School Committee Members Question Teacher Hiring Practices

The Bristol-Warren School Committee voted to hire 12 new teachers and one new administrator to full time positions on Thursday, in what was a sometimes heated meeting.

Sonya Whipp, a principal at who chaired the committee for selection of elementary positions, explained the process before the committee, which included rigorous paperwork, sifting through resumes, cover letters, recommendations, and transcripts, and a standardized interview process with a scoring rubric.

There were a number of applicants in the process. "There were 471 applicants. We interviewed 20 candidates" she said. Screening the sheer number of applicants was based on a series of priorities: whether or not the candidate was certified in various areas, and teaching experience.

"It was very much a team process" she said.

The appointments come among allegations from the public and members of the board of nepotism, and individuals not choosing to recuse themselves when interviewing family members. Paul Silva, Vice-Chairperson of the board, brought up allegations he had heard levied.

"Over the last several days... I've read... and I've received phone calls from a number of people airing complaints. The issues raised are numerous... First, why is it that some people that we hire each year as substitutes are not even granted an interview when they apply for a position? Second, the feeling of the public is that the district gives priority to relatives and friends... Third, why did we allow someone to be involved in the screening and interviewing process, when they had a relative applying?"

Karen Lynch added to the growing list of concerns, stating "I have a serious problem with some members of the interview team not recusing themselves when relatives interviewed for positions in this district, especially if they are members of our administrations. This, to me, tainted the interview and screening process."

Denise Arsenault responded to this charge by stating "as the chair of the policy subcommittee... we have recently instituted a policy which we named 'Human Capital Management Policy' and it had everything to do with [the] process of recruiting, hiring, retaining and evaluating teachers in the district, and after having some discussion in executive session with our superintendant and the entire school committee, I am very comfortable that the process has been followed, the policy that we have in place will suffice, and any [discrepancies] that occurred were taken care of. It was explained to us that in one situation, there was an administrator who was related to a candidate, but the scores were redone, and that person's points were excluded."

Superintendent Melinda L. Thies responded to the charges by drumming up the list of those hired, stating, "I have every confidence that they will be the next vanguard of a wonderful system that we are so very proud of. I have confidence in these candidates and I have interviewed every single one of them myself."

Secondly, she noted, "it is incumbent upon [my administrators] to ensure that they have the highest quality teaching in those classrooms and they hire the most highly qualified candidates," hinting that it would reflect poorly upon them come job performance reviews if cronyism occurred.

"If there's a question, we need to, you know, face it full on," Thies noted.

And it appears the committee will. Karen Lynch requested that a review of the hiring policy be on the agenda for next meeting. All the candidates were hired based on the recommendation of the superintendent.