Colonial School District will move forward with changing elementary school boundaries

Why Should Delaware Care?
Concerns about enrollment at school districts throughout the state have grown, with some school buildings experiencing extreme overcrowding while others face declining enrollment. The Colonial School District’s recent approval to change elementary school feeder patterns marks the most recent attempt to address challenges with classroom space. 

The Colonial School District Board of Education approved plans on Tuesday to change the boundaries for Southern Elementary School, which multiple New Castle parents have favored for its programs tailored to their kids’ special education needs. 

The plan will decentralize those special education programs away from the school, which sits near the C&D Canal, and distribute the resources throughout the district, which stretches from Wilmington to Port Penn.

During the meeting, Superintendent Jeff Menzer said the changes are necessary to better support special education students’ needs, which have been impacted by the limited capacity at Southern Elementary.

“That has been front and center since the beginning of our conversation, and we firmly believe that the recommendations in front of you move us closer to our to that effort,” he said.

For years, Southern Elementary students have had access to special education programs that were exclusive to the school. Many families who do not live in Southern’s current feeder pattern have also used Delaware’s school choice option to enroll their children there to access Southern’s programs. 

The school was at a 97% capacity rate last year, according to the Delaware Department of Education. Capacity rates for the current school year have not yet been released.

The change would send more general education students to Southern and fewer to Eisenberg, Castle Hills, and Wilbur elementary schools, Menzer said during a July board meeting.

Roughly 330 students would be affected by the changes, which will go into effect next school year. 

Under the new plan, students living in Holloway Terrace and Mayview Manor neighborhoods who currently attend Eisenberg Elementary would go to New Castle Elementary for the 2027-28 school year. 

Castle Hill Elementary students living in areas such as Cavalier Country Club Apartments and Christiana Acres, among others, would instead attend Carrie Downie Elementary. And Castle Hill students living in Emblem at Christiana would attend Pleasantville Elementary. 

Southern Elementary also would draw students living in High Pointe at Saint Georges, Blairville Court, Buena Vista Park, and other parts of the district that currently attend Wilbur Elementary.

Menzer also told board members he had spoken with families who will be affected by the change. 

Their only concern was whether they would still be able to use the school choice option to enroll their children in schools, such as Southern Elementary, that may be outside their designated feeder pattern — which they will.

What will happen next? 

In the coming weeks, the University of Delaware will help the district map and geotag the feeder pattern changes ahead of school choice applications for the 2027-28 school year, which open on Nov. 2. 

Menzer has said there will be a priority to share necessary information with affected families throughout the fall. 

Families will have a chance to visit the school where their child will be assigned, or where they may want to choice into, for the 2027-28 school year. 

Menzer also said that starting in December, the district will “lay out” how the plan will impact staff. Although staff will not be laid off as a result of the changes, there may be changes as to where they are placed. 

None of the feeder pattern changes will be implemented until next fall. 

Addressing enrollment concerns throughout Delaware

For many students with individualized education plans, or IEPs, their schooling does not only take place inside a classroom.

Some students require small group lessons or intensive interventions, and schools need space to provide those required resources. 

But space is limited in Southern Elementary. And Colonial School District officials’ decision to change elementary school feeder patterns marks the first attempt from a school district in recent years to address ongoing enrollment fluctuations. 

While some school districts grapple with overcrowded schools, a separate phenomenon of half-empty school buildings has prompted Delaware’s House Speaker Melissa Minor-Brown (D-New Castle) to question whether those facilities could be repurposed into different types of community facilities. 

Earlier this summer, Minor-Brown introduced a resolution that asks budget officials to develop a framework, along with school districts, that would define an “underutilized” property. They would then outline a process for repurposing it for other community services, such as child care or senior housing.

In a social media post, Minor-Brown said her resolution would not close any school or take power from local school board members. Instead, she said it starts a “coordinated planning conversation.”

The phenomenon has been fueled by several factors, including an expansion of charter schools in New Castle County and changes to bus patterns that allow students to attend schools outside of their community.

Menzer has previously told Spotlight Delaware that capacity numbers are not “cut and dry,” because some students need more space than others depending on their individual needs. 

As a result, Menzer said some schools that have lower recorded enrollments than others are still overcrowded because of some students’ needs for more inclusive settings.

Once implemented, the district’s new feeder pattern will take students from some of the more populated schools, such as Wilbur and Eisenberg, to schools with lower capacity rates like New Castle and Carrie Downie elementary schools.