In surprise vote, Newark school board fails to extend superintendent’s tenure

In a stunning blow to the superintendent of the state’s largest school district, the Newark Board of Education fell one vote short of the five needed Thursday night to extend Roger León’s tenure by two years, to 2030.

The 4-0 vote, with two abstentions, two recusals, and one absence, capped a public hearing during a special meeting at Ann Street School, in which 40 people spoke for and against granting León a new 5-year contract to replace an existing deal three years ahead of its scheduled expiration in June 2028.

“I’m very surprised,” said Latoya Jackson, a former school board candidate who had spoken in support of León earlier in the evening.

The advertised hearing and vote contrasted the stealthy renewal of León’s first 5-year contract with the district, signed in 2018. That deal was renewed automatically — without a hearing or vote — in 2023, after the board failed to take action by a deadline that passed unnoticed.

Although legal, the automatic renewal outraged transparency advocates and some board members when word surfaced after the fact.

Had the 9-member board mustered the 5-vote majority needed to approve it, the new contract would have extended León’s tenure through the end of the 2029-30 academic year. That would coincide with the conclusion of a 10-year facilities expansion plan León introduced in 2020, two years after he became Newark’s first locally appointed superintendent following a 24-year state takeover.

Among the accomplishments León listed in remarks at the start of the hearing were the construction or approval of 13 new schools. He also pointed to increased attendance, improving test scores, millions of dollars in college scholarships and the award of Blue Ribbon designations by several schools.

But critics on Thursday complained of still-lagging student achievement, unresponsiveness by school and district staff and León himself, and a lack of transparency.

Beyond local detractors, South Jersey lawmakers have criticized León for what they call lavish spending on district travel, meals and other perks in a district where steadily increasing state aid pays for more than 80% of the $1.57 billion budget, even as districts they represent are seeing aid cuts.

León did not address board members or the public after the vote and left the meeting immediately without taking questions.

The proposed contract was not made public, although district officials said it did not alter the terms of León’s current deal, including his salary of more than $300,000.

Board members did not discuss the contract issue or their votes before or afterward. Board President Hasani Council, the one member authorized by district policy to speak to the press, declined to comment on the vote.

Council and board member Kanaleah Anderson recused themselves due to the same conflict of interest, in that both have family members who work for the district and are indirectly supervised by León, its top manager.

Board Co-Vice Presidents Vereliz Santana and Allison James-Frison, plus members Josephine Garcia and Louis Maisonave, cast the four votes in favor of the contract. Board member Helena Vinhas was absent.

The abstentions were by the board’s two newest members: David Daughety, who was elected to his first term in April; and Melissa Green, who was appointed by other board members in June to fill a seat vacated by the resignation of Dawn Haynes.

Haynes stepped down amid a discrimination lawsuit filed against the district by her daughter. She was one of several students at Newark’s School of Global Studies who had alleged publicly in 2023 that they faced anti-Black discrimination by the school’s predominantly Latino students and staff.

Leòn’s refusal to release a report on the Global Studies situation commissioned by the district was the most common complaint by opponents of a new contract.

“I am really happy to hear other people talking about the CREED report,” said Debra Smith Gregory, president of the Newark NAACP, referring to the name of the company that drafted it. “My recommendation is to table the vote.”

Other opponents questioned the need to replace an existing contract three years before it expires, as opposed to renewing it or not when the time comes.

Several León supporters cited “continuity” as a reason to keep him for an additional two years.

“He brought us through COVID,” said Lucious Jones, who served on a district advisory board in 1999, when León, a Newark native and former teacher, was a school principal. “He built a brand new high school in almost every ward in the city.”

To Jones’ point, on Wednesday León led a tour of Newark’s newest high school, the $300 million School of Architecture & Interior Design, which opened on Sept. 2 just a few blocks from the Ann Street School.

Sandra Dock, a regular board attendee who was present on Thursday night, neither supported nor opposed a new contract, and, like others, she gave León credit in some areas but not others.

What Dock was impressed by Thursday night was the size and passion of the crowd, which numbered well over 200 at one point. Though she wasn’t talking about the vote, Dock said, “I’m glad this meeting went the way it went.”