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The Campus Community School Board of Directors likely will close its financially strapped high school next year to make room for its kindergarten through eighth grade students.
The pending relocation of the elementary and middle school grades from Wesley College’s campus has exacerbated Campus Community High’s precarious position, school officials said.
The Campus Community School Board is scheduled to vote on the recommendation by its finance committee to close the high school at its Wednesday meeting.
The high school has never achieved financial self-sufficiency, Board President Marc Coté said. Instead, elementary and middle school revenues and operations have subsidized high school operations.
“Closing of Campus Community High School after this year has become inevitable,” he said. “Our stakeholders and friends should know this is not an action we want to take.”
Campus Community School has annual revenue of about $6 million per year for grades one through 12, Head of School Patricia “Trish” Hermance said. The high school program, if isolated from the elementary/middle school program, is not financially viable, she said. The loss of the Wesley Campus facility is a significant blow to the high school’s continued existence, Hermance said. The loss of this campus facility essentially amounts to the loss of a $300,000 annual subsidy for building costs.
Wesley faculty members and Kent County residents worked together to found Campus Community School.
“We have enjoyed our space on Wesley College's campus for the last 13 years,” Hermance said. “With their plans to create a green space on their campus and close Bradford Street to through traffic it became necessary for us to move our elementary program.”
All charter schools receive state funds as well as a tuition paid by the local school districts for each child a charter school enrolls. However, charter schools do not receive capital construction funds that pay for infrastructure expenses, Campus Community Board member Lisa McMasters said.
“Effectively, to meet our capital needs, we have to reallocate funds from operations,” she said.
Dover Air Force Base had agreed to offer Arnold Elementary at a minimal cost for three years, Hermance said.
However, the board declined this stopgap measure, said board member Robert Elder, a former bank president now at the Santora CPA Group.
“Given both the short-term nature as well as the financial and market-focused issues, acting on that offer would only postpone the inevitable,” he said.
The schools on Dover Air Force Base are in the Caesar Rodney School District. Arnold Elementary has been serving as a swing school that houses students from different elementary schools during C.R.’s ongoing renovations.
The Campus Community School Board of Directors likely will close its financially strapped high school next year to make room for its kindergarten through eighth grade students.
The pending relocation of the elementary and middle school grades from Wesley College’s campus has exacerbated Campus Community High’s precarious position, school officials said.
The Campus Community School Board is scheduled to vote on the recommendation by its finance committee to close the high school at its Wednesday meeting.
The high school has never achieved financial self-sufficiency, Board President Marc Coté said. Instead, elementary and middle school revenues and operations have subsidized high school operations.
“Closing of Campus Community High School after this year has become inevitable,” he said. “Our stakeholders and friends should know this is not an action we want to take.”
Campus Community School has annual revenue of about $6 million per year for grades one through 12, Head of School Patricia “Trish” Hermance said. The high school program, if isolated from the elementary/middle school program, is not financially viable, she said. The loss of the Wesley Campus facility is a significant blow to the high school’s continued existence, Hermance said. The loss of this campus facility essentially amounts to the loss of a $300,000 annual subsidy for building costs.
Wesley faculty members and Kent County residents worked together to found Campus Community School.
“We have enjoyed our space on Wesley College's campus for the last 13 years,” Hermance said. “With their plans to create a green space on their campus and close Bradford Street to through traffic it became necessary for us to move our elementary program.”
All charter schools receive state funds as well as a tuition paid by the local school districts for each child a charter school enrolls. However, charter schools do not receive capital construction funds that pay for infrastructure expenses, Campus Community Board member Lisa McMasters said.
“Effectively, to meet our capital needs, we have to reallocate funds from operations,” she said.
Dover Air Force Base had agreed to offer Arnold Elementary at a minimal cost for three years, Hermance said.
However, the board declined this stopgap measure, said board member Robert Elder, a former bank president now at the Santora CPA Group.
“Given both the short-term nature as well as the financial and market-focused issues, acting on that offer would only postpone the inevitable,” he said.
The schools on Dover Air Force Base are in the Caesar Rodney School District. Arnold Elementary has been serving as a swing school that houses students from different elementary schools during C.R.’s ongoing renovations.
Campus Community High parent Tracey Moore’s son is among those who will have to find a new school to go to next year. He is a ninth grader.
They chose CCHS because of its small size, a disappointed Moore said.
“I guess I should have asked for a financial report during the interview,” she said. “How can the elementary school be profitable enough to support the high school?” she added. “Why is the state not supporting the charter schools better?
“They keep the traditional schools from overcrowding. We are left with more questions than answers.”
Campus Community officials are attempting to work out a plan that would allow rising 12th graders to complete their diploma next year somehow, Hermance said. But the details of the plan for rising seniors remain murky, pending the board vote.
“We expect to make provisions to meet their graduation requirements with a combination of required coursework, dual enrollment in college courses, and internship opportunities,” she said. “We will also work with the families and students who are displaced to ensure that they have information on all of their high school options.”
