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Petition calls for superintendent of schools to resign By KATY SAVAGE ksavage@eagletimes.com 20 min ago 0 Save SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — Several parents and residents have launched an anonymous petition calling on the school board to ask the schools superintendent to resign after the Union Street School principal’s contract was not renewed last month. The petition, on the website, Care2, was signed by 56 people as of Tuesday evening. The document states Springfield School District Superintendent Zach McLaughlin’s “decisions are not in the best interest of the staff, students, families of students or the community. He does not respond to parental/guardian calls or emails, and does not address important issues, not in a timely matter.” Union Street Principal Nancy Wiese declined to discuss her contract renewal. Wiese, 52, resigned March 26. Her last day will be June 30. She was principal of the school for two years and worked in the school district 20 years. Wiese said she is sad to be leaving Springfield. “I’m exploring other options,” she said. Wiese is aware of the petition. “I believe very firmly in the freedom of speech and I’m very honored that the parents of Springfield like me,” she said in a telephone interview. “I’ve been honored to work with their children … and I’m going miss them.” McLaughlin also declined to discuss Wiese’s contract. He said it’s not the first petition against him. “In this role you often have to make decisions,” he said, adding, “people need a place to direct anger.” McLaughlin said it was “sad” to split with someone who had been with the district for so long. Parents brought concerns to a recent school board meeting. School board chair Ed Caron said he wasn’t surprised Wiese resigned, but he declined to say more. School board member Jeanice Garfield said she’s known Wiese her entire life. “I’m pleased there’s a petition going around,” said Garfield. Garfield said parents have praised Wiese’s work. “I heard she was very easy to talk with,” Garfield said. “(Parents) had connected with her, their children had connected with her.” McLaughlin started advertising for a new principal on Friday and hopes to hire somebody within a month. Meanwhile, Wiese said she spent Tuesday in St. Johnsbury interviewing for another job in education.
Since I don't (and never will) have a paid subscription to the Eagle Times, I won't be reading the article.
ReplyDeleteDitto!
DeleteI wish parents were as concerned about removing incompetent teachers identified by failed test scores. For 2017 Union Street ranks 165 out of 169 schools in Vermont. Last year it ranked the very worst!!!! In my book that's a BIG, FAT F.
ReplyDeleteThe principal and most of the faculty deserve to be publicly fired. The community deserves better than this.
https://www.schooldigger.com/go/VT/schoolrank.aspx
Here is a link to the petition. You dont have to pay the Eagle Times to read the article, just go right to the petition and read it. https://www.thepetitionsite.com/798/529/083/no-confidence-in-superintendent-mclaughlin/
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. That was very helpful.
DeleteOn the petition page, Is that really the only reason that you can come up with to terminate this Guy?
ReplyDeleteVery weak reasoning, is there more to this that is not being identified?
My understanding is she resign?
Read some of the comments on the petition. There are many reasons why
DeleteBut there just comments, the petition is the petition, one should not sign the petition based on the comments, anyone can comment... I could go on there and say he stole my milk money that's not part of the petition
DeleteI'm glad Jeanice Garfield is finally going to do something about it. She has spent multiple years on the board with no change, she should go next year if no changes are made.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Garfield should have been gone a long time ago. She has not accomplished anything.
DeleteNice hair will get you anywhere.
ReplyDeleteLosing Nancy Wiese and her family will be a BIG loss to this community. I only hope that things can be worked out where this asset is appreciated and not shunned.
ReplyDeleteLove the irony in that the author of the petition, can't write very well either.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow - when you have classes full of kids bred from the loins of filthy and clueless morons, how can anyone realistically expect fantastic results in our schools. Our academics suck, sports teams blow, and even music/chorus is tragic. This winter I attended a band concert at Riverside. For example, there was approximately 11 kids playing in the 8th grade band, and it was just simply.....awful. I recorded it and when I need a good laugh, I watch it.
Maybe two or three took the time to shower, dress nice or express any sort of evidence that they either practiced or have an interest in proficiency. Couldn't even keep a beat - it reminded me of Steve Martin in The Jerk. When each grade was done, most the parents took their kids and took off, probably to McDonalds - not even giving the courtesy to listen to other grades.
I like Springfield, but this is the reality of what this community (and many others) has become.
The reason they leave early is because of their Addiction to the Smartphone. There is no way they could have sat any longer without turning it on. Of course you can't do that at the concert. So out into the parking lot they migrate, little Johnny in tow. Each staring down at that stupid device. Then off to McDs for an extra large soda to fatten up on.
DeleteIf anybody's interested in developing Springfield into a world class school system, let me know. It can be done; we just have to do it.
ReplyDeleteChuck, I wish your dream was a possibility. Unfortunately, with a unionized facility there is no way to purge incompetent and lazy teachers. As mentioned by the administration, Springfield school system is so poor, talented teachers will not take jobs here.
DeletePlease spare me the BS about additional training for teachers to achieve excellence. They remain only because of the benefits and pension. Think not? Ever see teacher cars in the lot on snow days? When was the last time you ever heard of a teacher taking summer employment in their field to maintain currency? Ever meet a guidance counselor that visited area employers to learn career opportunities first hand? Want a stark defining image of just how bad the system is? Try this, random drug screening for all facility. Everyone. Same as our hospital and many other local employers. What better place for a drug free environment than our schools? The streaks of protest would be deafening.
There you have it. Springfield sucks and our failed schools just add to it.
12:21, only lazy people use the union as an excuse. Give teachers the power to structure education the way it should be, and they'll do it, union or no. Everybody enjoys doing well in a chosen endeavor; laziness and incompetence disappear. Our problem is that we don't think we have the personal smarts to improve things. Well, we just happen to be wrong.
Delete12:21 ... the idea that you've proved teachers are lazy because they don't drive to school in the snow when school itself is cancelled is patently absurd. every day missed due to weather (or any reason) is made up at the end of the year. snow days aren't free days.
DeleteAnonymous 12:21
ReplyDeleteI think you go to far when you generalized that Springfield Sucks, it does have some good points.
Wish you would have stopped with the Unionized Faculty as being the problem, as you hit the nail on the head, as they have all the control and say so, they do what they want when they want. maybe no over paid for what a teacher should do, but when they have all the control, It allows the scum amongst them to stay in their positions.
Just wait, you will see the teachers from Vermont follow what just happened in west Virginia and Oklahoma.
DeleteYou mean after being underfunded, overworked, and underpaid to the point of having to get second jobs, by conservative governments? Having to purchase necessary school supplies out of their own pockets? You forgot Kansas, another failed attempt at education by the Right!
DeleteSpringfield’s problem is one that most of our society is suffering from: people having children out of wedlock, not finishing high school, drug and alcohol addiction. Government programs and social welfare agencies enable rather than help. Bad behavior is subsidized. No shame in low standards or morals.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely correct, and BOTH political parties share the blame. Between the Democrats with their lack of morals, and the Republicans with their lack of ethics, we are circling the bowl as a nation. Time to raise our standards, and demand the same from our politicians, ON BOTH SIDES!
DeleteThe video below is great. Sums it all up.
Delete"A License should be required to have kids"
4:30, I agree. Irresponsible procreation should be a crime at least as serious as rape: it typically inflicts irreversible lifelong damage to a helpless unborn individual, never mind the wider costs to society. Why not surgically sterilize all people before they reach puberty? They could grow up and have sex without unwanted procreation. Then, responsible adults who decide to have children could petition - as a couple - to be allowed to have them, either by reversing the surgery or, better, by test-tube technology.
DeleteThe license thing is stretching it, but teaching kids respect and disipline like back in the 1960s would be a good start. But to make that happen the parents would have to be taught first.
DeleteKids weren't "taught respect and discipline" back in the '60's (I was there). We were taught to fear. The kids of the well-to-do parents weren't, and when they got into trouble, their parents were accorded all the respect due their caste and the kids escaped the discipline.
ReplyDeleteYou're partially right. My experience back then was that the rich kids were taught that they were superior, and therefore above accountability. The blue collar kids were told they were inferior, and would never amount to anything. They were TAUGHT to hate everyone who wasn't poor, and to reject social standards of any kind. They were the "real Americans," after all. Fast forward to today; the grandchildren of the 60's are now in school, and very little has changed. Both sides are equally crude and licensious, both believing they answer to no one. Some are just better dressed and arrive at school in nicer cars, just like the old days!
DeleteGee, sorry I mentioned the 60s. How about the 70s, peace love and rock and roll. Certainly not heroin unless u lived in the projects.
DeleteNo, just weed, acid, speed, and cocaine. Not sure about the peace, but there was plenty of rock 'n roll. Disco Sucks!
DeleteApparently Chuck is able to "accurately" stereotype all kids! No idea how you liberal / socialist / communists get away with it...
DeleteWorking with families over a quarter of a century doesn't help one's desire to stereotype kids...
Deletethe superintendent is in charge of the whole district,if thing's are not getting done by his staff.
ReplyDeletethen it is his responsibility to fix the problem,if he can't or won't do what needs to been to to fix it,then he needs to go.
just like a professional sports team,if the team keeps losing,they fire the coach
The one thing missing from all of these comments is the power of the voting box. If a significant segment of the community here is not happy with the way the school system is being run, it is time to put new people on the school board.
ReplyDeleteWith three candidates running for two seats, one candidate pointed out that his Springfield education did not prepare him well for the college he attended and that he had some ideas about what needed to be changed. The voters rejected him....
Delete