‘You ought to be ashamed’: Christina School community questions lack of transparency as board places superintendent on leave

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This story was supported by a statehouse coverage grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The Christina School Board school moved to place its superintendent on indefinite leave following a contentious and prolonged board meeting this week. It comes as Delaware lawmakers and community members are raising the alarm over the board’s continued violations of open meeting laws.

“I think in the past, the boards and the districts have self-corrected, they’ve taken that feedback and they have changed their behavior,” Newark Rep. Cyndie Romer said. “We’re just not seeing that in this case, we’re seeing a board that is just doubling down.”

Superintendent placed on leave

The meeting lasted over seven hours, ending just before 3 a.m. after the board voted 4 to 3 to place Superintendent Dan Shelton on paid leave for reasons he said were unclear.

“For months, I have remained relatively silent, allowing for the disappointing display of political theatrics and the inappropriate use of these meetings,” he said. “Each step taken over the last few months, I believed was ‘the end’ and we could stop with the distractions and focus on the real work — the work that as educators we came into this profession to do.”

Hundreds of people attended the meeting in person or online, those in person wore blue shirts in support of Shelton. During about an hour of public comment, speakers called the board “dysfunctional” and “embarrassing.”

“The board wants to spend a lot of money to remove someone and we don’t even know why,” First-grade teacher Katie Ghione said. “It’s embarrassing that the DOJ is now watching you. I’m embarrassed. I hope you are too.”

Former board member and district employee Connie Merlet said the personal grievances of members are irrelevant to their duties.

“Your job is to work on behalf of the children in this district. I am not seeing that,” Merlet said. “When I hear about the board, when I read about the board, and when I watch you up on stage — If you have any other agenda, other than serving the children in this district, you ought to be ashamed.”

Superintendent Shelton makes $235,692, according to a database of state worker salaries. He was hired by the district in 2020, his contract does not expire until 2025. He is the 10th superintendent since 1992.

“I have sat quietly as both my integrity and by extension, the integrity of my team has been unfairly attacked often in unprofessional ways that lacked evidence or due process,” he said. “We all sit here tonight wondering what and why actions will be taken and specific items were placed on the agenda this evening.”

Like many of the votes Tuesday, Board President Donald Patton, Vice-President Alethea Smith-Tucker, and members Y.F. Lou and Naveed Baqir voted as a bloc, while members Monica Moriak, Doug Manley, and newly sworn-in member Amy Trauth voted in opposition. The board’s use of an electronic voting screen cut off the names of the members who abstained on votes.

Manley read a letter that disciplined Shelton, giving him a three-day suspension, for not including a motion on an agenda, undesirable HR processes and poor relationships with board members. Shelton said the suspension was under appeal. A complaint, which some board members noted had only been given to them the day of the meeting, accused Shelton of raising his voice. Manley, who also read that complaint into the record, also noted it said no yelling or harassment by the superintendent could be confirmed.

Residency question

Manley raised a point of order at the beginning of the meeting to question member Naveed Baqir’s lack of residency in his district and the state of Delaware. Baqir has been living in Pakistan since January, according to some of the board members. He joined the meeting virtually. Manley said Baqir’s extended absence from residing in his district disqualifies him from being a board member and participating in votes.

Patton would not entertain the point of order, calling it “nonsense.”

“It’s not a part of the agenda and it is not the law in this case,” he said. “We spoke with the attorney today.”

Baqir reached out to WHYY News Thursday afternoon, but would not allow his comments about his residency status to be reported. In a statement to WHYY News, Patton said Baqir remains a district resident because he has not been away from Delaware for 495 days or more in the past 18 months and maintains a house in the district where his parents and children live. Questions to the Delaware Department of Elections about the residency code and eligibility for office received no response by publication time.

Patton also threatened several times to have members of the public removed from the room during the meeting. A spokesperson for the district said no one was ultimately removed.

“Let me explain something to the audience, you are a guest,” he said. “And if you are going to yell out and scream out, I’m going to have the room cleared.”

FOIA violations

Romer said she believed Patton’s dismissal of Manley’s point of order and the inability of board members to be able to put forward other names for president during the nominating process violated open meetings laws.

“They need to follow the law,” she said. “And I’m not really understanding why they’re not understanding that.”

Smith-Tucker also amended the minutes for the May 7 regular meeting to add that a vote to recess the meeting was taken. But then went further, saying more than four members meeting privately during the recess was a “caucus” and not an illegal executive session, as described by the DOJ last month.

House Democratic Reps. Romer, Paul Baumbach (Newark), Madinah Wilson-Anton (Newark), Sophie Phillips (Bear) and Eric Morrison (Glasgow) filed a complaint in May alleging the school board violated the state’s Freedom of Information Law at its March and May meetings.

The opinion released by the Delaware Department of Justice in June said the school board violated the law by holding an illegal executive session and failing to give the public proper notice for trying to rescind the contract of Shelton and hold a vote of no confidence.

Board member Monica Moriak said the discussion in the impromptu meeting was a disagreement about having a personnel review of the superintendent on the agenda. By law, that is not a reason members can meet privately outside public view, which she pointed out during Tuesday’s meeting.

“My understanding of Delaware law is if four or more board members are together and they are discussing anything related to the business or running of the meetings or district, that is inappropriate and needs to happen in public,” she said.

However, the board approved changing the minutes of the May 7 board meeting to characterize the private meeting as a “caucus” rather than what the DOJ determined was an inappropriate executive session. A district spokesperson did not answer questions about the vice president’s definition of caucus.

Lawmakers added language into the annual Grant-In-Aid bill this year to require the DOJ to monitor the board for the next year and report back. A spokesperson for the DOJ said the office would be reviewing video footage, documents, and notices and compiling a report at the end of the year for lawmakers. Delaware Chief Deputy Attorney General Dan Logan said the AG’s office investigates FOIA violations after it receives a petition to do so, but enforcement of rule-breaking is generally up to the courts under state law, not the DOJ.

Romer said she’s consulting with her fellow lawmakers and others to see what can be done if the board continues to fail to act transparently.

“I think as legislators we are looking at ‘What are our options?,”’ she said. “And also, do we need to look at putting something in place legislatively to put teeth into this.”

The Christina School Board is set to meet next on July 18 to discuss the next steps now that Shelton is on leave.