Three weeks, four principals gone, and very few real answers.
That was the scorecard for southern Maine secondary education during a month that showed just how little communities know about the way their schools are run.
It started Feb. 1, when the resignation of Scarborough High School Principal Dean Auriemma was made public in a message on the school department website announcing the formation of a new “school leadership team.” The message, signed by Superintendent George Entwistle, was posted alongside other school news items, and went live in the dead zone of Friday afternoon. It was not forwarded to any news outlets.
That, however, was more exposure than given to the resignation of James Holland, the principal at South Portland High School. His name appeared with three other staff members under item No. 2 on the superintendent’s report on an agenda for an upcoming school board meeting, after “Recognitions” but before “Report on the Feb. 1, 2013 Enrollment.”
Then came the resignation of Biddeford High School Principal Britt Wolfe for what he called “family and personal reasons,” followed by the ouster of Bonny Eagle Principal Beth Schultz, whose contract was not renewed by the school board at the request of Superintendent Frank Sherburne.
At least in the case of Schultz, who waived her right to a private hearing and pleaded her case in front of a public school board meeting, there was some indication as to why her head was on the block. Sherburne, hired in fall 2011, said she was not a strong leader who too often looked to him for answers.
“It is time for new leadership,” Sherburne said.
Schultz, principal since 2008, drew about 50 supporters to the hearing, who spoke about her dedication to the school and the community. Schultz herself said she has put her “heart and soul” in the school, and hoped she could return as principal.
The school board voted unanimously, with one member abstaining without explanation, to not renew the contract. The board must now write a formal letter to Schultz outlining why it took that action. Schultz can appeal, but it is the school board that will hear it.
In South Portland, the resignation of Holland after less than two years was tied publicly to a desire to spend more time with family. But high school office manager Sheryl Kieran hinted in a letter to the school board that more may be at play, saying the decision “doesn’t add up.”
“I don’t know what’s behind this action,” she wrote, “but I have a very hard time believing that there’s been a critical mass of accumulated performance negatives that Jim somehow should be encouraged to resign.”
Murkiness abounds in Scarborough, as well, where Auriemma resigned after less than three years. Auriemma, too, cited family concerns, but questions remain. If he resigned and was unable to complete his duties as principal, why was he moved into an unspecified “quality improvement” role at the same pay, rather than allowed to leave immediately so that money could be saved or spent elsewhere? What advantage to the school district is there in having a “leadership team” of four administrators handle principal duties at a time when resources are supposedly stretched so thin? And what of the tense climate at the school that led teachers to reportedly circulate a petition pleading no confidence in Auriemma?
There may be reasonable answers to these questions, but we are not hearing them from Entwistle, who has refused to speak on these matters. Superintendent Suzanne Godin in South Portland is not taking direct questions on Holland’s resignation either. At Bonny Eagle, the school board is mum, as well, even though Schultz gave the go-ahead for a public debate on her tenure.
In a similar vein, Jody Gray, school board chairwoman in School Administrative District 61 in Naples, refused to comment last week on a proposal to allow for the distribution of condoms at Lake Region High School, saying, “It’s my personal policy not to speak with the media.” When asked if she had been burned by media members before, she said, no, but was hoping to avoid that.
Many readers may agree with that logic, but people who place themselves in the public eye through their chosen profession or elected office should be held to a higher standard. That is especially true when parents and community members who collectively spend millions of dollars on something with the high stakes of education deserve a clear window into what is going on and how decisions are made. Personnel laws provide a convenient hiding place for administrators and school board members who do not want to confront the most sensitive and difficult issues they are faced with, but the best of them can find a way to balance employee privacy with the public’s right to know.
Few educators have a more profound day-to-day effect on the success of schools than principals, and when the public cannot tell whether someone is being shuffled out due to performance, personality conflict, philosophy or something much more benign, than we’ve all lost.
Ben Bragdon, managing editor
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