Why Should Delaware Care?
Community members have increasingly grown concerned about a lack of transparency after Jeff Lawson, the stepson of Brandywine Superintendent Lisa Lawson, was named as the new principal of Concord High School without the position being publicly posted. While the district says the position was based on an internal transfer and did not require external posting, the decision raises concerns around nepotism.
Earlier this month, Brandywine School District Superintendent Lisa Lawson named her stepson as the new principal of Concord High School in the north Wilmington suburbs.
What followed was a wave of outrage from students and parents who claimed the promotion was a case of nepotism that caused qualified candidates to be “shut out” from the sought-after job.
Lawson has since countered that her hiring of her stepson, Jeff Lawson, was part of an internal transfer process that happens annually within the Brandywine School District.
The backlash largely began on May 8 when Concord High School student Makayla Michelson created a Change.org petition to “demand a fair hiring process.” In the petition – which has garnered more than 1,100 signatures – she said the open principal job should have been publicly posted so that several candidates could have applied.
Four days after the petition appeared, a regular meeting of the Brandywine School Board was flooded with outraged residents.
Among those were Michelson and another Concord High School student who each publicly criticized what they said was a lack of transparency around the promotion of Lawson.
“We deserve to see a system where hard work is recognized, transparency is upheld, and advancement is earned, not inherited,” Michelson said.
Another student, Mollie Andrews, said she was among several students and faculty members who were “dumbfounded” by the news that Jeff Lawson would be their next principal.
Prior to being tapped to lead Concord High School, Jeff Lawson has served as principal at nearby Talley Middle School. At Concord, he will replace Kevin Palladinetti, who is moving to the district’s administration office to become the acting director of secondary schools.
‘Not Lisa Lawson making decisions in a silo’
In an interview with Spotlight Delaware on Friday, Lisa Lawson said the backlash to the hiring of her stepson has involved a “social media barrage” that includes “people not understanding all of the things that go into this process.”
She said she named Jeff Lawson as principal at Concord as part of an internal transfer process that happens regularly within the Brandywine School District.
“Internal principal shifts have happened in this district every single year for as long as I can remember,” she said.
After taking the superintendent position last year, Lisa Lawson said she directed district administrators to complete surveys asking questions, such as whether they want to change the grade levels they lead, or the schools in which they work.
She said an executive team then met to look at the surveys – as well as evaluations, discipline rates and other data points – to determine internal job shifts for the next year. She further said the executive team members then expressed their professional opinions, and that she ultimately agreed with their final decisions about who to shift internally, and which jobs to post publicly.
The executive team included the Assistant Superintendent and former principal of Talley Middle School Kenny Rivera, the Director of Curriculum and Instruction Michelle Kutch, the Director of Culture and Climate and former principal of Concord Yolanda McKinney, and the district’s Communications Officer Bill O’Hanlon.
Lisa Lawson said there also were subsequent meetings with members of the district’s Executive Cabinet.
“It is an extensive process,” she said. “It is conducted by the leadership team. It is not Lisa Lawson making decisions in a silo.”
In a statement to Spotlight Delaware, Brandywine School District spokesman Bill O’Hanlon also said the district is not required to post an open job publicly if it is being filled through an internal job transfer.
“While internal appointments do not require a public external posting, we do and did thoroughly consider qualified internal candidates to ensure the best fit for the school community,” he said.
Board member, community express frustration
Despite Jeff Lawson’s experience as a principal at Talley Middle School, community members expressed concerns that the transfer could cause other qualified candidates to be overlooked.
High school principal jobs are typically sought after, often as stepping stones to district roles. The Brandywine School District has only three high schools: Concord, Brandywine and Mount Pleasant high schools.
During the May 12 meeting, Board Vice President Shawn Jegede said the school board must approve any additional positions added or titles changed by the superintendent. Jegede claimed that did not happen in the case of Jeff Lawson, saying the school board never saw a job description nor did they know the budget of the position.
Following Jegede’s comments, the school board members voted to go into a private executive session meeting.
The board returned to open session roughly 30 minutes later and moved onto a new topic, with no other mentions of Jeff Lawson’s position at Concord High School.
In July, Jegede’s school board seat will be filled by Frank Livoy after she decided not to run for re-election. She has said she is “exhausted” and feels as though she was watching “inequitable practices” at the district.
Reporting to the Public Integrity Commission
Lisa Lawson said she twice asked the Delaware Public Integrity Commission – a government body in charge of administering the state’s code of ethics – for a ruling on whether her relationship to Jeff Lawson would be a conflict of interest when considering a prior pay raise.
She submitted the first report shortly before the district’s winter break, and said she received a ruling on Feb. 5.
Ultimately, she said she received two rulings. One stated that Jeff Lawson is not considered a close relative because she did not adopt him, she said.
The second ruling stated that, as superintendent, it is her job to “recommend raises for administrator salaries,” she said.
Lisa Lawson also said the ruling stated that she could not advocate for Jeff Lawson because he is her stepson.
The ruling “is precisely why there was a meeting in my office with five other executive team members, with myself, looking at data, at information, at circumstances, and taking the recommendations of those around me,” she said.
When asked to confirm those rulings, Public Integrity Commission Chairman Ron Chaney said in a statement that “Commission opinions are, by statute, confidential. However, the recipient of an opinion can always request for the opinion to be released.”
When asked what guidance the Public Integrity Commission gave to Lisa Lawson on the promotion of Jeff Lawson to Concord High School principal, Chaney said “the Public Integrity Commission has not yet discussed this matter.”
Brandywine Board of Education President Ralph Ackerman confirmed to Spotlight Delaware that Jeff Lawson’s transfer to Concord will be presented to the Public Integrity Commission on May 20.
Get Involved
The Public Integrity Commission meetings are open for public comment and available remotely, however, deliberations and opinions of the commission are held privately. The next one is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 20.
