Small Town News

Cape opens new school year

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From toddlers to high-schoolers, students will be heading back to school Tuesday, Sept. 8.

Early class-size numbers show enrollment in Cape Henlopen schools is about the same as it was last year, with a total of 4,472 students expected opening day.

In addition to the brand-new high school, area students are split across the district's four elementary schools, two middle schools and the Sussex Consortium. District Superintendent George Stone has called the new high school the best facility in the state.

Students will start school with work still in progress: the gym is expected to be complete in November, and work on parking lots has to wait until the old building is completely demolished. School officials say 185 parking spaces are available to seniors, the first class to graduate from the new high school, and more than 90 are available for juniors.

The high school is implementing a new positive-behavior support system this year, a discipline policy that emphasizes rewarding good behavior. The high school is also joining the rest of the district using learning-focused solutions, an instructional method that implements research-proven teaching practices.

Cape students are expected to hear President Barack Obama's broadcast to the nation's schoolchildren, said school board President Camilla Conlon. She said the district honors the president and appreciates any person encouraging students to do better in school and in life.

"We plan to review the text as soon as it is released and determine whether we believe there is any political motivation behind the message, or political implications in the speech, and if there are, we will restrict our district from viewing it," she said. Conlon said if the speech is deemed appropriate, the district would let teachers decide whether to show it during the first day of classes.

"It is typically a day of getting students oriented to a new teacher, a new class, for many a new school, and this year we have the added privilege of opening a new high school for 1,300 students," she said. Conlon said students and parents would be able to watch die speech on their own as well.

Cape's middle schools' combined state test scores were the best in the state last year, and Cape elementary schools performed well, but principals say mere is still work to do to ensure every student succeeds.

Enrollment in the Sussex Consortium, which earned a superior rating under Delaware's accountability system this year, continues to grow, said Stone.

Cape's Little Vikings and early childhood programs will serve more than 150 students, getting the district's youngest residents ready for the day they enter kindergarten, said Stone.

At the Aug. 27 school board meeting, human resources director Tim Buckmaster reported 4,472 students were enrolled in Cape schools. They will be taught by a professional staff of 425.

High school students will participate in a ribbon cutting Friday, Sept. 11. That is a symbolic ribbon cutting for students, Stone said. He said the official opening ceremony would take place once all construction is finished. Conlon has said the high school will hold an open house for community members during Homecoming weekend.





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