Dan Shelton’s contract was not renewed by the board with a vote of 4-3 over the summer. Shelton pictured on the left, Thomas Neuberger on the right.
Ousted Christina School District Superintendent Dan Shelton is suing the district, Board President Don Patton, and the three other board members who voted in July to remove him from his position.
Shelton, represented by Thomas S. Neuberger of The Neuberger Firm, is suing for $2,768,994 for “destroying his good name, and violating his Due Process and contract rights.”
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Alethea Smith-Tucker, Y.F. Lou, and Naveed Baqir were the three others who voted to not renew Shelton’s contract over the summer. In contrast, board members Douglas Manley, Monica Moriak, and Amy Trauth voted for Shelton to stay in the July meeting, which lasted seven hours until 3 a.m.
Shelton was awarded Delaware’s Superintendent of the Year just two years ago.
The Neuberger Firm issued a letter to the board on August 15 demanding they stop their reckless actions in maliciously defaming Shelton – that letter was ignored, Shelton’s lawyer says.
RELATED: Lawyer for Christina’s Shelton says board violating rights
“[Shelton’s] reputation has been destroyed in the local, regional, and national educational communities and in the public at large,” the lawsuit stated. “He is unemployable. He cannot even obtain initial interviews as an administrator anywhere in Delaware, Pennsylvania or Maryland.”
Shelton and his representation cited several incidents over the past year as evidence for destroying the educator’s name:
- March 12: suspended and reprimanded him and unilaterally canceled his next year’s contract
- May 24: passed a “no confidence” vote about his professionalism
- July 9: permanently suspended, reprimanded Shelton and placed him on leave
- August 13: hired a replacement superintendent
The board voted for an interim superintendent, Bob Andrzejewski, who served the same role in Christina from October 2015 to December 2016.
Shelton and Neuberger allege that Shelton was terminated without any notice or meaningful opportunity to be heard; without being given a pre or post-termination hearing; and without disinterested decision-makers deciding his fate in the 4-3 termination vote, with the board’s lawyer repeatedly concluding it was “impossible” for certain board members to be impartial given their public record of animus against him amounting to a “witch hunt.”
For the 2025-2026 year, Shelton’s base wage loss is $219,898, without factoring in 15% for lost benefits.
For the next decade, up to his expected retirement at age 62, his wage and benefit loss totals $2,768,994, which he’s seeking.
“With an upcoming school district tax referendum in 2025, the voters need to know their board is driving the District into bankruptcy,” Neuberger said. “$2.7 million is just the start; then a jury will add seven more figures to its verdict for his mental and physical pain and physical injury before it next multiplies all that for punitive damages against the four board-member defendants who have recklessly ignored their own lawyer’s repeated warnings.”
The lawsuit stated the gist of defendants’ numerous false, misleading, and defamatory written and oral statements is that Shelton is a racist, a liar, an immoral, inept, and incompetent educational administrator who engaged in workplace wrongdoing so severe that it justified two mid-contract firings and the waiver of attorney-client privilege between the board and its attorney.
Patton declined to comment on the lawsuit Monday, and immediate attempts to reach the district, the superintendent, and the other six board members were unsuccessful.
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