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Date: 9/2/2020
WILBRAHAM – Former Hampshire Regional School District Superintendent Aaron Osborne was recently hired as director of finance and operations for the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District (HWRSD).
HWRSD Superintendent Albert Ganem made the official announcement to the press on Aug. 21, a week after Osborne submitted his letter of resignation to the chairs of the respective school committees that comprise the Hampshire Regional School District.
“We had several good candidates for this critical position,” Ganem said in the press release. “Aaron Osborne was selected because he brings exactly the type of leadership, business background and regional school experience we are seeking.”
Osborne said in the release that he was looking forward to starting his work with HWRSD and, adding, “within a short time, I am confident that I can make a significant contribution to the Hampden-Wilbraham team in this role.”
In the release, HWRSD described Osborne as an “an experienced educator who started his school career as a math and business teacher and worked his way up to supervisor of instruction to director of finance and operations, to superintendent of schools. The district added the process of hiring Osborne included several in-person and remote interviews with HWRSD School Committee members, principals, administrators, town officials and central office staff.
Osborne replaced Howard Barber, who recently left HWRSD for a similar position with the Old Rochester Regional School District in Plymouth County. HWRSD indicated Osborne would fill the vacated position “at the end of August.”
In his resignation letter, Osborne announced to the Hampshire Regional school committees that his last day would be Aug. 28, the final Friday of the month.
Osborne’s contract with the Hampshire Regional School District included a stipulation requiring him to provide 60 days notice before vacating his position, meaning his last official day of employment with the district is Oct. 13.
In order to fulfill this requirement, Osborne told the committees he intended to utilize 25 vacation days for the 2020-21 school year, eight compensatory days and two accrued vacation days. Osborne also has an additional 28 accrued vacation days from the 2019-20 school year for which he will be compensated.
Osborne was hired to lead the Hampshire Regional School District in 2018 and in 2019 agreed not to pursue a renewal of his contract after teachers at Hampshire Regional High School voted no confidence in the superintendent’s leadership. In his resignation letter, he stated, “While my contract contains a provision for 60 days notice, at least two districts have made it clear that their desire is not to renew my contract and I have been compelled to agree not to seek such. Therefore, I must presume that it is in the interest of all parties that I vacate the position with haste.”
Reminder Publishing reached out to Hampshire Regional High School Committee Chair Carl Schlerman as well as Westhampton Elementary School Committee Chair Brigid O’Riordan and Southampton Elementary School Committee Chair Jon Lumbra to ask if they were aware of Osborne’s new position; if his new employment with another district while still technically employed by the Hampshire Regional violated any part of their agreement; and if so, whether the district and/or school committees take any action. There was no response as of press time.
The Hampshire Regional school committees also met for a joint session on Aug. 26 for approximately four hours, including a lengthy executive session, to discuss their approach to filling Osborne’s vacancy.
Schlerman said while no motions were passed in the executive session, which ended at approximately 11 p.m., the committee agreed in open session afterward to create a subcommittee to direct the search for an interim superintendent.
In addition to finding an interim superintendent, the committee discussed at length the possibility of the individual school principals acting taking on superintendent duties while supported by the central office.