Caesar Rodney School District celebrates newest elementary school with groundbreaking
MAGNOLIA, Del. – As Kent County continues to grow, school districts are facing one small problem. They’ve got a lot of students but not enough room. Which is why the Caesar Rodney School District is excited to see their $26 million dream elementary school come to fruition.
“We know that we’re going to have a state of the art facility when it’s complete,” said Superintendent of the Caesar Rodney School District Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald.
Slowly but surely, relief is coming as construction begins on yet another elementary school. A facility that will only help to relieve overcrowding within the Caesar Rodney School District.
“All of our schools are at capacity at the moment. We’ve closed all of our school choice because we are full and bursting at the seams,” said School Board President Jessica Marelli.
Early Wednesday morning, school officials, state leaders, and more celebrated the groundbreaking of the district’s newest elementary school. A building that is expected to serve nearly 600 students between 1st and 5th grade.
“It’s so important to have that environment and be able to offer these children a place where they can go and feel comfortable, loved, and warm, and fed, and this is just another opportunity for us to do that,” said Marelli.
District officials tell 47 ABC that they’re happy to see more students entering their school system. But they say with that growth comes the responsibility to ensure these students have the best learning environment possible.
“Each and every school district is seeing an uptick in growth. We’re just at the point where we recognize that we need a new elementary school to meet the needs of our current students and future riders,” said Dr. Fitzgerald.
Officials add that if all goes well they expect to see this school up and running as early as December of 2020. Officials also tell 47 ABC that the $26 million project was part of the 2016 capital referendum that was passed. They add that this is the first new elementary school in the Caesar Rodney School District since the Nellie Stokes Elementary School opened in 2004.
