‘A few bad actors’: Delaware lawmakers seek to strengthen school boards’ public accountability and transparency

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Delaware lawmakers are advancing a package of bills aimed at overhauling how school boards operate in the state. The House could take them up as early as this week.

At a school board meeting last August, Christina School Board President Donald Patton told multiple speakers they were “out of order,” said meeting attendees were “guests” and threatened disciplinary action against school district employees who shouted comments during the meeting.

The dysfunctional school board drew statewide attention last year with meetings that lasted for several hours, violations of open meeting laws and residency issues involving one of its members. So, it’s no coincidence that several of the lawmakers sponsoring the slate of bills represent Wilmington and Newark areas, which include Christina School District.

“I think it’s unfortunate that we are having to introduce bills like this,” said state Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton, D-Newark. “The great majority of school boards and school board members are responsible, they’re accountable to the public, they’re acting with their community’s best interest at heart. Unfortunately, as I think all of us have seen over the past year plus, there are a few bad actors not doing that.”

The Christina board and four of its members — Patton, Vice President Alethea Smith-Tucker and members Y.F. Lou and Naveed Baqir — individually face a lawsuit from former Superintendent Dan Shelton after he was placed on indefinite leave in July during a meeting that lasted longer than seven hours.

In the fiscal year 2025 budget, the General Assembly ordered the Delaware Department of Justice to monitor the board for a year because of the board’s violations of the state’s Freedom of Information Act in public meetings. Its report is due to lawmakers in July.

The package of legislation addresses accountability, training and transparency.

One of the measures, sponsored by Wilson-Anton, would require school board members to physically reside in the school district they represent for at least 75% of the days in any year-long period of their term. It provides an exception for military service. The bill allows a resident of the school district to ask the Delaware Superior Court to declare a vacancy if the school district fails to inform the state’s Department of Elections that a member no longer lives in the district.

The legislation appears to address Christina school board member Naveed Baqir’s situation. He has been living in Pakistan since January 2024 and attending school board meetings virtually.

Board member Doug Manley has argued Baqir is disqualified from being a school board member because he no longer lives in the district, but under Delaware law, the school district must declare a vacancy before someone can be appointed or elected to that seat. The district has not done that. Patton did not respond to a request for comment.

“So that makes it very clear,” Manley said of the bill. “It doesn’t matter about owning a home. It doesn’t matter if you’re paying taxes. What matters is you have to be there in the district representing the people that you serve.”

In a recent committee hearing on the bill, Yvonne Johnson, president of the National Parent Teacher Association, testified that this is not an issue confined to one district.

“I want to be clear that this is something that is not just happening in Christina,” she said. “This is happening in other districts, especially in New Castle County.”

A second measure from Wilson-Anton would allow remote attendance at school board meetings under certain circumstances, such as illness, caring for a sick family member, pregnancy, military service and public health emergencies. But it would allow the district to reject the ability to allow remote attendance and to limit the number of times remote attendance may be used.

Legislation sponsored by state Rep. Cyndie Romer, D-Newark, would require school boards to have a remote option for residents to view and comment on meetings.

Tammy Croce, executive director of the Delaware Association of School Administrators, and David Tull, executive director of the Delaware School Boards Association, voiced concern during the committee hearing on Romer’s bill that it would be an unfunded mandate on school districts.

“There would be cost moving to an interactive platform as well as cost for having someone oversee the platform during the meetings,” Croce said. “These platforms would need to be monitored to assure all participants that want to public comment have the opportunity to do so.”

State Rep. Eric Morrison, D-Glasgow, has a measure that would require school boards to go through training on good governance topics, including the Freedom of Information Act and the proper rules of order. The bill would also require boards to post recordings of the meetings online within a week.

In June, the Delaware Department of Justice said the Christina school board violated FOIA by holding an illegal executive session and failing to give the public proper notice on votes it took.

Morrison, one of several House Democrats who filed a FOIA complaint leading to last year’s DOJ opinion, said the bill is not just about the Christina School District.

“It is about ensuring that school board members are receiving what they need to be successful,” he said. “There is so much to know, and there’s such a learning curve when you become a school board member. I know they can feel overwhelmed.”

A bill sponsored by House Education Committee Chair Kim Williams clarifies that school board appointees must undergo a background check.

Delaware school board members oversee the running of the school district and the performance of its superintendent. Members must be Delaware citizens, residents of the school district they’re elected to serve and at least 18 years old. These are unpaid positions. School board elections are next month.

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