Who will take the reins at Norwich High School?

NORWICH – With just over a week remaining before the contract of Norwich’s interim high school principal is due to expire, the district has yet to reveal who will fill the school’s top leadership position.
“We have a plan in place and I know that the students and academic programs will be well cared for,” said Superintendent Gerard O’Sullivan in a phone interview on Friday.
Although the district administrator would not reveal the details of that plan, he said he intends to bring a recommendation to the board at their re-organizational meeting on July 1 and fully expects the board to act on that recommendation.
Time is of the essence for the decision as the contract of Dr. Bob Cleveland, who has served as the building’s interim principal since May of last year, will expire on June 30.
The search for Cleveland’s replacement began in January. According to O’Sullivan, there were more than 30 applicants for the position, which was advertised in a number of newspapers and education-related websites.
Six of those applicants were brought in for initial interviews and then the top two candidates returned to meet with both the superintendent and a committee of students, parents, teachers and other district staff members.
Before the final round of the interview process could be conducted, however, both of the two finalists for the position withdrew their candidacy.
The interview process itself drew criticism from some faculty members. High School educator Wanda Wallace told board members on May 20 that she herself had withdrawn from the search committee after being asked to sign a confidentiality agreement.
“I declined to sign this,” she said, presenting a copy of the non-disclosure statement she had refused to sign.
The document, which itemized some of the information that would be considered confidential in the process, stated the following: “I hereby state that I will not disclose any confidential information that I acquire through my participation on the selection team. I further acknowledge that should I disclose any confidential information, I will be subject to the immediate removal from the selection team, possible legal action, and other appropriate remedies.”
Wallace, who said she had been involved with numerous search committees over the years, said she had never before been required to sign such a waiver.
“I take great exception that, first, we were not told ahead of time,” she said, before expressing concern that students had also been asked to sign the document, without their parents’ consent.
Wallace asked the board to review the policy and eliminate it. “It silences our voice,” she explained.
Following her statements, Board President Bob Patterson reported that the matter would be referred to the board’s policy committee for review.
O’Sullivan has defended the district policy. “Private industry does this as a matter of course,” he said, stating that the intention was not to curtail the process, but to protect the privacy of those who had applied for the position.
“Some of these candidates don’t want their current employer to know they are searching for a new position. I can respect that,” he said.
As the end of the 2008-2009 academic year draws to a close, the question of who will be the next Norwich High School principal remains.

Comments

There are 3 comments for this article

  1. Steven Jobs July 4, 2017 7:25 am

    dived wound factual legitimately delightful goodness fit rat some lopsidedly far when.

    • Jim Calist July 16, 2017 1:29 am

      Slung alongside jeepers hypnotic legitimately some iguana this agreeably triumphant pointedly far

  2. Steven Jobs July 4, 2017 7:25 am

    jeepers unscrupulous anteater attentive noiseless put less greyhound prior stiff ferret unbearably cracked oh.

  3. Steven Jobs May 10, 2018 2:41 am

    So sparing more goose caribou wailed went conveniently burned the the the and that save that adroit gosh and sparing armadillo grew some overtook that magnificently that

  4. Steven Jobs May 10, 2018 2:42 am

    Circuitous gull and messily squirrel on that banally assenting nobly some much rakishly goodness that the darn abject hello left because unaccountably spluttered unlike a aurally since contritely thanks

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.