Colonial board meets first time since new Supt. hire

    Tonight the Colonial School District will meet for the first time since longtime Superintendent George Meney announced his retirement, and the board appointed his replacement the same evening.

    Tonight the Colonial School District will meet for the first time since longtime Superintendent George Meney announced his retirement, and the board appointed his replacement the same evening.

    At it’s February 9 meeting, the board appointed Deputy Superintendent Dorothy Linn to replace George Meney who announced that night he would not fulfill the final 3 years of his contract and would instead retire June 30.

    The February 9 meeting had a posted change of venue notice because it was occurring between two major snowstorms.  Meney says still, there were members of the public in attendance and the room “was nearly full.”

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    But Meney’s resignation was first delivered in executive session.  So any action to replace him is not something the general public would have anticipated that night.  Delawareans are also used to school boards announcing major superintendent searches when districts need to fill their top position.

    New Castle County Councilman Jea Street’s district covers the Colonial District.  He says the administration and the board “should be ashamed of themselves.” 

    “I have nothing against Dr. Linn being superintendent,” Street said. “I think she’s qualified and I think she’s a good person and I think she’ll be a good superintendent but the process by which she got there is totally wrong,” Street said.

    “It reeks of mischief on its very surface.  There’s a difference between what is legal and what’s practical and appropriate and correct. “It’s just inappropriate as far as I’m concerned,” Street said.

    Meney says when the board asked his recommendation, he named Linn.  He also offered to serve as a consultant for a rate of $100 dollars an hour for the duration of the summer, as the new superintendent transitioned into the role.

    “One of the things I offered to do to be helpful was to help finish up a couple of projects I’ve been working on, mainly focused on some improvements to our facilities,” Meney said.  “We’ve been working on a master plan of facility upgrades since 1989, and we’re almost to the end of that.”

    Meney says he estimates his consultant role would be a commitment of around 5 hours a week for the summer.

    Linn has served as Deputy Superintendent at Colonial since 2006, but has been with the district since 1987 as a teacher, counselor, assistant principal, principal, executive assistant, and assistant superintendent.

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