Cab Calloway School of The Arts - History

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, the decision was made to close the school, and it was decided that the school would close near the end of the decade. The incoming freshmen class of 1994 was to be 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 Calloway's status as a performer and ties to the state of Delaware. It served students from 6th grade to 7th grade, soon adding an 8th grade. The need for the school to expand to a high school program soon became apparent, as some alumni of the middle school were not satisfied with the area high schools they had gone 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 letters, "Wilmington High" on the front building entrance. The school also has a "Wall of Fame" with various descriptions of WHS alumni who've made outstanding contributions to society.

In the year 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 special ceremony was held to honor the 10th anniversary of the school.

Also notable was the dedication of The Sentinel that same year. Moved from downtown to the front of the high school, the 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 their own art gallery, which has been used to showcase both the art of students and local artists.

The Class of 2005 would have 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 for the class of 2005 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 what scores an individual achieved on the DSTP as part of Ruth Ann Minner's plan to get Delaware up to standard under the No Child Left Behind Act. Due to major protesting on the part of 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.

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 in itself. 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.