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Brandywine referendum passes in landslide

Megan Pauly/Delaware Public Media
Voters stream into Brandywine High School just minutes before the polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday night.

The Brandywine School District’s second referendum try passed Tuesday night. Turnout was heavy at 22 polling locations at throughout district, drawing far more residents than the just over 7,600 that showed up in Brandywine’s March loss.

Teachers, administrators and students gathered at Brandywine High School, waiting for the results to come in: and they weren’t disappointed.

It was a resounding win for the district. The final unofficial total announced by administrators included 9,403 yes votes and 5,689 no votes.

Brandywine High was also a voting site, where poll worker Eileen Smith worked on Tuesday. She and her husband have worked at a number of polling places in recent years and she says turnout for this Brandywine vote was particularly high, both among the young and old.

Credit Megan Pauly / Delaware Public Media
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Delaware Public Media
Signs in the parking lot of Brandywine High School indicate spots for referendum voters Tuesday.

"What we’ve noticed today is this must be a very emotional, personal issue because there’s been a steady stream of people," Smith said. "A lot of students are casting their first vote."

The district was able to turn the tide in areas where they’ve struggled to find support. Both Maple Lane and Springer Middle schools had more no than yes votes in March, as well as a 2012 referendum and two votes in 2007. That changed this time.

Brandywine Superintendent Mark Holodick says he thinks better communication by the district helped secure support for this tax hike proposal.

“It’s less strategy and more of a philosophy and that is that we’ve got to communicate, we’ve really got to think through our communication plan," Holodick said. "And recognize that we have a diverse community. Some are on social media and rely on it, some rely on things such as the Brandywine Review, some want town hall meetings, some want smaller civic associations.”  

Holodick adds removal of the turf fields proposal also likely made a difference.

He hesitated to call it a record turnout Tuesday: citing major referendum campaigns in the late 1990s. But he says it was certainly the highest turnout since he’s been around.

Holodick notes only one large town hall meeting was held for the 2012 referendum, compared to four this time around. And he adds the voter guide sent out to area residents was also more in-depth this time.

 

Although a few voting locations were added this year - including Brandywine Hundred Library and Brandywine Town Center – Holodick says these additions didn’t add a high number of voters.

 

“We’re about education not campaigning for a referendum. So we sort of learn as we go, we build the plane while it’s in the air," Holodick said. "That’s not necessarily the best way to approach this but we don’t know any better because we’re educators.”

 

Holodick will now meet with those whose positions were at risk of elimination, starting with a guidance counselor at Maple Lane Wednesday morning.
 
He guarantees residents won’t see another referendum for at least the next three years, and hopefully four.

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