Cape school board forum focuses on key issues

While a school board election will not be held for Cape Henlopen School District because the two incumbents ran unopposed, the Sunshine Circle Club hosted its traditional forum, this time featuring the uncontested candidates, that evolved into a discussion among speakers and the audience about equity, safety, communication and growth.

Held at Lewes Public Library April 29, the forum hosted President Alison Myers, an at-large representative, and Janet Maull-Martin, who represents Area C, which comprises the greater Lewes area.

Sunshine Circle Club President Bernice Edwards said the upcoming district referendum would not be a topic of discussion; there will be other avenues for that. Moderator Dana Paskins asked the pair to describe their visions for their next four-year terms.

Maull-Martin said she has been a voice and advocate for students, staff and community, and she wants to continue the board’s work and do a better job in some areas, including communication. Input from the community will help us make better decisions that benefit all kids, she said.

In the next four years, she said she will continue to make equitable policies that serve students of all communities so they all have the opportunity to succeed.

Myers said when she joined the board 10 years ago, it operated dysfunctionally with more fighting than progress. The focus was not on equity, safety or communication as it is today, she said, and those efforts could still be improved.

District demographics are changing, Myers said. Ten years ago, African American children comprised 18% of the student population; that number is now 12%, she said. Meanwhile, the Latino population doubled in that same period, from 9% to 18%, she said, while the number of white children has remained constant.

It’s important to focus on equity while valuing each individual community and its own needs and culture, Myers said. As students get to know each other, that can be a groundbreaker in dispersing racism seen in society, she said.

Additionally, Myers said, handling the district’s unbelievable growth is a challenge. The influx of people have not been able to connect with the district, she said, which is one reason the March referendum failed.

Myers said the board needs to build relationships so the community sees value in what it does. The community cares for each other, she said, and now that the newcomers are part of the community, they need to do that too. 

Myers asked attendees to help combat misinformation spread about the district through local radio stations and social media by connecting with their neighbors.

Community members can also show up at school board meetings and report back to their communities about what occurred, Maull-Martin said. It takes a village to raise a child, she said, and the community should become active and attend district events, not just athletic events.

“You have a voice, also, and we want to hear what you have to say,” she said. “Your presence is important.”

At this point, audience members were invited to ask questions. Southern Delaware Alliance for Social Justice founder Charlotte King said an insidious issue involving book censoring is creeping up like weeds throughout the country, but people aren’t aware of it.

The Cape Gazette talks nicely, she said, but it doesn’t say what the Cape Henlopen School District’s policy on book censoring is, so she doesn’t know the policy of the district in her own town.

There is no policy on book censoring because the district doesn’t censor books, Myers said. The district does have a policy for parents who want to challenge curriculum, including books, she said. Apart from an issue regarding a summer reading list book 10 years ago, Myers said she has never seen a book or curriculum objected to since.

King then asked if the district had a policy for how the school board feels about books, and both Myers and Maull-Martin replied, no.

Sunshine Circle Club member and retired Cape educator Hattie Bull asked members how involved they are in all communities and how they relate to parents, noting she has heard some parents fear coming to schools or board meetings because they don’t feel welcome.

“What are you doing to connect with the community as you ask them to connect with you?” Bull asked.

Maull-Martin acknowledged she has not been to all communities and that she needs to do a better job. She said Lewes has become so gentrified that she feels there are few young people she could assist.

She said she has visited communities in Slaughter Neck, Cool Spring, Belltown and Pinetown several times but needs to increase her outreach. Eyes and ears in other communities let her know what’s going on, she said.

Myers also said she could do a better job connecting with other communities; with five children, the priority often rests with them, but at the same time, their varied school activities allow her to connect with a wide range of parents.

To be a true partnership, Edwards said the board needs to go into communities they don’t usually visit. They will get support from parents if they feel part of the community, she said, and the partnership needs to work both ways. She suggested the board have meetings in such local communities.

Bull also asked what programs district school resource officers and constables have in schools to work with kids, instead of just interacting during inappropriate behavior. Officers could hold assemblies or classroom activities to teach them how to be safe, she said, noting they could also help prevent the school-to-prison pipeline.

From the audience, school board member Bill Collick said he spends a lot of time at Lewes Elementary and Cape High, and officers are very involved with kids and parents. When Collick mentioned recent legislation allowing teachers in Tennessee to carry guns, many murmurs arose from the audience.

Sunshine Circle Club member and Cape employee Stephanie Collick said when she taught at Rehoboth Elementary, town officers would hold a tabletop discussion with teachers every year to teach them how to keep students safe during a lockdown. The message could be easily adapted for middle school and high school kids who are old enough to understand, she said.

Regarding a gun that was found at Cape High this school year, Collick offered kudos to whoever reported it.

Myers said she was thankful two students came forward quickly with their knowledge about the gun.

“They did that because there was a staff member they trusted and could go to,” Myers said. “When kids are connected, they don’t come into a building and shoot up a group of kids they’re connected with, or a bunch of staff members they’re connected with.”

Maull-Martin said she is concerned the high school campus is open to vehicle traffic that can traverse from Kings Highway to Savannah Road. Perhaps a guard gate at both entrances would be more secure, she said.

From the audience, school board member Janis Hanwell said she was the program director when the current Cape High was under construction, and the lot is set up to put stations at both entrances if the board determines it is a priority when it reviews the strategic plan.

King said she viewed the board as the governance, the policy makers, and that many things being discussed are below their level and not their job. A board is governance, she said, noting Indian River School District board initially had no idea what House Bill 198 was and that it would take two years to implement.

We do all of that and Cape didn’t take two years to implement HB 198, Myers said. The bill was signed into law in 2021 to require school districts and charter schools provide instruction on Black history as part of all educational programming. After a year of planning, the district implemented the law’s requirements in the 2022-23 school year.

“We know that a good board can not only govern, but we can also create relationships with not only our employees in the district, but also with our community members, our schools and our staff,” Myers said.

Bull agreed with Myers, stating the board should never be so arrogant as to think it doesn’t need to be in tune with the people who put them there. It’s a two-way street, she said, and if the board wants their support, it needs to support them. Bull said she hosts a monthly family fun night at the Burton Village community and that she would invite board members to attend so they could meet with parents.

Closing the meeting, Edwards said the forum allowed for discussion among all attendees.

“And that’s what it takes,” she said.