Christina school board puts Superintendent Shelton on leave

After nearly five years of service, Superintendent Dan Shelton has been placed on administrative leave by the Christina School District Board of Education.

Dan Shelton, voted Delaware’s Superintendent of the Year just two years ago, has been booted from Christina School District .

In a meeting that started 40 minutes late Tuesday night, lasted about seven hours and wrapped up right before 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, the board argued the night away and finally voted, 4-3, to put Shelton on administrative leave.

Legally, board agendas have to shield specific employees under the title of personnel or administrative recommendations, but public comment revealed the employee was Shelton, who started in the district in 2020.

The whole meeting was consumed by this subject, with a lengthy public comment section where the majority of speakers expressed support for Shelton.

After public comment, during which board members are not allowed to respond or engage in conversation, other district matters were focuses on before a long discussion by the board that was chock-full of points of orders.

After moving away from the matter again, the board circled back later and a motion to remove Shelton squeaked by 4-3.

The board voted several times on the motion, with votes tying and someone abstaining until the 2:46 a.m. vote.

It wasn’t exactly clear what the board’s next steps are in terms of finding a replacement, but Shelton during the meeting thanked his supporters and said he has remained silent, allowing for “the disappointing display of political theatrics and the inappropriate use of these meetings.”

“I own my mistakes and I praise our team for continuing to advance outcomes for our students,” he said. “There seems to be a never ending line of investigation, none of which have found any findings nor have any recommendations been shared.  IF in fact there are issues, those need to be  communicated so that we can create resolution steps to reasonably ensure the minimization of future mistakes.”

Asked Wednesday if he had any comment on the vote, Shelton said his statement during the meeting covered his sentiments.

RELATED: Education group details school board agendas, legal rules

The district leadership has been tumultuous and divided the past few months, with some calling to remove Shelton and Don Patton, board president.

Now, it faces the Department of Justice, which will be monitoring the district’s board meetings for the next year, a seemingly unprecedented move, due to concerns that the board is violating the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) rules.

All this has led to some in the education space labeling the district’s administration and board as “dysfunctional.”

RELATED: Dept. of Justice to monitor Christina SD Board for 1 year

The justice department alleges there was an unlawful executive meeting — those are not open to the public — held by the board in the spring.

“There has been an assertion that we had an improper meeting based upon us taking an executive session on that May 7 meeting, and that is not true,” said Board Vice President Alethea Smith-Tucker. “I actually made a motion to recess, which means you could take a break to caucus versus going into executive session. So our attorney will be, based upon the board, deciding to make sure that the Department of Justice updates and has corrected and reflected the actual occurrence that took place on May 7.”

The final vote to remove Shelton took place at 2:46 a.m. with Board President Don Patton joining Smith-Tucker, Y.F. Lou and Naveed Baqir voting yes.

All of the points of order in the debates are related to Robert’s Rules of Order , a longstanding method of maintaining order and parliamentary procedure during meetings. It creates a structure for speaking order, properly voting and more.

With every vote pertaining to the ousted superintendent, Board Member Douglas Manley called a point of order, claiming Baqir is not allowed to vote.

Baqir has been out of the country for months and has attended meetings virtually, and Manley repeatedly claimed that he doesn’t live within the district.

Most districts designate their monthly July meeting as the time for reorganization, where board leadership is once again voted on and any new board members are sworn in.

Just like the vote on Shelton, there were several votes on who would fill the roles of board president and vice president. Ultimately, they stayed the same.

There was less discussion over actual policy and how to help student achievement, and more yelling about points of orders and a musical chair of people throwing names out to nominate a president and VP.

For example, at one point Board Member Monica Moriak nominated Amy Trauth – who was just sworn in to her seat – as vice president.

It was seconded by Manley, but then Smith-Tucker called a point of order. Before she could even finish saying why she called a point of order, Trauth, who attended the meeting virtually via Zoom, shouted “I spoke first.”

“No, no you didn’t,” Smith-Tucker said.

“Thanks, Smith-Tucker. I spoke first. Thank you,” Trauth said.

“Well clearly,” Smith-Tucker started before Trauth interruped, “I did, though. Thank you so much.”

“But I really appreciate Dr…Truth, I mean Trauth,” Smith-Tucker said, before Trauth jumped in again.

“It’s ‘trout’, like the fish, it’s ‘trout’ like the fish, Dr. Trauth, Miss Smith-Tucker,” Trauth said.

That short and aggressive exchange was emblematic of most of the personnel discussion during the meeting.

Trauth, who was one of Shelton’s supporters, said his removal will have a long-term negative impact on attracting teachers and administrators, almost like a stain on the district.

“It’s going to tank the school district and set us up for another 20 years of trying to dig out from a terrible reputation that is the making entirely of this board,” Manley said.

Patton and Smith-Tucker were eventually voted to stay in their roles for the 2024-2025 school year.

It’s not particularly clear why Shelton voted out.

Patton said during the meeting he had a list of eight reasons why the board is not renewing Shelton’s contract.

However, he didn’t share the list for what he noted were legal privacy reasons, although he was pressed by some board members to tell the public what was on the list.

“You can clap, you can yell, you can scream, you can do all you want to do, but we’re not discussing information about personnel that may end up in litigation,” Patton said.

Board Member Y.F. Lou said there is a complaint against Shelton by an employee of this school district.

“And we also have a report that has come back,” he said. “What we’re going to do is exercise due process to place the individual under administrative leave until we finish with the current, ongoing, investigation.”

Manley read an excerpt of the report, redacting the name of the employee who had a complaint against Shelton:

“The investigation was able to corroborate a non-specific allegation of a single prior incident where as alleged in the complaint, Dr. Shelton raised his voice at (blank). However, while the investigation confirmed that there was an unpleasant interaction between Dr. Shelton and (blank) on June 3 that left (blank) deeply upset, the investigation could not confirm on June 3, 2024 Dr. Shelton yelled at (blank) or moved into (blank)’s space in an intimidating or threatening fashion. Similarly, the investigation did not reveal information sufficient to support a finding that the alleged events of June 3 were part of a broader pattern of conduct by Dr. Shelton.”

It is unclear who Shelton’s replacement will be or how the district will go about selecting a new superintendent.

Shelton’s Statement

This is entirety of Shelton’s statement during the meeting.

“Good evening Christina community.

“I am extremely humbled by the outpouring of support I have received over the last week.  Text messages, emails, phone calls all telling me that you believe our administration is doing a good job and that you support the work we are doing.  I am truly honored that this community appreciates the work that we are doing here in Christina and recognizes that while that work is messy and not easy, it is important and they want us to continue.

“The students, faculty and administration, parents and larger community have always been at the core of any decision made by me or my team. My heart and my history run deep within the Christina School district and is why I have been honored to have the opportunity to lead this outstanding organization.

“For months, I have remained relatively silent allowing for the disappointing display of political theatrics and the inappropriate use of these meetings. 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.  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.  We all sit here tonight wondering what and why actions will be taken and specific items were placed on the agenda this evening.

“I sit before you this evening tremendously proud of the work that we have accomplished and prepared to continue that work for the sake of our families and our kids. I sit before you proud of the talented team that we have built. And I sit before you proud of the progress that our children and young adults have made as they continue to heal from an unprecedented pandemic.

“As I acknowledge that there is much more to do on behalf of our students, our faculty, and our families I believe that the work that we have accomplished and what that work means for our future success should be recognized.  We have never claimed we have solved all of the issues.  In fact I have said from this mic often, for many of the problems we are working to solve so to are many of the communities and schools in our country and we will continue to work on new and innovative strategies and implement strategies others have found to work until we do get the point where we see all of our children and families thriving.  I worry that that is a long road and that there will be frustrations along the way, but we must work together and we must understand that there is no magic or easy way to accomplish what we have all set out to accomplish.

“Over the course of my tenure we have designed a student-centered instructional team and attracted talent.  We worked tirelessly to navigate the erosive effects of Covid on both our community and our kids and still continue to design supports and structures to regain losses and to propel our students into the future.

“This fall our children will have the opportunity to attend a brand-new school in the city of Wilmington. The Maurice Pritchett Sr, Academy is a beginning, I hope, to better opportunities and outcomes for some of our most promising students. We have dedicated time, personnel and resources to ensure a comprehensive implementation of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging in Christina.  We have adopted new and aligned curriculum in Math, Reading and we are working to implement Units and Lessons to improve our Social Studies, Science and integrating into our Electives and Related Arts classes.

“These are just some of the areas that I take tremendous pride in and they are the same areas that I’m committed to improving. This is work that has been done in the public domain and with widespread support and involvement from state and local government, from city leadership, from union leadership, and from our CSD community. Whenever there has been a misstep we immediately work to correct any misconception.

“I own my mistakes and I praise our team for continuing to advance outcomes for our students. There seems to be a never ending line of investigation, none of which have found any findings nor have any recommendations been shared.  IF in fact there are issues, those need to be  communicated so that we can create resolution steps to reasonably ensure the minimization of future mistakes.

“Organizations are made of people and we have some of the absolute best working on behalf of our children and young adults. We are not infallible and, as we teach our children, there are always opportunities to repair relationships, to improve when errors are found, and to continue to look for the best in everyone.

“It is my intention to continue to lead this district with my head and my heart, with my time and dedication, and with the resolute belief that all of our children should have the best of every opportunity for their future.

“Thank you for allowing me to express that.”