Credentialing Not The Only Issue With New Nashua School Superintendent

NASHUA, NH — The speed by which the city’s new school superintendent could be certified as well as potential backlash from unions and others were potential factors why the Nashua school board rescinded an offer to its new school superintendent — even though he would have been able to work in New Hampshire.

Stephen Linkous, the Kansas City Public Schools Chief of Staff, was hired by the Nashua School District in February and was slated to start in July. During the past two months, as he began to work his way into the job leading the state's second-largest school district, it became apparent he would not be able to be certified in New Hampshire quickly — due to Ed. Rules and requirements about the level of education and time in lower roles a nominee must have before being designated a superintendent. Linkous, however, could have worked in Nashua — either via an alternative pathways program or by offering “superintendent services” while not being certified.

Stephen Appleby, the director of the Division of Educator Support and Higher Education, while not speaking specifically about Linkous or Nashua, said both avenues could be taken by job applicants.

Certified superintendents are a position badly needed in the state — meaning candidates can grow into the position while also continuing schooling and testing. Appleby said candidates get into CAGS, the Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study, to build upon their master’s degrees.

At the same time, school districts in New Hampshire are not required to have “school superintendents,” he said. Districts and boards can hire staffers to “provide superintendent services” while not being credentialed.

Appleby did not have the exact number of staffers who applied to offer or were offering superintendent services while not being credentialed but did say it was “rare but does happen.” He added, “It’s a fair statement to say that once or twice a year” there is a hire or inquiry about it.

One recent example is Everett “Bill” Olsen, a superintendent from Westford, Massachusetts, who is not certified in New Hampshire. He was hired last year as an “interim chief educational officer,” leading the Merrimack School District, one of the top SAUs in the state. Another example was former Concord School District staffer Donna Palley, who was elevated to be the district’s interim school superintendent after the firing of Terri Forsten in the wake of the Primo “Howie” Leung teacher-student rape incidents in 2019. Concord NH Patch discovered Palley was not certified to be a superintendent and she was demoted to “providing superintendent services” until she became certified.

But Appleby added, school boards needed to “hire the most qualified candidates,” to provide those services to the district when involved in a search for job applicants.

Jennifer Bishop, the president of the Nashua School Board, said members knew about the provisions with the state but there were other factors that led to the decision.

“I can’t really speak to a lot of it since it was in nonpublic session,” she said. “He needed to have his certification by July 1, and it wasn’t going to take a couple of months to get it done.”

Bishop said there were other concerns like people working below him who had more experience while he did not have certification. That, she said, could have created “logistical” issues. There was also the potential that union members and others in the school community would have “no faith if he didn’t walk in with his certification” on his first day, she said.

“That played into it,” she said, “(but there were) other nonpublic factors that I can’t share.”

Bishop added the board wanted “a positive upswing” with “everybody’s support” right away and that was not going to occur.

Adam Marcoux, the president of the Nashua Teachers’ Union, said the concern by educators was “how far the process went before someone realized that there was an issue with certification.” The board, he said, also did not speak about hiring “a person who can offer superintendent services.”

However, the only information he had about the rescinded offer was what he read in the press release.

“When the position was posted, the board was looking for a candidate who was certified as a superintendent and had experience,” he said. “All of our teachers and administrators have to be certified, whether that is done through the traditional route or the non-traditional route through the alternative certification route. I’m not sure why Mr. Linkous wasn’t eligible for alternative certification.”

Nashua began its search for a new superintendent in early 2021 after the exit of Jahmal Mosley, who took a job in South Haley, MA, in January 2021. The board hired BWP & Associates of Libertyville, Illinois, to conduct the search.

The district also hired Garth McKinney as an interim superintendent and Mario Andrade as assistant superintendent for elementary through June 2021.

Dr. Kathleen Williams and Dr. Debra Hill of BWP were the two consultants with the firm working directly with board members. They presented a slate of candidates for the board to consider. The board suspended the search in Spring 2021 and then restarted it in Fall 2021.

The district has paid just shy of $30,000 to BWP & Associates for its services.

On Wednesday, Bishop said the consultants assumed there is reciprocity between Kansas and New Hampshire and that proved incorrect, leading the board to rescind the offer.

No one from BWP & Associates returned an email seeking comment about whether they would be remedying the issue in the future.

Linkous also did not return an email about the situation.

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