Atlantic City's Board of Education should remove the district's superintendent in light of criminal charges alleging she assaulted her teenage daughter, Ventnor's city and school board leadership said in a letter sent this week.
“We gave Atlantic City every opportunity to do the right thing,” Ventnor Mayor Lance Landgraf told Downbeach.com, after the letter sent to Atlantic City Board of Education President Shay Steele expressed concern at the panel's failure to act.
Dr. La'Quetta Small and her husband, Mayor Marty Small, are criminally charged with assault and child endangerment after their 16-year-old daughter made allegations of abuse against her parents.
Atlantic City High School Principal Constance Days-Chapman also faces criminal charges for failure to report the allegations after the girl came to her, according to the charges. Days-Chapman is currently on leave, but the district and board have refused to comment on how that came about and whether she is still getting paid.
The May 15 letter authored by Landgraf and Ventnor BOE President Douglas Biagi indicates that they believe Days-Chapman is on paid leave.
"Ventnor, as a sending district to the Atlantic City High School, is extremely concerned by the inaction of you and the other members of the ACBOE concerning the criminal charges against both the high school principal and superintendent," the letter to Steele begins.
Ventnor was the last of the high school's sending districts to have a vote on the board, but that was ended after enrollment fell. It sends less than 10 percent of the student body to the High School.
The letter indicates the district has asked to have a spot on the board even in a non-voting capacity, but was denied.
Landgraf said Friday morning that, although the letter contains his signature, the other members of the Board of Commissioners approved it. Discussions were held through the intervention of the city’s administrator, Tom Ciccarone, Landgraf said.
The letter accuses the board of violating its own policies.
“The ACBOE’s allowance of the Superintendent to continue to administer Atlantic City schools at the highest level is of significant concern to the community of Ventnor who send their children to school there,” the letter states.
The letter quotes the board’s own Code of Ethics, which states representative governments hold the respect and confidence of the people, and that board members must avoid conduct that violates the public trust. To ensure that confidence, the board has standards and disciplinary measures that must apply.
“The administration of the Atlantic City school district directly impacts Ventnor and other sending district students…and public confidence in these administrators is very low at this time,” Landgraf and Biagi wrote. “We believe the superintendent should not be allowed to continue in a leadership role, with influence over our children while these charges are pending…We implore you to do the right thing by the students which you are sworn to serve.”
Biagi and then-Mayor Beth Holtzman were supporters of Small when she was officially named superintendent in October of 2021. Both attended the meeting where the choice became official, with Holtzman saying she was thrilled to hear Small was the search committee's choice.
Then-Ventnor Mayor Beth Holtzman embraces La'Quetta Small moments before the 2021 vote that officially made her superintendent. Mayor Marty Small also pictured.At the time, no one would respond to BreakingAC's questions about the potential violation in choosing that committee.
Steele chose the committee himself, despite being barred from any participation in the choice since both his wife and father worked for the district at the time. His wife is still employed.
The Atlantic City Board of Education held a second special meeting in a week Thursday. That ended the same as the first – with no comment on the pending criminal charges against the superintendent.
Dr. Small has continued to lead the school district despite the pending abuse and child endangerment allegations without a word from the elected board despite four meetings since she and her husband were charged.
At last Thursday’s meeting, the group voted on a doctrine of necessity that will allow the five members conflicted from making decisions about the superintendent to participate in the process, Steele explained.
He and fellow board members Patricia Bailey, Walter Johnson, Kashawn McKinley and Ruth Byard all have family members employed by the district. McKinley himself is employed by the city working directly for the mayor.
Although there was no comment from the dais following the executive session, another step may have been made behind the scenes.
Attorney David Rubin was quietly ushered into the executive session by board solicitor Tracey Riley about 15 minutes after the board voted to enter closed session.
Rubin was approved two weeks ago as special counsel “to advise the Atlantic City Board of Education in matters involving the employment of the superintendent.”
He will be paid $210 per hour not to exceed 10 hours without further board approval.
The Middlesex County-based attorney “has achieved national prominence of the field of education law through his representation of numerous public school districts and private schools throughout New Jersey, his longstanding leadership role in the National School Boards Association’s 3000-member Council of School Attorneys (COSA), and his reputation as a frequent author on school law issues and a sought-after speaker at conferences and seminars throughout the country,” according to his website.
He previously told BreakingAC that he could not comment on the issue.
A regular school board meeting is set for next Tuesday. It’s uncertain if action or comments will be forthcoming.
Mayor Small made an appearance at Thursday’s meeting, wearing a sweatshirt that said "God is in control." The shirt was red, a color worn by the superintendent's supporters, since it is the color of her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta. Some women have even worn clothing with the Deltas symbol.
About 40 minutes into the executive session, interim Principal Donald Harris took the mayor back into another room, presumably to be with his wife who was not in the closed session, according to a source.
The board returned from the executive session and then adjourned.
“We can’t comment,” Riley told BreakingAC.
The Smalls were scheduled for their first court appearance May 15, but their attorneys separately waived that hearing.
They are now scheduled to appear for a pre-indictment conference on June 17 before Superior Court Judge Bernard DeLury.
