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In the wake of Newark Superintendent Roger León’s controversial contract extension, a lone board member spoke out Tuesday night raising legal, ethical, and procedural concerns with the approval.
Board member David Daughety called the manner by which the board approved León’s contract extension “dangerous” and said it “reeks of impropriety,” potentially causing the board to be perceived in a “corrosive way.”
León’s contract was apparently extended after a board member said last month she would switch her vote from an abstention to a “yes” vote long after the initial vote failed in September and without any formal motion to reconsider or a notification to the public.
Melissa Reed, the board member who switched her vote, said Tuesday night she was under immense pressure, and her mental health has deteriorated in the weeks since the first contract extension vote was taken.
Board policy experts and education advocates have also called the extension approval into question.
“Unanimous consent of the board was never requested, nor was a motion properly made and seconded to allow such vote altering to take place,” Daughety said during Tuesday night’s board meeting. “The precedent that we have just opened ourselves up to, that any board member at any given time can change a vote from the past without a motion or express consent of the board, is dangerous and reeks of impropriety.”
Approving a superintendent’s contract and overseeing their work running the district are among the most important responsibilities a school board carries out. Since regaining local control from the state, Newark community members have called for more transparency around León’s contract extension requests. This latest confusing and last-minute approval perpetuates uncertainty and “fuels the perception of impropriety,” Daughety said.
Daughety said he attempted to request a second impartial legal opinion on the matter via an email to Board President Hasani Council in October and was denied. On Tuesday night, his public motion to request the second opinion was rebuffed by the board president and called “out of order” by the district’s general counsel.
“My renewed request for a second legal opinion is not personal. I’m not out to get anybody or obstruct anyone getting their contract. If the votes are there, then the votes are there. But this was not the legal or right order of getting it. This was not explained correctly on the record,” Daughety said.
Daughety’s concerns were met with some applause from the public in attendance.
District general counsel Brenda Liss said under the board’s own policy, requests for second opinions can only come from the board president.
“We’ve been violating board policy — be serious,” Daughety said in response.
León and Liss both said that any of Daughety’s concerns with the superintendent’s contract should have been brought to them privately as a privileged personnel matter, out of the public eye. The superintendent’s contract is a public document.
“It’s not that I don’t want the public to understand these issues, but to the extent that they are addressed to me, I discuss them with the full board in closed session,” Liss said.
Council told Daughety that León’s contract “has already been ratified and signed,” saying “the matter is closed at this time.”
“The state is watching. The county is watching. Our city is watching, our district is watching, and our students are watching. All eyes are on Newark right now,” Daughety said. “We need to act in the best interest of the people and this institution. We worked too hard for local control to finally achieve it, but see it perceived in such a corrosive way.”
Melissa Reed, the member who changed her vote, said Tuesday night her mental health “has not been the best” since the contract vote. She said her decision to switch her vote was “not made lightly” and “came after weeks of pressure, conversations, and a deep sense of responsibility” for Newark’s children, schools, “and the stability of this district.”
“Intentional or not, I felt myself being positioned as a scapegoat, the one who would carry the blame for a decision far larger than me,” Reed said. “My vote was not about agreement. It was about preventing harm, it was about preventing chaos.”
Reed said her decision to switch her vote does not erase her concerns about equity, accountability, and transparency in the district, and “it surely does not mean the work is done.”
Carly Sitrin is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Philadelphia. Contact Carly at csitrin@chalkbeat.org.
