The president of the board of a Delaware charter school that is under scrutiny by state education regulators has resigned, saying he failed to address adequately problems about board diversity.
Josiah Wolcott, board president at Odyssey Charter School, announced his resignation at an emergency board meeting on Sunday, The News Journal of Wilmington reported.
The school has been facing criticism for weeks, especailly after recent recorded exchanges among board members regarding a neighboring dual-language charter school with a mostly Hispanic student population.
A board member heard in the recordings already had resigned.
“The events of the past three weeks have been painful for this entire (school) community,” Wolcott said. “As president of the board, I take responsibility that insensitive and hurtful remarks were used in recent board meetings. There is no excuse, ever, for allowing such words to be used. I failed in my vigilance to address issues of diversity at the board level.”
Delware Secretary of Education Susan Bunting formally placed Odyssey school under review earlier this month, triggering an investigative process to determine whether the school violated its charter and the probationary conditions of its charter renewal.
That decision became public just after published reports about the recorded discussions that mentioned Academia Antonia Alonso, which sits on property next to Odyssey.
During the recorded discussion about potential parking restrictions, an Odyssey board member noted that he had told school administrators “somewhat in jest” to erect a fence, The News Journal reported.
“And they’re going to pay for it,” someone else added before muttering, “I’m just joking.”
Laughter ensued as another person said, “build the wall,” according to the newspaper. Before Sunday, Wolcott already had released an apology.
State officials placed Odyssey, a Greek-themed school, on probation last summer until June 30 of this year and directed that it recover more than $93,000 in misappropriated funds. The officials also expressed concerns about the role of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association at Odyssey. Its charter had required five of the board’s nine members be appointed by the association.
Board positions vacated by Wolcott and Michael Klezaras won’t be filed by the organization. The board is also working toward improving diversity and inclusion, the newspaper said.
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