WESTHAMPTON — A week after the five school committees for the Hampshire Regional School District rejected Superintendent Diana Bonneville’s recommended choice for assistant superintendent, the school’s chief again came under fire regarding another central office position that she filled.

At a virtual meeting Tuesday, Bonneville informed the committees that she hired someone to serve as director of school health services, effective Monday. The hiring upset some members, who said they should have been informed prior to a contract being signed.

Bonneville told the committees that in this case the hiring doesn’t require a vote, which wasn’t the case a week ago when the she was looking to fill the assistant position with Erica Faginski-Stark. The committees voted not to appoint Faginski-Stark, the director of curriculum and instruction at Ludlow Public Schools.

Bonneville said that position has been reopened after the other finalists in the running dropped out.

“I did reach out to two other people, and both declined,” she said. “So I’m going to reopen the post for another two weeks, and reach out to the search committee to revisit all applications and help me in another round of interviews.”

While committee members voiced no concerns over the next steps in hiring an assistant superintendent, the tone swiftly changed when Bonneville began detailing the hiring of Donna L. Giffune to serve as director of school health services.

As the director, Giffune, who signed a contract June 5, will be responsible for writing safety grants, supporting nurses, acting as a nurse leader, aligning the district’s health curriculum and filling in as a substitute nurse in the district per diem.

“This doesn’t require a vote legally and I want you to have the opportunity to be introduced to her before the school year begins,” Bonneville said.

Peter Cleary, who serves on the Westhampton Elementary School Committee as well as the Hampshire Regional Middle and High School Committee, questioned if it was in the committee’s purview to appoint someone to this position.

According to the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, the joint committees are responsible for appointing assistant superintendents, school business administra tors, administrator of special education, school physicians, registered nurses, legal counsel and supervisors of attendance.

“How is that not under this duty?” he asked.

Bonneville clarified that the director of school health services is not a building nurse and would only be filling in on a per diem basis. She also noted that she spoke with representatives from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, who reassured her that as long as Giffune was a registered nurse in Massachusetts, her school nurse certification would go through in the next month or so.

“We’re not hiring her as a nurse … the responsibilities are more vast. Nurse leader responsibilities are not the primary responsibilities. They were never in the original job description,” Bonneville said.

Amid calls for further validation from legal counsel, Margaret Larson, who serves on the William E. Norris School Committee as well as the regional committee, questioned why Bonneville did not mention prior to Tuesday’s meeting that members would not be able to weigh in or officially vote on the position. Larson also pointed out that the previous week’s agenda states that the committee would be introduced to central office candidates and vote on their potential appointment, which was carried over to this week’s agenda.

“Last week, it appeared as though we were expecting to have a vote on that position [director of school health services] and this week, we’re not. I’m wondering what changed?” she asked.

Bonneville said what changed were her discussions via the superintendent’s hotline and with DESE officials.

Larson further queried why Bonneville was not upfront about the potential change, adding that it appeared as though Bonneville was “trying to avoid having the school committees weigh in” on the hiring.

A back and forth ensued between the superintendent and several committee members who questioned why Bonneville did not alert members that they did not have the authority to appoint and vote on the position, and that she had already hired someone for that role.

“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.

Questions were also raised about why nurses were not involved in the decision-making process. In recapping the timeline since Guffine’s contract was signed, Larson questioned why Bonneville had attempted to set up time for the nurses to interview Guffine after the contract had been signed.

Bonneville said that while she does want their input, she was looking for more time as circumstances have grown “contentious” over staffing changes that would have impacted nurses and union contract negotiations. She did note that she worked with two independent outside nursing consultants for guidance, but did not include the nurses in the district as she did not want to put them in an “awkward” position to potentially feel disloyal to one of their colleagues.

Earlier in the meeting, Stephanie Faas, the departing nurse leader at Hampshire Regional, and Greg Reynolds, a teacher in the regional school district and co-president of the Hampshire Regional Education Association, both made statements advocating for the collective committees to reconsider the hiring for the director of school health services position for the lack of nurse involvement in the process.

Reynolds said he opposed the nomination for the position as he felt their was “not a significant” search committee for the process.

Giffune, a resident of Saratoga County, New York, was the lone applicant for the position. Despite that, Bonneville said she was impressed with her work experience, education, personality and past experiences with crisis team management and health education.

Faas questioned whether Giffune possessed the minimum requirements necessary to take the helm as director.

“My comments tonight are in no way intended to disrespect the candidate for this position, but rather to draw attention to the superintendent’s lack of a consistent process and transparency in hiring central office positions,” Faas said. “As well as the blatant disrespect her actions demonstrate to our school nurses. They at minimum deserve a voice in decisions that directly impact their nursing practice. And for three more days, it is my duty to advocate for them and the students they serve.”

When officially introduced to committee members, Giffune provided an impassioned speech to members detailing her background and experiences, which includes a bachelor’s degree in physical therapy, a teaching certificate and an associate degree in nursing.

A few members clarified that the heated discussion was not intended to question Giffune’s qualifications, but rather the overall hiring process.

In the end, members of the regional committee voted to have its chairperson, Kim Schott, appoint individuals as part of a subcommittee to study and determine guidelines for which school committee’s approval is required as outlined by the state of Massachusetts. As part of that vote, the subcommittee will bring back research and findings to the collective school committees.

“My goal is to figure out what it is we’re supposed to be doing and/or not doing,” said Tom Cleary, vice chairperson of the regional school committee. 

Emily Thurlow can be reached at ethurlow@gazettenet.com.]]>