Save the Date: Delaware school board elections on May 12 

Why Should Delaware Care?
On May 12, the majority of Delaware’s 19 school districts will hold elections for their boards of education. Local school boards are the governing authority for school districts, and these elected officials can play a large role in the educational outcome for the state’s students.  

Delawareans will have the opportunity to vote next week for members of their local school boards.

Those public officials are responsible for a variety of governance-related tasks at their districts, including hiring or firing superintendents, approving budgets, and determining when to ask voters for more money through a referendum request.

The school board elections will take place on Tuesday, May 12, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Races where more than one candidate is vying for an open seat will occur in seven of Delaware’s 19 districts. 

Those include the Appoquinimink, Christina, Colonial, Delmar, Caesar Rodney, Milford, and Red Clay Consolidated school districts.

Below, Spotlight Delaware is highlighting a handful of the most competitive races to be decided next week. 

Appoquinimink race is heated

Six candidates are running for two open seats on the Appoquinimink School Board, a race framed in part by a financial crisis that hit the district last year. Voters may select up to two candidates on their ballot.

The candidates are Elena Brenner, Sean Brian Connally, Mark Heck, Britney Mumford, current board member Nichelle DeWitt and board President Richard Forsten.

The election comes months after the district revealed it had failed to properly track millions of dollars it believed were in reserve, sparking widespread criticism of school officials, including the incumbent board members, DeWitt and Forsten.

In September, a Change.org petition that garnered nearly 1,000 signatures called for the “immediate resignation” of the district superintendent, as well as of Appoquinimink school board members.

The crisis led to an investigation by Delaware State Auditor Lydia York, who found that the district’s deficit resulted from years of failure by staff and leadership to properly track and record expenditures.

Forsten said in the months since the deficit was announced, the board has studied the problem, put additional safeguards in place, hired two outside financial experts, and answered questions from the community. 

He also said the district has been able to rebuild trust with the community by spending less than other districts. 

“We’re just really careful in what we spend, and we never forget that it is other people’s money,” Forsten said. 

In a statement to Spotlight Delaware, DeWitt said she decided to run for reelection because she remains committed to the district, its staff, and its community members. She also said she wants to ensure that all students have access to high-quality learning opportunities. 

In the months since the deficit was first announced, DeWitt says she has worked to continue “to support efforts that strengthen transparency and improve how information is communicated so families feel informed, not left guessing.”

Brenner, a former educator, said the way to build trust with the community is to “take the confusion out” of board finances. Although the district publishes its budgets, Brenner said those documents are not easy for community members to understand. 

If elected, she said she will create her own website to make the budget and other school information more accessible for people, by using tools such as charts, which may be more understandable than financial jargon. 

Mumford, the executive director of DelawareKidsCAN, a nonprofit education advocacy organization, also emphasized the importance of rebuilding trust with the community. 

She said the board should host town halls to ensure more relationships are built with Appoquinimink families. 

“Folks have the opportunity to come give public comment at school board meetings, but there’s no dialogue,” she said. “By doing some sort of town hall, we get a real-time conversation.”

Heck, a veteran who currently serves as a junior ROTC instructor in the Christina School District, also said the board should incorporate town halls to have better dialogue with community members.

He also questioned whether some existing district programs are effectively serving students, even with Appoquinimink’s reputation as one of the state’s top-performing districts. Heck particularly questioned whether poorly attended programs are really helping “our students to achieve at a higher rate?”

Connally, who has worked as an infrastructure design engineer, said in a First State Educate survey response that some of the most important student outcomes involve improving the district’s English/language arts and math proficiency scores.

“I am committed to ensuring our curriculum is rigorous enough to prepare students for success after high school, whether they pursue college, entrepreneurship, or the trades,” he said.

Delmar, a district in two states

The Delmar School District made news last fall when then-Superintendent Andrew O’Neal   warned of overcrowding, rising salaries and inflation as reasons the district might need to raise taxes.

Now, four months after the board announced it would not move forward with a referendum, three candidates are vying for two open seats on the Delmar Board of Education. 

They are Neil Baker, Shawn Brittingham, and Jordan Johnson. 

Although there will not be a referendum vote within the Delmar School District this year, Brittingham said he fully supports a future request for education dollars from the community. 

He said the district capacity challenges are growing. The Delmar district only has one building, where both its middle and high school students attend classes.

Because of overcrowding, some Delmar students have classes in the school’s media center. Two classes are held at once in the auditorium. Teachers must leave their classroom during planning periods so other classes can use the space.

“You got to give these kids every opportunity to learn, because they’re our future,” Brittingham said. 

Johnson, who has worked in the district as a paraprofessional and a sports coach for nearly two decades, told the Laurel Star he would support a referendum if it “is truly necessary.” 

Also asked if he would support holding a referendum, Baker said “a strategic review is necessary.”

He said the review should account for enrollment growth, and “the relative value of school tax dollars in western Sussex compared to other districts statewide,” among other issues, according to the report from the Laurel Star. 

Christina replacement faces challenge

Last May, the Wilmington-based seat on the Christina Board of Education was filled by Shannon Troncoso after she received 67% of the votes cast. 

After Troncoso resigned in December, board members appointed Celita Cherry, a self-empowerment coach, to fill the vacancy until Tuesday’s election.

Cherry has a daughter in the Bayard School, and is also the president of Mothers Advocating for School Kids, an advocacy organization. In January, Cherry said she applied for the seat because she felt it was time for someone who grew up in Wilmington and attended Christina schools to “serve as a voice directly from the community.” 

Cherry also said the person filling the vacant seat should serve as a bridge between the district and the city to better communicate how district policies are made. 

Four board members voted in favor of Cherry’s appointment in February.

The second candidate for the seat is Charlene “Amina” Sams, a business owner who has also worked with juvenile detention centers by providing mindfulness and yoga programs. 

Like Cherry, Sams said the board must be more accessible to Wilmington families, otherwise they will not feel welcomed by the rest of the Newark-based district.

To do so, she recommended holding more board meetings in Wilmington, getting more city community leaders involved, and bringing more awareness to events happening in the city’s schools. 

Sams also said she wants to bring her experience in trauma-informed care to the district. 

The Christina School District is one of four northern New Castle County districts that could be consolidated into one larger district, along with Brandywine, Red Clay Consolidated, and Colonial.

McKean plan central to Red Clay race

Last month, the Red Clay Consolidated Board of Education voted to postpone the transformation of one of its high schools into an “innovation campus,” following months of pushback from community members concerned about the future of a program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  

If the plan had been successful, the McKean innovation center would have opened in August 2027, reducing the number of traditional high schools in the district from three to two, and increasing enrollment numbers at Alexis I. duPont High School and The John Dickinson School. 

The plan would also have moved the district’s Meadowood program for students with intellectual or developmental disabilities from kindergarten through age 22, from McKean to A.I. duPont.

Some parents, however, have voiced their concerns for months to district leaders about the program’s future, saying they feel Meadowood has been an “afterthought.”

The issue of under-enrolled schools and the possibility of an innovation center have been at the forefront of both candidates’ campaigns. 

Board President Victor Leonard said he was not originally going to run for reelection, but said “the job is unfinished with the attendance zones and the innovation center.” 

Leonard said if he is reelected, there must be more input from community members before the board looks to make large decisions, like creating an innovation center. 

He said part of that could be through townhalls or mailing information directly to individuals, so that homeowners who do not have children in the district are included. 

In the weeks since the April board vote, Leonard also said he no longer supports transforming McKean into an innovation center, as it would displace Meadowood students.

The situation and distrust among community members regarding McKean inspired Jenny Howard, a mother of four and former teacher, to run against Leonard for the seat. 

Howard spoke against the innovation center at multiple meetings. She is also part of the board’s policy review committee and started a Delaware chapter of Public Schools Strong, an organization that advocates for strengthening the country’s public school system.

Although she also did not originally anticipate running for the seat, Howard said she felt the district and board were not listening to community members as they should have been. 

​​”The district and the board were not listening to the families and the community and just doing whatever they wanted,” she said. “I was like, ‘You know, maybe [my election] will change things.’”

Leonard said it’s important that the district address its enrollment concerns before possible consolidation with the Brandywine, Christina, and Colonial school districts because he feels if they are not addressed now, decisions could be made by the state in future years. 

Although the plan to consolidate the four districts still must go to the State Board of Education and the General Assembly, the plan is still weighing heavily on other candidates’ minds. 

Colonial weighs consolidation plan impact

Rasheeda Campbell, one of two candidates vying for the District F seat on the Colonial school board, said the “looming” potential consolidation is one of the most important issues the board will need to discuss in the future.

“If that actually comes to fruition, you have to kind of be prepared, not waiting until the decision, but thinking through what would that mean in advance,” she said. 

Her opponent, Dawn Green, who has served on the district’s Parent Teacher Association, also noted the importance of preparing for possible consolidation and boosting proficiency rates in her First State Educate survey response. 

“By combining data, research, and engagement, board members can make thoughtful, transparent decisions that improve student outcomes, support teachers, and ensure resources are used effectively to strengthen the Colonial School District,” Green said in her survey.