Wilmington, Delaware- The Board of Directors of Delaware Academy for Public Safety and Security (The Delaware Academy) is proud to announce the hiring of Dr. Will Robinson as the Academy’s first School Leader. His official title is School Superintendent.
The Delaware Academy is a new charter high school, approved by the Delaware Department of Education on April 17, 2009. This charter school model will offer Delaware students a highly
structured environment and a rigorous college preparatory academic program that prepares them to attend college or enter one of the various first responder fields. The school will open with 200, 9th grade cadets in September 2010.
“With The Delaware Academy school model, we are creating a culture where students see success as a distinct possibility. We are teaching children to see the value of their community,”
stated School Board Chair, Charles Copeland. “We feel that Dr. Robinson – a passionate, knowledgeable, and experienced professional interested in improving the educational opportunities available to Wilmington’s high school students – is the perfect person to lead this effort.”
Dr. Robinson served for eight years as a special education teacher in Baltimore and Wilmington, and has a penchant for collaborating with parents, teachers and students. This has shaped his vision and drive to see students succeed. For nine years, he served as Executive Director (Principal) of East Side Charter School located in Wilmington, Delaware, where he built a program that thrives today. The school began as an 80 student K-3 school and has expanded to a pre-kindergarten through 8th grade community learning center with 400 students and a $3.6 million budget under his direction.
“The challenge of academic achievement for East Side Charter Schools’ students was met by developing and training my teachers to improve student learning, and by understanding data and best practices. As a result, the students met Adequate Yearly Progress, as measured by the Delaware Student Testing Program (DSTP), nearly every year of my tenure.” stated Dr.
Robinson.
Since his tenure as East Side Charter School’s Executive Director, Dr. Robinson served as President and CEO of the East Side Learning Center (Foundation), an ancillary organization he
helped create to fund the many needs of the school and community.
“I, and many other members of the East Side Charter School Board, joined the Board because of Dr. Robinson’s passion to educate children who were not thriving in our traditional public
schools, and his dedicated leadership that created the foundation of our community. The new Delaware Academy is fortunate to have a leader with his experience and vision. We look forward to carrying on Will Robinson’s legacy at East Side Charter and to graduate some of our students to succeed at The Delaware Academy,’ stated Charlie McDowell, East Side Charter
School Board Chair.
On serving as The Delaware Academy Superintendent, Dr. Robinson remarked, “I am involved with The Delaware Academy because I know that students need great preparation in order to
succeed. The opportunity to build a school from scratch again, with lessons learned, is very intriguing. Many students are crying out for a school that will not give up on them and will make
sure that they have skills needed to succeed. I plan to put together the staff with the passion to create such a school.”
Dr. Robinson’s background as a teacher coupled with his experience as an administrator provides
him with the comprehensive skills necessary to carry out the duties of The Delaware Academy Superintendent position in a way that we feel will lead all of our students to success,” stated
Board Chair Charles Copeland. “With Dr. Robinson, we are getting a person with a driven desire to see that every child has the opportunity to learn and that every teacher has the tools and
knowledge to teach and give students what they need.”
