Superintendent MaryAnne Mascolo apologized for losing her cool at a school board meeting during a discussion over hiring practices within the district.
“I’m more disappointed in myself because superintendents should never raise their voices,” Mascolo said Wednesday.
Mascolo lost her temper during a Feb. 6 school board meeting, during a discussion that touched on whether Seymour residents seeking jobs within the district should be given preference over non-residents.
The New Haven Register reported that the superintendent described Seymour residents seeking employment within the district as “lazy” and “liars.” Click here for the Register story.
Mascolo told the Valley Indy her comments were referring to a few specific job seekers, for whom she checked references and received negative feedback. The comment wasn’t meant as a blanket insult aimed at Seymour, where she has worked for a decade.
In a letter of apology written a week after the outburst, Mascolo also reveals why the hiring discussion touched a nerve. The superintendent said she has been pressured in the past to hire applicants with political or social connections in Seymour.
She said she was referring to those job seekers when she lashed out Feb. 6.
“In good conscience, I could not and would not under any circumstances move these individuals forward in spite of their political and social connections, as it would not have been in the best interest of the children or the taxpayers of Seymour,” Mascolo wrote.
“Hiring is, and always will be, based upon finding the best individual for a given position regardless of their town residence,” Mascolo wrote.
The Valley Indy on Wednesday evening tried to contact members of the Board of Education for comment.
Of the two board members reached, only one would comment on Mascolo’s statements.
“I didn’t feel at all offended,” board member Kristen Harmeling said. “It was very clear to me she was talking about a handful, if not less, of very specific individuals for very specific jobs. It never occurred to me she was making a blanket statement.”
Fred Stanek, another member of the board, declined to comment on what Mascolo said.
Seymour Push
But, Stanek spoke at length about the hiring of Seymour residents — which has been a concern of his over the past few years.
“Over the last 24 months the Board of Education has filled 30 positions,” Stanek said. “Of those hires, only one was a resident of Seymour. A second was a resident of Oxford who attended Seymour High School.”
Stanek said he did not know how many of the people who applied lived in Seymour or graduated from Seymour High School.
Mascolo said more than two of the district’s recent hires have had connections to Seymour.
Two elementary school teachers hired by the district — both Seymour residents — beat out more than 600 candidates for the posts, Mascolo said Wednesday.
Stanek said he has been approached by residents in town who feel more Seymour residents should be hired for Seymour teaching positions.
He doesn’t want to see all hires come from Seymour, but Stanek said he thinks more Seymour residents who apply should be hired.
“We are educating young people from Seymour, and I would like to see more hires and I’m not sure why we are not hiring more Seymour people,” he said.
Harmeling disagreed with that point of view — saying the hometown of teachers is not cataloged by the state Department of Education on district reports.
“The state doesn’t consider this an important dimension that we should be measuring and following,” Harmeling said.
Mascolo, in her letter, said if all other qualifications are equal, the district will give preference to a Seymour candidate over another candidate.
Most of the hiring is done at the school level, Mascolo said. She gets involved in hiring supervisors and administrators.
Policy Change?
Currently, the Board of Education is sent a list of new hires, but does not vote on them. The board used to vote, but changed its policy in December 2010 to allow school administrators to have the final say.
Mascolo, in a statement e‑mailed Wednesday evening, said the school principals decide which teachers to hire. Mascolo gives final approval for the teacher candidates.
In the past 10 years, Mascolo said she has only rejected two teachers recommended by the school principal.
After two months of discussion on the local hiring question, the Board of Education decided Monday to have a subcommittee review whether it should change its policy once again.
Harmeling said she thinks the way the Board of Education hires new employees works well.
“I’m comfortable with the role the Board of Education plays right now,” Harmeling said.
But Stanek, who originally voted for the policy change in 2010, said he has changed his mind.
“At a minimum, I would like to see the board revert back to the former policy,” Stanek said. “I think the board needs to have some control over the hiring decisions of the superintendent, whoever he or she may be.”