NORTHAMPTON — Howard “Jake” Eberwein has withdrawn from negotiations to become interim superintendent of Northampton public schools, Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra said Tuesday.
“He strongly considered the offer and he was very, I think, genuinely torn, but feels he needs to see through his work with the Berkshire County Regional School District planning board,” Sciarra said during a special School Committee meeting, referring to the veteran educator’s current project that wraps up in the fall.
The committee authorized the mayor to enter negotiations with Jannell Pearson-Campbell.
Eberwein’s decision was announced less than a week after the committee voted to hire him to fill the interim superintendent position for up to one year while the search for a permanent replacement for former superintendent John Provost unfolds.
Eberwein was chosen over Pearson-Campbell — a former classroom teacher, principal, assistant director of education and assistant superintendent who described herself in last week’s public interview as “a third-generation Black American educator” — and Marlene DiLeo, superintendent in Ware.
The School Committee will meet again via Zoom on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. A vote is possible to ratify Pearson-Campbell’s contract, if negotiations are successful.
After last week’s 9-1 vote to enter negotiations with Eberwein, in which Ward 7 member Kaia Goleman voted no, the organization REAL Northampton expressed opposition to the choice and pushed the committee to consider the implications of denying an offer to Pearson-Campbell.
REAL stands for racial equity and learning. Members include “teachers, staff, students sixth-grade and older, caregivers and community supporters,” according to its website.
“We ask that Dr. Eberwein, to honor the crucial work of anti-racism, decline the offer of interim superintendent and instead show support for Dr. Pearson-Campbell’s candidacy,” the organization said in a public statement before the latest meeting. “We ask that the School Committee offer the position to Dr. Pearson-Campbell, who noted at the July 7 meeting that she was available to start immediately.”
On Tuesday, Goleman told the committee, “I really believe that she was the candidate that had the very best fit for us. Her, sort of, organizational awareness and the way that she’s aligned with our district goals at this point, as well as her real commitment to bring a lot of attention and focus to the welfare of students, and healing, I think is really critical.”
In response to communications from the public about the decision, committee member Emily Serafy-Cox of Ward 3 called for all School Committee members to undergo anti-racism and anti-bias training, and to continue working toward the goal of hiring more people of color at all levels.
“If we as a democratically elected body don’t interrogate and interrupt our actions and attitudes that come from the white supremacy ingrained in each of us, we are hurting our own democratic process,” she said.
In an interview on Wednesday, Vice Chair Gwen Agna said, “I think we all understood the concerns and the feelings behind (REAL Northampton’s) reasons for making that statement. We certainly respected those who made that statement,” and she hopes Pearson-Campbell will be “a role model for children and other adults who do not see people of color in positions of power.”
Until an interim superintendent is hired and begins work, the school district’s interim business manager Susan Wright is also serving as acting superintendent.
Eberwein did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Last Thursday, Pearson-Campbell, who left her assistant superintendent position in Plymouth County at the end of the school year, was the first of the three finalists to be interviewed by the full School Committee after an initial round of closed-door interviews before a screening subcommittee.
Pearson-Campbell has worked in the field since becoming a substitute teacher in 2001 and earned her doctorate from UMass Lowell in 2019. She has worked in districts including Boston, New Bedford, Waltham and Old Rochester Regional.
Agna said she contacted each candidate’s references, including a principal who praised Pearson-Campbell for her diversity, equity and inclusion work in an “all-white district” and said she was “at the table for all parts of the work that happens in a school district.”
“She’s kind, genuine, warm and completely student-centered,” Agna said, reading notes from that conversation. “She can communicate with people who are marginal, and is fair and non-judgmental.”
But prior to selecting Eberwein, committee members expressed their disappointment in Pearson-Campbell’s answers.
“My heart sank a bit tonight,” Agna said. “And Jannell, if you’re listening, I came in tonight thinking, ‘This is who our interim should be.’”
Sciarra, who serves as chairwoman of the School Committee, agreed that the public interview felt “very different” from the initial round and Pearson-Campbell’s talents for collaboration and community building did not shine through this time.
“There seems to be a bit of a stark difference between the first candidate … and the references that she received. Her answers kind of were, at times, confusing to me and vague,” Serafy-Cox said. “But then her final answer, I finally felt like who she was came out, and so I don’t know if that’s nerves.”
Ward 5 member Dina Levi said she was “really disappointed with Jannell’s interview tonight in light of how incredibly strongly I thought she did in her first-round interview.” The screening subcommittee “rated her incredibly strongly in almost every category” and Pearson-Campbell gave “fantastic examples” of her experience.
Levi said she was so impressed with the initial interview that she hopes Pearson-Campbell will apply for the permanent superintendent job, but she did not support offering her the interim position based on her performance on Thursday.
In response to the committee members’ comments, Leigh-Ellen Figueroa of Florence, a member of the REAL Northampton coordinating team, sent an email to School Committee members criticizing “woke white posturing” from city leaders whom she said do not listen to people of color. The organization shared the email online.
“While any of the candidates would have been an acceptable choice, you missed a huge opportunity to make a choice that would have felt instantly healing, hopeful and validating for many families of color in this town (including myself and my family) and instead you opted to maintain the status quo of who gets access and leadership,” Figueroa wrote.
Figueroa criticized committee members’ “condescending comments” about Pearson-Campbell and wondered why some said she would make an excellent candidate for the permanent superintendent job in the future, but not the temporary interim position that is available now.
“I saw a strong leader who was trying to figure out how to dance for this committee in a way that wouldn’t be too strong, but just strong enough,” she wrote. “I saw someone who was qualified for this work with education that no degree can ever confer and who really knows what our students of color experience because she experiences it (even in this interview).”
The three finalists met the minimum qualifications “and then we looked further at experience,” Agna said Wednesday. “I really think that’s what it was. But I respect the thought that it could have racial overtones, as well. I’m not going to speculate for myself or anyone else, but I think we were trying to shepherd our district through some very difficult times.”
Asked for her thoughts on REAL Northampton’s statement in her favor, Pearson-Campbell said she had not seen it, but “I welcome them to come into my office” and work with her on district initiatives. Asked for her thoughts on other public support, like Figueroa’s letter, Pearson-Campbell said that she wants to encourage unity on behalf of the students.
“I hope that my coming on will bring people together. To me, that is always the case,” Pearson-Campbell said. “We have to work together on behalf of kids. Kids need to see adults working together.”
Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.