Status: Closed — this petition is no longer accepting signatures.
Final supporters
June 8, 2015
Dear BSDVT Board,
The parents of the Sustainability Academy are writing with much concern over the recent principal search process at our school. We believe that the charade of democracy is worse than no democracy at all and that the process of the principal search was mere “tokenism”. It was very clear from this process that both parents and teachers wanted a more thorough search and an interim principal. When we learned that a candidate is being put to the board for a vote, without parents being notified, we wonder why we were even asked for our input and time in the first place. There are some clear issues that plague the District’s hiring practices and they need to be resolved. Teachers and parents all over the district are feeling disenfranchised and frustrated.
Our particular concerns regarding this process are as follows:
- The search process was untimely. How are we to find viable, knowledgeable and experienced candidates who are capable of leading a school for sustainability forward if we don’t post the position in places where such candidates may look, be engaged or at the time of year candidates are looking for new positions?
- Candidates lack necessary experience. BSD made a commitment to social equity by transforming two schools into magnet schools. The Sustainability Academy has lacked the leadership to bring its mission to reality. The leadership has struggled to set expectations using the lens of sustainability. We have one more chance to find a leader who can use this lens of sustainability to hold parents, community members, students and staff accountable to the pedagogy and practices that will set us apart as a school, close the achievement gap and draw families from throughout the district to create social economic balance. We didn’t hear anything in the interviews from the candidates regarding their experience, knowledge, practice or commitment to our mission and Education for Sustainability.
- The District’s process is inequitable and unfair. We realize that the district has had many Assistant Principal and Principal positions open this year. We find it curious that our school, with the least amount of time to do a thorough search and the school in crisis with a beloved Principal leaving abruptly, is the school who is set to hire a permanent principal. We also realize that there were quite a few mistakes made by the district in the hiring process and some policies that are being overlooked to remedy these mistakes. We don’t feel like it is fair to use our school as a way to remedy these mistakes, nor to hire someone the district wants to hire for the district.
- Each school should be looked at individually and decisions made accordingly. While all schools deserve the same amount of attention, resources and care, we believe that the vision and mission of our school need to drive the decision-making process. What may work well for the district, and for other schools, may not be the best fit for the Sustainability Academy-and vice versa. If we are going to succeed as a school for sustainability, then we need to use that lens in all decisions-especially when hiring a principal.
Please reconsider Howard Smith’s recommendation. Hear what the community, who will have to live with the decision, has to say. It is our school’s fragile future that is at stake. It is not a decision to take lightly, nor without input from the community. Howard said it himself, “There has to be buy-in for a candidate to succeed.” We were clear when we shared with him that there were too many concerns and not enough buy-in.
Thank you for considering our voices,
Parents and Friends of the Sustainability Academy
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18 Comments
The Sustainability Academy at Lawrence Barnes has drawn positive local, state and national attention for being a leader in sustainability education. Let's keep this going by having a proper and thorough hiring process in efforts of finding the best fit candidate. It is more important than ever to build positive morale in our school district.
We have different parameters than most schools in the area and need to find the right person to help hold and live our vision.
As a parent of an S.A. student, I am concerned that the current process pays lip service to community engagement but has disregarded the input from parents, community members and staff. I am even more concerned that this disregard undermines the district's stated goals and could erode the credibility of any incoming principal. My concern with the process is not a reflection on the candidate - I haven't even had a chance to meet her... which speaks volumes of the process in and of itself. I couldn't attend the one evening where parents were invited (though apparently not allowed to ask questions), and I had to read the proposal of our new principal by digging through a spreadsheet in an online consent agenda for the school board meeting.
To the Board: Please do not let the district leadership bulldoze this principal appointment through. The community demands a process that brings the best possible leader for our Education for Sustainability mission, through the most inclusive and democratic process. These magnet schools are the district's opportunity to lead and innovate in education. The Principal Search process and decision should reflect the importance of this.
Although I understand the constraints associated with such a search, I believe that hiring an interim principal and engaging in a full-blown search in the next year will be more beneficial to the school and the local community in the long term.
Best of luck with this effort. Principals set the entire tone for both the school and its entire community.
Community involvement and buy in with decisions as important as this are essential to creating the district that we talk about creating.
Share this petition
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Status: Closed — this petition is no longer accepting signatures.
Final supporters
June 8, 2015
Dear BSDVT Board,
The parents of the Sustainability Academy are writing with much concern over the recent principal search process at our school. We believe that the charade of democracy is worse than no democracy at all and that the process of the principal search was mere “tokenism”. It was very clear from this process that both parents and teachers wanted a more thorough search and an interim principal. When we learned that a candidate is being put to the board for a vote, without parents being notified, we wonder why we were even asked for our input and time in the first place. There are some clear issues that plague the District’s hiring practices and they need to be resolved. Teachers and parents all over the district are feeling disenfranchised and frustrated.
Our particular concerns regarding this process are as follows:
- The search process was untimely. How are we to find viable, knowledgeable and experienced candidates who are capable of leading a school for sustainability forward if we don’t post the position in places where such candidates may look, be engaged or at the time of year candidates are looking for new positions?
- Candidates lack necessary experience. BSD made a commitment to social equity by transforming two schools into magnet schools. The Sustainability Academy has lacked the leadership to bring its mission to reality. The leadership has struggled to set expectations using the lens of sustainability. We have one more chance to find a leader who can use this lens of sustainability to hold parents, community members, students and staff accountable to the pedagogy and practices that will set us apart as a school, close the achievement gap and draw families from throughout the district to create social economic balance. We didn’t hear anything in the interviews from the candidates regarding their experience, knowledge, practice or commitment to our mission and Education for Sustainability.
- The District’s process is inequitable and unfair. We realize that the district has had many Assistant Principal and Principal positions open this year. We find it curious that our school, with the least amount of time to do a thorough search and the school in crisis with a beloved Principal leaving abruptly, is the school who is set to hire a permanent principal. We also realize that there were quite a few mistakes made by the district in the hiring process and some policies that are being overlooked to remedy these mistakes. We don’t feel like it is fair to use our school as a way to remedy these mistakes, nor to hire someone the district wants to hire for the district.
- Each school should be looked at individually and decisions made accordingly. While all schools deserve the same amount of attention, resources and care, we believe that the vision and mission of our school need to drive the decision-making process. What may work well for the district, and for other schools, may not be the best fit for the Sustainability Academy-and vice versa. If we are going to succeed as a school for sustainability, then we need to use that lens in all decisions-especially when hiring a principal.
Please reconsider Howard Smith’s recommendation. Hear what the community, who will have to live with the decision, has to say. It is our school’s fragile future that is at stake. It is not a decision to take lightly, nor without input from the community. Howard said it himself, “There has to be buy-in for a candidate to succeed.” We were clear when we shared with him that there were too many concerns and not enough buy-in.
Thank you for considering our voices,
Parents and Friends of the Sustainability Academy
18 Comments
I learned from a Vermont Life article that the SA at Lawrence Barnes is the first public school in the nation, at any level, dedicated to teaching our children the values and culture of sustainability. You have a serious responsibility to, and therefore you must, follow a search process for principal that embodies these principles. One other point: most "congregational" churches (this means: those where the local congregation does the search/hire process) these days, even the tiny, low budget Universalist Church of Barre VT, engage in a 1-2 year period of interim leadership while the search for the right fit for a permanent leader takes place. the SA deserves such a process.
The Sustainability Academy at Lawrence Barnes has drawn positive local, state and national attention for being a leader in sustainability education. Let's keep this going by having a proper and thorough hiring process in efforts of finding the best fit candidate. It is more important than ever to build positive morale in our school district.
We have different parameters than most schools in the area and need to find the right person to help hold and live our vision.
As a parent of an S.A. student, I am concerned that the current process pays lip service to community engagement but has disregarded the input from parents, community members and staff. I am even more concerned that this disregard undermines the district's stated goals and could erode the credibility of any incoming principal. My concern with the process is not a reflection on the candidate - I haven't even had a chance to meet her... which speaks volumes of the process in and of itself. I couldn't attend the one evening where parents were invited (though apparently not allowed to ask questions), and I had to read the proposal of our new principal by digging through a spreadsheet in an online consent agenda for the school board meeting.
To the Board: Please do not let the district leadership bulldoze this principal appointment through. The community demands a process that brings the best possible leader for our Education for Sustainability mission, through the most inclusive and democratic process. These magnet schools are the district's opportunity to lead and innovate in education. The Principal Search process and decision should reflect the importance of this.
Although I understand the constraints associated with such a search, I believe that hiring an interim principal and engaging in a full-blown search in the next year will be more beneficial to the school and the local community in the long term.
Best of luck with this effort. Principals set the entire tone for both the school and its entire community.
Community involvement and buy in with decisions as important as this are essential to creating the district that we talk about creating.
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I learned from a Vermont Life article that the SA at Lawrence Barnes is the first public school in the nation, at any level, dedicated to teaching our children the values and culture of sustainability. You have a serious responsibility to, and therefore you must, follow a search process for principal that embodies these principles. One other point: most "congregational" churches (this means: those where the local congregation does the search/hire process) these days, even the tiny, low budget Universalist Church of Barre VT, engage in a 1-2 year period of interim leadership while the search for the right fit for a permanent leader takes place. the SA deserves such a process.