For the first time in weeks, all elected members of the Springfield School Committee were either in the same room or tuned in remotely, only for a majority to walk out in protest.
Led by the committee’s Vice Chair, Joesiah Gonzalez, a majority of members got up and left as a schism between the mayor and committee chair, Domenic Sarno, seemed to widen – all related to the search for a new superintendent.
“Unfortunately, I cannot proceed with an agenda that is not reflective of democracy. I cannot proceed with a mayor that has refused to put items on the agenda,” Gonzalez said as he prepared to vacate.
Springfield Public Schools superintendent Daniel Warwick is scheduled to retire at the end of the school year, a move that prompted a national search for applicants.
When 11 applications were submitted, a law firm vetting them as part of the search found only five met the minimum requirements.
However, Gonzalez and others have supported amending the search process to let a special screening committee view and consider all applications regardless.
In early April, he went as far as to submit an agenda item to do so, citing outreach from the screening committee itself.
In a press release from Gonzalez, it was said that the screening committee had “voiced concerns about not being able to view all completed applications for consideration, to preserve public transparency,” and that the concerns were followed up “by several correspondences of their members to the full school committee requesting the authority to consider the remaining 6 applications.”
The proposed agenda was met with rejection by committee leadership, and ended up being the subject of legal opinions issued by the law firm assisting the school committee.
The firm found considering the other applications would lead to “potential legal ramifications," and that the move could “invite litigation" from those who chose not to apply for the role because they believed they did not meet the minimum requirements.
Sarno reiterated as much Thursday night.
“The minimum qualifications that this body voted on - to send to the review committee, which they picked, we picked - to say we want to look at everyone, opens us up to tremendous litigation and sends a terrible message, as you have seen in other school districts across western Massachusetts…” the mayor said. “That is the fact.”
The initial rejection led to a committee meeting boycott earlier in the month. That protest, in turn, led to a press conference on Friday, April 12, led by the mayor.
Sarno accused the involved committee members of advocating for rejected candidates, calling the actions childish and petulant. The mayor also made allegations that one of the candidates was a relative of Gonzalez.
The insults, according to the vice chair, merited an apology.
“Two things – we need an agenda that’s representative of the democracy, both locally, on the state level, and in our country,” Gonzalez said. “Second of all, you owe all of us a public apology for the lack of decorum that you showed when you insulted us.”
The meeting struggled to get to the agenda, as committee members attempted to invoke various rules to discuss the previously rejected agenda item.
It led to debate over what constituted a “point of order,” with Sarno summoning the school district’s legal counsel whenever a committee member called for one.
It also led to brief standoffs between the mayor and other members, such as LaTonia Monroe Naylor.
“I asked for a point of order, so I expect to be able to speak, so there needs to be no clarification on that,” she said, after Sarno called on Melinda Phelps, Chief Legal Counsel for Springfield Public Schools.
Soon afterwards, after announcing his reasons, Gonzalez walked off, along with Naylor, Denise Hurst, and Barbara Gresham.
The whole scene took place in front of members of the public, some of whom spoke during the comment section beforehand.
That included students who said they were frustrated with the search process as well as the lack of student representation on the screening committee. Some also called for the process to be restarted.
Also speaking were current and former SPS employees, including Dawn Rodgers, who urged the committee to stay the course, saying that the qualified candidates already being considered would likely not want to re-apply.
“The reality and perception of effective leadership will affect the quality of candidates not only for the superintendent position, but all positions,” Rodgers said. “Even worse, quality candidates who have already applied will not want to reapply for the superintendent position after applying in good faith.”
Regardless, the meeting came to a halt after the walkout. In doing so, agenda items went unapproved.
Among the items was an approval request for a field trip, allowing the Springfield Central High School Air Force JROTC student group to take part in a competition in New Jersey, according to principal Thaddeus Tokarz.
“They’re ready to go to represent the city against all of the other ROTC competitors in the country, tomorrow - so we’re saying that they cannot go?” he asked.
After a few minutes passed, one of the committee members, Barbara Gresham, returned to the chambers allowing the meeting to resume and approvals to be given, including the field trip.
“I do want to note that I'm doing this for the students because I love them,” she told the committee’s chambers to a round of applause.
As it stands, the screening committee is scheduled to interview candidates for the superintendent role in early May.
