Institutes for Research (AIR) fiscal analysis the consortium has commissioned.
The consortium said potential benefits of consolidation include expanded access to programs (for example gifted or immersion programs), reduced duplicative administration and a shift of resources toward frontline educators. They acknowledged trade-offs including more complex transportation logistics and the risk that larger districts could be harder for families to navigate. The presenters repeatedly stressed that many of the operational details — how a merged district would be governed, how many board seats Wilmington would have, and the timetable for implementation — will be included in the full transition plan developed after a model is chosen.
What comes next: the consortium plans public discussion of draft fiscal findings and a Dec. 16 vote among its 25 members (a majority of 13 is required for approval) to select the model that will be the basis for a full plan. If the State Board of Education approves the consortium's draft plan following public hearings, the plan would then go to the General Assembly for consideration.
The meeting closed with the Red Clay board adjourning after public comment and questions. The consortium urged people to submit input through the QR form shown at the meeting or by email to solutionsfordelawareschools@gmail.com.