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JULY 31, 2026
THE LOCAL VOICE OF YOUR COMMUNITY.
Volume 23, Issue 31
FREE
IRSD looks to correct course on students skipping tests By Laura Walter Staff Reporter For years, Indian River School District families have been writing notes to let their students skip taking the standardized state tests. It turns out — in many instances — that was never really supposed to be happening.
County mulling impact of Senate Bill 23
There are permissible reasons to excuse Delaware students from the major assessments, mostly relating to health or enrollment. But soon, it won’t be enough for parents to simply “opt-out” without a valid reason. In August, the IRSD Board of Education will take a final vote on a new policy that sets a “clear expectation”
about students being required to participate in the state testing system, with very few exceptions. It turns out “parent or guardian requests to excuse a student from participation in state assessments (‘opt-out’) are not recognized as valid exemptions under Delaware Department of Education policy, [so] the Indian River School
District will not approve parent opt-out requests for state assessments,” states the draft policy. That policy relates to the mandated assessments that all public and charter school students are supposed to take at various grade levels: science and social See TESTS page A5
Brutal storm
By Susan Canfora Staff Reporter Members of the Sussex County Council urged administrative staff to hire consultants to help determine what changes will have to be made to meet the requirements of Delaware Senate Bill 23, which changes the land-use approval process in the state. Signed into law earlier this month, the law requires local jurisdictions to implement affordable housing plans and requires a plan for affordable housing in every comprehensive plan in every town with at least 2,000 residents, various types of housing and local jurisdictions to work with the Delaware State Housing Authority. Sussex County Administrator Todd Lawson this week told the council he and fellow administrators opposed the bill in meetings and in writing before it was passed. Because it is now law, it forced all pending land-use applications to be withdrawn from the July 15 agenda for the Planning & Zoning. Those applications will not be processed for months now, until the County comes up with a framework that meets
Coastal Point • Susan Lyons
See COUNTY page A3
The storm that tore through our area on the evening of Tuesday, July 28, did a number on this tree and the sign for Café on 26 in Ocean View.
Man briefly escapes custody at Millville emergency facility Moyer:‘He was simply trying to get away’ A man who had been in the custody of Millsboro police briefly escaped custody at Beebe Healthcare’s
South Coastal Emergency Department in Millville on Tuesday afternoon, July 28. Millsboro Police Chief David Moyer said the suspect had requested medical treatment and was transported by ambulance to the Millville emergency department on Route 17
when he escaped from the ambulance. Moyer said the man, who was not armed, was captured a short time later and taken to the South Coastal Emergency Department for treatment, where he remained later in the afternoon. Officers from Delaware State Po-
lice and the Ocean View Police Department assisted with the incident. “It was a phenomenal response by everybody,” Moyer said. Neighboring communities were not notified about the escapee, he said. “He had no weapons. He was simply trying to get away,” Moyer said.