By Benjamin Rothstein

DOVER — Thirteen facilities make up the Capital School District, and officials say it is suffering from a crisis.

Administrators highlighted some key concerns during a community meeting Feb. 29 at the district’s Administration and Professional Development Center. It was attended by about 50 residents.

To start, the district, like many others, is facing a teacher shortage. According to Sen. Eric Buckson, R-Camden, Capital is one of the hardest hit in the state.
Its superintendent, Dr. Vilicia Cade, agreed.

“The biggest challenge and barrier to our ability to create the kinds of environments that we anticipate has been our operational challenges. The national teacher shortage has really tied our hands. We’ve lost a lot of talent when the baby boomers decided to leave,” she said.

“And what we’re seeing is that we have vacancies that we can’t fill. And when we (try to) fill our vacancies, the quality of the candidates that we’re getting are not prepared to deal with the challenges that we’re seeing.”

She added that another worry — one that may be unknown to many — is the staggering number of behavioral issues Capital School District deals with.

“We’re looking at it across our district in terms of need, and so that includes the elementary schools, where we’re seeing unprecedented behaviors,” Dr. Cade said at the gathering. “(I don’t want to) keep bringing it up, but I think we have to go back to the two years (when) our young people missed crucial social development, and many of them were in dysregulated environments at home (during pandemic shutdowns).

“So, we do have family crisis therapists in all schools. We have social workers in all of our schools. In terms of safety and security, we have armed constables in every one of our schools.”

However, some community members stated worry about conduct issues cropping up among younger students.

“I find that discipline is a problem, but it’s not so much the first, second, third or fourth graders; it’s the prekindergarten and kindergarten students ... coming in with outrageous behavior problems,” said Beverly C. Banks, a district resident who works with one of Towne Point Elementary School’s after-school programs.

Additionally, Dr. Cade said parental behavior is a concern and that the district has witnessed multiple instances of parents putting hands on staff.
Despite these ongoing challenges, though, Capital has stepped back on traditional punishments like detentions and in-school suspensions, meeting participants noted.

When asked why, Dr. Cade responded, “I think that there has been a national movement to move away from punitive measures and to focus on restorative measures. And let me be clear about restorative measures: They come with consequences, but they come with reteaching kids. And I think, right now, we’re in a crisis because of these unprecedented behaviors that we’re seeing, (and) there has been an outcry to penalize kids.”

She also stated that outside factors affect children’s conduct.

“We have a shifting population that we’re serving here in the city of Dover. We’ve seen an increase in unsheltered homelessness. And we have an opioid crisis ... going on right here in the city. We’ve seen an increase in gang activity, group violence in ... our city. ... And I have continued to say that, when things happen in our community, they show up in our schools,” she said.

While a one-size-fits-all solution was not found during the community event, Dr. Cade was clear that such discussions are only the first step, with plenty of hard work to come.