Residents of the Readfield-area school district are calling on their school board to remove the district superintendent after he chose not to renew a waiver that allowed the popular middle school principal to work in that role before obtaining the required credentials.
The call comes in the form of a Change.org petition that states Jay Charette’s leadership in Regional School Unit 38 has led to the loss of valuable staff members. It’s the second petition in the district to be launched in recent weeks; residents started collecting signatures in July to save the job of Rick Sirois, whose waiver Charette opted not to renew a full year before Sirois’ contract was scheduled to end.
At that time, district residents issued a call on social media for the school board to hold a special meeting where they could argue for Sirois’ reinstatement.
On Monday, a special meeting was set for Aug. 13 at 6:30 p.m. at the middle school cafeteria at 2100 Millard Harrison Drive in Readfield to act on summer resignations and to discuss an interim role at the middle school.
It came after Charette said in a post on the district’s website Friday that Sirois resigned effective that day.
Maranacook Community High School Principal Michele LaForge took over for Sirois starting on Monday, while a search is underway for a new middle school principal.
“Principal LaForge’s work will help to prepare the middle school, district, and community for a thorough and intentional search for the next middle school principal. The immediate goal as a team will be to ensure that the return of the students to both the middle school and high school will be seamless while maintaining our mission of being welcoming and dedicated to excellence,” a statement on the school district’s website said.
It is unclear why Charette chose not to renew Siriois’ waiver; he has stated it is a personnel issue and declined comment. Under terms of the waiver, Sirois was required to be working toward a master’s degree. His progress on the degree is unclear, and his attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
According to Sirois’ contract, which was provided by Charette following a Freedom of Access Act request, termination could be “mutually agreed upon” before contract expiration.
The new petition, started by Dominique Taylor, has collected over 200 signatures in under a week on Change.org and echoes the same message conveyed by over 100 teachers from a union survey in the spring.
“We have witnessed dedicated educators and administrators leaving our district because they cannot thrive in an environment where their voices are silenced,” the petition states. “The employees who have left are known for their commitment to education and their focus on the students, yet they have been driven away by an administration more concerned with image than reality.”
The sentiment was echoed in a survey completed by more than 100 RSU 38 staff members in in the spring, nearly all of whom answered that they do not trust Charette’s leadership.
The survey, made in conjunction with the Maranacook teacher’s union and the board’s communication committee, was sent to 223 people and received responses from 101 staff from the elementary, middle and high schools.
It was created in response to a survey by the teachers union that the board and Charette did not deem official. When now-retired teacher Dan Holman brought the survey up during a public comment at a school board meeting last year, Charette said that Holman talking about the survey was “illegal.”
Holman, who was elected last week to serve as a representative for Mount Vernon on the RSU 38 school board, said he’s disappointed that requests to schedule the special meeting were not acted on sooner.
“It was a chance for the board to have input and and act on a decision that they were not informed about,” Holman said. “It’s regrettable that they were not willing to move it to another day.”
This spring’s survey, which was obtained by the Kennebec Journal, gathered results from more than 100 staff members from the elementary, middle and high schools, with 80% of the respondents being teachers. Just under half work at one of the district’s four elementary schools, with 31% at the middle and the remainder of the respondents from the high school.
“The survey was reviewed by the board’s communication committee and changes were made prior to the survey being sent out based on recommendations by the committee. It was, then, sent out from the association to all staff members,” said Jill Plourde, president of the teacher’s union.
As union president, Plourde said she did not have a comment on the situation regarding the middle school principal.
In response to the statement “I trust and respect my superintendent,” 26% of the survey respondents strongly disagreed, 24% of the respondents were neutral and 13%, said they strongly agreed.
To the statement, “I trust and respect my principal,” 67% of respondents strongly agreed, 18% agreed, with only 2% answering they strongly disagreed.
Other questions on the survey asked staff if they feel their principal and superintendent foster constructive relationships and if they display respectful behavior.
Sixty percent of respondents strongly agree that the four principals foster constructive relationships with staff and 72% believe the principals display respectful behavior.
For the superintendent, respondents were split across the board with 30% agreeing or strongly agreeing that Charette has constructive relationships with staff, about 30% were neutral and about 30% disagreed or strongly disagreed. Asked whether the superintendent demonstrates respectful behavior, 30% agreed or strongly agreed, 25% of respondents were neutral, and 44% disagreed or strongly disagreed.
Charette said Monday he had no comment on the survey results. Shawn Roderick, chairman of the RSU 38 board, did not return an email seeking information about the special meeting.
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