Indian River School District Referendum Passes by 3,000 Votes

SELBYVILLE, Del. - The third time is the charm for the Indian River School District. A little more than 12,000 voters cast their ballots in the district's third attempt at a referendum on Thursday. The majority of them saw the need for a new Sussex Central High School.

The polls were packed from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. with voters 18-years-old and older who live in the district. More votes in favor of the referendum were tallied at all polling locations. 7,536 voters said yes to the new Sussex Central High School. 4,535 voted against it. 

 "It's just absolutely unbelievable when all of those people come together what you can get done," says Superintendent Mark Steele. The new high school will hold about 2200 students. The capital improvement referendum will cost the average district property owner $64 annually. This increase will be phased in over a three-year period and decrease over the last seven.

Martha Kennard and Robert Haug of Georgetown don't believe the district's overcrowding and portable classrooms hinder education. Haug says his daughter is an honor roll student. 

"She's not losing education, she just does her work and doesn't goof off," says Haug. "She's had to transfer from the school room to the trailer and back and she wasn't traumatized," says Kennard. 

The district was only asking for a new Sussex Central in this referendum with plans to move Millsboro Middle students into the current high school so that their building could then become a new elementary school. Previously the district was asking for additional classrooms at Indian River High and Selbyville Middle schools. This time would've involved less construction and about $14 less of a tax increase than the previous referendum. 

"We need the space so that we can meet the growth demands in the area," says Lisa Burk of Georgetown. "We need the space for break out groups so that we can meet every individual student's need and individual disability that we have in the school."

Steele says construction will likely begin in a little more than a year.

"We wont be looking at anything like the Taj Mahal," says Steele. "We will be looking at a solid structure with a lot of thought put into it before we walk in."