http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20120310/NEWS02/703109931
Published March 10, 2012 in the Rutland Herald
Elm Hill principal resigns from post
By Christian Avard
Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD — Elm Hill Primary School is without a principal after its new hire resigned just six weeks after she started the job.
Laura Hopkins of Long Island, N.Y., replaced principal Susan Whittemore who recently retired. According to Springfield School District Superintendent Frank Perotti, Hopkins left in mid-February “and decided not to return.”
Perotti did provide specifics on Hopkins’ resignation. He thought the transitional process may have been a difficult one for Hopkins.
“It was her first time as principal of the school and she had several things going on with family, including maintaining two homes in Vermont and Long Island,” Perotti said. “My sense is this didn’t work for her. The culture is different. There is a lot of stress working in a Vermont school as the only administrator. I think she just changed her mind.”
Perotti said Hopkins was making in-roads in positive student reinforcement. She was working with student behaviors on the playground, buses and in the classrooms.
“We were really happy with her,” Perotti said. “She had a lot of good ideas and programs. That was her big strength and she brought in some real innovations in that sense.”
Riverside Middle School Principal Becky Read will fill in as interim principal at Elm Hill. Dana Jacobson-Goodhue is also filling in as interim vice principal and will be mentored by former Springfield and Hartford principal Sarah Carter.
Perotti said there was not enough time in the school year to conduct a search for a new principal. The topic will be addressed at Monday’s School Board meeting at Springfield High School.
“We have some resilient students, teachers and families. We’re on our third set of leadership, which is a lot. But teachers and support staff have been amazing in getting the school running. They’re all positive, you walk in, and kids are active in their learning. They’ve done a tremendous job,” Perotti said.
Hopkins brought a wealth of experience to Elm Hill Primary School. She was a K through fourth grade elementary school principal for two years in the Longwood Central School District on Long Island, an educational coordinator at the Queens Centers for Progress in Jamaica, N.Y., and taught special education, kindergarten and fourth-grade levels.
Hopkins earned a bachelor’s degree in Social Science and Child and Family Studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, a master’s of science in Special Education and Child Life Studies from Bank Street College for Education in New York, N.Y., and additional education leadership credentials.
Attempts to reach Hopkins were unsuccessful. According to Perotti, her salary was prorated at $65,000.
Wow !!! Would I like her job !!!
ReplyDeleteWhere do I apply ?
oh yeah, we should probably vote the School Budget in so I can get paid !!!
The article seems contradictory. Early in the article it seems like the superintendent is saying that it was her first time as principle, but lower down it says that she was a principle for 2 years in Long Island.
ReplyDeleteRegarding both the Elm Hill principle and Superintendent's extensive background in special education, raises the speculation, "If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail."
ReplyDeleteWhy are our educators so focused special education at the expense of excellence in education for the normal kids? Are these perceived behavioral issues really so serious that our schools have become unmanageable? Are our liberal school policies a failure?
Why can't it be as simple as having a mandatory meeting with parents prior to the school year. Lay out a strict code of conduct. If a child is unmanageable, he/she is removed from public school. The appropriate social service agency is brought in and the child's home life/mental health evaluated. If unsatisfactory, the child is placed in supervised foster care where there they will have the best opportunity for success in life.
Our school administrators need to be read the riot act. Explained in black & white, your responsibility is EDUCATION. You are NOT a social service agency. Got it?
I agree.
DeleteIf your kid is out of line to the point where they need to be sent home.
Send them home for the day, or two, if needed.
It is called " Temporary Suspension".
Start by sending the kid home instead of bogging the rest of the system down.
Sounds like a great model and idea, are you saying you are willing to be a foster parent? Not sure if you knew this or not, but there is a serious shortage of responsible foster parents in this state (and community). Thank you for volunteering for this important role.
DeleteThe School System is not a Foster Care System it is a school sytem.
DeleteYou don't get suspended for being a foster child.
You get suspended for un-acceptable behavior.
If the child is not learning at home...
Then let the gravity of the individual's situation fall outside School.
Going to school requires good behavior and is a privilage not a right.
as where a school of fish are not in class
a SCHOOL is not just about education.
it is a school of students at SCHOOL learning.
We should do our best to keep all children in School. And seperately we should help foster children (and parents).
I believe the point was that there was a parentage issue, and the foster parent system in Vermont is totally jacked up mostly due to the fine work of HCRS.
Deleteseveral good points.
Deleteand when it comes down to bogging the school system send them home.
Aethelred, HCRS's fine job? What do you mean? Are all foster kids there? I have been there a handful of times, for meetings, and I have never seen a room full of kids waiting to be adopted. Becoming a foster parent isn't the towns or even the states issue. It is federal so you might as well blame
DeleteBush like always.
Ohh my original point....
DeleteI agree with "machine town financer" The way the kids act should fall upon the parents not the teachers!
Too many times parents don't punish or dicipline their kids. You can go to RMS at any given time and see which lids have the parents who actually give a darn about their child and the ones who could care less that they are alive, let alone that they do well in life.
I watched a few football games and I could see which kids had parents or a parent who cared versus the ones who didn't. The kids who's parents cared were in shape, respectful the the coaches and other elders and had uniforms that were clean.
It really depends on parents to be a role model to THEIR kids. Show them how to take care of themselves, how to treat others respectfully and to have accountability for their actions!!
DB, welcome to the 21st Century. The teachers and the coaches are frequently the only role models these kids have. Frequently there isn't any point in sending them home, because frequently the home is a part of the problem. We no longer have State institutions capable of dealing with some of the severe mentally disturbed children as Vermont bought into the mainstream program hook line and sinker, and it has been doing a very good job of sinking the school systems. Often huge chunks of money in the school budget go to service special needs for children with disabilities -- the school cannot talk about these for fear of violating Federal Law about identifying these children. We are talking hundreds of thousands of dollars here in mandated costs. This is frequently not understood by guys like Woody Bickford because these kids in his day were either hidden at home, incarcerated, or institutionalized in the State "schools."
DeleteDon't you love Perotti's lack of transparency and accountability to taxpayers?
ReplyDelete- He won't provide specifics on the resignation.
- He attributes part of the cause to the "transitional process". So, a Masters level "educator" can't cope with a transitional process? These are the people we're selecting and relying on to teach our children and guide their "transition" through the educational system? Beautiful!
- He obfuscates or outright misrepresents the truth by stating "There is a lot of stress working in a Vermont school as the only administrator", but then it's revealed in following paragraphs that "Dana Jacobson-Goodhue is also filling in as interim vice principal", which is another administrative position.
- He reveals that "her salary was prorated at $65,000" - so is she's walking away with $65k for failing or is she receiving a prorated amount of a $65k base salary for failing? Which is it doc? Thanks for being so clear about that.
And why are we paying for "mentors" for our senior school leaders? Re: "Dana Jacobson-Goodhue is also filling in as interim vice principal and will be mentored by former Springfield and Hartford principal Sarah Carter." Are you telling me that our senior school leaders aren't capable of serving without the mentorship of some retiree who's found a way to get back on the dole? Shouldn't Perotti himself be their "MENTOR"?
If these mentors are being paid by Springfield Schools, then I think we just found another "expense" that can be eliminated from the budget! It's just a matter of finding where Perotti has buried that expense in the budget.
Little by little, the TRUTH about the rotten job that Perotti AND the school board are actually doing is being revealed to us. They are screwing the taxpayers, but the facade that has masked the incompetence, waste, fraud, and abuse is starting to crack.
Springfield, you were SO RIGHT TO VOTE NO on the school budget. Keep prying, keep asking questions, keep holding Perotti's and the board's feet to the fire and before you know it, you'll see very well just how mismanaged our schools are and how significant savings can be found in the budget!
I agree wholeheartedly with you. On the other posts there seems to be a concerted effort to disguise these issues by the pro-perotti people. What most of our community needs to read and analyze are the things that you pointed out above, the missing funds and the replacement of those funds and why a criminal investigation was not initiated, the allegations of the state and the district lawyers coming in and talking with the staff, what is that about? What happened that is so severe and appears to be pervasive that these things are necessary? I think there are a series of things that our community should be asking instead of just trusting what is told to them. I think we should not forget that there was an arrest and pending charges against a teacher at the high school level for inappropriate contact with a student.
DeleteThere has been a lot of allegations that have surfaced, some true and possibly some not so true but the question at large would be do we believe the system administrators as it stands? I dont think that we do. All the talk about "oh you are punishing the students by voting no blah blah blah" I think that it is safe to say our residents are tired of excuses, lies, misrepresentations, and the apprearance of general mismanagement and excessive spending that our district leaders have ALLOWED..that means the school board-and they should take note. I honestly think that it would be incredibly beneficial for the State to take over operation of the school district. They bring in seasoned management professional, they wade through the muck of performers versus non-performers and they bring with them PROVEN staff that produce results....
The reason Dana Jacobson-Goodhue needs a mentor is that she is going through the UVEI (Upper Valley Educators Institute) and has been an intern with us at RMS. She does not have an administrator’s license and has never been in an administrative position before. Matter of fact, she hasn’t completed her schooling with UVEI yet. So let’s see:
Delete1.) Ms. Jacobson-Goodhue is an intern for Becky Read at RMS, Ms. Read is now the principal at Elm Hill
2.) Both women are from Hartland and taught in Hartland.
3.) We are now paying Ms. Jacobson-Goodhue to get experience at the cost of taxpayers where other students at UVEI are not getting paid.
4.) I never saw the position in the paper; I would ask the school board how many people applied for the position? How many where interviewed? A teacher at Elm Hill told me that the interview committee did not want Ms. Jacobson-Goodhue due to her lack of experience, yet Mr. Perotti told them she would be the only candidate. Sounds like everything is up and up here, NOT!!!!
5.) The Budget Committee eliminated the Vice-Principal positions at the Elm Hill (it was on SAPA), so once again we are paying for another administrative position that isn’t in the budget that Mr. Perotti created.
Another point to ask is why did the new principal actually quit? That is not something that a professional does unless they feel their own professional reputation that they have built over the course of their career would or could be damaged. In other words- maybe she was appalled at the unprofessional antics within the system. Let's see we have parents complaining about a restraining room, allegations that the school district attorney spoke with staff and then possibly another allegation that they were forced to sign non-disclosure agreements or face termination. Again, these are allegations which have come up on this board but I would think that if the educators were intelligent they would realize that they better speak up because their license is on the line if any of that is true and comes out to the public or to the state. That could fall under child abuse statues and failure to report statues. I would hope they would speak to investigators at the state which then would protect their employment from retaliation.
DeleteVery well stated! Maybe the board should be asking these questions. Or maybe us parents should be asking these questions on Monday night to the school board.
DeleteWell sounds like the Doc is trying to redirect the attention off him. The word accountability is missing at this point. Maybe someone should print out all of the comments from just the last week and show him how unhappy the tax payers of Springfield really are. Does anyone know if he was fired from Ludlow School District? I heard he almost bankrupt Ludlow.
ReplyDeleteNDP
Good idea. These posts should be printed and read at the next school board meeting, with appropriate pauses at the end of each question for the board and/or Perotti to answer. How fast do you think they'll gavel that meeting to a close???
ReplyDeleteWhy are you all so upset to see a person leave after 6 weeks. If they feel the need to quit after that short amount of time, it would seem they do not have a good work ethic. It would seem they cannot handle a district under financial stress, or a district in need of improvement. All of which has to have been reported during job interviews. Obviously she didn't have what it takes to stay here, and we need someone else to be running our children's school. I for one do not want to waste time worrying about someone who cannot make if for the long haul and show resilience, dedication, or commitment to our children. Becky Read has been at the middle school for 5 years now, and has shown all of those traits, and I am thrilled to have her being Principal of my student.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteI don't think anyone is upset-I think people have the intelligence to notice that in the professional world people don't just up and walk out after 6 weeks. I think that what we see and what is presented do not add up to the truth. Fact is there is a promblem somewhere because a seasoned professional does not take a job and then leave. Does anyone know whether there is any truth that the superintendant sent a scathing email blaming teachers for the failure of the NECAPS?
DeleteOne would assume it would have been "reported during job interviews". But was it????? One parent was told the doors would be removed off the unknown room at Elm Hill last school year, but where still there this school year. So you can't always believe what you are told. Becky Read has been good for our middle school but she is not perfect either, so be carefull what you say. My child was at Riverside and I had to handle a situation that was caused by the administration not finding the truth before disciplining my child. So I did and shared the information with them. This kinda leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
DeleteIt was inappropriate for Dr. Perotti to share his speculation on why Laura left to the press, and certainly even less appropriate for the Rutland Herald to print it without making ANY attempt to contact her.
ReplyDeleteLaura Hopkins was a take-charge administrator who had the best interest of children at heart. She was honest and had a strong moral compass, even when it meant making unpopular or hard decisions about the mess she inherited. She was not the type of professional to leave because of the assertions made in the article, nor because of standard hardships of financial constraints or AYP.
If there is going to be a discussion about why we lost a talented administrator, then why don't we call a meeting and talk about it in a meaningful and unfiltered way. We could identify and talk about the issues that need to be addressed and work on a plan to get back on track. Anything short of that, including this type of one-sided press, only adds another layer to the problem.
Whether it was innappropriate or not depends on the circumstances, to me it was just his way of saying that she wasn't asked to resign. Not sure that the whole thing is worth rehearsing again in a public meeting. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for teachers or administrators to leave without completing their contracts. What he said was certainly not derogatory, and if she objected to the way he said she could have spoke up.
DeleteYep, definitely would not have wanted to be the Elm Hill Principal at tonights meeting. Not sure exactly why they thought that voting down the school budget would help solve that problem. But the human mind works in mysterious ways.
DeleteI wonder if the people beating on Perotti realized that they can't divulge disciplinary proceedings, so they wind up sitting there getting beat about the head and shoulders and keep repeating the policy over and over again. Hopefully that public venting gets that subject resolved and off the table so that it isn't screwing up the budget votes in the future.
DeleteBut it provides so much public entertainment to beat on School Administrators once you have a large group at your back. Its sort of like public executions, they should open a popcorn stand in the back to help raise funds for the school. Perhaps they could introduce a public pie throwing contest as well. I especially liked it when the Special Ed Director likened the cloud rooms to raquetball courts...where on Earth did they find her...lol
DeleteShe had a death in the family (closely related). Not that it's anyone's business, but that is why she left so abruptly. So instead of speculating, finding out the truth would be the better choice.
DeleteFor those who read the article, it also stated that "she had several things going on with family" and also that "she decided not to return".
And in fairness to the community we have been told so many untruths we have no other choice but to put two and two together. I am sorry for her if this news is true-however it does not obviate the pressing administration issues.
DeleteWhich she was not a part of but was thrust into this mess that was being ignored for so long, and with all of the lies being told by the Board, no one knows who or what to believe anymore. I agree that Admin NEEDS a change! Google Frank Perotti and Ludlow, he left there in 2007, see for yourself what kind of conditions the schools were left in.
DeleteOur students need someone who is truly in this for the kids and not the salary.
Laura Hopkins was thrown into the fire and was not warned it would be hot. She did have a death in her fmaily, but anyone close to the situation knows this was her way out of this mess. I feel sorry for her that she was not told the truth before she accepted the position. Maybe other applicants will be suspicious of waht has happened.
DeleteAgreed.
DeleteI do not know why the new principal resigned nor do I need to know. People say she was a great administrator but how can one really determine that she did not even make it through the honeymoon period, she was only here for a mere six weeks. I truly do not believe this was a long enough period to evaulate if she was a good fit for this position, or not. Heck, she didn't even make it through a normal probationary period. so I will end with this I for one trully believe that we did lose a great administrator that was there for the children. We did not lose her in Febuary, we lost her back in October.
DeleteMa Johnny liked dat new principal shee liked big classes with lots o kids and one teachar jus lik in de big city we lived at afore my boyfriend got sent to de big house on de hill. Mad Johnny feel right at id did...an we wuz one happy famely when my boyfriend got released from rehab up nort...bit den dey arrested em agin...but Boss says he be sent back to dat rehab place an then dey will release him back to me agin...somtyn odd about de prison folks always send him nort for a month or two fer rehab...some silly ding bout not releasin prisoners who weren't livin here when dey incarcerated...but we livin here nows...jest not sure wher Johnny is...hope dat bear dinna git him, Im afeerd of bears we dinna hav dem in de city...
DeleteWell, If I had to venture a guess I would say 2+2 is not making 4. Let's not forget that the Asst. Super left in a rush, under the guise that it was retirement, now a NEW principal left. Possibly it had to do with the allegations of the special room being misused, the districts lawyer talking with staff and then added to it the current legal "issue" at RMS. Sounds to me like everyone is jumping ship so they don't get dragged into a mess.
ReplyDeleteBlog admin deletes too many posts. I am going back to not believing in the future
ReplyDeleteWho the heck conducted this job search? Any experienced manager would have suspected and detected certain concerns about a major job relocation and cultural changes for the new employee. I find it hard to believe that NO ONE in New England fit the bill for this job. Now, we get to conduct another costly and time-consuming search. Ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteI hope everyone here that has a voice will go to the school board meeting tonight. We need to fix this now.
ReplyDeleteNDP