2024-04-19

April 19, 2024

Over the past six months or so, I have been concerned by the behavior of Donald Patton as president of Christina School Board.   I have had many, many people reach out to me, asking what I could do about it.  During the April 16, 2024, school board meeting, I attempted to remove him as president and censure him for his behavior.  My motions were defeated by Y.F. Lou's "abstain" vote (otherwise they were both tied 3 "for" and 3 "against").

I'll briefly summarize Patton's behavior since I can't quite go into detail until more of the evidence has been made public, but I can safely say that Patton has a long history (while as an employee of Christina School District) of abusive behavior and retaliatory actions.  That behavior has persisted through his tenure as president of the board, abusing his power to retaliate against people.  In addition, he has convinced 3 other people (thus constituting a majority) on the board that the president of the board has an executive role.  I will stress this point: the president of the school board is an administrative function; he runs the meetings, swears in new members, and signs any documents as required.  The board president is not tasked with the execution of any district functions; that is the job of the superintendent.  The seven elected board members are all equals, and one of them has to run the meeting; that's it.  However, Patton cosplays as super-superintendent, directing schoools and district employees to do as he desires, bypassing the other members of the board (and the entire public), so there is no oversight of his actions.  For whatever reason, three other board members believe this to be acceptable, but I do not.  Patton is single-handedly creating a culture of fear in this district, fostering a hostile work environment, and effectively dismantling the district administration.

Earlier this month, I completed my 71-page report on Patton's past and present behaviors, tying everything together and establishing a pattern of abusive behavior.  I presented this document to the board in executive session and pleaded with them to read it and support me.  You might not be surprised to learn that only a couple of people actually tried to read through it, and Patton threatened to sue me around 8 times for a document that he could barely spare a glance at.  Cool dude.

Anyway, I know what I know, and I had a duty to present that information to the rest of the board.  They now know what they know, and if they choose to continue to support Patton's behavior, then that's on them.

Agenda Item 11.07: Disciplinary Action

This agenda item was reserved for any disciplinary action taken as a result of my report.

Motion 1: Yes (defeated)

The first motion was to vacate the office of president, allowing for a motion to elect a new president later.  This motion was defeated 3-3-1:

• Yes: Manley, Moriak, O'Neal

• No: Baqir, Patton, Smith-Tucker

• Abstain: Lou

The wording was as follows:

I move that we vacate the office of president, for the reasons presented in executive session related to the behavior of the current president, Donald Patton.

The decision to do the right thing is always easy.  However, that does not mean that doing so is devoid of effort.  I have unfortunately had to spend an inordinate amount of my time on this dysfunctional board gathering data, conducting interviews, hunting down documents, and building a clear case about what we have all seen and experienced since Donald Patton was elected president of this board.

I believe that the information that I have collected and the report that I have provided to the board in executive session are enough to demonstrate to all board members that Donald Patton should not, and must not, lead this board, let alone represent it publicly.

By vacating the office of president, this board will send a message to the district as a whole that Patton’s behavior is unacceptable and that this board will take corrective actions when necessary.

Motion 2: Yes (defeated)

This motion was to censure Donald Patton for his behavior while serving as president.  This motion was also defeated 3-3-1 along the same lines:

• Yes: Manley, Moriak, O'Neal

• No: Baqir, Patton, Smith-Tucker

• Abstain: Lou

The wording was as follows:

I move that we censure Donald Patton for his recent behavior regarding the superintendent, overstepping his bounds in his role as president, as well as his abuse of power for vindictive purposes.

Agenda Item 11.10: High School Start Times

We've known for years that teenagers have different sleep requirements than younger children, and all of the science seems to indicate that they should be sleeping in longer and staying up later.  I requested that the district investigate the possibility of starting middle school and high school later to determine what the level of effort would be to do so and what that might look like.

Agenda Item 11.11: 12-Month School Year

It's 2024, and we're still dealing with major "learning loss" problems from the COVID pandemic.  In addition, we willingly subject our children to a 3-month block of time without any formal schooling, almost guaranteeing smaller "learning loss" between school years.  Last month, the board discussed becoming a "destination district", and I believe that offering year-round schooling (with optional activities through 7pm) would help with that.  A major, often overlooked, aspect of this would be that it would provide a consistent schedule for parents and guardians, whose work schedules typically do not revolve around school hours, closures, and summer vacations.

Agenda Item 11.12: Analysis of Human Resources and Hiring Processes

We've had some oopses in HR over the past few months, and I'm not sure if those are a normal amount of oopses, but they seem entirely avoidable to me.  I requested that the district investigate its HR and hiring processes and come back with a report, along with recommendations for improvement, to the board.