Why Should Delaware Care?
The Christina School District is Delaware’s third-largest district, with more than 9,600 students. Long-running controversy between its school board and the former superintendent resulted in a lawsuit and frustration from community members. The Christina School District is voting on Thursday to replace interim Superintendent Robert Andrzejewski.
The embattled Christina School District Board of Education will hold a public meeting Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Glasgow High School to decide its next superintendent.
The meeting will occur about nine months after an acrimonious summer for the board that ended with the firing of its then-Superintendent Dan Shelton.
Thursday’s meeting will formally open, then proceed to a private, executive session, according to the meeting’s agenda. Following that, board members will reconvene in public to hold an open discussion, then a public comment period.
They will then vote for one of three finalists to become the district’s next superintendent.
Those three finalists are Deirdra Joyner, Christina School District’s current deputy superintendent; Harold “Brian” Yearwood, the former Columbia, Missouri public school superintendent, and Kendra V. Johnson, a lawyer and former Baltimore County school principal, who is not related to state Rep. Kendra Johnson.
Johnson has been credited with spearheading a three-year turnaround effort at her Baltimore County schools that resulted in gains in student achievement for reading and mathematics.
Yearwood agreed to retire early from his position as superintendent of Columbia Public Schools less than six months ago. He previously said in a statement that he planned to return to Texas to be closer to family.
And Joyner serves as a member of the Wilmington Learning Collaborative Council and co-chair for the Redding Consortium Operations Committee.
The search for a new superintendent comes amid ongoing tensions in the district that first escalated last summer amid a litany of controversies.
Last fall, Shelton, the district’s former superintendent, filed a long-awaited federal lawsuit against the district and four board of education members, arguing that he had been wrongfully terminated.
Get Involved
To attend the meeting, arrive at the Glasgow High School auditorium at 5:30 p.m. The school’s address is 1901 South College Avenue in Newark. The board will to go into a private executive session then reconvene into public session once discussion is complete. To comment publicly, first complete the online form at www.christinak12.org/PublicComment by 5:00 PM before the meeting, or complete a public comment form available at the school prior to the start of the meeting.
