DAGSBORO — An expansion of the original footprint of the 20-year-old Indian River High School to accommodate capacity challenges and a new culinary arts pathway will require the Department of Education’s approval of a certificate of necessity and passage of a referendum.
Additionally, a potential public vote this fall may include a second request from the Indian River School District: a current expense referendum.
“An important consideration should be, should our certificate of necessity be approved by the state, it will likely be part of a two-question referendum in the future,” superintendent Dr. Jay Owens said at the board of education’s Monday meeting. “As has been discussed for some time now, in the near future, the district will need to move forward with, also, a current expense referendum. Current expense referendums occur typically every five to seven years and support the general operating expenses.”
The district’s last such referendum was in February 2017.
Officials noted that the certificate of necessity was planned to be sent to the Department of Education by the end of August. A decision is anticipated in mid-October.
The school’s culinary arts pathway begins this year with the first of four levels, which focuses on fundamentals and hospitality management.
This field ranks second among Indian River’s career-technical education pathways, with an estimated 210 enrollees, surpassed only by agriculture, with 262.
“With the current enrollment increasing at Indian River High School over the last several years, we have found a need to add another additional pathway,” principal Michael Williams said. “Pathways are required by the state of Delaware for students to complete three years.”
Indian River High was built with a student capacity of 1,000. The current enrollment is 1,090. Meanwhile, the state’s recommended class size for CTE pathways is 21 individuals, and Indian River’s range from 24-28, according to assistant principal Dr. Robert Syphard.
Culinary arts emerged from meetings of the district’s career-technical advisory panel, which consists of local residents.
“We do believe that the community is interested in this culinary pathway, and we do not currently have the industry-standard equipment facilities to support what our community needs,” Dr. Syphard said.
Stemming from the desire for an expansion, the certificate of necessity outlines a request for a $31.4 million project that would increase the school’s capacity to 1,378 (1,171 below the state’s recommended 85% capacity formula). It would include a CTE area and another small addition, as well as eliminate teachers being displaced due to lack of space.
Career-technical program upgrades in this option include:
- Culinary — Two classrooms, a shared commercial kitchen and a satellite café
- Health sciences — Two classrooms and a shared lab
- Agriculture — Two labs (currently, animals and plants are housed in classrooms)
- Teacher Academy — Two classrooms
- Construction — One workshop, allowing acceptance of all student requests
- STEM/computer science — one computer and robotics lab
“We feel comfortable that (this) would alleviate overcrowding, free up space for teachers, and accommodate the projects at least for the next 10 years,” Mr. Williams said.
Mark Steele, a former teacher, administrator and district superintendent, said he welcomes the culinary arts project.
“I think it’s a good program. It has been needed in this area for a long, long time. I’m glad we have the opportunity now to do this,” he stated.
With approval of the certificate of necessity and a successful referendum, the state would provide 60% of the funding, with a 40% local share, district officials said.
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