Celebrating the Class of 2024!
We're celebrating a historic year in our district! On Saturday, June 8, all three district high schools celebrated graduation for the first time ever! All three graduation events were celebrated at the Fairview Campus. We would like to extend a huge thank you to our students and their families for helping us make this graduation safe and successful. In total, just under 1,000 students graduated and are now moving on to their next chapter. We know they will make ASD and our entire community proud. Join us in congratulating our amazing graduates, their supportive families, our incredible teachers, and all of the staff who have made graduation day such a success.
Free Summer Meals Are Back!
Thanks to support from the USDA and the State of Delaware, the Appoquinimink School District is pleased to once again provide a Free Summer Meals Program at Louis L. Redding Middle School, 201 New Street, Middletown, DE.
Tasty, nutritious lunches will be served at no cost to any young person between the ages of 1-18.
The program will operate Monday – Thursday, from 11:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. No registration or student i.d. is needed. Participants are asked to consume the meal in the cafeteria.
The dates for the Free Summer Meals program are June 17 – August 15. Note: No meals will be available on July 4 in observance of Independence Day.
- What: Free Summer Meals for young people between the ages of 1-18
- When: Monday, June 17 – Thursday, August 15
- Questions: Appoquinimink School Nutrition Office, 302-376-4280
- For information about other sites: Families can call 211; call 1-866-348-6479 or 1-877-842-6273 (for Spanish speakers); text FOOD to 304-304 or Comida to 304-304; or, go to http://www.fns.usda.gov/meals4kids for information about additional open sites in their area.
Our Bookmobile is back with four locations this summer!
Our Bookmobile is back with four locations this summer!
Our district's tradition of Words on Wheels Wednesdays continues this summer — our Bookmobile will stop at four locations around our district! Find your perfect summer read or build your personal library by visiting our Bookmobile and its collection of free gently used books. Donations are always appreciated, so feel free to bring your books to add to our collection. Bookmobile is organized and run by our amazing librarians — thank you to our staff for spearheading this effort!
New Times, New Locations:
- 12:30 p.m. Olive B. Loss Elementary School, 200 Brennan Blvd, Bear
- 1:30 p.m. Brick Mill Elementary School, 378 Brick Mill Rd, Middletown
- 2:30 p.m. Silver Lake Elementary School, 200 E Cochran St, Middletown
- 3:30 p.m. Townsend Village Park, 126 Main St, Townsend
Dates:
- July 17
- August 14
Silver Lake Elementary showcases its leaders during Leadership Day
Silver Lake Elementary welcomed community members into the school for its annual Leadership Day! SLE is a Leader in Me Lighthouse School, which means the school follows a comprehensive framework that nurtures student leadership, fosters a culture of trust, and boosts academic success. Leadership Day provides students with the opportunity to show the community the skills they've learned over the course of the school year — leadership, problem-solving, and much more. Kudos to SLE's students for a job well done!
105 students test out of multilingual learner instructional services
Please join us in congratulating the 105 students who successfully tested out of multilingual learners instructional services! Our district's multilingual learners (MLL) department recently celebrated these students with a special ceremony at Everett Meredith Middle School. To test out, the students had to meet the exit criteria on the WIDA ACCESS exam. Congratulations to our phenomenal students!
Honoring our retirees
Janice Vander Decker has dedicated more than 34 years of service in School Nutrition here at Appoquinimink – and even more total! Janice has steadfastly served as Supervisor of School Nutrition for all those years, ensuring our school nutrition team is able to take care of all students in our growing district.
We thank Janice for her commitment and dedication to our students and our community.
Debbie Kirk has dedicated more than 25 years of service to education – right here at Appoquinimink. Debbie is a proud Appoquinimink graduate, who returned to support the community she came from. Debbie is a pillar of our community – and a known expert in the agriculture field. She has impacted countless students at Redding Middle and Middletown High School.
We thank Debbie for her commitment and dedication to our students and our community.
Dr. Kim Brancato has dedicated more than 33 years of service to education – all of those years to our earliest learners. Dr. Brancato is not only a fierce advocate of early childhood education in our district, she is also an advocate at the state and national level. We have seen our program expand and impact many of our young learners here in our district.
We thank Dr. Brancato for her commitment and dedication to our students and our community.
Dr. Voni Perrine has dedicated more than 35 years of service to education here in Delaware (47 years total!) – supporting students and the performing arts like no other.
Dr. Perrine has made a significant impact at two of our high schools – and was the founding principal at Odessa High School on the Fairview Campus, which hosted its first commencement ceremony for nearly 300 students.
We thank Dr. Perrine for her commitment and dedication to our students and our community.
June's Transportation Employee(s) of the Month
We have the final Transportation Employee of the Month (of this school year) to announce — Mr. Steve, otherwise known as Cowboy, and Ms. Felicia, the bus attendant! This duo services Everett Meredith Middle School and Crystal Run Elementary School. They go above and beyond to ensure the safety of our students and also make bus rides fun with songs and games for the elementary students. Ms. Felicia has recently become licensed to drive a bus, so, in the upcoming school year, you will see her behind the wheel!
Middletown High School holds its annual Grad Parade!
To celebrate their upcoming graduation, seniors participated in the school tradition of parading through the schools that helped shape them in Middletown High School's annual Grad Parade! Students were greeted with cheers, high-fives, and posters with warm wishes as they walked through the middle and elementary schools they attended earlier in their education journey.
Odessa High School celebrates its Class of 2024 with a time capsule
Before their graduation, Odessa High School's first graduating class buried a time capsule near the front of the school that will be opened by a future generation of Ducks! The time capsule was filled with items like face masks (to commemorate the school's opening in 2020), pictures of the initial class of teachers, and, of course, plenty of ducks.
Appoquinimink Foundation awards scholarships to graduating seniors
Join us in thanking the Appo Foundation for awarding scholarships to 10 Appoquinimink School District seniors! One scholarship recipient was selected from each of these pathways: Agriculture & Natural Resources; Business & Economics; Culinary Arts & Hospitality; Education & Leadership Development; Health Sciences; Language, Literature, & Human Development; Military & Civic Leadership; Performing & Design Arts; Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math; and Skilled & Technical Trades. If you would like to learn more about the Appo Foundation, click here.
Townsend Elementary School is Delaware Assessment Ready!
Townsend Elementary School is Delaware Assessment Ready! TES was recognized as being an Assessment Ready school and received a banner from the Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) to be displayed in the school. Assessment readiness focuses on making sure students deeply learn grade-level content standards throughout the school year — not just in preparation to take a state test. Schools receive a banner when at least 75% of their classroom teachers complete a minimum of one content area in each toolkit. Kudos to TES for earning this recognition from DDOE.
AGW LEGO Club finishes a titanic-sized project
The Alfred G Waters Middle School LEGO Club finished one of its big projects for the year! Students started building the Titanic in October. More than 50 students spent countless hours to ensure they completed the set before the end of the school year. This is the third largest set available for purchase with 9,090 pieces and the ship is four and a half feet long! Last school year the students completed the Eiffel Tower, which is the second largest set LEGO offers. Thank you to all the generous donations from family and friends that helped support AGW's LEGO Club!
Nanticoke Indian Tribe visits Spring Meadow Early Childhood Center
Spring Meadow Early Childhood Center had some special visitors at the end of their school year — members of the Nanticoke Indian Tribe! This presentation was the culmination of the students' CKLA Native American Knowledge unit.
A special thank you to our awesome community!
We’re extending a huge thank you to the community members who donated their gently used instruments during our district’s first Instrument Drive! The drive was a success, and we have instruments we will repair and refurbish this summer in time for students to use in the fall. If you would like to donate an instrument to our district, please reach out to Laura.Sebastiano@appo.k12.de.us! Stay tuned for an update when we have some of these instruments repaired and ready for students!
Celebrating the end of the school year!
Thank you to our students and families for making it a wonderful year at Appoquinimink School District! Be sure to follow your student's school on social media. You'll find more pictures from the last day of school festivities posted there.
REMINDER — Register for kindergarten today!
If you have a child who will be 5 years old by August 31, it’s time to register for kindergarten!
Registration is completed through an online portal. We have all the information on our district website. And don’t forget: our district offers TWO language immersion programs! Kindergarten immersion programs include Spanish Immersion and Chinese Immersion at certain buildings. Kindergarten students who participate in our immersion programs learn math, science, reading, writing, and social studies in two languages instead of one! We’ll include information below to register and to learn more about immersion.
Sparks Family donates $500 to clear outstanding meal balances
Please join us in thanking the Sparks Family, owners of Little Landmines Pet Waste Removal, for their donation of $500 to help clear outstanding school meal balances. The family's children attended Appo schools from K-12 and their youngest is starting in the RISE program at Louis L Redding Middle School this fall. The family are autism advocates who "believe in helping the community as much as we can and donate a percentage of our proceeds to charity each month!"
REMINDER: Our 2024-2025 Academic Calendar is live on our website!
Upcoming Events & Meeting Reminder:
- 4 July Schools / offices closed – Independence Day
- 9 July School Board meeting, 7 p.m. at the Marion E. Proffitt Training Center, 118 S. Sixth St, Odessa. Tune in virtually by CLICKING HERE
- 17 July Summer Bookmobile: 12:30 p.m. Olive B. Loss Elementary School, 200 Brennan Blvd, Bear; 1:30 p.m. Brick Mill Elementary School, 378 Brick Mill Rd, Middletown; 2:30 p.m. Silver Lake Elementary School, 200 E Cochran St, Middletown; 3:30 p.m. Townsend Village Park, 126 Main St, Townsend