Reflecting on recent incidents at Cape
Cape Henlopen School District is at the heart of Delaware’s Cape Region, every year spending millions of taxpayer dollars, employing hundreds, educating thousands of children and providing community facilities and events. For all these reasons we pay close attention.
Last week we reported on two significant events involving the district. One involved a fight at the high school with subsequent threats of violence that buzzed through the social internet network. The other involved school board member Sandi Minard, who took vigilante action to clear a school bus of its students because of concern about the driver’s suitability.
As long as there have been schools there have been fights. Tempers and testosterone get out of hand from time to time and teachers, administrators and other students have to get involved to break them up. Fights often result in suspensions and occasional expulsions.
For Cape - as everywhere else in the land - a safe learning environment is a high priority. Officials took extraordinary measures in this case because of verbal threats of greater violence. The student at the center of the fight was removed from school, incarcerated and likely will not return to Cape. An extra police presence was brought in the next day and, other than the law enforcement presence, things proceeded normally.
Better communication with parents and students would have reduced community anxiety, but in general, the district’s response appears to have been prudent, reasonable and no more disruptive than was necessary for the circumstances.
The jury is still out, however, on the wisdom of a school board member assuming school district authority and bypassing normal channels - apparently including the district transportation supervisor and superintendent - to intervene in a transportation issue.
If students were in imminent danger, police should have been notified. If there was no imminent danger, the transportation issue should have been handled through normal channels.
It’s not the job of school board members to assume administrative duties unless there are extraordinary circumstances. The Cape district has already written checks for thousands of dollars to help settle a case involving disputed authoritative action and muddy policy. If this elected official feels circumstances warranted placing the district in further legal jeopardy by her actions, the community deserves an explanation of her decision.
