Cape district sees slight increase in students this year

Cape schools welcomed 31 more students this year, an unusually low number for a district that has grown by roughly 200 students each of the past two years.

Assistant Superintendent Jenny Nauman said Cape was one of only a few Delaware districts to see growth in student numbers and units this year.

“Overall as a state, with all districts combined, there was a decrease of 2,400 students and 85.5 units,” she said. “Due to COVID-19, we believe these numbers are down and should pick back up when we move toward normalcy.”

Typically due every year by Sept. 30, this year’s annual student count deadline was moved to Nov. 13 by the Delaware Department of Education to give districts time to count all students regardless of their learning location. 

The unit count determines how much state funding school districts receive to pay for teaching and professional staff. Students with special needs who require more services and support staff earn additional units for the school.

Each school does its own unit count based on class attendance rolls. School principals verify attendance rolls and send the school count to the district office for a district-wide unit count that is submitted to DOE.

With 5,892 students, Cape’s unit count is 483.16, giving the district nearly 10 more staffing units than last year; Nauman said staffing units have already been filled.

“We have also added additional elementary school counselors, service aides and remote teachers beyond the traditional units using CARES Act and Opportunity Grant funds to support our students,” she said.

Nauman said the district is fortunate to have a great and supportive community that values education.  

“Being able to serve many of our students in person and provide solid remote instruction has been integral to our growth even during these unprecedented times,” she said. 

Cape High, with 1,637 students, and the Sussex Consortium, with 378 total students in the new building and throughout district schools, had the biggest growth of all district schools. In fact, said Cape High Principal Nikki Miller, this year’s freshman class of 500 students, which includes retained students, is the largest in school history.

Rehoboth Elementary and Mariner Middle, with 517 and 624 students, respectively, also grew in numbers, while enrollment figures at Beacon Middle with 679 students; and elementary schools H.O. Brittingham, 428; Shields, 530; Love Creek, 672; and Milton, 427; were slightly down from last year.

Because students are not all physically in school, class size means something different this year, Nauman said, leading the district to apply for a class size waiver. 

Delaware Code states, in part, that the ratio of students to teachers in any kindergarten through third-grade class must not exceed 22 students as of Oct. 31. In-person and remote learners must be included, Nauman said, and most classrooms will meet that requirement, but some remote-learning classes will exceed that.

State funding pays for a specific number of teachers at each grade level. Classrooms should have one teacher per number of students in each classroom category:

• Preschool: 12.8
• Kindergarten to third grade: 16.2 (including special education students)
• Fourth to 12th grade regular education: 20
• Fourth to 12th grade basic special education: 8.4
• Prekindergarten to 12th grade intensive special education: 6
• Prekindergarten to 12th grade complex special education: 2.6.