I voted No to the appointment of Christine Syriac as the next Superintendent of Schools for Seymour for the following reasons:
1. I maintain my opposition to this candidate for the same principal reason as when I voted against Ms. Mascolo’s appointment; I refuse to be forced into voting for a hand-picked candidate without having had an opportunity to interview any other(s).
2. Whereas in the past this board has involved parents, teachers, etc. in the selection of school principals and assistants, certain other board members rejected outright suggestions to involve anyone other than the board itself in making the decision for the single most important position affecting the entire district and its children.
And the board did so, although legally, without transparency and opportunity for input from leaders and members of the schools and community.
I believe that this decision may well result in the board being viewed as arrogant and uninterested in community input, thereby increasing negative feelings by the community in the future when the board will need its support.
James Garofolo
Member, Seymour Board of Education
Very well said, sir. While all my dealings with Ms Syriac have been positive thus far, I feel that this decision was made a bit too quickly and would have liked the opportunity as a parent to have a hand in the selection process. I fear that there may be retaliation from this quick decision to come in the form of future “no” votes to upcoming education budgets.
I am happy to hear that there are members of the BOE that are not rubber stamp happy. I have only had pleasant dealings with Ms. Syriac, I was disappointed to learn that there was no search committee established for such an important position. Hats off to you Mr. Garofolo for standing up for what you feel is right. The BOE and the entire Town of Seymour need to have more vounteers like you!
Good for you for standing up for your beliefs. However, I am big fan of promoting from within, and then grooming new people to step up at a later time. Lastly – I would have liked to see you step up like this when WE (parents, educators, etc) we completely ignored when it came to the budget. I guess it was OK to not involve us and HEAR US then.