Bob Fulton

DAILY STATE NEWS FILE PHOTO

By Brian Gilliland

LEWES — The largest turnout for a referendum in Cape Henlopen School District’s history defeated measures to compensate for growth and has stymied plans.

However, those proposals are not canceled, said superintendent Bob Fulton during a school board meeting May 24.

“I’m obviously truly disappointed, but that disappointment didn’t last too long because it can’t,” he said. “We have too many important things to do here.”

Cape Henlopen voters rejected two referendums this year, on March 26 and May 21.

Unofficially, almost 4,130 voted for the proposal this month, up from about 3,600 in March. More than 4,620 voted against, up from about 4,200.

In the last vote, in 2018, almost 3,200 votes were cast in total.

Mr. Fulton said much has changed since then.

He added that he’s learned a great deal about those changes in the last few months, particularly how they are impacting students.

“We are going to take some time and digest things. We aren’t getting started too soon because, sometimes, emotions get involved,” Mr. Fulton said, adding that he will be creating groups to develop short- and long-term plans.

“We’re going to have to do something, and we’re going to have to do it as soon as we are able next year,” he said. “We had two referendums within a calendar year, so the next time we can do something is the latter part of next March.”

The superintendent said he expects wide-ranging conversations from these groups, which will be drawn from the community and not just from the schools.

“I foresee some things that have to come up will be property — no surprise we will need property — expansion of the high school, and we’re going to have to understand the cost going into it is going to be higher,” he said.

To add onto Cape Henlopen High — the top goal — there are some prerequisite steps, including moving the district office, which is currently on the school’s grounds.

“Obviously, we will try to build it for the same price (we had proposed), but that’s going to be difficult a year afterwards,” he explained.

Additionally, expanding Sussex Consortium will be on the list, and the much-discussed swimming pool may return.

“The first referendum (in March) included a natatorium, and the referendum was not successful. Ninety percent of the people I spoke to said they voted against the referendum because of the pool. (But) the pool disappears, and we have the same numbers the second time,” he said.

Understanding this disconnect is one of his missions for the next vote, Mr. Fulton continued.

Cape Henlopen will also need to plan for another elementary school soon, he said, as about 90 children that age are added every year.

“With this trend, we will have 3,300 elementary school-aged students by the fall of 2028, which is a little more than four years from now. In the fall of 2028, if we still had five elementary schools, we’d have more than 650 students in each of those five schools,” Mr. Fulton noted.

That’s about 150 more students in each of those schools — or five classrooms of 30 — except for Love Creek, which reportedly serves more than 650 already.

If another elementary were added, Mr. Fulton said there would be about 550 in each of the six buildings.

“We need to start something within a year ... for it to be ready to go by 2028 or 2029,” he said. “Middle schools and the high school — we’re looking at that, too.”