Appoquinimink saw another year of significant growth going into this school year, and a district committee is recommending adding additional security to their campuses.
New Castle County's southernmost district saw an increase of 338 students to 12,804 according to their preliminary September 30 count released at their school board meeting this week.
September 30th count is used by Delaware to determine how many teacher and staffing resources will be funded by the state. It also is used by the DIAA to determine which schools play at the bigger and smaller schools divisions in sports other than football.
Appoquinimink has grown by 67.5% since 2006, and this year is starting at an overall 2.7% year-to-year growth rate at their 20 schools, which is double the 10 schools they had in 2006.
Protecting those students has become a topic of conversation in the district.
The Safety & Security Task Force previously recommended 4 schools have a School Resource Officer (SRO), with nine schools or campuses having a district constable, with a 10th having a district lead constable.
That was put in place after a 2019 referendum, two more constables were added at the beginning of the school year.
The new recommendation includes adding eight more constables, preferring them over additional SROs, as a constable costs $62,390 against the $95,506.30 for a SRO Trooper.
Appo was allotted $763,344.70 from the State Safety & Security Funds grant, which covers the costs of the new constables, at least in the short term.
District administration estimated a future referendum on security staffing could include a cost of $1.5 million, if state grant money goes away.
Appoquinimink saw their biggest increase between their eight elementary schools, which gained 219 students (4.74%). The biggest increase in K-5 students came at Bunker Hill Elementary, which expanded by 14.8% to 451 students.
An additional 29 students are at their five Early Childhood Centers, while the four Middle Schools went up by 89 students (2.9%).
The three high schools remained remarkably steady, with an overall gain of just one student.
The split has dramatically changed, as Odessa High School now has 9-11th grade students in their building.
Odessa now stands at 917 students, which will likely mean it will stay as a Flight B/Division 2 school for athletic purposes when the September 30 counts are tallied throughout Delaware.
Middletown saw a 14.1% drop in students to 1,355, while Appoquinimink remained the district's largest school at 1,484 students, but even that was a 6.4% decrease over last year.
Appoquinimink Superintendent Matthew Burrows also addressed the new attendance policies at football games after two people, including a 17-year-old, were shot just outside the Appoquinimink School District property near the end of the Middletown/Appoquinimink football game.
"We can no longer we say we hope something doesn't happen -- we wish something doesn't happen -- even though not associated with the game, didn't happen at the game, but we have seen an increase in incidents happening, so that's what brought back our regulations for attendance."
Burrows said they are looking for a ticketing partner to help them handle the 5 guests per player standard.
"Even on the night of the event, I myself had 3 different stories on what happened, what could have happened, and what may have happened. We have to report factual information, we can't go on social media and report what we think is correct, we have to report what the police allows us to report. I would love to share more information, but it could impact the police investigation which is ongoing, so we can only share what the police allows us to share."
Appo also said they continue to have a job opening for bus drivers, as they've already lost 10 drivers since the start of the school year, nine of which are being covered by contractors, with Transportation Supervisor Stacey McIntosh currently picking up the 10th run.
Currently the district is using 21 of their own buses secured since last year, with 87 more buses from contractors.
The district hopes to bring 11 more buses online in October, but some will be used to replace older and loaner buses initially acquired.
Appo currently has 25 district-employed bus drivers, with eight in training, they continue to have trouble securing bus runs for athletic events, and some buses are still running late for morning and and afternoon routes to-and-from schools.
