Pritchett Academy, 1st city school in 50 years, opens Friday

The Maurice Pritchett Sr. Academy will have an opening ceremony in Wilmington Friday.

The first new school in the city of Wilmington in five decades is opening Friday.

The $84 million Bancroft School in the Christina School District will have a new name honoring a longtime Wilmington educator who was the principal of Bancroft School from 1975 to 2005 – Maurice Pritchett Sr.

Pritchett died in April 2023.

“With the design and opening of this learning institution, we have an opportunity to establish Pritchett Academy as a beacon of innovation and community connectedness,” said Laura Burgos, executive director of the Wilmington Learning Collaborative , a three-district partnership of Christina, Brandywine and Red Clay school districts to improve student outcomes in nine city elementaries.

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Maurice Pritchett Sr. Academy will span several blocks in Wilmington. The construction of it hit a high point in May 2023 with hundreds gathering in the streets to witness the final beam being lifted into place, marking the topping off the structure.

Pritchett’s impact

“We are naming a building after an amazing leader who led for years as principal in the school he attended as a child,” Burgos said.

The quality of the physical facility where Delaware’s children go to school sends them a message about how much we value their education, said Matt Denn, former lieutenant governor and attorney general of Delaware. He’s also a member of the Redding Consortium for Educational Equity .

“For too many years, children in the city of Wilmington attended an elementary school where the classrooms and facilities that they entered every day sent them the wrong message,” he said. “In that respect, the opening of this new facility is an important step forward.”

The building will be two floors and serve about 600 students in grades one through eight, with most of the staff from the old location transferring to the new building.

Its campus will be bounded by East 6th and East 8th Streets, andLombard and Spruce Streets.

“Maurice Pritchett would likely have told us that the biggest difference for the students will be made by the teachers and staff who come to work there every day,” Denn said. “It is very appropriate that the school is named after Maurice Pritchett, because he devoted his life to working directly with students in Wilmington, serving an extraordinary three decades as Bancroft School principal when he had opportunities to do other things.”

Raye Jones Avery, co-lead of the Wilmington Center for Education Equity and Policy , said it’s historically consequential that a new school has been erected for the first time in 50 years in the city.

“Two things can be true at the same time,” she said. “It is tremendously exciting yet speaks volumes about persistent inequities in Delaware. Maurice Pritchett Sr. will forever remain a giant in our state.”

Denn said Pritchett was perhaps best known for his amazing rapport with students and their families, and his ability to inspire students to achieve.

Seeing his name on the school when they come to work every day, Denn said, will be a great reminder for teachers and staff of the importance and value of their work.

“This sends such a powerful message to both our children and educators, one that reinforces the importance of investing in our communities through service and leadership,” Burgos said.

All of the funding for the new building came from the state.

Julia Keleher, First State Educate ’s chief strategy and operating officer, said the opening marks a significant milestone for both the city of Wilmington and the Wilmington Learning Collaborative.

“The unveiling of this new, state-of-the-art building brings renewed hope and opportunity for both students and educators,” she said. “We are thrilled for city, WLC leadership, school leadership, the students and the community.”

She said the new building will provide an inspiring and modern environment, and said First State Educate is hopeful that this modernized environment will have a transformative impact on teaching and learning outcomes.

“The academic challenges of the past decade are well-known and all educators want something better for the students and families,” she said. “We are hopeful that this new chapter offers a fresh start for a school that has faced underperformance in recent years I think we all agree that the 2024 results do not reflect students’ potential.”

The district is having a ribbon-cutting ceremony and block party Friday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at 600 East 7th Street.

The afternoon will have government and educational leaders speaking, guided tours of the new building, food and games, a celebration of community pride and resource tables hosted by local community organizations.

“Mr. Pritchett and his beloved wife Juanita modeled education excellence, dignity, servant leadership and compassion for children and families, so must an institution bearing the Pritchett name,” Jones Avery said.