Indian River School District Moving Forward After Winning Referendum

SELBYVILLE, Del. - The Indian River School District's third attempt at referendum received the green light from voters 18-years-and older who live in district. More than 7,500 votes in favor of a new Sussex Central High School were tallied up Thursday night. Superintendent Mark Steele says construction will likely begin in a little more than a year.

"We're looking for a school; solid walls, wide hallways, ample space for the common areas and easily accessible if we need to add on," says Steele.

The district can now build a brand new 309,799 square-foot Sussex Central High School just north of Millsboro. It will sit on district-owned property next to the existing high school and be home to 2,200 students. Steele says the district will be working with architects, DelDOT, and DNREC to get design plans approved.

"My hope is where we're building on an area that DelDOT has just finished with Howard T. Ennis that we'll be able to expedite some of those things through," says Steele.

Assistant Superintendent Jay Owens says voters have opened many doors.

"Five years down the road, ten years, and fifteen, it just allows us to do a lot of things, programmatic opportunities for our students and just helps our teachers to be more comfortable in their environment and the students to be more comfortable," says Owens.

Millsboro Middle students will take over the current high school and their building will become a new elementary school. Steele says students from all three schools can be moved at the same time as each building is equipped to accommodate grades K-12. The district can then look at how it wants to move its northern lines.

"We can even out 720-750 (students) in each elementary school," says Steele.

Steele says the district still may rent some portable classrooms in the meantime to handle its current overcrowding issues. Steele says if the district does have to add on 8 to 10 years from now, the goal is for the infrastructure to be able to handle 2,400 to 2,500 students. 

This referendum results in a maximum tax increase of about $64 for the average district property owner. This increase would be phased in over a three-year period and decrease over the last seven