In the oddest move I’ve ever seen in Delaware education, Katie Hegedus was sworn in as a board member of the Christina School District Board of Education last night at their monthly board meeting and resigned minutes later.
Hegedus beat incumbent John Young two months ago in the school board election. Her platform was basically that she would resign once she is sworn in. This would force the current board to hand-pick a replacement. They announced at their board meeting last night they would begin this task.
This ridiculous stunt was concocted by the Friends of Christina, a small but connected group of parents in the district who basically hated the fact John Young would call out the district on, well, anything. Whether it was right or wrong. Their mantra of go along to get along brought forth this latest oddity in Delaware school board race history. One for the record books, that’s for sure! This election meant so much to their de facto leader that she is currently trying to sell her house and move out of state.
While Young is no longer on the Christina Board of Education, he has come back and relaunched his blog as Transparent Christina 2.0. I fully expect Young, who is now no longer beholden to certain bylaws of being a board member, to come out swinging on his blog! While this very sad attempt at silencing Young may appear to be a win in some circles, I fear all they have done is awoken an already alert dragon. With a tagline of “Because sometimes Exceptional needs some help“, Young has written several articles of late. Speaking for Exceptional, I welcome any help in the Delaware education blogosphere! Unless it is some urgent sounding blog…wink wink!
The board re-elected former President Meredith Griffith to another one-year term as President while Keeley Powell was elected to Vice-President of the board.
The Season Of Myths 
The board of CSD AND its administration could have -and should have- been called out on so very many things while I was employed there. I doubt it’s any different now. By the time I got to Christina, I had accepted that students were rarely first, teachers rarely respected, and parents largely ignored. This is just another SMH moment.
This opinion was confirmed at a meeting I attended several years ago- superintendent present- when the community was asked to contribute their ideas to what would replace the code of conduct. It was a complete sham.
Parents suggesting who should be on the committee, how it might be written, what should be included. Not one of them knew that the deed was done and the ink dry. What an insulting way to treat our community! And CSD still wonders why they have been abandoned by it.
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the new joke and comedy show has now begun – friends of chrsitina are racist to say the least
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“Voters weren’t deterred by the unusual circumstances, electing Hegedus by a landslide. The election saw the highest turnout for a Christina board election in the last 10 years, with Hegedus earning the most votes of any single candidate in that time frame.”
This is clearly something an OVERWHLEMING majority of constituents wanted.
https://www.newarkpostonline.com/news/new-christina-school-board-member-is-sworn-in-then-immediately/article_f0dbe94f-b3d2-5407-957d-1dccad801c21.html
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Yes, people were easily swayed. Happens all the time in elections. Doesn’t make Hegedus’ actions right at all. I would feel the same way if Young pulled the same stunt.
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To give voters a choice is a core democratic principle and I’m glad we didn’t just see another candidate running unopposed like so many school board elections.
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Yes, but in this case there wasn’t really a choice. Hegedus, even though her reasons were very sound, chose not to serve if elected. I hope legislation is introduced in January that would make sure this never happens again in Delaware.
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Correction, an overwhelming number of those who voted. Vote totaled about 1.3% of eligible voters, so this wasn’t a mandate, just a successful ambush. Time will bear out its efficacy. I’ll be there, with others, to tell that story…
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That is an important thing to know in all this John. Thank you for these statistics.
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This plot to usurp the rights of voters to have their ballot count in a meaningful way shows the arrogance and ignorance of the supporters of it. It is incomprehensible, in my opinion, that some elected officials would actively promote and support such an abuse of the ballot process and the perpetrators and candidate (sic) should be ashamed of themselves.
Representative John Kowalko
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There was a good deal of social media/email work to get out the vote for this –more than I typically see for a regular election. If I recall, part of the pitch was *specifically* around the Board being able to make a special appointment. A pitch to use the democratic process to enable an undemocratic use of the system.
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