People in the Monadnock region take the word community seriously. Not only do they value it as a concept, but they want to make it happen, they want to be part of it.
That’s why the decision the Mascenic school board made to not renew high school principal Tom Marshall’s contract for another year hit parents, students and teachers so hard.
Because it’s a personnel matter, the school board is not at liberty to say why Marshall’s contract wasn’t renewed.
Still, the school comunity has really bonded with Marshall over the last school year and, in the absence of other outlets, they’ve sought to make their voices heard in various ways: the student walkout and protest May 16, Twitter messages and other social media posts, asking questions at school board meetings.
As Pat Mittleider said at the May 18 school board meeting, “We’re just really wanting to have a dialogue, a two-way conversation going on. Not singling out and picking on people, just wanting our voices heard, and to feel comfortable that our members…are open to our concerns and our suggestions, and not close-minded.”
It’s a difficult situation. But when you’re in a difficult situation, the best thing to do is to go the extra mile to let the other side know you hear them and you want to work with them.
It’s unfortunate that that’s not how things appeared to go with the new principal search.
Finalist John Barth, a former Conant High School principal, may well be the best candidate for the job. But the pool of candidates was narrowed to just him before parents were invited to be part of the process in a meet and greet scheduled for Wednesday night.
Parents have previously been part of the principal search process before it was down to one candidate, so why didn’t that happen this time? Perhaps there’s a reason, but so far the school district has been silent.
School board members work tirelessly to help administrators conduct the district’s business, and we’ve heard them speak with heartfelt words about the work they do. Some may even feel the community doesn’t trust them, when people express concern about decisions they find hard to understand.
What we all have to remember is communication is vital to any community.