Cape superintendent reflects on referendum defeat

At the district’s first school board meeting since the failed May 21 referendum, Cape Superintendent Bob Fulton said more yes and no votes were recorded than in the March election, but the result was largely the same.

“Obviously, I’m extremely disappointed, but that disappointment didn’t last too long and the reason is, it can’t,” Fulton said at the May 23 meeting. “We have too many important things to do here.”

The community has changed since the last referendum in 2018, Fulton said.

“The last few months, we’ve learned a great deal about those changes and how those changes in our community are impacting our kids,” he said.

The district will take time to digest the referendum’s failure, he said, and then move forward in the next few months to put together groups to help develop short- and long-term facilities plans.

Everything will be on the table in those discussions, Fulton said, including the need for property and an expansion at Cape High. The district can next hold a referendum in late March 2025, he said.

“If we wait another year, like we’re going to have to do now, the cost will be higher than it would have been the previous year, so we’ll have to understand that going into it,” he said. 

A new district office is still needed so the high school can be expanded, Fulton said, but trying to build the office at the same price will be difficult one year later. 

After the March referendum was defeated, which included a swimming complex as a capital project, Fulton said 90% of the people he spoke to who voted no did so only because of the pool.

“The pool disappears from the [May] referendum, we had the same numbers the second time,” he said. “I’m really trying to figure that out.”

A future natatorium is still on the table, Fulton said, and the district will also need to consider short- and long-term uses of the Fred Thomas Building on Dupont Avenue and the timing and location of future schools.

In 2020, the district had 2,574 elementary students; in 2023, that number had grown to 2,841, he said. If the growth trend continues, he said, the district will have 3,300 elementary students by fall 2028. The district can’t wait to do something, he said.

Fulton said he went through a range of emotions from frustration to anger to surprise after the referendum’s defeat, when he said he thought he knew and understood the community.

“There are some individuals, I firmly believe, who would not change their mind or vote yes regardless of what we proposed, but there are a lot who would, so we have to find out unique ways to connect with not just community members who’ve been here for a while, but the new community members as well,” he said.

With growth in the area comes people who have no connection to the district, Fulton said. It's important for adults to see and understand what teachers and students are doing.

But, Fulton said, being sad didn’t last long.

“It was kind of strange,” he said. “I felt kind of angry and didn’t know what to say, and you know, you just get a sick feeling in your stomach. And then that feeling turned into just positive energy, like game on, let’s go.”

Fulton said he knew there were others in the community who were also bothered by the referendum’s result, and he felt energized because he believes in the quality, passion and competitive nature of his staff, who are second to none.

“But I feel differently because I know that we have the A team that gets things done,” he said.

Fulton said he is also energized by what he sees in the classroom every day, at concerts, at games and at H.O. Brittingham Elementary’s recent Leadership Day celebration.

The failed referendums are a bump in the road, Fulton said. But if kids have the resiliency to fight back and do it every day, administrators can too, he said. Cape’s kids don’t deserve average schools or average teachers, Fulton said.

“I hear people say that,” Fulton said. “‘Schools are too nice. Teachers don’t need to get paid that much.’ That’s not how we do things here, and we’re going to find enough people that agree with what we believe to make this happen.”