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Date: 12/2/2020
SOUTH HADLEY – The South Hadley School Committee met on the evening of Nov. 20 after a week of candidate interviews and a nearly year-long process to decide who to offer the position of superintendent to.
Chairperson Kyle Belanger began the meeting by acknowledging the work and commitment that the entire committee and student representative, Maddie Foley had put into the process. The committee decided to spend seven minutes on each candidate discussing the interview and any other item about the candidate they felt was noteworthy.
They began first with the candidate they first interviewed during the week, which was the current interim superintendent Dr. Diana Bonneville. Each member spoke on Bonneville’s commitment to the district and willingness to do what needed to be done for the benefit of the students. Member, Charles Miles, said she had “done a solid job of steering the ship through an incredibly rough period.”
“From the very sudden departure of Dr. Young leaving with no budget, then not even any ability to find the files in the office,” he said. “She got on the ground and got the budget going and kind of kept the school system through you know one of the toughest times in modern America history and I think she deserves a lot of credit for that.” He said one of the items that stuck out the most for him when the community interviews were conducted was that staff said “they used to dread the phone ringing from the superintendent's office and they don’t anymore.”
“I think it’s important to recognize that as a district we’ve shifted from what was at least, by some people, perceived as a somewhat toxic environment from the leadership. Just a very different management style,” he said.
Member Christine Phillips recognized Bonneville’s loyalty to the district. She said this included “the teachers, the staff, the admin, the families, the students”
“Who just steps up like that? I almost feel like she didn’t think twice, she just did it because she cares so much about the district, and she didn’t have to do that. I just applaud her for that,”?Phillips said.
After each member had spoken about Bonneville, they moved on to discuss the next candidate who they’d interviewed, Dr. Carole Learned-Miller. Each member of the committee spoke highly of her intelligence, including Belanger who said he’d never talked to someone who was “more intellectual, was more able to negotiate so many topics.”
“I, as someone who loves the sport of talking, the sport of rhetoric, the sport of diction was blown away by how she also clearly enjoys digging deep, intellectually and forward thinking,” he said. “I might have just met the next host of Jeopardy, she is so quick and she wears that knowledge in a way that is not intimidating, but something that regardless of what happens this evening I’m a fan.”
Member Allyson Garcia shared a quote she had found to be memorable. “I wrote down a quote she said at some point, I can’t remember which session it was, but she said ‘I’m a learner too,’ and I really respect that approach and it says a lot about a person when they’re in this position and they’re applying for a job like this to make a point of reminding people that everybody is a learner,” Garcia said.
Vice Chair Allison Schlachter said while Learned-Miller “obviously stood out in the crowd for her intelligence,” she was “incredibly impressed with the knowledge she acquired on purpose about South Hadley.”
“I was incredibly impressed by the commitment to understanding us as a district, that stood out to me,” she said. “Despite how smart she is, she’s just learning all day long. Every conversation you have with her she’s learning, she’s observing, she’s absorbing, and she’s taking it in, she’s constructing ideas and putting it back out the whole time.”
The committee then moved on to discussing the final candidate, Dr. Jahmal Mosley. Garcia said she attended his community meeting and that those meetings had felt “genuine.”
“It really did start off, like I said, very formal and ended up being very candid. We really connected and it was great,” she said. She said Mosley was really able to connect with the high school students and while each question asked from each child in the community session was different, he was able to “really make each child feel heard, and you could sense that.”
Phillips joked that it was like Mosley had been sitting in on the transportation discussion she’d had recently with Miles. “Some of the things he talked about are the things that, in this subcommittee, that Charles and I have been looking at are literally things he said,” she said. She added that she gets worried about the budget and that his experience and ideas with regard to budgeting could be incredibly useful to the district.
“We do not want to continue on this trajectory in South Hadley where we can’t afford anything. We’re losing teachers and I think that just his experience of leadership at that level is something I think our community could benefit from,” said Phillips.
Foley agreed and said his experience with budgeting could prove to be incredibly useful, especially during pandemic. Additionally, she said she appreciated his values and ability to communicate with those he interacted with. “I also really liked his core values, how he put students first and he listens to people, and his open door policy. He just seems like he would make a lot of good relationships with everyone in the district, not just certain people,” she said.
Schlachter said that Mosley “brings a human-ness and approachability” in the way that he communicates that she found inspiring. She also called him a “uniting force” and said Mosley’s human resource director had said “he is a peacemaker, he is a unifier and doesn’t force his way in. He brings things together, he brings people together.”
Belanger called Mosley one of the most impressive people he had ever interviewed. “Not only did I see my family in him, but I saw myself as a father, and I think that’s not an energy I’m used to feeling in offices like that in towns like ours, and that was really meaningful to me,” he said.
The group then went into deliberation, and Phillips emphasized how she felt that the group needed to think about not only the short term goals of the district, but the long term plans and goals for the district as well. “If we don’t look at long term, our district is going to continue to limp along,” she said.
Miles praised the other candidates and said it was a difficult choice, but ultimately said he felt as though Mosely was the right candidate for the South Hadley School District. “Because of the vision I talked about, because of that financial grasp, and because of just where I think we are as a district. And this is really hard because I have gotten several emails and statements in the central office, and I’ve heard other people say it, why choose someone new, we have someone who we know and trust, and that’s a real concern because it means taking a risk, but sometimes leadership means you have to take risks,” he said. “We’re not in a position where we just have to choose the last person standing because there’s no one left, we’ve got three solid candidates here and I think we can’t be bound by worry about what will happen there.”
Garcia said she agreed with Miles, but was worried about division and that it would cause “people to not trust us anymore as a committee and having to rebuild.” However, she said she believed that it would take time building trust and felt Mosley was committed to building that trust and had the skills to do so within the community.
Belanger, however, disagreed and said he believed the committee hadn’t yet seen Bonneville’s “full gear as a leader because she’s so respectful of the institution in our town.”
“What I’ve seen is someone who understood a process was going to play out and because the power of the superintendent's chair can fully shape a district, Diana was put in what I would consider a no win situation,” he said. Additionally, he called her a “home-grown rockstar” and said she has been “chomping at the bit for a chance to actually show, and all she has done is show she has that right to do the job.”
He said while he wouldn’t be upset if the committee went the other way and that he even disagreed with Bonneville on some significant topics such as reopening, he felt that she had “earned the right to do the job.”
Schlachter said she agreed with everyone, despite there being a slight disagreement among the group. However, she said, “South Hadley has been on a trend since I’ve been paying attention for a few years now, and the trend is we’re losing and losing and losing. And there’s grief and there’s fighting and there’s loss and there’s trouble.”
“The institutional knowledge that Diana has is invaluable, there’s something also to be said about coming in fresh, looking at it from an external lens, looking at it from a big picture. Looking at our school system from the eyes of someone who is not immersed in it,” she said. She compared it to being a first year teacher and seeing something from a fresh perspective, “It’s like looking at two different pictures.”
Belanger added that he believed an assistant superintendent would be helpful. Schlachter agreed with this statement and said she believed until the position of assistant superintendent and curriculum director were added to the administrative office the district was “never going to reach our potential.”
“I think we need to reinvest in this district,” she said.
Phillips said regardless of how the vote went, Bonneville had “showed up” for the job and put herself out there. “She knows and our community knows, we owe her a debt of gratitude,” she said, but also emphasized the district’s long term goals and needs.
She also called on the committee members to make a decision that was best for the district, not for the sake of politics. “If there is a further divide because of a decision that we make tonight, then where is the loyalty to our students and our district? All three candidates are outstanding, but we can’t be afraid to make leadership decisions because of a divide,” she said.
Phillips added, “I heard on the day to day that Diana has pivoted and been agile and adapted, but the reality is folks we had a $18 million deficit last year and it’s not going to get better. That’s not Diana’s fault, that’s not anyone’s fault, but at the end of the day in the interviews for me Dr. Mosley spoke to the long term challenges we have, and the solutions we would bring because he’s done it, he’s had the experience,” she said.
Foley said she agreed that all the candidates are qualified and would do good things in the district in their own way. However, she said she agreed with Belanger about Bonneville. “Dr. Bonneville, just the relationships she’s established and all the change that she’s brought just in less than a year is amazing. I felt more safe in the district when she became the superintendent, I believed in our superintendent,” she said.
Miles said while he believed that Bonneville would be a great superintendent, he thought she needed a bit more time to develop. He added that in an ideal world he’d like to hire Mosley and then bring on Bonneville as the assistant superintendent to allow for the growth she needed.
Belanger brought up during Mosley’s interview the day prior when he was asked about relocating to South Hadley and how Mosley’s response didn’t sit well with him. However, Schlachter said she had called him to follow up and clarify about that question prior to the meeting taking place. She said Mosley had a home in Brattleboro, VT, which was less than an hour’s drive from the town, giving him the ability to remain local without moving directly to South Hadley.
Belanger expressed that he was struggling with the process and the decision being made during the meeting. Phillips reassured him though that it was because they cared about Bonneville. “This would be easier if she wasn’t doing a good job. This is hard and change is hard,” she said.
The committee then discussed those who may be fearing for their jobs, should they hire Mosely. However, Phillips and Garcia both said they did not feel as though that would be the case and wasn’t “his style.”
Miles then made a motion to offer the position of superintendent to Mosley, pending successful contract negotiations. The motion was seconded by Garcia. Despite disagreeing, Belanger said he would be voting in favor as Mosley deserved to know he was supported. At the end of the discussion Schlachter said she still felt conflicted. “I was hoping in this organic process together that I’d feel a sense of conviction, and I’m not quite there. But I also - I think that the three candidates we have in front of us, and clearly the two that are rising to the top, I think that it’s understandable to be conflicted,” she said.
At the end of the meeting, all five members voted in favor of offering Mosley the job. Belanger then sent the committee to recess and stepped off camera to call Mosley and offer him the job. After a short time, the committee came back from recess where Belanger said Mosley was “beyond thrilled.” Belanger said while Mosley had not officially accepted the job, it was “because he had to talk to his family first” and that he would be calling him back the following day.
Schlachter told Reminder Publishing on Nov. 24 that Mosley had accepted the job, “pending successful contract negotiation.” Should contract negotiations be successful, Mosley will begin his position as the South Hadley Superintendent in July.