Hanover
About a half-dozen parents and residents who spoke at the meeting said they felt there had been a lack of transparency between school officials and the public about the principal selection process, which they contend had been rushed.
One woman commented that she was concerned School Board Chairwoman Mimi Lichtenstein had a conflict of interest concerning the district’s front-runner for the position, Sandwich (N.H.) Central School Principal John Hansen.
“It is my understanding that Mr. Hansen is getting married to someone at White Mountains (Capital) and your husband works at White Mountains,” Hanover resident Carol Keeffe said to Lichtenstein at the culmination of extensive — and at times heated — discussion on the topic.
Keeffe’s comment solicited a response from a woman in the large crowd in attendance who identified herself as “Mr. Hansen’s girlfriend.”
“He had no communication with Mimi,” the woman said while shaking her head. “They had very little interaction.”
Keeffe followed up by asking the board if the process to select a new candidate was a “recruitment thing” or if the board posted a public advertisement to solicit candidates nationwide.
School Board member Leah Wheelan said the district put out a public posting and in turn received “a bunch” of resumes.
“One was his,” Wheelan said, referring to Hansen.
Lichtenstein said she had informed the search committee that was tasked with selecting candidates that she knew Hansen.
“I have no vested interest whatsoever,” Lichtenstein said. “I was not on the interview committee … I have never advocated for anyone.”
Keeffe urged board members to come clean if the decision to hire Hansen was prearranged.
“If the decision was made ahead of time, let’s talk about the elephant in the room,” she said.
Both Hansen and the other finalist for the Ray School principal position, Carl Chambers, attended several meetings at the school over the past several weeks, and faculty and parents had the opportunity to meet and evaluate them both, board members said.
One parent in attendance Wednesday night said she attended one or all of those meet and greets and felt Chambers was “the better candidate.”
Some parents said they didn’t realize the forms they were asked to fill out at those meetings, which were used to rate each candidate, would weigh so heavily in the board’s decision on who should be the next principal.
The board originally had intended to name a new principal at Wednesday night’s meeting, but Superintendent Frank Bass said there was still some “due diligence” to be done. It was unclear Wednesday night when the new principal would be selected.
Former School Board member Kevin Cotter, who is a parent of a Ray School student and an educator, asked those in attendance to “have faith” in the process the School Board used to narrow down the pool of potential candidates to replace Laramie, who abruptly resigned in February citing personal reasons.
Ray School teacher Caren Whaley echoed Cotter’s comments, and said if the district chooses either of the two finalists, the school will be in good hands.
“We have two great candidates and either would be good,” said Whaley, who then grew emotional. “This has been a really hard year … a hard year.
“I am just feeling like we are kind of broken,” Whaley said through tears. “I want to echo what Kevin (Cotter) said. We have to trust the process and the hard work that people have done.”
Wednesday night’s meeting opened with discussion about the audit report the School Board received from an accounting firm that detailed “unapproved” charges Laramie made to his school-issued credit card in connection with trips related to professional development or graduate school programs.
The report by Concord-based Plodzik & Sanderson identified nearly $34,000 in “unapproved” expenses that Laramie charged to the American Express card. The report didn’t itemize expenses Laramie made that were legitimately part of his professional development travel, but flagged charges “which management of the Hanover School District has identified as unapproved activities.”
Bass previously said at least one of the trips Laramie attended was authorized, but “a lot” of what Laramie charged to the card in connection with the trip was not.
Part of that trip — to the National Association of Elementary School Principals conference in California — was “deemed personal and not district-related,” according to the report.
Several residents said they were perplexed to hear about how the district has handled administrators’ requests to attend professional development trips in the past.
Prior to Laramie’s alleged wrongdoing, a top official would give verbal authorization to an administrator to attend. Now, that process has been changed to create a paper trail, Bass said.
Resident Joseph Anderson took issue with the old process.
“I can’t help but feel that there should be more responsibility on your part as far as investigating (these conferences),” Anderson said. “Do you agree?”
“Absolutely,” Bass replied.
Keeffe wondered how the district could go three years without catching Laramie’s “unapproved” receipts.
Lichtenstein said 83 percent of the “unapproved” charges happened within the last seven months.
Scott Eagen, the forensic auditor who compiled the report, said it’s impossible to review every transaction during a routine audit of a company’s books.
“We can’t look at every single cash receipt,” said Eagen, who noted that his company performs the school district’s annual audit.
When SAU management felt Laramie’s receipts weren’t adding up, the district hired Eagen to perform a more thorough search of Laramie’s purchases. That’s when things unraveled, Bass said.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.