Sussex Consortium is a public K-12 school in an unincorporated area in Sussex County, Delaware, with a Lewes postal address,[1] and a part of the Cape Henlopen School District.
It serves students, aged 3 to 21,[2] with autism throughout all of Sussex County.[3]
In addition to special needs students attending the Sussex Consortium school building, the institution also serves special needs students attending standard Cape Henlopen comprehensive schools.[4]
The school was established in 1983 and was housed in various facilities. In 2013 it moved into the former Lewes School in Lewes.[4] it was the school with the highest increase of students.[5] The Consortium was previously located in the former Lewes School in Lewes.[6]
In 2015 the State of Delaware gave a certificate of necessity that allowed Cape Henlopen school district to establish a new building.[4] The State of Delaware funded 100% of the construction of the current facility.[2] In 2016 the State of Delaware planned to acquire 26acres of land,[7] with $1.8 million, and then create a 28-classroom 67000square feet facility worth $22 million.[5] In 2017 all four members of the Sussex County Council voted to allow Sussex Consortium to get a new building.[8] In 2018 the state of Delaware paid $13 million to add additional space: an indoor pool, a second gymnasium, and 18 classrooms.[5] The construction timetable was changed after, in August of that year, the state awarded the additional funds.[3] The classrooms include a vocational area and another pre-Kindergarten wing.[5] The total price was around $44 million. Its opening was scheduled for March 16, 2020.[6] However an unexpected school closure scheduled until May 15 meant that the district could finish additional work.[3] Its new opening day was September 16, 2020.[9]
The total size of the school is 111000square feet.[5] This was the first building of Sussex Consortium specially built for its purpose.[8] Students are separated by age with the second floor having older students.[7]
The school has blue lights lit at night so the district can publicize its autism awareness campaign.[7] Water-related decorations were added as other area schools had such decorations.[3] Groundbreaking occurred on May 14, 2018.[10] Ellen Driscoll of The Cape Gazette wrote "Like all recent school designs that incorporate Cape Region elements, the student drop-off overhang resembles the Indian River Inlet bridge."[7]
The classrooms have individual temperature controls due to some students being sensitive to heat, as well as in-suite bathrooms. Two-way glass is a feature for transparency reasons.[3]
The State of Delaware funds the school as it serves all areas of Sussex County.[4]
the school has about the same number of employees at Sussex Consortium that it has at Cape Henlopen High School. The employee-to-student ratio at Sussex Consortium, which had about 300 students, is much higher.[11]
the school has 27 buses. Because it has students from all of Sussex County, it has more buses than most elementary and middle schools in the Cape Henlopen school district.[11]
the school has about 200 students.[2] About 70% of the students reside in the Cape Henlopen School District and 30% reside elsewhere in Sussex County.[6]