In the matter of replacing former board member Mike Piccio’s seat last evening, the Red Clay Consolidated Board of Education came very close to breaking the law.
A motion to appoint a replacement came up. Delaware state law dictates that a school board shall replace a vacant board seat with an appointee until the next regular school board election. Piccio’s former seat expires in 2019 so the new appointed board member would only serve on that seat for nine months. The vote came…
Three board members voted yes and three voted no. A tie vote meant the motion failed. But it really shouldn’t have come up for a vote because of what exists in state code. As well, it is also board police in conformity with state law. State Rep. Kim Williams, who was in attendance at the meeting, immediately recognized the glaring error and immediately notified Superintendent Dr. Merv Daugherty. As she wrote on Facebook at the time:
The Red Clay Board vote was 3 no to 3 yes to fill the vacant school board seat in District E. The motion failed because of a tie vote. The policy states the following: A vacancy for any reason other than the expiration of a term shall be filled by appointment for the remainder the fiscal year. A new member shall be elected at the next regular Board Election to fill the remainder of the previous member’s term. They did not follow the board policy.
Daugherty forced the board to rescind their vote. At this point, the Board is accepting letters of interest from those who reside in the Wilmington nominating district.
The board voted for the President and Vice-President titles. Martin Wilson is the new President and Faith Newton is the Vice-President. The board will vote on the appointee for Piccio’s seat at their October board meeting.
The Season Of Myths 
You have to be kidding me? Did you do any research on this? Let alone attend the meeting or listen to the audio recording.
MERV AND THE DISTRICT RECOMMENDED THAT THE SEAT NOT BE FILLED.
Sabo, Woods and Wilson all staunchly disagreed with this recommendation. Once the vote failed in a tie Ken Woods stood up and made a strong statement condemning the vote and calling it a disgrace.
Merv did not save the day, he tried to do something and than found out he couldn’t do it without breaking the law so he told the board that legally the vote had to be rescinded.
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In my title, I referred to him as Super Merv. Not to elevate him to Superman status but shortening his title.
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