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Cape names student services and equity initiatives supervisor

Luis Cosme to oversee efforts on safety, discipline, homelessness, truancy
August 5, 2021

New Cape district Student Services and Equity Initiatives Supervisor Luis Cosme said the areas he oversees – safety, discipline, homelessness, truancy and equity initiatives – all intertwine.

“Great instruction leads to less discipline problems and better attendance,” Cosme said.

A Cape High Class of 1996 grad who also attended H.O. Brittingham Elementary and Milton Junior High, Cosme said he is proud to be born and raised in Slaughter Neck.

“I feel like I’m coming back home,” he said. “I love the district philosophy of every student, every classroom, every day. We are passionate about the charge we have here; it puts everyone in the best position to succeed. This is how a school system should be run.”

Cosme said he is working with teachers and administrators to ensure all buildings have crisis plans for every conceived emergency, and that students experiencing homelessness have equitable access to field trips, resources and educational opportunities.

He said he will work closely with a new classroom equity coordinator on professional development for teachers, administrators and board members, and will work with students in various ways, including in response to laws diversifying and implementing curriculum on Holocaust and genocide education as well as Black history education.

Regarding discipline, Cosme said he will work with teachers on restorative justice practices and classroom intervention methods, and will track down truant students not in a punitive way, but rather to figure out the obstacles or barriers causing attendance issues.

“We want all kids to graduate and do something positive,” he said.

Previously assistant principal at Caesar Rodney High School for 10 years, Cosme was assistant coordinator for the Program for Educational Alternatives in Kent County for six years before that. He also worked for outreach programs at Delaware Technical Community College and Delaware Adolescent Program Inc. 

Cosme holds an associate degree in human services from Delaware Technical Community College, a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science from Wilmington University, a master’s degree in social work from Delaware State University and a master’s degree in educational leadership from Wilmington University. He said he just finished the first year of his doctoral program in educational leadership at Wilmington University.

Cosme lives in Dover with his wife and two children; their son is a Dover High sophomore and their daughter is a student at South Dover Elementary. From a prior relationship, he has a grown daughter who is a Cape grad. He said he has two nephews attending Cape High and three other nephews who are future Vikings.

With his son playing travel basketball and school football, basketball and baseball, and his daughter a competitive cheerleader, he said the family spends a lot of time together.

“I came to Cape because I believed in the mission,” he said. “I already see opportunities for growth for myself, and I’m very excited.”

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