Why Should Delaware Care?
On Tuesday, seven of Delaware’s 19 school districts held 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.
Incumbent school board members generally had a rough day Tuesday when Delaware voters opted for several candidates who were fresh faces to their districts and who tended to push for greater transparency.
More than 12,100 people voted in the elections for school board members in districts in all three counties. While small compared to general elections, the turnout more than doubled the totals in 2024 when a similar number of districts held competitive elections.
Those results were particularly powered by the vote in the Middletown-Odessa-Townsend area, where the Appoquinimink School District saw more than 4,000 voters turn out. Two years ago, fewer than 900 voters cast ballots.
Boards of education are responsible for a variety of governance-related tasks at their school districts, including hiring or firing superintendents, approving budgets, and determining when to ask voters for more money through a referendum request.
Contested races were held Tuesday in seven of Delaware’s 16 public school districts, including Appoquinimink, Christina, Colonial, Delmar, Caesar Rodney, Milford, and Red Clay Consolidated.
Below we’ll focus on the results for races in the Appoquinimink, Christina, Delmar, and Red Clay Consolidated school districts.
Appoquinimink opts for change
The Appoquinimink School District will swear in two new members to its board of education after Britney Mumford and Elena Brenner handily beat the incumbents by receiving 29% and 27% of votes, respectively.
Mumford and Brenner’s election comes nearly a year 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 current board President Richard Forsten and member Nichelle DeWitt.
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.
Voters told Spotlight Delaware that trust was still an issue between the community and board members.
Chris, a parent of an Appoquinimink elementary and middle school student who only gave his first name, said he was concerned about a lack of transparency and accountability in the district following the controversy over finances.
“There needs to be a change,” he said.
Adrian, a teacher in the Appoquinimink School District who only gave her first name, said she voted for Brenner and another challenger, Mark Heck, who failed to garner enough votes to be among the top two.
Adrian liked that Brenner and Heck have had experience inside of a classroom.
“So they both know what is needed inside the schools. Hopefully they both are able to clean house a little bit … and really figure out what happened to that money,” she said.
Another Appoquinimink teacher, Katelynn Scott, said she always votes in school board elections, but was particularly concerned this year.
“I think, in this political climate, it’s really important to make sure we have people who are supportive of kids, teachers and the actual community here, and not politics going on nationally,” she said.
Referendum talk powers Delmar change
Neil Baker and Jordan Johnson were elected as the two newest Delmar Board of Education members, after beating Shawn Brittingham, who has previously served on both the Delmar and State Board of Education.
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.
Four months after the board announced it would not move forward with a referendum, Brittingham told Spotlight Delaware he would fully support a future referendum request because the district capacity challenges are growing. The Delmar district only has one building, where both its middle and high school students attend classes.
On Tuesday, Johnson said he would decide whether to support a referendum after reviewing additional information.
“If I feel that it is right and that we need it, I will vote for it,” he told Spotlight Delaware on Tuesday, “and if I do not feel that it is right and that we do not need it, I will not vote for it.”
The other candidate, Baker, previously told the Laurel Star that “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.
Delmar Board of Education President Ray Vincent told Spotlight Delaware he was voting because it’s important for the community to “support the candidates of our choice so that we can continue to drive this district forward.”
Asked whether the possibility of a referendum influenced his decision, Vincent said the district will be moving forward with a referendum “once we figure out what the state’s new funding form is going to look like.”
But not all community members had a potential referendum on their minds when selecting their candidates.
Stacy Culver, a Delmar Elementary teacher, said she did not think about referendums when making her decision. Instead, she said she was voting “for somebody to stand up for our kids.”
Red Clay votes out president
The Red Clay Consolidated School District is one of four northern New Castle County districts that could be consolidated into one larger district, along with Brandywine, Christina, and Colonial.
Both board of education candidates aimed to address the district’s ongoing enrollment concerns before a possible consolidation.
But voters chose newcomer Jenny Howard over current Board President Victor Leonard, as she received 60% of the votes.
Howard, a mother of four and a former educator, told Spotlight Delaware that the distrust among community members regarding the board’s decision making is what inspired her to run against Leonard.
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. du Pont 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, serving students in kindergarten through age 22, from McKean to A.I. du Pont.
Some parents have voiced concerns for months to district leaders about the program’s future, saying they feel Meadowood has been an “afterthought.”
Howard also spoke against the innovation center at multiple meetings.
”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.’”
Jane Marcozzi is a graduate of McKean High School and said her grandaughter currently attends the school. She ultimately voted for Howard because she felt the board’s original decision to close McKean was rushed, and does not want to see the school closed.
“I feel like it came up all of a sudden, and everybody kind of was like, ‘Oh, OK,’” she said.
Marcozzi, who said this was her first time voting in a board of education election, added that she admired Howard’s public comments toward the board regarding McKean during public meetings.
Cherry to remain on Christina board
Tuesday’s election marked the second year in a row that the Christina School District community selected a representative for the board’s lone Wilmington-based seat.
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 is one of the few incumbents across the state to retain her seat after obtaining 66% of the votes.
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.
Only 540 votes were cast throughout the Christina School District.
At the polls, one resident, Dawn Patton, said she voted for Cherry’s challenger, Charlene “Amina” Sams, because she felt Sams would be the best candidate to “implement change for the better.”
Patton does not have children in the district, but her granddaughter is graduating from Glasgow High School this year.
As a taxpayer, she noted the importance of education and voting for someone who could guide young people and “lead them in the right path.”
Other competitive races
- Caesar Rodney: Incumbents Dave Failing and Michael Marasco will maintain their seats on the Caesar Rodney Board of Education. The two received 29% and 28% of the votes, respectively.
- Colonial: Dawn Green won Colonial’s District F seat on the board after beating Rasheeda Campbell by 142 votes. Carlos Dipres will maintain his seat on the board’s Nominating District G after receiving 66% of the votes cast.
- Milford: Cynthia McKenzie received an overwhelming number of votes at 91% to win Milford’s Nominating District C seat.
Tim Carlin and Jacob Owens contributed to this report.
