Cape aiming high to hit the mark
Cape Henlopen School District opens its 2012 academic year Tuesday. With a staff nearing 900 and an all-time high student count – more than 5,000 - expected to attend classes this year, district operations are more than just a notion. The district expects to welcome as many as 150 more students than last year.
To meet that growth, the district is already bringing in portable classrooms and starting to consider adding more permanent school capacity.
Bob Fulton is beginning his first full academic year in the shoes of the superintendent. With a 20-plus year career in the Cape district, rising through the teaching and administrative ranks, Fulton has a deep appreciation for the educational swirl surrounding him. “We're growing faster than any other district in the state,” he said this week. “A lot of people are choosing Cape for their schools. I feel comfortable. There's a great team of people around me. We have wonderful facilities, students, resources and staff.”
Cape's schools scored above the state average – significantly in some areas – in every subject and at every grade level in state testing last year. But Fulton doesn't plan to sit on those successes just trying to maintain. “We had one of our best years academically, but the real work will come in getting incremental increases.
It's important to celebrate the fact that we're making real progress. We've done great things, but there is more we can do. We're not even close to as good as we can be.”
That is a big part of the message Fulton gave this week to an assembly of the district's staff. It's an important one. In a nation where success relies increasingly on education, our schools take on an increasingly important role. Whether preparing for academic or vocational paths, students and their parents in the Cape system need to know their primary reason for being in the schools is to learn.
If students, parents, teachers, administrators and staff continue to push in that direction, Cape will be able to continue to deal with the good problem of being the fastest growing district in Delaware.
