The Echo

For those who have followed the Broadie Toadie Joe Wise's saga through the years - from the days when he financially sank the Christina School District to his less than glorious time as a Florida superintendent and beyond to his latest education venture, Atlantic Research Partners:  The Prominent Delaware Educator and Community Leader, Mr. Maurice Pritchett, has joined the Wise family.  "Pritch" as he's known locally was even named in Wise's ARP response to the Illinois RFP for a lead partner in that state's education reform movement, http://www.isbe.state.il.us/apl/pdf/ipz/proposals/atlantic_research_lead.pdf :

9. Partner with Randy Sprick's CHAMPS and Delaware-based Maurice Pritchett's community models for improving the support of students from poverty backgrounds, parent supports and training, positive school culture and discipline, and teens with other personal challenges such as pregnancy, drugs and alcohol and other criminal activity.

And here, under the section headed:


"iii. Provide a summary of the qualifications of the staff who would be involved in the project and list their specific experience and success with school intervention efforts. Describe to what degree these staff will be involved in the day-to-day work with the district and school(s). In an appendix include one-page résumés for all individuals involved with the turnaround efforts."

Maurice Pritchett —Community Engagement Coach. Pritchett has a great deal of experience in parent and community outreach. He has served community director positions in many school districts throughout the country.

From the Atlantic Research Partners website: http://atlanticresearchpartners.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=2

Mr. Maurice Pritchett, Faculty, Atlantic Research Partners

Maurice Pritchet, Sr. is a highly-regarded and well-recognized education and community leader who has worked tirelessly for change in the City of Wilmington, Delaware. Reared on the east side of that City, Mr. Pritchett received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education from Delaware State University in 1965 and his Master’s Degree in Educational Administration in 1974.

Mr. Pritchett’s distinguished career as an educational leader and change agent includes serving diverse needs in Cecil County School District (Elkton, MD), and ultimately in the urban setting in which he had grown up: Wilmington, Delaware. He taught at the Elbert School there and subsequently served as Community School Director at the Bancroft School of Wilmington—the very school he had attended as an elementary student. Upon earning his M.A. in 1974, Mr. Pritchett assumed the duties of Vice-Principal of Bancroft Elementary and later went on to serve as this urban school’s Principal for over thirty years. While serving as Principal, he developed educational programs and strategies specifically focused on meeting the needs of Wilmington students- often in collaboration with teachers who had taught him during his own childhood years.

Mr. Pritchett attributes much of his success to those who mentored him during his tough childhood in a difficult city. He names for example Nathan “Doc” Hill, a community leader at the local YMCA, as a man instrumental in awakening in him a desire to learn—and to make a difference in the lives of others. He points out that Doc Hill ingrained in him as a child an understanding that it does take a village to change the lives of children, and he stresses that no child achieves academically without the support—and reasoned expectations—of the adults in his or her life.

During his many years of service to urban neighborhoods and schools, Mr. Pritchett has received multiple honors, accolades and civic awards. Notably, he has been honored as the State of Delaware’s National Distinguished Principal, and was nationally recognized by United States Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley while serving as Principal of the Bancroft School.





Congratuations to Mr. Pritchett! Children & Educators First sincerely hope that you enjoy a productive relationship with Wise's Atlantic Research Partners (or as its more commonly refered to: WARPed)!