The Cape school board held its first official meeting of the year Jan. 23 at Milton Elementary.

Cape High Principal Kristin DeGregory and Supervisor of Early Learning Audrey Dempsey gave a presentation on mental health and social-emotional learning in the district. They discussed district-wide programming, including RethinkEd, which incorporates wellness-related topics into the curriculum, and the district’s new partnership with Beebe Healthcare and Soundcheck Prevention Network to teach students about substance use and abuse using a health-centered approach.

DeGregory and Dempsey announced an upcoming event, to be led by experts from Soundcheck, for parents, families and the community to learn more about substance use and prevention. Those interested in attending the event, which will take place in the Cape High theater at 6:30 p.m.,Wednesday, Feb. 12, can submit questions or topics ahead of time.

“Living at the beach, we have a culture of vacation mode all the time, which doesn’t always allow for the best choices for our students,” said board President Alison Myers about the event and the new partnership. “As a parent of teenagers, it’s hard to navigate that space to give them the freedom to do some things but not enough rope to hang themselves with, so to speak, and I think this will be extremely helpful.”

“It’s ambitious. It’s a lot of work [and] it’s definitely needed,” board member Janis Hanwell added.

Also at the meeting, the board reviewed the 2025-26 district calendar and approved an inaugural educational trip to Puerto Rico in 2026 for students who will be in eighth grade at Mariner Middle School. The trip is designed for dual-language immersion students, but any Mariner eighth-grader in good standing can attend.

According to Supervisor of Secondary Education Michael Young, when dual language immersion students move up to eighth grade at Beacon Middle and Frederick Thomas Middle, the district will be able to offer a trip to students at all three schools.

Jason Hale, director of operations for the district, introduced a potential change to board policies, which, if implemented, would aim to improve teacher and staff attendance by incentivizing them to come to work.

Under the change, employees who qualify would be paid, after their retirement, for each of their unused sick days, up to 90 days. No action was taken regarding the potential change, but it will be discussed further at the board’s next meeting.

The board also approved its Fiscal Year 2025 December financial statements and its FY 2025 third-quarter financial position report, as well as its FY 2025 final budget.