Cab Calloway School of the Arts

Cab Calloway School of the Arts is an arts-oriented magnet school in Wilmington, Delaware, operated by the Red Clay Consolidated School District, which focuses on a strong academic curriculum along with an education in the arts. It is a public school, but students must audition within a field of study in order to be admitted. It is one of the most selective public schools in the United States. Cab Calloway encompasses both a middle school and a high school, with students ranging from 6th to 12th grade, and each student chooses a particular concentration in a field of arts that they study through high school.

Cab Calloway School of the Arts
Location
100 N. DuPont Road
Wilmington, DE 19807
Coordinates39.7537°N 75.5876°W / 39.7537; -75.5876
Information
TypePublic secondary art school
MottoArts + Academics = Excellence
Established1992
PrincipalDean Julie Rumschlag
Grades6–12
Enrollment932 (2018-19)[1]
Websitehttp://cabcallowayschool.org/

History

In 1960, long before Cab Calloway School of the Arts existed, the building in which CCSA is housed opened as Wilmington High School. Once considered a top-notch school, Wilmington High School suffered through dropping enrollment and an increasingly bad image as it made its way through the 1980s and 1990s. Eventually it was decided that the school would close near the end of the decade. The incoming freshmen class of 1994 was the last one accepted at the school.

Cab Calloway School of the Arts was established in the fall of 1992 after a group of Red Clay parents joined together to investigate what kind of school should be put in the failing Wilmington High School campus. Cab Calloway School of the Arts was originally known as the Creative and Performing Arts Middle School, and was named after Cab Calloway in 1993 because of his status as a performer and ties to the state of Delaware. The school served students from 6th to 7th grade, and soon added an 8th grade. The need for the school to expand to a high school program soon became apparent, as some middle school alumni were not satisfied with the area high schools they went to. As a result, during the 1997–1998 school year, the performing arts school added a ninth and tenth grade to the program.

Wilmington High graduated the last class in 1999, and closed in June 1999. To honor the school, Cab Calloway kept the words "Wilmington High" on the front building entrance.

The school has a "Wall of Fame" with various descriptions of WHS alumni who have made outstanding contributions to society.

In 2000, Cab Calloway graduated its first senior class. The following year, the Class of 2001 would become the first Cab Calloway class to have gone through all seven years of the school.

In the fall of 2002, a ceremony was held to honor the 10th anniversary of the school.

Also notable that year was the dedication of the Sentinel. Moved from downtown to the front of the high school, this interesting statue of many different colors gives passersby an unusual view. Although the attractiveness of the structure has been debated, most students believe the Sentinel is an important piece to the landscape of the school.

In the fall of 2004, Cab Calloway welcomed the opening of its own art gallery, which has been used to showcase both the art of students and local artists.

The Class of 2005 had the distinction of being the largest class to graduate (with 82 members) and the first class since 2000 to have all of its members graduate. This 100% graduation rate has not been matched as of 2006. The Class of 2005 was also supposed to have been the first class to utilize the three-tiered diploma system, which based diplomas on DSTP scores as part of Ruth Ann Minner's plan to get Delaware up to standard under the No Child Left Behind act. Due to protests by students, parents, and faculty, plans were dropped to implement the three-tiered diploma system with the Class of 2005.

The January 2007 issue of Delaware Today ranked Cab Calloway School of the Arts as second in the state, behind the perennially ranked number 1, Charter School of Wilmington. The rankings were based on DSTP scores.

In May 2007, Newsweek ranked Cab Calloway School of the Arts 437th in the nation.[2]

In 2012, the school's crumbling theatre was torn down to allow for the construction of a $9.8 million theatre to better serve the needs of the students of all majors. The newly-renovated theatre was completed for the 2014-2015 school year.

In 2017, a celebration was held to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the school.

The school song is "Minnie the Moocher" by Cab Calloway. Though not a conventional choice for a school song due to several alleged references to drugs and prostitution, the singing of the song after each Showstoppers performance has become an institution.

The school colors are silver, black, and purple, though the school does not have sports teams. Students who want to play sports do so for the Charter School of Wilmington, which has been renting part of the Wilmington High campus since its opening in 1996.

The arts

Majors
  • Communication Arts (Web/Print Design, Cinema/Videography, Photography, Typography, Digital Audio Production)
  • Dance
  • Instrumental (Band)
  • Instrumental (Piano)
  • Instrumental (Strings)
  • Technical Theatre (Stage Tech)
  • Theatre Arts
  • Visual Arts
  • Vocal Music

Shows

The Communication Arts department (formally headed by K. Fanny but, as of 2012, W. Greider heads this department) directs videography for most of the school's productions. All shows are edited, produced, and/or live-streamed by students. From 2002 until 2012, the department sold DVD copies of the productions. Beginning in 2012, the department uploaded student films and productions to their Vimeo page.[3] Since then, the department regularly uploads student films and productions to the school's YouTube page.[4] Following the construction of a new theatre in 2014, which, among other new equipment, installed a theatre-wide state-of-the-art live-stream system, the school regularly live-streams events to the school YouTube page. In 2018, the Communication Arts department constructed a state-of-the-art photography and videography studio in which students take studio photography, record films, and live-stream things such as the morning announcements to the school.

The following is a list of shows that Cab has done and plans on doing:

1992–93

1993–94

1994–95

1995–96

  • Cinderella (middle school)
  • The Wiz (middle school)

1996–97

1997–98

1998–99

1999–2000

  • Showstoppers (middle & high school)
  • Annie (middle school)
  • Big (high school)

2000–01

2001–02

2002–03

  • Showstoppers (middle & high school)
  • Renfield of the Flies & Spiders (middle school drama)
  • Our Town (high school drama)
  • Les Misérables (middle & high school)

2003–04

2004–05

  • Showstoppers (middle & high school)
  • Romeo and Juliet (high school drama)
  • Tsunami! (middle school drama)
  • Fame (high school)
  • Just So (middle school)

2005–06

2006–07

2007–08

  • Sweeney Todd (high school)
  • Showstoppers (middle & high school)
  • My Very Own Story (middle school)
  • You Can't Take It with You (high school)

2008–09

2009–10

2010–11

2011–12

  • Showstoppers (middle & high school)
  • The Miracle Worker (high school)
  • Aladdin, Jr. (middle school)
  • The Producers (high school)
  • Little Women (high school musical theater company)

2012–13

  • Showstoppers (middle & high school)
  • The Red Velvet Cake War (high school)
  • The Little Mermaid Jr. (middle school)
  • Aida (high school)

2013–14

2014–15

2015–16

  • Showstoppers (middle & high school)
  • A Christmas Carol (high school)
  • Legally Blonde: The Musical (high school)
  • Annie Jr. (middle school)

2016–17

  • Rumors (high school)
  • Showstoppers (middle & high school)
  • The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (high school)

2017–18

  • Mousetrap (high school)
  • Showstoppers (middle & high school)
  • Fiddler On the Roof (high school)
  • Seussical Jr (middle school)

2018–19

  • Showstoppers (middle & high school)
  • She Kills Monsters (high school)
  • Once On This Island (middle school)
  • Mystery at the Green Parrot Inn (or Captain Bartram's Least Favorite Birthday or What You Will) (high school murder mystery dinner theatre)
  • The Sound of Music (high school)

2019-20

Location
The Sentinel, a wooden figure outside the school

Cab Calloway School of the Arts is located at 100 N. DuPont Road in Wilmington, Delaware. It shares a building built in 1960 formerly belonging to Wilmington High School. The Charter School of Wilmington utilizes one wing of the second floor and the entire third floor of the building.

After-school clubs

Athletics are shared with The Charter School of Wilmington (CSW). Students in grades 8-12 can participate in CSW sports.

High school

Middle school

Source: Cab Calloway School of the Arts Clubs Page[5]

Student enrollment (2018–2019 fall enrollment)

Total: 932

Middle School

Grade 6: 146

Grade 7: 146

Grade 8: 142

High School

Grade 09: 128

Grade 10: 126

Grade 11: 128

Grade 12: 116

Source: Delaware State Report Cards[6]

Academics

Cab Calloway and the Charter School of Wilmington (CSW) offer several classes that share enrollment. CSW students can enroll in Cab Calloway classes, while Cab Calloway students may enroll in CSW academic classes when the same course is not offered at Cab Calloway, or if the Cab Calloway class does not fit in the student's schedule. In 2008 both schools were on a list of the top 1300 schools in the United States published on Newsweek's website. The Charter School of Wilmington was ranked 100 while Cab Calloway was ranked 611. In 2018, both schools ranked in the top 300 schools in a report done by U.S. News. Cab Calloway ranked 275 and CSW ranked 119.[7]

In Fall 2018, Delaware College of Art and Design began offering two courses -- "Animation I" and "Figure Drawing"—that would count for both high school and college credit to junior and senior visual arts students on the Cab Calloway campus. A grant from WSFS Bank is supporting the dual-enrollment initiative.

Admissions

Cab Calloway School of the Arts is part of Red Clay School District's Choice School Programs. Admission to the school is based upon an entrance assessment.

All prospective applicants are asked to pick a "major" art concentration, based on the artistic concentrations that are offered by the school curriculum. Cab Calloway requires applicants to complete an audition in their selected concentrations, which is scheduled by the school. Failure to attend the audition results in an automatic disqualification from the admissions process.[8]

Approximately half of the students who apply are placed within a waiting pool due to lack of available spaces. Students are selected from the waiting pool in a "lottery" to fill empty or vacated openings based upon their selected art concentrations, grade, and residence within the Red Clay school district. The incoming freshman class of 2002 was the first class to have the policy in place for the high school.[9] This is a controversial admission policy. Many feel that the quality of the talent pool at Cab Calloway has gone down, because more talented students are turned down in favor of letting in district resident students who may not be as talented.

Notable alumni
  • Sarah McBride - LGBTQ advocate and first transgender person to address a major party convention in U.S. History
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References
  1. "Calloway (Cab) School of the Arts Snapshot". Delaware Department of Education. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  2. "The Top of the Class: The Complete List of the 1,300 Top U.S. Schools". Newsweek. Retrieved 2008-03-17.
  3. "Cab Calloway School of the Arts Vimeo". Vimeo. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  4. "Cab Calloway School of the Arts YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  5. "Clubs". Cab Calloway School of the Arts. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  6. "Calloway (Cab) School of the Arts". Delaware State Report Cards. Delaware Department of Education. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  7. "Best U.S. High Schools". U.S. News. U.S. News & World Report L.P. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  8. "Application Process". Cab Calloway School of the Arts. Cab Calloway School of the Arts. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  9. "Admissions". Cab Calloway School of the Arts. Archived from the original on September 6, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-17.
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