Cape task force calls for expanding high school
Members of Cape Henlopen School District's most recent Facilities Task Force largely agree that a bigger high school and a third middle school will be needed in the next few years. A pool and new district office are also considerations.
Eighteen educators, administrators and community members met three times this year to develop a new long-range facilities plan. Work called for under the previous plan will be completed once the district's elementaries are updated.
A long-range facilities plan is meant as a guide for school building improvements to meet student needs in the 21st century, as written in the task force mission statement.
“This work was to give a framework for the next 20 years,” said Superintendent Robert Fulton.
Director of Administrative Services Brian Bassett said the group brainstormed about student population growth and how additonal students will affect Cape schools.
In a poll taken by the group, Bassett said the majority agreed that the district will need a larger high school and also a third middle school.
“We're almost at the point where we've outgrown the high school,” Bassett said.
Task force members largely agreed an expansion along Kings Highway could be made for a new wing. There were 14 members who voted that a Cape High expansion should happen first and eight voted for a third middle school that could be built on new land or existing land at Shields Elementary. If on the Shields property, athletic fields could be built behind the Lewes School – the location of a new Shields Elementary – and also at the Fred Thomas building, which sits at the end of Dupont Avenue and next to Blockhouse Pond.
A preliminary cost estimate for the Cape High addition is about $9 million. With the state paying 60 percent of the cost, Bassett said, the local share would be about $3.6 million. A new middle school would be about $25 million, of which $10 million would be local taxpayer funds.
Bassett said the district would need to consider a three-story building, if it wants to use existing land in Lewes.
The group also agreed that a pool and new district office are needed, although those are lower priorities than the high school and middle school proposal.
Members of previous task forces discussed a district pool, but the idea usually fizzled out before a final plan was created, Bassett said.
“It didn't come out of committee before,” he said. “This time it did.”
The outside basketball courts next to the gymnasium had once been considered for a pool location and continue to be an option, he said.
A pool and new district office would be paid for 100 percent locally, Bassett said. The estimate for a natatorium is $5 million; the estimate for a district office is the same, he said.
Using the design of Capital School District's office and professional development center in Dover, Bassett said, the Fred Thomas Building could be reconfigured for a similar building.
If a new district office is built at the Fred Thomas site, Bassett said, it would free up room at the old district office that the high school could use. A JROTC building, robotics classrooms, a greenhouse or extra parking are some ideas for the site, Bassett said.
“These are generic recommendations. We can't go into any more specifics until it goes by you,” he said.
Board member Jessica Tyndall said she would like to see a district office that is more centrally located.
“But I understand why the task force decided to look at the Fred Thomas building,” she said. “It's smart to use our own resources and to be close to our flagship, which is the high school.”
Board member Jen Burton asked whether there's any chance Little Vikings could operate on the west side of the district. “On the beach side there are so many preschools to choose from, but on the west side there are hardly any,” she said.
Fulton said they have talked about having a pre-K program in Milton if space opens in the elementaries.
Board Vice President Alison Myers said the new Sussex Consortium is centrally located and could benefit district families with pre-K students.
President Andy Lewis said he could go either way with the natatorium, but he wants to make sure high school and middle school classrooms are not overcrowded.
“We know our numbers are there. It's not when, but how quick,” he said.
The Cape Henlopen school board will discuss long-range plans Thursday, May 25. The final plan will be approved at a future date.
If approved, future committees would create more details and information on specific building requests. A referendum would have to be passed by district voters before any building improvements are made.
