Teachers: No confidence in Hampshire Regional superintendent
Published: 07-25-2023 4:18 PM |
WESTHAMPTON — Unions representing teachers at Hampshire Regional High School and the Anne T. Dunphy School in Williamsburg have declared they have no confidence in Superintendent Diana Bonneville.
In a message to the Regional School Committee, the Hampshire Regional Education Association declared that Bonneville had failed to provide transparency, collaboration, and clarity around the budget process; had provided inadequate communication in all aspects of her job; and had created and maintained a toxic work environment that has destroyed morale in the central office, among other criticisms.
In addition, the union claims Bonneville has not been open or collaborative about the hiring processes for leadership positions, and that she continued to pursue a central office candidate “whose values are not aligned with those of our community, despite unequivocal dismay and disapproval from community members when they learned about the possible hire.”
The union also asserts that Bonneville has forced out long-standing veteran staff and has restructured the central office “without substantial rationale ... [with] significant ramifications for the district’s education programs, health services and overall finances.”
A special meeting of the joint school committees is scheduled for Thursday at 5 p.m. in the Hampshire Regional High School library. The agenda consists of a single item: a closed-door meeting to discuss the reputation, health or “discipline or dismissal of, or complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member or individual,” as specified in Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 30A, Section 21.
Bonneville did not respond to an email request for comment Tuesday. Efforts to reach the chair and vice chair of the regional school committee were unsuccessful.
While union co-president Greg Reynolds said some of these grievances are of long standing, the district was roiled last month over Bonneville’s choice for assistant superintendent, Erica Faginski-Stark, who had recently withdrawn as a candidate for school superintendent in Easthampton over controversial social media posts highlighted by students.
At a June 22 joint school committee meeting to consider her appointment at Hampshire Regional, Faginski-Stark’s apologies for her online comments about transgender athletes did not sway the committees, who were nearly unanimous in rejecting her.
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A week later, Bonneville came under fire again at a joint school committee meeting over the hiring of a director of health services. Several committee members took her to task for not consulting them over an appointment that some asserted was the school committee’s responsibility.
“I’ve been under attack for every recent decision I’ve made and I just decided to be silent on that and focus on the director of pupil services and the assistant superintendency,” Bonneville said in response.
With reference to the union’s criticisms of Bonneville, Reynolds said all the management-level positions have been vacated in the last year, including the director of pupil services, director of curriculum and instruction, director of health services, the district physician and the business administrator.
Bonneville was hired as chief of Hampshire Regional schools in 2021 after serving for 18 months as interim superintendent in South Hadley following the abrupt departure of Nick Young. Before that she was principal at South Hadley High School for seven years.
The joint committees consist of the Hampshire Regional School Committee and the committees for the district’s four elementary schools: New Hingham (Chesterfield/Goshen), Anne T. Dunphy (Williamsburg), Norris (Southampton), and Westhampton.