NORTHAMPTON — Following a two-hour deliberation over three superintendent candidates, the School Committee voted to hire Annie Azarloza, pending her acceptance of the offer and contract negotiations.
Committee members met Monday and Tuesday of this week to interview finalist candidates — Azarloza, Thomas Danehy and Bethany Silver — before convening Thursday evening at the JFK Middle School to make their final choice. Azarloza received six votes while Danehy received three and Silver received one.
The session was repeatedly stalled by former City Councilor Quaverly Rothenberg, who yelled profanities at the School Committee and forced two, five-minute recesses. Once order was restored, members took turns sharing their top candidate choices.
“I really appreciate her [Azarloza’s] energy — she is clearly someone who relishes immersing herself in a community and understanding all aspects of a district and reworking or building what is needed for all members. I also appreciated her interest and training in restorative practices and how she has built trust with caregivers, especially those caregivers of students with special needs, by clear and dependent follow-through,” Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra said. “I feel like we could work with her to help us create goals as a school committee, which is something that we are meant to do together. I was very inspired by her and others also were very inspired by her.”
Although committee members largely praised Azarloza for her budget planning abilities, experience with special needs support and general passion and knowledge, others voiced their hesitation to hire her after she had been investigated by the Rochester, New Hampshire, school district. The probe looked into alleged misuse of Title I funds and other conduct allegations, though she was ultimately cleared of any violations.
Some members, such as Michael Stein, Anat Weisenfreund and Renika Montgomery-Tamakloe, voiced concern regarding the investigation of the superintendent-elect. Stein explained that he saw investigation — regardless of its finding — as a potential risk. Montgomery-Tamakloe agreed, adding that she viewed conduct outlined in the investigation between Azarloza and her colleagues as a “red flag.”
“Never in my career have I had 1,000 pages written about me to assess my behavior, and part of the report, which was centering students, that was solved easily, the part that concerned me is her relationship with her peers,” Montgomery-Tamakloe said. ” … What I read concerned me in those aspects … I don’t want someone that rightly or wrongly has a scandal attached to them and has traits that we see in our current chief executive that we do not like.”
Others, however, were less concerned, noting that Azarloza has been transparent and was largely cleared of violating Rochester School District policy. Member Tiffany Jewell stressed that Azarloza was “almost completely exonerated” and viewed the report as evidence of her dedication to students. She said Azarloza’s transparency and courage “strengthens her candidacy.”
“I thought it was incredibly brave of her. For me, in some ways, this strengthens her candidacy, because she has been fighting to have this report released, and that it’s really important that she wants everybody to know what happened,” Jewell said. “I do see it as her defending her students in a difficult situation with some difficult colleagues, and it was incredibly challenging. It allows me to see at least some of the ways in which she is brave and strong.”
School Committee Vice Chair Alena Bartoli echoed these remarks, praising Azarloza for her effort to connect with the Committee.
“Ultimately, we’ll see who we get. All of this information is out in the open, and now it’s time to have the conversations with her. She stated that she would meet one-on-one with each committee member, so there’s a clear intention there to develop relationships with us, and I think it’s on us to reciprocate,” Bartoli said. “To me, her releasing this information, or her making us aware of this information, is the beginning of a relationship. She’s putting out what has been a challenging part of her history, and we all have challenging parts of our history.”
School Committee members Sciarra, Bartoli, Jewell, Amy Martyn, Valerie Reiss and Cynthia Mahoney all voted for Azarloza as their top candidate, whereas Stein, Weisenfreund and Montgomery-Tamakloe voted for Danehy. Robbie Sanner Sullivan stood as Silver’s sole voter.
Azarloza is expected to replace Portia Bonner, who will leave the district at the end of the fiscal year on June 30.
