The Referendum PASSES with Record Turnout!
There was record turnout throughout the community as Appoquinimink voters proudly endorse the district’s updated capital and operational referendum requests.
The official results show both requests on the ballot were approved.
The first item on the ballot focused on the updated operational request – most predominantly teacher and staff compensation. Other key areas for the operational request included safety and security, operational expenses due to growth, and maintaining student devices.
The second item on the ballot focused on new buildings – with the addition of a middle school and high school on the Summit Campus and a new elementary school on Green Giant Road. These costs are shared with the State of Delaware – with the state covering 77%; the district covering 23% locally.
“I’m thrilled and relieved that this referendum has passed,” said Superintendent Matt Burrows. “We are at a pivotal crossroads in our district. This vote ensures we can continue to deliver the highest-quality education to our growing district. Most importantly, this referendum ensures we can support our teachers and staff through more competitive compensation. We are now in a position to build more schools to accommodate the growth in our district and narrow the pay gap between Appoquinimink teachers and the rest of New Castle County.”
School Board President Michelle Wall concurred, adding, “Our community has shown that they believe in the Appoquinimink School District and the work that we are doing. As a School Board, we understood the gravity of this ask – but we also knew the importance.”
Dr. Burrows offered his appreciation to the countless volunteers who all worked together to educate the community about this updated referendum request and garner their much-needed support.
“I’m grateful to the volunteers and employees who worked tirelessly on our behalf,” said Burrows. “I’m equally grateful for the families, staff, and community members who understood the need and voted to ensure our future success as a district.”
ASD earns Best Communities for Music Education designation!
Please join us in congratulating our phenomenal music teachers who have made it possible for our district to earn the Best Communities for Music Education designation for nine years in a row! This designation showcases our district’s commitment to access to music education and continued growth. Stay tuned for more celebrations to come in honor of this achievement!
AHS's Navya earns prestigious scholarship to study in South Korea
Navya Anumandla, a junior at Appoquinimink High School, has been awarded the NSLI-Y Scholarship and will be traveling to South Korea this summer for two weeks to study Korean! This is a very competitive scholarship. Navya has been working to receive this honor for two years — she was a finalist last year and decided to try again for the scholarship.
Navya will be spending six weeks with a host family in Songdo, South Korea, and studying at SUNY Korea after two days of orientation at Stony Brook, New York. She will attend Korean classes for four to five hours per day and participate in a variety of cultural enhancement activities to supplement classroom learning. The program activities will include Korean cooking, traditional and contemporary art, sports and dance. The cultural program will also include excursions to expose students to the historical and cultural heritage of Korea, the diversity of its regions and peoples, and modern day Korean society.
Navya is currently in level 4 of Spanish at AHS and was awarded the multiliteracy certificate in Spanish. Navya also independently studies other languages, including her family’s language of Telugu, and Korean because of her personal interest in Korean culture. While studying her family’s native language of Telugu with an online tutor, she was also learning Hindi at home by immersing herself in television and conversations with family friends.
Drone Legends visits Lorewood Grove Elementary School
Learning doesn't always happen in a traditional classroom — sometimes learning happens by seeing drones in action outside! In the world of STEAM/STEM, many different opportunities are surfacing due the support of our district and community as well as various initiatives. At Lorewood Grove Elementary school, one example of this is the use of drones!
Scott Buell is the founder and president of Drone Legends; a drone curriculum that connects standards with current career simulation opportunities that allow for the use of drones. From fighting flames as a drone firefighter pilot, to learning about cinematography as a biologist learning more about koalas, drones open a world of career fields like none other. Scott met with the current Drone Academy students and was able to demonstrate how drone pilots are essential for the job market. He was also able to take a trip outside with them and showcase how bigger drones can take aerial photos and see a wide span of land from high up.
Lorewood Grove is currently using the Drone Legends curriculum in two ways. The first is teaching 5th graders during MTSS how to be safe pilots, as well as go through several Drone Legends lessons and connect their learning with standards. The second is then having the 5th grade students turnkey and then become the teachers, where they then teach 2nd and 3rd grade students the same lessons that they learned to serve as an extension opportunity for students who are ready for higher order thinking skills and problem solving.
Kendra Rosner is currently the STEAM Coordinator at Lorewood Grove Elementary School and oversees the Drone Academy. As a teacher and a parent of the district, she would love to encourage the community to support the upcoming referendum with voting yes. To create authentic opportunities for our students and be able to move in the right direction to do what is truly best for students, we need to be able to support a growing district and do what is necessary to ensure that our schools are safe, encourage collaboration and creativity, and have the very best educators!
Brick Mill Elementary hosts Multicultural Night
Thank you to all of our Brick Mill Elementary families who attended the school's Multicultural Night!
Appoquinimink learns the science behind the solar eclipse
What better way to shake off the post-spring break blues than a partial solar eclipse? Appoquinimink students had the opportunity to spend Monday, April 8 learning about the science behind the solar eclipse, and safely viewing the eclipse using special glasses! The pictures above were taken at Lorewood Grove Elementary School during STEAM Coordinator Kendra Rosner's class!
Olive B. Loss Elementary has a new garden!
Thanks to the Delaware team from Breakthru Beverage, the courtyard at Olive B. Loss Elementary School has been transformed into a vegetable garden! Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids has been visiting the school to teach students about growing vegetables! All grade levels at OBL are participating in the garden — from planting seeds to tending to the garden to harvesting the produce!
Ryan Duker brings home a third place win!
Appoquinimink's Ryan Duker won third place in Delaware Department of Education's Bus Roadeo! The competition, held this year at the Fairview Campus, saw about 30 drivers from across Delaware compete in a variety of school bus-related driving tests. Some of the tests were parallel parking a school bus, driving down a narrow straight line without knocking over any cups, and evacuating a bus as quickly and safely as possible. Our district had two drivers compete this year — Gina Newman and Duker. Congratulations to both for a job well done!
Annual Employment Expo draws a crowd
Thank you to our students and their families who attended our annual Employment Expo! The event helps students get a jumpstart on applying for jobs — be that summer jobs or potential careers after high school. We're extending a huge thank you to the businesses and organizations that attended the expo — we're grateful for your continued support!
Allied Health students deliver capstone presentations
Students in the Allied Health Pathway at all three of our district's high schools recently delivered their spring capstone presentations to their mentors, as well as our teachers and administrators. Congratulations to these future healthcare workers for a job well done!
More than 1,200 people visit Elementary Art Exhibition
We're continually blown away by our awesome community — over the weekend, more than 1,200 people stopped by the Appoquinimink Community Library to see artwork created by our students at our annual Elementary Art Exhibition! Thank you to everyone who visited to support our students.
Secondary Art Exhibition is May 4!
Mark your calendars! Our Secondary Art Exhibition will take place on Saturday, May 4, 2024, from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will be held at the Appoquinimink Community Library and will feature student artwork from all ASD secondary schools. The amazing artwork will remain on display through Tuesday, May 7, and can be viewed during scheduled library hours.
Thank you to our community for supporting our FFA students
Thank you to all the community for supporting Middletown High School's and Appoquinimink High School's FFA students by attending their Plant Sales! And stay tuned for more info about Odessa High's Plant Sale!
Grady Townsend is our April Transportation Employee of the Month!
Please join us in congratulating Grady Townsend on being named Transportation Employee of the Month for April! Grady is one of our bus attendants servicing Alfred G. Waters Middle, Appoquinimink High, and Crystal Run Elementary. Grady ensures all of his students on bus #219 have a safe and enjoyable ride each and every day. His fellow coworkers say he is dependable, helpful and kind.
Louis L. Redding Middle teachers, principal recognized by the VFW Post #3792
Louis L. Redding Middle's Leah Anderson-Copher, Sarah Leonard, and Tamara Walker were recognized by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3792 at the annual awards banquet! Sarah Leonard won the first place Smart/Maher VFW National Citizenship Education Teacher Award for local, district and state (first picture). Tamara Walker won the 2nd place local Smart/Maher VFW National Citizenship Education Teacher Award (middle picture). Principal Leah Anderson-Copher accepted the 2023-2024 Smart/Maher VFW National Citizenship Education Teacher Award on behalf of Louis L. Redding Middle School, "in recognition of being selected the state VFW Smart/Maher school award winner for citizenship education" (last picture).
Elementary Instrumental Walkabout is May 18
The Elementary Instrumental Music team would like to invite all current 3rd and 4th grade families to our fourth annual Instrument Walkabout! This year’s Instrument Walkabout will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Meredith Middle School on Saturday, May 18. Come out and see instrument demonstrations by our own Appoquinimink School District band and string students, register your current 3rd or 4th grader to start a musical instrument in the fall, sample some yummy food from the food trucks and meet our award-winning elementary instrumental team. Band and strings registration for the 2024-2025 school year is currently open and will close on September 22. Please visit our website for more information about the walkabout, registration, program details, to meet the instruments and instructors.
AGW's Joshua Johnson invited to speak at Legislative Hall
Joshua Johnson, a seventh grader at Alfred G. Waters Middle, was recently invited to speak before the Delaware House of Representatives and Senate where he shared his speech about the importance of prison reform. Sen. Marie Pinkney and Rep. Sherae’a Moore invited Joshua after they saw a video of his Project Soapbox speech, which he made as part of his Social Studies class. Congratulations to Joshua for the fantastic (or should we say FINtastic) job he did using his voice to advocate for change and for representing Shark Nation so well!
Register now for our summer camps!
Registration is still open for our summer camps! The deadline to register is June 1, but enrollment is limited so don't delay! Visit bit.ly/apposummercamps to check out the full list of camps and to register!
April is Occupational Therapy Month!
In schools, occupational therapy practitioners focus on academics, play and leisure, social participation, self-care skills (ADLs or Activities of Daily Living), and transition/ work skills. There are many activities that families can do at home to help develop these skills.
- Visual perceptual skills help us make sense and interpret what we see. They are important for completing puzzles, learning letter/number formation, writing sentences within the lines and with proper spacing and letter size, and categorizing items by size and color. Ideas to develop visual perceptual skills: puzzles, Memory card games, I Spy games, parquetry (copying block patterns), Spot the Difference activities and building with blocks.
- Sensory Processing skills are the way the brain receives, organizes, and responds to sensory input in order to behave in a meaningful and consistent manner. Difficulty with sensory processing can lead to decreased attention, body awareness and coordination. Ideas to address Sensory Processing skills: sensory bins, messy play, heavy work (pushing, pulling or carrying heavy objects), swings, obstacle courses, playdough/slime and ice cube paint.
- Self-help skills are important for promoting independence and self-confidence with daily routines. In school, these tasks can include putting on/taking off a coat, managing clothing and fasteners for toileting, opening lunch containers, tying shoes and packing/unpacking a backpack. Ideas to develop self-help skills: finger and hand strengthening with resistive putty and toys (squigz, stretch balls), Legos, games with small pieces, problem-solving and sequencing games, and bilateral coordination (using both hands together) tasks, such as lacing beads, closing nuts and bolts, tying and untying knots, opening different containers (twist cap, pull top, zipper bags, twist ties), practice with buttoning/unbuttoning
Celebrating National Administrative Professionals Appreciation Day!
Our Administrative Professionals make our world go round! Thank you for all you do throughout our schools and district!
Upcoming Events & Meeting Reminder:
- 1 May Decision Day at MHS (school day event)
- 1 May Decision Day at OHS (extended compass)
- 1 May AHS Spring Choir Concert, 7 p.m. at AHS
- 1 May CBMS 7th & 8th Grade Orchestra Concert, 7 p.m. at OHS
- 2 May OSE/CBMS 4-6th Grade Band Concert, 7 p.m. at OHS
- 2-4 May SLE Spring Musical, 7 p.m. on 5/2-5/4 & 1 p.m. on 5/4 at SLE
- 3 May School Lunch Hero Day
- 3-4 May BME Spring Musical, 7 p.m. on 5/3 & 1 p.m. & 7 p.m. on 5/4 at BME
- 3-4 May OBL Spring Musical, 7 p.m. on 5/3 & 1 p.m. on 5/4 at OBL
- 4-7 May ASD Secondary Art Show: Grades 6-12, 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. on 5/4 — Artwork will remain on display during library hours through 5/7 at Appoquinimink Community Library
- 6-10 May Teacher Appreciation Week
- 7 May Teacher Appreciation Day
- 7 May TES Band and Strings Concert at 6:30 p.m. at EMMS
- 8 May School Nurse Day
- 8 May BME Choir & Spring Concert, 6:30 p.m. at BME
- 9 May AGW 7-8th Grade Band Concert, 7 p.m. at AGW
- 9 May OSE/CBMS 4th-6th Grade Orchestra Concert, 7 p.m. at OHS
- 9 May EMMS 6th-8th Grade Orchestra Concert, 7 p.m. at EMMS
- 9 May RMS 6-8th Grade Band & BME Band, 7 p.m. at MHS
- 13 May OBL Spring Band & Strings Concert, 6:30 p.m. at AGW
- 14 May School Board meeting, 7 p.m. at the Marion E. Proffitt Training Center, 118 S. Sixth St, Odessa. Tune in virtually by clicking here.
- 14 May AGW 6-8th Grade Orchestra Concert, 7 p.m. at AGW
- 14 May BHE Spring Strings, Band, and Choir Concert, 6:30 p.m. at AHS
- 14 May RMS 6-8th Grade Choir Concert, 7 p.m. at RMS
- 15 May AGW 6th Grade Band and Choir Concert, 7 p.m. at AGW
- 15 May Pops Concert, 6:30 p.m. at AHS
- 15 May Chamber Choir Concert, 7 p.m. at MHS
- 15 May OHS Instrumental Spring Concert, 7 p.m. at OHS
- 16 May AHS Senior Prom, 7 p.m. location TBD
- 16 May OBL Choir Concert, 6 p.m. at OBL
- 16 May SLE 1-2nd Grade Choir Concert, 6:30 p.m. at MHS
- 16 May CBMS 7th & 8th Grade Band Concert, 7 p.m. at OHS
- 17 May AGW 7th & 8th Grade Choir Concert, 7 p.m. at AGW
- 17 May EMMS 6th-8th Grade Band Concert, 7 p.m. at EMMS
- 17 May RMS 6-8th Grade Orchestra Concert, 7 p.m. at RMS
- 17 May OHS Junior Prom, 6:30 p.m. at OHS PAC
- 18 May Elementary Instrument Walkabout, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at EMMS
- 20 May Senior Athletic Awards, 6:30 p.m. at AHS
- 20 May TES Choir Concert, 6:30 p.m. at EMMS
- 21 May MHS Spring Choir Concert, 7 p.m. at MHS
- 21 May LGE Spring Band and Strings Concert, 6:30 p.m. at AGW
- 21 May OHS Spring Vocal Recital, 7 p.m. at OHS
- 22 May AHS Music Department Awards, 6:30 p.m. at AHS
- 22 May MHS Instrumental Spring Awards Concert, 7 p.m. at MHS
- 23 May CLE Band and Strings Concert, 6:30 p.m. at AGW
- 23 May MHS Senior Prom, 7 p.m. location TBD
- 23 May OHS Spring Choir Concert, 7:30 p.m. at OHS Theater
- 24 May Schools closed / offices open
- 27 May Schools / offices closed – Memorial Day
- 28 May TECC Kindergarten Concert, 5:45 p.m & 7 p.m. at EMMS
- 28 May MHS Senior Awards, 6:30 p.m. at MHS
- 29 May CRE Choir Concert, 6:30 p.m. at CRE
- 29 May SMECC Spring Concert, 6:30 p.m. at OHS
- 29 May OHS Senior Awards, 6:30 p.m. at OHS
- 30 May CRE Spring Instrumental Concert, 6:30 p.m. at CRE
- 31 May MHS Theatre Gala, 6:30 p.m. at MHS
- 31 May AHS End of the Year Theatre Cabaret, 6:30 p.m. at AHS
- 31 May OHS Senior Prom, 6 p.m. location TBD