Indian River School District will “probably” hold 3rd referendum

Indian River School District will “probably” hold a 3rd referendum, according to Jim Fritz, a school board member who claimed this time would be different and that the district would seek less money.

The State recently approved Indian River’s certificate of necessity which provides a greenlight for school districts to move forward with referendums.

Fritz appeared on the Mike Bradley Show and touted how the State recognized the overcrowding issues in Indian River and that dates and times for a third referendum would be forthcoming.

“It’s going to be different, it is going to be less money,” Fritz said. “The State still recognizes that the Indian River School District is a high, critical district regarding overcrowding, students, population, space. It’s been approved and the next step is that we’ve got to have discussion. There’s a lot of planning involved and nothing’s been set at this time, but there probably will be a referendum and a date and time forthcoming.”

The State approved the district’s intent to build a new Sussex Central High School, according to Fritz, who said that would pave the way for the district to tackle the overcrowding through transitioning its existing schools accordingly.

“One building is going to solve a ton of overcrowding at multiple buildings,” Fritz explained. “If we build a new Sussex Central High School, which the numbers would be for 2,200 kids, it would then free up the current Sussex Central High School building and we would turn that into a middle school.”

All students from Millsboro Middle, and some from Georgetown Middle, would be placed at the new middle school located in the current building of Sussex Central High School, according to Fritz, who said that would free up Millsboro Middle School which would then be turned into an elementary school to free up space at other area elementary schools.

The Indian River School District’s last referendum attempt failed by a margin of 65 votes.

WGMD News reached out to the Indian River School District, who said no decision has been made on a referendum yet, but that the school board is going to discuss it at its meeting on Monday night.