http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20120626/NEWS02/706269908
Published June 26, 2012 in the Rutland Herald
Elm Hill hires new principal
By Christian Avard
Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD — A new principal has been named for the Elm Hill Primary School in Springfield.
The Springfield School Board offered Interim Assistant Principal Dana Jacobson-Goodhue a one-year contract at $80,000 with benefits for the 2012-2013 school year. Jacobson-Goodhue said she is “extremely relieved” and is looking forward to her permanent job.
“It’s no secret I really wanted to work at Elm Hill for a long time,” she said. “I’m also relieved that the school community doesn’t have to go through another transition. I think we can pick up where we left off and continue with what we achieved.”
Jacobson-Goodhue joined Elm Hill Primary School after the abrupt resignation of former principal Laura Hopkins in January. The circumstances for Hopkins’ departure are unknown but it was during Hopkins’ tenure when the alleged misuse of seclusion rooms surfaced. A state investigation concluded there was no evidence of abuse and neglect but a fallout with Elm Hill parents ensued.
Jacobson-Goodhue assisted Riverside Principal Becky Read with Elm Hill administrative duties and was responsible for rebuilding parents’ trust with school administrators. Superintendent of Schools Frank Perotti credited Jacobson-Goodhue for training staff and “getting everyone up to speed” with school policies.
The School Board selected Jacobson-Goodhue when the first candidate, Bridget Harris of Rochester, N.Y., declined the job. Perotti said the school district is “pretty excited” and the bonds between parents and administrators will be strengthened by her presence.
Elm Hill parents also endorsed the School Board’s selection. Elm Hill Parent-Teacher Association member Jayne Smith said Elm Hill teachers, students and parents did not want to see her go after the school year was over. Now, they too are relieved that Elm Hill has a new principal they already support.
“Things are working (at the school),” Smith said. “Students and teachers are catching their stride, they know what their priorities are going to be next year and they can move forward as opposed to starting all over.”
Lori Prue-Bertone, Springfield Schools Parent-Teacher Association president, agrees with Smith.
“I wholeheartedly supported (Jacobson-Goodhue) and we’re very happy to find out she was given the one year contract. It’s going to be a great school year for everyone,” she said.
The School Board will determine whether to offer Jacobson-Goodhue a multiyear contract at the end of the 2012-2013 school year. Perotti said it is a standard procedure for the district for hiring school administrators.
As for Jacobson-Goodhue, the upcoming school year looks bright and Elm Hill will be a school students take pride in.
“I want Elm Hill to be a place where students look forward to going to every day. We can learn so much when we’re enjoying ourselves,” she said.
Jacobson-Goodhue holds a master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She has taught middle school social studies for seven years, worked with elementary students for four years, and was a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon from 1993 to 1997.
Jacobson-Goodhue completed her principal licensure program at the Upper Valley Educators Institute in Lebanon, N.H. and was a principal intern at the Hartland Elementary School prior to her arrival at Elm Hill. She lives with her husband, two children, and nine alpaca in Hartland.
So let me get this right, two experienced principals from New York State were offered the job as principal after two sets of interviews, one left after observing the prohibited behavior from staff (seclusion room saga) and not getting the backing of the administration to do something about it. The other turned the position down after being offered the work after she found out about the issues at Elm Hill. This new principal was passed over after all the interviews I'm told by a board member for the reason of being too inexperienced. Oh yea, she got her interim principal position by being selected by the superintendent when the candidate pool had a number of better and more qualified persons (there were no interviews).
ReplyDeleteSo the school board and superintendent in their great wisdom hire a totally inexperienced principal which they passed over in the past. Sounds like they really weren’t looking for the best candidate anymore for the school, just someone to fill the position so they didn’t have to look any further. We are paying this woman $80,000 a year to get experience in a school that has numerous problems that have not gone away and is facing a number of lawsuits in the future. God help us!
I agree completely. The hiring process was questionable to begin with. At least one well qualified, experienced local administrator applied for the position and didn't even get an interview. Even an inexperienced applicant in the district should be given at least a courtesy interview. And now they hire someone who by the school board member;s own admission was initially passed over as being too inexperienced. This again points to the inadequacy and dishonesty of the superintendent and the board.
DeleteWelcome to Springfield corruption at its best! Time and time again the voters fall into the trap and believe the garbage the district spews out to get a budget passed and then the district and school board turns about face and does as they wish NOT what is in the best interest of the operation of the schools and the children.
ReplyDeleteWhy you might ask? Because they want someone who was hand picked by their ceo and who will do as the board asks instead of taking the time needed to find a suitable, educated, seasoned professional. Wait and see if they don't renew Franks contract. You have yourselves to blame because you fell for the whole "it's about the children" budget speach and you trusted the same board that allowed the abuses to take place and you didnt get out and vote no and force the board to be held accountable themselves.
Let's keep in mind that they didn't HAVE to hire anyone. They could have moved one of their assistant principals to fll in for the time being and saved the taxpayers 80k. Still keeping in mind that Frank touted how he save the district costs in eliminating the assistant principal postions. All hs words posed on the district website. Ask yourselves this...a new study just came out that found Windsor county to be "unaffordable" due to the housing costs associated with the taxes. That was published in the Eagle Times lst Friday. Now- do you really think that you can afford your taxes going up yet again with the "park St committee recommending that the district take out ANOTHER 20 year ond for over 3 million to rehab tha building? Seriously, I think it is time everyone who pays taxes to demand that the board members step down off the school board. I is always easy for people to make decisions for theoperation of a bsiness when they ar not using their own money.
ReplyDeleteThey should have offered her another interim position while we looked for an experienced principal. We now have another administrator who doesn't live in this town, and has no vested interest in our town. Not one of our administrators lives in Springfield. It's ok to work here, but not live here. Especially since we pay so well. 80k for an inexperienced principal. Outrageous!!!!
ReplyDeleteyou are 100% right, but way to logical for this school board or school district CEO.
DeleteWell her contract is for just one year only but we still should have had another vice principal take the position while we searched.
DeleteAll I can say is I'm glad I no longer have children at Elm Hill School. We are paying 80k for on the job training for this woman who only completed her training while at Elm Hill last year. And again we wonder why our school district is failing!!!! We should have continued to look for better and more qualified persons OUT SIDE THE DISTRICT! At one point will we stop the use of the seclusion room in ALL our schools, Gateway will be the next facing a number of lawsuits! YES THEY STILL USE THE ROOM- APPROVED BY FRANK... Good luck Elm Hill Families!
ReplyDeleteEveryone on here is so mad about inexperience? She may be the best principal the district has ever seen for all we know. Having 15 years experience doesn't mean you are better by any means. it means you have worked for 15 years. This school district needs these younger people with enthusiasm and energy to take us in the right direction and be positive role models for kids. I'm sure she will do a fantastic job, congratulations on your position!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, but if this was the case that enthusiasm would have come through in the first round of hiring.
DeleteWell, it took a couple tries but they got it right in the end!
DeleteI disagree.
Deletecool
DeleteKind of like how they got the budget right and now have hired in and given back hours they took away for the budget, but gave them back to the staff. Again, a fine example of saying one thing to the taxpayers and doing the complete opposite and adding up the bill at our taxpayer expense. Get rid of Janice and get rid of Scott and then of course Frank and replace them with responsible individuals. But once again the dumb sheep of springfield dug their own hole deeper.
DeleteYes, they do still use the padded rooms. At Elm one room is used as a copy room and the other is used for storage. No school in the district has a padded room with a door by order of the school board.
ReplyDeleteThat said, Dana Jacobson-Goodhue was the interim assistant principal toward the end of this most recent school year, not the interim principal. She will be essentially interim for this year as well as she was given a one year contract. In her time at Elm she has proven herself to be NOT a Frank cronie. She will stand up for Elm and the kids there to Frank and other Administrators. The kids there all know her and will be relieved to be able to keep her. They have been through enough and need some consistence. This will give them that.
It is my understanding that Bridget Harris knew about the troubles at Elm prior to being offered the job. All 3 of the principal candidates who went before the school board were told of them before going in front of the school board, so let's not think that she said no because of what has occurred at Elm. Also, isn't it just good practice in this information age to Google a place before you interview there? I think it's safe to assume she probably did that before her first interview.
Why can't people just move on and move forward and wish Dana Jacobson-Goodhue the best in her position at Elm and move toward improving the reputation of the school? I, for one, am a proud Elm Hill parent. Proud of my Elm Hiller, proud of the school, proud of the teachers and proud of Mrs. Jacobson-Goodhue. I'm looking forward to a great year next year for EVERYONE at Elm Hill School.
You wrote, "No school in the district has a padded room with a door by order of the school board."
DeleteMy son goes to Gateway and YES there is a padded room with a door and IT IS USED! I get the reports, so does Frank!!! Maybe I need to bring a copy of the behavior reports to a school board meeting for others to see!
In the good old days the principal would take the errant child to a room and whack the begeezus out of the youngster with a paddle. Things were much simpler than and more efficient. Funny how we have progressed....bad behavior equaled a punishment to suit the deed including corporal punishment. Springfield was then considered a top notch educational school system. Nowadays you take a kid to a padded room for a "time out" and you get sued and the school system is one of the worse in New England. Go figure.
DeleteUmmm Gateway is a school for kids with emotional and behavioral issues that can't make it at the regular schools. If any place needs a padded room, Gateway is it!
DeleteGood old days...back then if a child didn't like school they could drop out. The world needed ditch diggers too. Today they will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep them in school and leave "no child left behind". That money could be used for a better education for kids that want to learn.
DeleteWe blame local schools for all these problems, but it is the federal and state government that mandates what they have to do.
Re: "No school in the district has a padded room with a door by order of the school board."
DeleteDon't tell me they took the doors off the gymnasiums, too???? Now that's what I call strict enforcement!
I guess you haven't seen the drop out rates for Springfield?
DeleteSO what is the rate????
DeleteSpringfield has a 7% dropout rate,(one of the highest dropout rates in the state) a 70% 4 year completion rate.
Deletehttp://education.vermont.gov/documents/EDU-Data_2010_2011_Dropout_and_High_School_Completion.pdf
Beware how the numbers are presented. The true dropout rate is over 30%. Meaning, odds are about 1 in 3 a child will not graduate from the Springfield School system. Indeed, the highest in VT. Also keep in mind, that includes all the alternative education programs we pour funds into to keep these losers in the system.
DeleteAs an employer I interview many of these unemployable dregs each year. When asked, "why did you leave school?" They nearly all give the same excuse, "I wasn't learning, and no one could give me a compelling reason to stay."
Absolutely inexcusable. I have meet many of the advisors and guidance counselors here in Springfield. Believe I can say with fair assurance, they are some of the most lazy, professionally incompetent, uninformed, social misfits I've ever encounter anywhere in the business world.
Want to improve are schools? Start with a thorough house cleaning of those that can't perform.
Oh my yes, we need to put all kinds of restrictions on Gateway, in fact we need to shut it down and let those kids terrorize the rest of the District and the other Districts which send them to Gateway because they can't deal with them. The public schools are so....Middle Class, everyone should send their kids to private schools like me, and the ones that behave badly there can always either be sent to military prep schools or institutionalized. Its so simple.
DeleteAnonymous 8:06 AM. Absolutely correct. Those running the school system need to be given pink slips including the school board. New competent people need to be hired with the task of fixing the broken school system and cleaning out the rest that can't perform. No more blaming "demographics" for the schools problems, a situation created by Springfield management. Other schools with worse demographics are performing much better.
DeleteOf course this can't happen until the citizens get rid of the town management that is even worse than the school system first. The road to perdition for Springfield has been a long and twisted journey. It is truly time to change direction.
Gateway is not a Springfield School District school, it is its own entity that contracts WITH the Springfield School District.
DeleteThe staff are Springfield School District employees! Which means if there is an issue Springfield will take the fall!
DeleteAs a parent, I've been impressed by her over the past year. Limiting the choices to someone who lives in Springfield is not wise, there are good people everywhere. Imagine if nobody with little to no experience ever got hired.... eventually nobody would have a job. Sit back and give it a chance, maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised.
ReplyDeleteThis "doesn't live in Springfield" thing is probably the dumbest and most assinine comment I've ever heard (but it keeps coming up in numerous topics). Do all Springfielders WORK IN SPRINGFIELD????? Case closed.
ReplyDeleteNo they don't and they are not in charge of tax payers pockets by setting budgets.
Delete