The Smyrna School District Zero Tolerance Pipeline Part 6: The HUGE Conflict Of Interest & Things Escalate

J was officially expelled from the Smyrna School District on September 21st, 2016.  But his mother was not giving up without a fight.  She told the administration this very thing at the discipline hearing two weeks before this.  So it wasn’t a shock when his mother filed an appeal with the State Board of Education.  Something happened soon after that raised serious questions as to the true intent of J’s expulsion.

Patrik Williams Promoted To Smyrna Superintendent To Replace Outgoing Deborah Wicks

Ian Gronau with the Delaware State News is reporting Assistant Superintendent Patrik Williams is the new Superintendent of the Smyrna School District as of June 1st.  Current Superintendent Dr. Deborah Wicks gave her resignation notice to the board last year.

I’ve only written about Patrik Williams one time, and it was a very funny post!  If there is one consistent thing in Delaware education, it is change.  Replacing Williams as Assistant Superintendent is Summerside Elementary School Principal Debbie Judy according to the article.

In regards to the Delaware Education Hunger Games issue (budget deficit) for Smyrna, Williams said the following in the article about that:

It’s going to be a challenge but I will say that we are one of the few districts that are preserving all of our permanent staff. We’re conservative financially and that has put us in a really good spot. We are well prepared to make adjustments.

Good news for Smyrna teachers!  Smyrna is a growing area in Delaware and Williams expressed excitement about that:

If you go down to Rabbit Chase and look at all those houses for instance — we have about 2,000 new housing permits in the district. It’s exciting to envision what that’ll mean for the district.

Congrats to Patrik Williams!  I’m sure his letters regarding Delaware regulations will be more tame with his new role, but I hope he keeps that same fighting spirit!

Smyrna Superintendent Deborah Wicks Retiring This Year

The Superintendent of the Smyrna School District, Deborah Wicks, is retiring at the end of June.  As one of Delaware’s largest growing school districts, Wicks has Smyrna through a very huge growth spurt.  Nineteen years is a long time as the leader of anything.  I want to wish Mrs. Wicks all the best in her life after Smyrna.  This district is one I really haven’t written much about over the past few years which is probably a good thing!  Now the hunt will be on for her replacement.