A few dozen Delaware Academy parents and students gathered at the American Legion in Delhi on Monday, March 15 to ask the state to remove Richard Hughes from his post as the Delaware Academy Central School High School principal.
The turnout, of about 35 people, was far smaller than the organizers, Sandy and Mike Dacey and their lawyer, Andrew Van Buren of Hobart, had expected. Their Facebook group demanding Hughes’s resignation has over 300 fans.
“It’s a little disheartening that more people didn’t turn out for this,” Van Buren told the group. “It is an atmosphere of fear.”
Controversy has surrounded Hughes since he allegedly asked the New York State Police to shut down a party held by DA seniors on school grounds last June. Hughes, who was the principal of the middle school at the time, became the high school’s principal soon afterwards.