The Charter School of Wilmington recently welcomed its new president, Mr. Bartnik, at the start of this school year. Since then, he’s performed Ghostbusters dances, recorded countless Instagram reels, and launched a 20,000 dollar campaign for school technology. Here’s what he had to say about Charter’s future, teaching, graduation, our school mascot, and his advice for students.
As we walked toward Mr. Bartnik’s office, the interview began with a discussion of the cafeteria’s culinary merits.
I notice that you usually eat the cafeteria’s entrees along with the students. Do you have any favorite meals?
Well, I can tell you one of my favorites, I was just thinking about it today. It’s not the entree, but I love the mashed potatoes, especially with the Thanksgiving lunch. That was my favorite so far, and I like the ramen when the cafeteria does that. So at Newark Charter, where I used to work, they have their own building and kitchen employees, but they don’t make their own food on site. They ship it in, and they get it in little containers like a TV dinner package, and they heat them up. I have to admit that I’ve never eaten lunch over there.
You’ve never tried it?
Never would! But I like the lunch here, and you can see me eating it every day. I think it’s good. School lunches get a bad rap, but they can actually be quite good.
As Mr. Bartnik and I concluded our culinary discourse, we entered his office and started on some more serious fare.
As an experienced administrator, what’s stood out to you most about Charter students in the last couple months?
What’s really stood out to me is how incredibly accepting, kind, and gracious the students are. I’ve always known, really, the reputation of the Charter School of Wilmington, which is well-known across the state, probably the tri-state area and maybe even nationally. So coming in, I knew that these students were academically talented. What I didn’t realize was just how welcoming everybody would be, and what I see with students is that they go out of their way to include others. They show respect in their interactions with staff and with teacher. What really stands out is how Charter students carry themselves, and just how welcoming and kind and gracious they’ve been.
What’s your vision for the school in the next five years?
So that’s a really timely question because we have a board meeting right now to determine the future location of the Charter School of Wilmington. I will say this–when I applied for and took this job, one of the questions I asked myself was, Why has the Charter School of Wilmington remained on the third floor of old Wilmington High School for 30 years? How come they haven’t looked to buy their own land and build their own school. So that was something that really exited me about the position, the opportunity to do that.
As I’ve come here, I have seen that there’s a lot of benefits to being here. But mainly what I see is that we need to do a better job providing more facilities, support, more space for students to innovate, to engineer, to work.
We need to figure out a way to do that. Whether or not we do that in our own building or somewhere else, that has to be the Charter School of Wilmington. What the committee’s going to do is make a recommendation to the board regarding our future location.
And once they make that known, I plan on sharing that with students, staff, parents, and letting them know about our future. When I was interviewing for this job, I met several students and one of the students asked me, “We’ve won Science Olympiad 25 years in a row, but we have nowhere in the building to make our own work, to work on our projects. You know, how can you help provide us with that?”
So that’s something I’ve looked into as well, maybe staying here and building a new science lab right here on our grounds. Whether its four science rooms and a shared maker space in the middle or some other format, I do know that we have some of the top students in the state and even in the country, and we’re not doing a good enough job of investing in the facilities to give them the space to innovate.
So what would be the advantages of a new building?
It would be hours, so you have an increased sense of autonomy and ownership that leads to school spirits. So–for example–I’m not a big fan of our athletic fields right now. If you’ve been out there, you know the field and track need work. I’d like to see us have a turf field. I’d like to see us have lights, to add that atmosphere of a night game where the community can come out and support our teams.
There’s been a hesitancy over the past 30 years for us to invest our own money into fixing these things because they’re not ours. But my vision, if we’re not leaving, is that we need to invest in upgrading the athletic fields and academic spaces. We need to spend our own money to do that, and that’s really my vision, what I’d like to see happen.
How do you weigh the benefits of buying portable infrastructure with investing in our building?
The idea, really, in the past 30 years is that we want to buy stuff that we can take with us if we ever leave the building. But I think that if we had invested money 20 years ago–without knowing if we were staying or not–that would have been money well spent because we would have had 20 years of students using those spaces. I think we’re ultimately doing a disservice to them by not investing our money. We’re doing a disservice to our students.
So what motivated you to go into teaching?
I saw my tenth-grade biology teacher, Mr. Donnelly, a couple weeks ago. My daughter plays high school sports, and I got a picture with him when she played at my alma mater. He was definitely someone who I noticed genuinely cared about students. He was a really good teacher. Academically, he challenged the students, but he made sure that all students felt supported and that they felt seen. For me, at that age, it had a really big impact on my life, and it’s something that I’ve carried with me in my work as a leader, as an educator, and as a teacher before this. I taught science for about ten years before I started getting into administration.
Making sure that every student knows they’re cared about and that they’re believed in has always been something I’ve carried with me. And Mr. Donnelly was definitely somebody that believed in me when I was in high school.
Did you want to go into science before education, kind of a topsy-turvy career path?
That’s a great question. Definitely, no, my career wasn’t a straight path. So, I went to Penn State after high school and actually graduated with a degree in biology.
And something I always say to students who have an interest in that field–I’ve met a lot of students over the course of my career that wanted to study biology, or another science–I always say, “That’s a great field. If you’re planning on doing that, plan to go to graduate school right away.”
I graduated with a four-year degree, then I worked at a biotech company called Coriell Institute for Medical Research. I was a lab tech, and I wasn’t making a lot of money. But I loved the job. I was learning a lot. I was working with these fascinating scientists and all these fascinating research projects and assisting with this. But I realized if I wanted to advance in the field, I would need an advanced degree.
So I was at a crossroads of whether or not to go back to college for that, and I’d always thought about teaching because of Mr. Donnelly.
So teaching was what I ended up doing. I have no regrets, and I’ve been very, very fortunate and happy with how my career’s been.
Any ideas for a school mascot?
I love this question. If it was completely up to me–and I know what you’re saying is, “Well, why isn’t it completely up to you, Mr. Bartnik?” I certainly don’t want to make decisions in a vacuum, and we need to get input.
And I know the school put a lot of effort into running a vote last year. If it were completely up to me, I would choose the calculator. I know it’s unconventional, but that’s part of why I love it. It’s unique. It’s memorable. I think it’s a good representation of the Charter community, and I think it’s something to be proud of. We’re the top school in the state. That’s something we should 100% be proud of and stand behind, right?
But I will tell you this. We had a committee that followed up on the vote last year after I came to Charter that made a finalized decision on the mascot moving forward, and we’re in the process of getting a quote from a company. We’re getting a legitimately made mascot, so it’ll take about three months before we can unveil it.
Continuing in the vein of school spirit, what’s been your favorite part of Charter so far? Any favorite events, highlights?
So pep rally and hall decorating for sure. I mean, we have a thousand people packed into the gym for three hours, bringing so much energy and school spirit–I felt like that was super impressive, and it was one of those moments where you could feel the pride and energy that our community has. But I will say that any student-run event we’ve had so far has been pretty top-notch.
Pep rally was great, hall decorating was great, and the homecoming dance was especially nice. As a building-level administrator, homecoming can be a bit hectic, but I will say that ours was almost like prom. I love prom. It’s very upscale, and the kids really rise to the occasion dressing up.
Besides prom, I’ve been looking forward to the STEM Presentations and getting to see the projects at the science fair. I’ve already been blown away by the students and the work they do here.
But as an administrator at high schools, I have to say that my two favorite events are prom and graduation. Graduation is really the pinnacle of all the students’ hard work, and getting to be there for that is the culmination of the last twelve to thirteen years, not just the last four.
Is having graduation some place other than school in the cards?
If you want to have my personal vote on this–I would not like to have it at the school, that was my original thought. Just because everywhere I’ve been part of, they’ve had it at the Bob. It’s well-run ,it’s a dignified event, and you can typically get more tickets. You can have it inside, rain, heat, or snow at any time of the day because it’s all inside and air-conditioned.
But part of me wants to see things. I don’t want to come in and make changes just because I think it’s better that way. I want to get input from students, from parents, and I want to see that myself before we ever make a determination. But I’d definitely like to see graduation go to a bigger venue so that more people can attend.
This is kind of a fun one. If you could choose a school motto or design a Charter bumper sticker from scratch, what would you have in mind?
We don’t have an official motto, but I’ve been trying to push one out on social media and on the announcements at times. But we ARE The Force.
Now I will say, I kind of stole or borrowed this from Penn State for undergrad. If you’re around any Penn State alumni and you say, “We are,” they’ll say, “Penn State.” Or if you go to a game it’s a constant call and response.
And I thought when I came here, What’s a motto that I could get everybody to rally around? And I like the idea that we’re united as the force. Not only is it our name, but together, we make this community that’s bigger than any one individual, a force to be reckoned with that can make a difference in Delaware and the world.
As far as the bumper stickers, the big magnet we have right now, the big circle? I don’t love it. I think it’s too big. What I like is the hexagon, so if we could just cut that out and enlarge it, that would be great.
Any favorite hobbies outside of school?
I’m actually in a band.
You’re in a band?
I play lead guitar in a band called The Detours. We play locally, one show a month or something like that. We play a lot of classic rock, like 60s, 70s, 80s, but also a bit of 90s alternative rock.
And we’re mostly educators. The drummer was the former principal at William Penn High School, and the rhythm guitar and lead singer taught at William Penn and Odessa. We’re all educators that played individually and formed a bond, so that’s kind of my hobby.
Do you have a favorite rock band?
Great question. I can tell you that I don’t have a favorite band. I have a very wide range of musical tastes, anything from Taylor Swift to country. But if I had to pick a favorite era of music, it would be the 80s.
I think the artists were iconic, and the songs were great, which is why they’re still played today.
Out of curiosity, could you play me two random songs from your playlist?
Sure. Random shuffle from my playlist–oh, this is crazy. The Notorious B.I.G., Hypnotize. Let me get the next one.
Sure.
This one’s just bad. Terrible pop song. Sweet but Psycho, Ava Max. Sometimes the pop music just sneaks in. Moving on…
What’s your favorite part of the school day?
Probably lunch. That’s why I like to go down to the cafeteria. It’s a time that I can interact with the students and really get to know them, just by walking around or having them come up and talk to me. I really try to go down there and be visible, and it’s really an opportunity for me as well. Any given lunch has half the student population, and if the students have an issue or if they have a question, I’m right there, approachable. They can come right up.
Favorite Christmas gift ever?
So my favorite present of all time was–I don’t remember the year–it was the G.I. Joe aircraft carrier. It’s massive, like six feet long. It was like 1987 or 1987, and it was a big ticket item, this massive aircraft carrier the size that you could play with your G.I. Joe men on this.
To come down on Christmas morning was very memorable because I remember coming down the steps and seeing this massive box under the tree that, in my head, I was thinking that it could only be one thing.
If you look it up online, they sell on Ebay for like three or four thousand dollars. But we’ve thrown ours out, years and years ago. Lost to the sands of time.
We’re down to our final few questions now. If you could teach a new class a teacher, what would it be?
I think of this question, and what I think is probably more for college students than high schoolers. But I’d like to teach a class for people who want to go into education.
I think it’s a great profession, but I also think that a lot of students who want to go into teaching are a bit idealistic. In my mind, I think I’m a bit of an idealistic person, but as a teacher, the realities of red tape and other day-to-day problems can wear you down. And that’s part of why there’s a big teacher shortage in America right now.
We’re very fortunate at the Charter School of Wilmington because it has such great students that people really want to work here. But that's not the case everywhere else, and you see a lot of teacher burnout. So this class would ensure that teachers are aware of that and prepared for a long and successful career.
To wrap up our interview: I’ve noticed you have a really strong focus on our school spirit and who we are as a community. Do you have any message for the student body as a whole?
That’s a great question. I will tell you this. One of the things I tell my own kids is to not judge themselves. Don’t value yourself by your grades. Don’t place value in that.
Place your value in characteristics like–do you work hard? Did you work your hardest today? Did you go home today and try your best? And the other important thing is, were you kind to other people? Did you try to help other people? Those are things that I’d be proud to see as a father of my own kids. Those are the things that really matter.
So I’d like to ask Charter’s community to really treat each other with respect and to support one another as much as possible. That’s why I try to encourage kids to come to the games, and it’s not just sports. I want kids to come out and support the Science Olympiad and Quiz Bowl teams, to celebrate those students. As a community, I want us to be there for each other because that’s what makes Charter special and makes it a place you want to be a part of.