State College considers making Delta Program into separate school amid community pushback

State College Area School District is considering making the Delta Program into a separate school, prompting concerns from students, parents and staff.

More than 120 members of the Delta community attended a Delta Parent Teacher School Organization meeting Wednesday night at the school, which is located within the North Campus of State High. Delta is an alternative schooling program students can choose to opt into starting in sixth grade.

During the meeting, interim Superintendent Curtis Johnson and director of curriculum Christine Merritt spoke about the district’s plans to issue the Delta Program a separate building code, making it recognized as a separate school by the state. If the district moves forward, the Delta Program could become one 6-12 school or separate middle and high schools.

“I’m not looking to change the program or anything of that nature, I’m just hoping to assign a (building) number to Delta,” Johnson said. “Delta has all the making of a school — it has administrators, a nurse, teachers, its own building — all the making of an actual school.”

The Delta Program is SCASD’s democratically run alternative 6-12 program. Students have their own learning goals, flexible schedules and open campus with decisions voted on by parents, staff and students. Johnson and Merritt said discussions about turning Delta into its own school have been happening for years, but due to the pandemic, the district is only now revisiting the issue.

Johnson said the change would not affect how Delta operates or its democratic system but it would allow state data, like PSSA test scores and state climate studies, to be tracked more easily. Currently, the program operates with state test scores and reports falling under the purview of the student’s home middle schools. Safe2Say, a statewide anonymous reporting tool, also factors into the decision as reports track students at the middle school, rather than reporting them as Delta students.

“There is some concern at the middle school, well middle school and high school, because its hard to get a pure sample of what students belong to who…” Johnson said.

Students and parents asked if the data the state collects from Delta students could be separated from the middle schools by the district, rather than changing the program’s standing at a statewide level. The Delta program has fewer than 300 students, with about 160 in high school and 130 in middle school.

Parent Jill Wood said the Delta community is very involved and would be able to either hire or find volunteers to help the school sort out Delta students’ test score data from the middle schools. Wood also said the district could conduct a separate climate survey of Delta.

Delta students also questioned if test score data trends would even be measurable, considering Delta students’ high opt-out rate for state testing. The administration already must complete a districtwide school improvement plan to help raise state test participation, which is mandatory for districts or schools below a 95% participation rate.

The Delta community also voiced concerns over what the change would look like regarding access to State High programs. Lorelai Radzanowski, a junior at the Delta Program, is worried that the change could have an impact on Delta students’ ability to compete in high school sports.

“I get that the district loves Delta, they really do ... I just think that making us a school isn’t the best way to go about it,” Radzanowski said.

Under PIAA rules, in a public school district that has more than one school at the same level, students are only eligible at the school they attend. Johnson said the district would look into if Delta students could still participate in State High sports, and if not, the district would not recommend the Delta program to become a school.

Those in attendance said it still wasn’t clear why the district wanted to make the change, how becoming a separate school would help the Delta Program and what prompted the proposal.

“I haven’t heard enough yet to tell me there’s a real solid benefit for Delta,” said Michele Stine, a Delta parent. “I understand there may be benefits to the district but I haven’t heard anything yet that convinces me there’s a benefit for Delta.”

Parents and students questioned the district’s motives during the public comment section of the meeting, including if the program would change after receiving a building number. But Johnson said the district’s only motivation for the change was to be able to segregate the data.

The district’s administration also met with Delta staff on Feb. 21, many voicing the same concerns as the audience at Wednesday’s meeting.

“We were kind of unprepared for the pushback but any change is hard to swallow, but they would still have all the privileges they have now, they would just have a (building) number associated with them,” Johnson told the CDT after the meeting.

Johnson said being a recognized building could allow the Delta students more freedoms, such as the ability to add to graduation requirements.

The administration plans to put together a committee of Delta parents, students and teachers to discuss possible plans to move forward. The change from program to school would have to be approved by the board before July in order to go into effect for the 2023-2024 school year, Johnson said. The board will next meet on March 13.