To the editor:
What are the Jaffrey-Rindge School District School Board and superintendent’s office thinking with this fiasco regarding the athletic director job?
We have had concerns over this position for years; it has been a part-time position, filled by teachers, truancy clerks, department heads, principals and part timers, with a high turnover rate. Most people agree that it is a very involved job handling four schools, 12 grades over three campuses and deserves full-time attention.
Our current athletic director, David Springfield, has brought knowledge, experience, passion and a full-time effort to the job. The administration has decided to not just make the position full-time, but to expand it to include all extracurricular activities. Now the nominating committee has decided to bring forward for the position someone other than the current athletic director.
Is the administration concerned that the emphasis will be on athletics and other activities will be short-changed? If so, have targets for activity development; isn’t that called management? Is the concern that the current athletic director may not be as strong in one area of expertise; isn’t that what we budget money every year for – staff development?
Why would you double a job description, when you have someone in place doing the job, to bring in someone new to start from scratch, with no local ties or experience? Why reinvent the wheel again? It has been reported that the candidate who is to be nominated has Division 1 college women’s hockey experience, but where is the high school athletic director and/or activities director experience?
The school district lost four experienced and well respected administrators just before the start of the 2018-19 school year who must have felt that their futures were elsewhere, after all the changes that the current district administration made. I was sad to see them go, but understood their positions.
But enough is enough. What message are we sending to all of the staff in the district; changes are coming but there is no room for you; we don’t value you enough to invest in you? What message are we sending to those Conant alumni who are considering or starting a teaching career; there is no future for you in your home town? If you work in the district and they want to change the light bulbs, better update the resume!
I suggest the superintendent and the School Board listen to the residents of the district. They are informed, engaged and ultimately the boss. Keep our athletic director.
David Drouin
Rindge