Atlantic City Superintendent of Schools La'Quetta Small
By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
MARGATE – After Ventnor’s mayor and Board of Education president sent a letter to the Atlantic City Board of Education demanding the removal of La’Quetta Small as superintendent, Margate Mayor Michael Collins said the city would let the issue “play out.”
Collins said Tuesday that he discussed the letter with Ventnor City Mayor Lance Landgraf before it was sent to Atlantic City Board of Education President Shay Steele, but said he thought it made sense for Margate to have the Margate City Board of Education make its own decision.
The Atlantic City BOE Tuesday, held its fifth meeting since Superintendent La’Quetta Small and her husband Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. were criminally charged with child endangerment for allegedly abusing their daughter, but the board failed to publicly speak on the issue.
Atlantic City High School Principal Constance Days-Chapman was also charged with official misconduct, hindering apprehension of another, obstruction of justice and failure to report child abuse. Instead of informing authorities of the potential abuse, Days-Chapman met with the Smalls at their home to informed them that their daughter disclosed the alleged abuse to school staff, the Atlantic County Prosecutor stated.
Days-Chapman is on administrative leave and Donald Harris is serving as interim principal, while La’Quetta Small remains on the job.
Collins said he discussed the issue with local school officials and asked them to reach out to Landgraf if they wanted more information.
According to Collins, Margate’s board members are not happy about the situation and would like the Atlantic City BOE to resolve it quickly, but the board agreed to “let things play out.”
Collins said from what he has heard from parents and school officials, the environment for Margate students attending Atlantic City High School is “good and that they (students) are not affected.”
Sending a letter would not really have an impact on what AC does, he said.
"To do it just for show doesn’t make sense, but we obviously want a resolution there as soon as possible,” he said.
Margate Commissioner Cathy Horn works in the Guidance Department at ACHS.
"They are going to sit tight for now, are watching it closely, and hope it gets resolved quickly,” Collins said.
Margate has 33 students attending ACHS, 68 go to OCHS on the school choice program, and 12 go to Mainland by choice. Longport has 27 high school age students, but most go to Ocean City High School. Only one student goes to ACHS. None of the communities sending students to the high school, including Brigantine, have enough students attending to have voting rights on the board.
The Atlantic City board held two executive session meetings within a week to discuss personnel issues but the meetings ended with immediate adjournments and no comments from Steele or board Solicitor Tracey Riley. The board has appointed a special counsel to advise the board about the superintendent’s employment.
During public session at Tuesday’s meeting, outgoing Atlantic City Education praised "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. "She's great with the residents, the taxpayers of Atlantic City. She holds a tight budget.”
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https://www.downbeach.com/2024/05/17/ventnor-mayor-boe-president-ask-ac-school-board-president-to-remove-superintendent-amid-abuse-charges/
