Seaford School District has aging buildings, no overcapacity issues

According to information gathered from Data USA and the U.S. Census Bureau, the city of Seaford had an estimated 8,500 people in 2023. With an expected growth of up to 9,200 or more by the end of the year, the Nylon Capital of the World is just one of many growing areas throughout Sussex County.

When it comes to its school district, however, a different story is being told. Seaford Superintendent Dr. Sharon Di’Girolamo provided an insight into the Seaford School District’s lack of capacity issues, the age of their buildings, and spoke on the perception Seaford has when it comes to school choice.

Within the Seaford School District, there are seven buildings that hold a total of approximately 3,500 students. Within those 3,500 students, nearly 1,000 are located at the high school, and just over 800 are located at the middle school. Between the seven buildings, there are just under 400 members of staff, with typical turnover rates ranging from one member of staff at the preschool up to 8.5 members of staff at the high school; 12 staff members were added to the high school either from growth or turnover just this year.

Additionally, DiGirolamo mentioned that while the unit count laid out in Title 14 of the Delaware Code provides partial funding for teacher salaries, curricular materials, and transportation, it does not address space needs if a district were to be overcapacity.

In 2020, Seaford passed its last referendum with nearly two-to-one approval. This referendum was primarily used to partially replace the roof at Central Elementary School, and to help buy new textbooks, improve school security and cover teacher salaries.

When asked about any current building problems in the district, DiGirolamo spoke about two of their older facilities. “While we’re not dealing with buildings overcapacity, we do have two buildings that are more than one hundred years old, and without a Certificate of Necessity (which is only currently approved for growth), we are prevented from even going to a referendum to try and build a new school,” DiGirolamo said. “Barring any drastic changes at the state or federal level, we don’t anticipate the need to go to a referendum for many years for operating expenses. However, in general, a failed referendum at any point would require difficult decisions by the superintendent and board regarding staffing, programs, athletics, and extracurricular activities.”

DiGirolamo also provided her opinion on the rise of new residents in Delaware and the increased number of retirees with little to no ties to local school districts. “I don’t believe that new arrivals are the core reason for a referendum to fail,” DiGirolamo said. “The district has an obligation to provide transparent information regarding school finances, budgets, and expenses and to build a compelling argument for any/all residents to support a referendum.”

In 2023, a review of National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data was performed to determine the safety of Delaware cities, with data collected between the years of 2020 and 2021. In this study, Seaford is ranked as one of the most dangerous areas to live in Delaware due to the number of violent and property-related crimes.

When it comes to the Seaford School District, however, DiGirolamo says that crime, specifically that of gang-related activities, hasn’t posed any major problems. “We’re certainly aware that there are gangs, but we haven’t had anything ‘gang-related’ happen in school that I can recall. There are certainly incidents in the community, but our principal has done an admirable job building school culture, so students seem to be leaving most problems at the door,” DiGirolamo said. “The majority of our school choices students who go out of district say that they’re going to Sussex Tech because of the technical training, however, I’m sure perception influences some school choice decisions.”

With no current plans for a referendum, Seaford stands out as the only district in this series to have no overcapacity issues. The next school covered in this series will be the largest school district in Sussex County, and one of the largest school districts in Delaware: Indian River.

Editor’s note- This is the third in a five part series on Sussex County School Districts and how they are dealing with building overcapacity and other issues.