Elementary upheaval

With the resignation of Joan Nagle and Jonni Nichols, all three of the town's elementary school principals have departed. Their motivation to leave at once, however, remains unknown.

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Elementary upheaval

By Josh O'Gorman, Staff Writer

Rutland Herald - Published: June 26, 2009

SPRINGFIELD — With the resignation of Joan Nagle and Jonni Nichols, all three of the town's elementary school principals have departed. Their motivation to leave at once, however, remains unknown.

Wednesday night, the Springfield School Board accepted Nagle's and Nichols' resignations. The two — principals of Park Street and Elm Hill schools respectively — were preceded by Cheryl Hoffman, who announced earlier this year she would retire as principal of Union Street School.

All three principals had exit interviews Wednesday night with the School Board, conducted in executive session and closed to the public, and following the interviews the three hinted at but would not explicitly say why they were departing at once.

"I expected to retire here, but it doesn't look that way," said Nagle, whose nine-year tenure as principal at Park Street followed 24 years there as a teacher. She then posed a rhetorical question.

"There's a $32 million bond to renovate these schools and there isn't anyone to run them. Why is that?"

Nagle, who will be the principal at Chester-Andover Elementary School this fall, is leaving before Park Street's final year, per the plan to consolidate elementary pupils in Elm Hill and Union Street schools. All three women insisted the consolidation project was not the reason for their departure. In fact, they were clear about what isn't driving them out — not the pupils, nor the parents, nor the faculty and staff and not the School Board.

When asked if it was a problem with their superintendent, all three declined to comment.

They said they told the School Board why they were leaving, but Board Chairman Larry Kraft said the conversations with the departing principals were personnel matters and so he declined to comment.

The exodus leaves questions neither side seems willing nor able to answer. Nichols, who is leaving Springfield after four years as a principal and who will start July 1 as a teaching principal at Albert Bridge School in Brownsville, said she was reluctant to be more specific about her motivation because she didn't want to be perceived as a troublemaker at her new job.

"We have had very congenial relationships and I gave them excellent recommendations," said Superintendent Frank Perotti, who said he did not know what problem the principals might be referring to. Perotti was not present during the exit interviews, but has his own interviews scheduled with the departing principals.

Perotti said most major decisions made at the administrative level were made by committee with the input of all the principals and said there were never any discipline issues with any of the departing principals.

"Honestly, I'm at a loss," he said.

Perotti said he has received about 50 applications for two principal jobs — the third was cut during the budget process in January — with the plan to have a full-time principal at Park Street and another principal to cover both Elm Hill and Union Street schools.

Kraft said the board will offer one-year contracts and hopes to have the positions filled by late July.

"The schools will be fine," said Hoffman, who is retiring after 15 years at Union Street. "The reason they'll be fine is the teachers really care about the kids."

"What I wonder after all this, will things change in Springfield?" Nagle said. "Will this make any difference at all?"

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