Cape Henlopen schools deserve community support

As we begin the month of February, after over 30 columns on a myriad of topics, it is probably time that I wrote about a topic I really know something about.

For more than 30 years, I was proud and honored to serve children and their parents in three states as a public school administrator. At 60 years of age, I retired as a school superintendent of a suburban New Jersey school district, sought an economically friendly place to spend the rest of my life, and thus moved to Sussex County, Delaware. Ironically, at the time, there was a vacancy in the superintendency of the Cape Henlopen School District, and possibly due to addiction to the job, I applied and came in second. For a year or so I volunteered in our two schools located in Milton. Then I shared my knowledge of public education in New Jersey as an expert witness in several legal disputes between school districts in the Garden State. Eventually my maturing years really set in, and I chose a less-energetic way to give back to the community via joining a few local boards, one of which is the Cape Henlopen Educational Foundation. Not enough can be said for this amazing group of fellow citizens who labor tirelessly to raise money to supplement what our teachers are providing for their students.

About three months ago, just prior to Thanksgiving, the aforementioned CHEF organization sponsored and hosted a Friends of Cape members’ event event during which some of the grant recipients presented the positive outcomes of these fiscal subsidies. Most of you are probably unaware of the heart and love which dwell within so many of the children who attend our schools, as I was, so allow me to share some of their accomplishments that were highlighted at this event. Did you know that there are children attending our schools who experience homelessness, and that a Girl Scout troop in conjunction with a program within the district provides “birthday” treats on an annual basis? What a beautiful manner for children to embrace one another, and eliminate class and privilege! Children who otherwise may have been teased or ostracized are made to feel welcome here in our schools by their peers.

There is also that riding academy in our community about which we read on these Cape Gazette pages from time to time. What may not be known is that there is a close connection between our Consortium and that riding opportunity. The Sussex Consortium is a Cape educational facility designed to serve those children in our county with special needs and so-called handicapping conditions. In the video presentation, the audience at the event was able to witness children on horseback who used wheelchairs for their usual transport. You have no idea how moving it was to be a viewer of that video, especially if unaware of the school district’s involvement with the riding academy.

The November event also afforded attendees the opportunity to hear the high school chorale as well as the jazz band with a featured trombonist. What a treat that was! Of note, too, were those talented students who had accomplished wonders with their skills in robotics. A school district is many things to many children, but when love and concern are displayed, it makes the schools a wonderful place to be. The event was held in the new Lewes Elementary on Savannah Road. Many of the landmarks of that well-known and respected educational facility once known simply as the Lewes School were kept in place as a plethora of modern architecture and technology was built around it. What a great place to attend elementary school, as are the other refurbished schools in the district. A  tip of the hat to all, including us taxpayers, for the outstanding education being afforded to more than 6,000 children. We should all be very proud, especially about what is happening with the less fortunate among them.

Since I have your attention on the subject of our public schools, I would be remiss (and also scolded) for failing to mention the annual special event to take place Friday, March 24, when the Cape Henlopen Educational Foundation will host its annual fundraiser called Winter Jam at the Rusty Rudder. You, my readers, are asked to participate either in person and/or via donation to assist us again in the raising of funds to supplement many of the outstanding talents and deeds of our students.