The Waterville School Board voted recently to hire the superintendent’s daughter as an assistant principal. As part of the process, board chair Joan Phillips-Sandy read the board’s nepotism policy aloud, and tasked Superintendent Haley with reading aloud the five conditions that had been met in order to appoint an immediate family member to an influential position. We agree that this seems to satisfy the letter of the policy. Their expending so much rhetorical effort suggests that they know that they violated the spirit of the policy.
This letter isn’t a reflection on the new assistant principal. We don’t doubt that she’s a creative and energetic educator, and we look forward to working with her.
But family members hiring each other looks bad, is bad, and reflects poorly on any institution that sanctions it. If there are no other viable candidates after a search, it’s a sign either that the search lacked vision or that the position isn’t competitive in its area.
“Nobody else showed up” isn’t a viable reason for a largely self-governing entity to chew at the values it purportedly holds. Instead of fixing the holes in their boat, these officers order more buckets to bail with.
To the board: Why don’t qualified applicants apply for your posted high-ranking positions? What are you doing to address that pressing question?
Scott Beale
James R. Evans
Jennifer Johnson
Ian Murphy
Waterville
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