Some see racial overtones in Upper Darby superintendent flap

The Upper Darby school board's surprise decision last month to place Superintendent Richard F. Dunlap Jr. on paid administrative leave was at least partly rooted in a dispute over a redistricting proposal for the system's crowded schools - a controversy that some officials say is tinged with racial resentments in one of the region's most diverse suburbs.

Dunlap had been promoting a plan that would have given him the discretion to move students to schools outside their neighborhoods to correct imbalances in class sizes throughout the district. Rather than hard and fast, the lines separating attendance areas would become "fluid."

The proposal drew fire from some elected leaders of the Delaware County community, including Mayor Thomas N. Micozzie, and plaudits from others.

State Rep. Margo Davidson (D., Delaware) said the 12,000-student Upper Darby School District "is and has been . . . segregated for decades," and the plan would have helped change that. But "the keepers of the status quo are kicking and screaming," she said, "and refusing to go into the future."

Occupying an urban pocket on Philadelphia's western border, the district is 47 percent African American, 32 percent white, 14 percent Asian and Pacific Islander, and 6 percent Hispanic or other groups, according to state data.

Many activist parents and key figures in the community were reluctant to speak on the record about the plan. Some said the major problems in the proposal - developed by an educational management company named DMC - were not related to racial diversity, but instead involved impossible scheduling demands on teachers and the loss of 14 faculty posts to attrition.

Micozzie said his worry was the plan's impact on real estate values - that it could frighten away house buyers who wanted their children going to the closest school, not one of the superintendent's choosing farther from home.

"The community didn't want it," Micozzie said, adding that racial bias had nothing to do with his opposition. Although Dunlap's removal was the board's decision, he said of the superintendent, "I thought he did a poor job."

Dunlap did not respond to phone calls and emails asking for comment.

The sudden move on July 21 to place the 56-year-old superintendent on paid leave - unannounced by the board and never opened to public debate - came less than a year after he was given a five-year contract extension and a raise to $194,866 annually to helm Pennsylvania's eighth-largest school district. His hard-nosed leadership style, honed during a stint in the Marine Corps, not only alienated some administrators and teachers, but may have cost him support on the school board, according to people familiar with the situation.

Dunlap's critics pointed as well to a related idea that he had put forward - to build a new school in the mostly nonwhite Bywood neighborhood rather than a site closer to predominantly white Drexel Hill.

Proponents of Dunlap's redistricting plan noted that some of the elementary schools in the more affluent Drexel Hill area have class sizes as small as 14 to 16 students, while some schools elsewhere in the township have almost twice as many in a classroom.

Kathleen Johnson, a parent whose children attended Bywood School, said she strongly supported redistricting and was upset by the board's action against Dunlap, who "was trying to even it out and make things fair and square."

"I think the Drexel Hill families do not want the kids from the other sides of the tracks to come over there," Johnson said. "Because of its different nationalities, they feel they're going to bring their schools' ratings down."

Davidson and others also said Dunlap aggressively hired minority teachers and principals, and instituted diversity training for the overwhelmingly white staff, angering some employees.

When he first showed her his redistricting plan, Davidson recalled, "I said, 'They will never let you do this.' And he said, 'I made it clear this was the plan.' "

Last spring, the board vetoed the DMC proposal. Among those speaking against it were Micozzie and State Rep. Jamie Santora (R., Delaware). People with knowledge of events said the board came under political pressure to reject the plan and possibly get rid of Dunlap.

"The mayor said to me, 'Dr. Dunlap needs to slow down because people don't want this plan,' " said Davidson.

She added, "They don't want kids from the other side of Lansdowne Avenue going to Drexel Hill schools, which are more affluent."

The district did something similar four years ago, but not willingly.

To meet the federal No Child Left Behind mandate, administrators transferred students from four failing schools to Aronimink Elementary in Drexel Hill. The district had tried to get a waiver.

The 2012 transfer, Santora recalled, worked out fine. "That's not the type of community we are. We are a very diverse community," he said of those who suggest a racial motivation for the board's action on Dunlap. But a parent who is active in the schools called the Aronimink move "a disaster."

The weeks in July leading up to Dunlap's banishment were filled with secret school board executive sessions, according to two people with knowledge of the meetings. The board first met with Dunlap to discuss concerns with the school plan and his personal relationship with administrators.

Then the board met again and decided it was time to "divorce" Dunlap, according to a source. Of the seven board members at the meeting, five agreed, the source said.

All that was left, according to several people, was for School Board President Judy Gentile to make the call to Dunlap putting him on leave, which many hoped will lead Dunlap to resign.

kboccella@phillynews.com

610-313-8232 @Kathy_Boccella