History continues to repeat itself at the Atlantic City Board of Education meetings.
The fifth meeting in four weeks again failed to publicly address the pending criminal charges against Superintendent La'Quetta Small.
Small, 47, and her husband, Mayor Marty Small, face charges of assault and child endangerment for allegedly abusing their teenage daughter on numerous occasions.
In potential litigation, the girl's boyfriend alleged harassment and potential witness-tampering by the Smalls. No additional criminal charges have been filed at this time.
The board has taken several steps involving the issue, including two meetings held within a week specifically to discuss personnel issues. Both of those meetings started with the board in closed session and ended with an immediate adjournment and a hail of no comments from board President Shay Steele and solicitor Tracey Riley.
A special counsel to advise the board on the superintendent's employment was approved. Attorney David Rubin was seen going into the closed session last week, accompanied by Riley.
Margate Mayor Michael Collins told Downbeach.com that he thought it made more sense for Margate's school board to make the decision.
"To do it (send a letter) just for show doesn’t make sense, but we obviously want a resolution there as soon as possible,” he said.
The environment for Margate students attending the high school is good and that they are not affected, Collins said of school officials' views.
"They are going to sit tight for now, are watching it closely and hopes it gets resolved quickly,” he said.
Margate sends just 33 students to Atlantic City High School. Another 68 go to Ocean City High School and 12 go to Mainland under school choice.
Ventnor was the last of the sending districts to have a vote on the Atlantic City school board, but lost their voice when the city's sending numbers dropped.
Outgoing Atlantic City Education Association President Tim Mancuso speaks during the public session. Outgoing Atlantic City Education Association President Tim Mancuso did address the superintendent during public comment Tuesday, lavishing praise on "Doc" Small.
"If I was up on that board I would vote to support Doc because I think she's done a sensational job for the city," he said.
Mancuso, who was on Tuesday night's the agenda to become the in-school suspension teacher for the Uptown School Complex, talked of the "outstanding job" Small has done.
"She's great with the residents,the taxpayers of Atlantic City. She holds a tight budget," said the one-time city councilman.
"Doc's big on the children of the district," Mancuso added. "She's really big with the children. She's also big with the community. She makes sure parents get involved with the children. That's extremely important."
The meeting began with Dr. Small presenting the district's top students with framed certificates recognizing their achievements. That included her own son, Marty Small Jr., who was the top student at Pennsylvania Avenue School.
She and the mayor posed with the teen, who wore a black suit jacket and bow tie.
The board did vote on another doctrine of necessity, which allows conflicted members to participate in matters they normally could not due to ethics limitations.
The previous doctrine was dealt with the superintendent's employment. The five conflicted members — Steels, Ruth Byard, Patricia Bailey, Walt Johnson and Kyshawn McKinley — all have family members employed by the district, and therefore working under Small.
But the doctrine Tuesday night was about the employment of Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction LaKecia Hyman. The doctrine, which originally listed the title only as "assistant superintendent," had to be voted on a second time to include "curriculum and instruction," even though Hyman is currently the only assistant superintendent.
After the meeting, BreakingAC asked the solicitor if that vote was related to the employment of the superintendent.
"No, I can't speak to that," she replied. "But I appreciate the asking of the question."
(Nanette LoBiondo Gallaway contributed to this report.)
