Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 4/24/2023
EASTHAMPTON — With two candidates now out of the running, the Easthampton superintendent search continues with Jonathan Bruno, director of learning and teaching at the Berkshire Hills Regional School district, being the lone finalist remaining. Previously the School Committee rescinded an offer to West Springfield interim Superintendent Vito Perrone, while Ludlow Director of Curriculum and Instruction Erica Faginski-Stark withdrew from consideration.
Background
With a 4-3 vote the committee initially agreed to offer Perrone the job during a March 23 meeting after three days of interviews and site visits before deliberating and voting on the candidate to move forward with. Before Perrone had officially accepted the job, the School Committee asked the police to conduct a wellness check as Perrone was not answering the phone when the committee called to offer him the job. Prior to the executive session meeting where the offer was rescinded, he addressed members of the committee as “ladies” which was perceived by some committee members as a “microaggression,” during the initial negotiations.
Since the decision to rescind the offer to Perrone, the Easthampton community has spoken about the decision through protests and discussion online. The School Committee was initially scheduled to discuss next steps for the superintendent search during an April 4 Zoom meeting, but the meeting filled up with 300 people, the capacity for the virtual meeting, and had to be postponed to April 10.
At the April 10 meeting, the committee listened to 90 minutes of public comment before deliberating about what the next step in the search was. The committee ultimately voted 5-2 against reentering negotiations with Perrone before voting 5-1 with one abstention to name Faginski-Stark the next superintendent. She then withdrew from consideration on April 14.
After Faginski-Stark’s decision to withdraw, emails sent to Mayor Nicole LaChapelle by students were later released to Reminder Publishing, indicating that she had withdrawn after students pointed out that she posted what the student described as “transphobic rhetoric” on her Facebook account, which has since been made private.
In the emails some of the identifying information was redacted to protect the identity of the student who had emailed LaChapelle, and in other cases were “subject to attorney client privilege.”
On April 10, one student, who is a member of the Easthampton High School Gender and Sexuality Alliance Club noted they and other students had “extreme concerns about Dr. Erica Faginski.”
“Under the belief that this is her Facebook account, she has posted conservative transphobic rhetoric a multitude of times. I am requesting that you please cross check with her about this account. With the recent anti-trans picketing, many youths in the school are concerned and angry,” the student wrote.
In an email dated April 13, LaChapelle said she was “actively following up on” the students’ concerns.
“Thank you for speaking out — no person should have to hold such concerns,” she wrote.
By the next morning, LaChapelle notified the student that Faginski-Stark had withdrawn from consideration.
“The candidate withdrew from the search in the course of the School Committee chair and I following up on your original email,” LaChapelle wrote on April 14.
The posts in question were also included in the public records request and both were made in 2021.
In one post dated Jan. 23, 2021, Faginski-Stark linked to a video discussing the end of women’s sports in the wake of a still pending decision that would create changes to Title IX to allow students to participate in the sport they choose based on the alignment of their gender identity and not be discriminated against doing so.
In the second post shared on March 26, 2021, she linked to a petition to “Defend Title IX” now.
“Back in January we heard a lot about breaking the glass ceiling for women. So, I’m surprised by the silence out there relative to Title IX and the lack of advocacy by women on behalf of equality for women and women’s sports,” she wrote. “Ladies the glass ceiling is more real now than it’s been in generations. Our choice to use our voice or to remain silent will determine not only the future of women’s athletics but equality for women everywhere, it’s time to speak up.”
In an interview with Reminder Publishing, Perrone said the situation with Faginski-Stark has shaken his thought process about the Easthampton superintendent position.
“It has shaken me for sure, I’m less sure of things. I feel sad for the second candidate to step into this kind of firestorm. In good conscience, she was just looking for a job. I watched her interview, she was very good, she had great answers and I can understand why there was a 4-3 vote, she was a strong candidate,” he said.
Perrone added that he was “sorry” that she was dealing with a similar public situation.
School Committee resignation
On April 15, School Committee member Shannon Dunham announced on Facebook that she was resigning from the committee due to health concerns.
“I have a surgery scheduled for April 19, 2023. It is due to a 25-year-old injury that I must get repaired. It is a pretty extensive recovery, I will be out for 10-12 weeks. I must prioritize my health and well being at this time. I thank all of you for your support and prayers through my recovery this last year. I wish all the best,” she wrote.
Dunham previously voted in favor of naming Perrone the superintendent and addressed members of the committee as “ladies and gentlemen” in her resignation email.
In a statement sent to Reminder Publishing from Mayor’s Office Executive Assistant Lindsi Mailler after requesting to speak with LaChapelle, it was noted that the next steps were scheduled to be discussed at the School Committee’s April 25 meeting. Coverage of this meeting will appear in the May 4 edition of The Reminder.
Faginski-Stark did not respond to a request for comment by press time.