Dennis Senibaldi
“There were candidates better suited and a better fit for our District. The process was inequitable, completely flawed and saw many difficulties amongst and evolving process. For example, even seeing impromptu meet and greets which has a lot of questions out there though some will say they have been answered. I think some of the public wasted their time and think input was taken because we had to take it. Quite honestly, I’m very disappointed in the process and I’m sure some of my colleagues will be offended by my saying that but you know something? Tough, I’m going to say what’s on my mind and speak up. I will tell you one other thing I won't do, which is not just change my vote to go along to get along because some of the same people that are sitting in this audience that write letters, some of these Board members used to jump up and down at previous boards just for voting to go along to get along. That’s all I have to say.”
“There were candidates better suited and a better fit for our District. The process was inequitable, completely flawed and saw many difficulties amongst and evolving process. For example, even seeing impromptu meet and greets which has a lot of questions out there though some will say they have been answered. I think some of the public wasted their time and think input was taken because we had to take it. Quite honestly, I’m very disappointed in the process and I’m sure some of my colleagues will be offended by my saying that but you know something? Tough, I’m going to say what’s on my mind and speak up. I will tell you one other thing I won't do, which is not just change my vote to go along to get along because some of the same people that are sitting in this audience that write letters, some of these Board members used to jump up and down at previous boards just for voting to go along to get along. That’s all I have to say.”
Rob Breton
“So, to Mr. Senibaldi’s point about the process, absolutely. I believe if we don’t have a better way of doing this when we go for our permanent Superintendent, we’re going to be in a whole lot of trouble and I say that knowing that I have been part of that process, so I’m not excluding myself from that. Could have been done better, could have been done more efficiently, could have been done sooner, and I don’t make excuses for that. As far as voting to go along to get along, that’s not my style, that’s not what I do. My votes are based on what I know and what I feel about what’s best for the kids. So, I am limited also in what I can say because I certainly don’t want to say anything that’s going to be detrimental or harmful to any individual, so I won’t do that. But, just given where we were and the decision that was put in front of me, I can support this because it’s an interim situation and because I know at least, from my perspective, we’re gong to do a whole lot better when we find our permanent candidate.
I think we’re also going to be in a better position where we can evaluate a wider pool of candidates; internal, external. I know there was a question asked how we would do that search with search firms so on and so forth, I’m completely open to all of that because quite honestly, the five of us I don’t believe have the qualifications to evaluate the proper candidate like a professional would and I know that from having been in staffing, professionally. Not in education, so even my staffing experience doesn’t get to the level where I can really truly evaluate and I want to be able to use as a resource somebody that does that for a living. I think that’s the way that we should go. That’s a decision for another day, but just so that people know where I’m coming from. “
“So, to Mr. Senibaldi’s point about the process, absolutely. I believe if we don’t have a better way of doing this when we go for our permanent Superintendent, we’re going to be in a whole lot of trouble and I say that knowing that I have been part of that process, so I’m not excluding myself from that. Could have been done better, could have been done more efficiently, could have been done sooner, and I don’t make excuses for that. As far as voting to go along to get along, that’s not my style, that’s not what I do. My votes are based on what I know and what I feel about what’s best for the kids. So, I am limited also in what I can say because I certainly don’t want to say anything that’s going to be detrimental or harmful to any individual, so I won’t do that. But, just given where we were and the decision that was put in front of me, I can support this because it’s an interim situation and because I know at least, from my perspective, we’re gong to do a whole lot better when we find our permanent candidate.
I think we’re also going to be in a better position where we can evaluate a wider pool of candidates; internal, external. I know there was a question asked how we would do that search with search firms so on and so forth, I’m completely open to all of that because quite honestly, the five of us I don’t believe have the qualifications to evaluate the proper candidate like a professional would and I know that from having been in staffing, professionally. Not in education, so even my staffing experience doesn’t get to the level where I can really truly evaluate and I want to be able to use as a resource somebody that does that for a living. I think that’s the way that we should go. That’s a decision for another day, but just so that people know where I’m coming from. “
Ken Eyring
“For me this was a very difficult decision. As I evaluated the people throughout the process, my consideration for who I thought was the best candidate changed several times. I believe we had really good candidates up to the end and I respect Mr. Senibaldi’s position not to go along to get along because I believe it’s important. He’s elected to go with his conscience and represent the people who provided him input. I believe that’s what he should do. He should vote or not vote for who he thinks is the right candidate.
I don’t know if we touched upon this, we were asked to define what the term of the contract was. It expires on June 30, 2016. So, that answers your question. When we enter into the permanent search we’ll have to figure out what to do but there are four options for us at that point in time and I’d like to make sure we use the best of all of those options. And when we’re going to do it, we’ve always said sometime in the fall. So once we get past this stage, we’ll have to sit down and talk and figure out when to kick off that process, but I’d like to start it potentially sooner rather than later, so we have plenty of time to evaluate all of the candidates… find the right people to consider for the finalist positions and eventually to find the next superintendent.
I’d like to take an opportunity to thank all the people who applied for the position. It was time-consuming, but I believe that going through this process, for me at least, I believe we got someone who’s going to be very strong who’s going to be a good fit for the District. And, when I say that, I don’t mean that as a slight or a negative towards anyone who applied for the position, as I said before, we had three good candidates. So with that, I’m ready to take a vote. All those in favor? All opposed? 4-1”
“For me this was a very difficult decision. As I evaluated the people throughout the process, my consideration for who I thought was the best candidate changed several times. I believe we had really good candidates up to the end and I respect Mr. Senibaldi’s position not to go along to get along because I believe it’s important. He’s elected to go with his conscience and represent the people who provided him input. I believe that’s what he should do. He should vote or not vote for who he thinks is the right candidate.
I don’t know if we touched upon this, we were asked to define what the term of the contract was. It expires on June 30, 2016. So, that answers your question. When we enter into the permanent search we’ll have to figure out what to do but there are four options for us at that point in time and I’d like to make sure we use the best of all of those options. And when we’re going to do it, we’ve always said sometime in the fall. So once we get past this stage, we’ll have to sit down and talk and figure out when to kick off that process, but I’d like to start it potentially sooner rather than later, so we have plenty of time to evaluate all of the candidates… find the right people to consider for the finalist positions and eventually to find the next superintendent.
I’d like to take an opportunity to thank all the people who applied for the position. It was time-consuming, but I believe that going through this process, for me at least, I believe we got someone who’s going to be very strong who’s going to be a good fit for the District. And, when I say that, I don’t mean that as a slight or a negative towards anyone who applied for the position, as I said before, we had three good candidates. So with that, I’m ready to take a vote. All those in favor? All opposed? 4-1”
Note from Windham LINK: We have done our best to quote the individuals above accurately. To watch the meeting, please visit the SAU95 website and click on the School Board tab.