Cape district enrolls record 6,336 students in 2022-23

With every new school year, the Cape Henlopen School District sets another enrollment record, and the 2022-23 academic year is no different.

As of the annual Sept. 30 unit count, 6,336 students were enrolled in district schools, an increase of 186 pupils from last year, when the enrollment count exceeded 6,000 for the first time.

Assistant Superintendent Jenny Nauman said anyone can see just by riding around the Cape Region that the area is growing.

“Enrollment is rising in each area across the district,” she said. “This is the first year that Mariner Middle School has had more students than Beacon Middle School, even if only by a few.”

The Cape High freshman class has 520 students compared to the senior class of 350, Nauman said.

“The good news is that we can currently support these students with state-of-the-art facilities due to prior long-range planning,” she said. “We have started conversations to continue to plan for our growth and ensure student success.”

Due every year by Sept. 30, 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 the Delaware Department of Education.

With 6,336 students, the district qualifies for 532.82 units, an increase of 32.66 units from the 2021-22 school year, when the district grew 17 units from the prior year, Nauman said. 

Cape High has grown by exactly 100 students; as of Sept. 30, the school had 1,813 students compared to 1,713 in 2021. Mariner Middle now has 664 students, compared to 658 in 2021, and Beacon Middle has 648 now compared to 671 in 2021.

At the elementary level from 2021 to 2022, Rehoboth dropped from 546 to 525 students; H.O. Brittingham remained at 484 students; Lewes grew from 538 to 582; Love Creek increased from 564 to 643; and Milton grew from 539 to 556.

The total number of Sussex Consortium students has grown from 365 in 2021 to 421 in 2022.

The district has grown by almost 700 students in four years, roughly the equivalent of a full-capacity elementary school. Cape has increased from 5,643 students in 2018 to 5,860 in 2019, 5,892 in 2020 to 6,078 in 2021, to 6,336 this year.

Nauman said all classrooms are fully staffed, so a class size waiver is not needed.

The new Frederick D. Thomas Middle School, currently under construction in Lewes to alleviate crowding, is set to open in the 2024-25 school year. The middle school was approved by referendum in March 2018. 

Unit count determinations

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