Hanover
Meanwhile, the district’s apparent top pick, Sandwich (N.H.) Central School Principal John Hansen, defended the search process, which has drawn criticism from residents. He is one of two leading candidates to replace Matthew Laramie, who resigned in February amid allegations that he had charged the district more than $30,000 for questionable professional development expenditures.
During a meeting of the Hanover School Board Wednesday, some residents expressed dissatisfaction with the replacement effort, saying they preferred the district’s second choice, Carl Chambers.
Chambers is director of curriculum, instruction and assessment at the Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union and served for two years as principal at Newbury (Vt.) Elementary School.
“I actually respect the folks that were supporting the other candidate,” Hansen, who was not at the meeting, said in a telephone interview on Friday. “Clearly they are good friends, or seem to know him well, and so I think they’re being loyal to someone that they know. And I can only hope that they extend the same loyalty to me once they get to know me.”
One resident on Wednesday also expressed concern that the School Board’s chair, Mimi Lichtenstein, had a conflict of interest involving Hansen: Lichtenstein’s husband, the resident said, worked at the same firm as Hansen’s fiancee.
That evening, Lichtenstein dismissed the idea of a conflict, and on Friday, so did Hansen.
The Sandwich principal said he had revealed that relationship to Hanover’s superintendent when he was invited for an interview, and also said Lichtenstein had recused herself from “all aspects of the process” until a recent site visit at his school.
“I would also say that I don’t know the board chairperson, other than perhaps having met her two or three times at company functions,” he said. “But I am not a friend of hers or anyone that even knows very much about her.”
SAU 70 Superintendent Frank Bass could not be reached for comment on Friday or Saturday, and Lichtenstein sent a short note by email on Saturday saying she was out of town.
Becoming Ray School principal would be a step up for Hansen, one that school officials back home in the Inter-Lakes School District, which covers the New Hampshire towns of Sandwich, Meredith and Center Harbor, say he has long deserved.
The Sandwich Central School is small, at roughly 80 students in kindergarten through sixth grade, compared with the K-5 Ray School, whose enrollment last fall was 470.
Richard Hanson, chairman of the Inter-Lakes School Board, said Hansen has served the Sandwich Central School for more than a decade and is known for his technological acumen and his writing skills.
“He is tremendously respected within the Inter-Lakes School District,” the school board chairman said. “We’ve treasured him for many, many years.”
Hansen gave his resignation late last year, and will soon leave the district, Hanson said, so there were no surprises on the Inter-Lakes board’s part.
Hanson added, “It doesn’t surprise me that Hanover is so interested in him. … I wondered, over all these years, why he hadn’t moved on to another position.”
Although the agenda for Wednesday night’s meeting included an item titled “Consider for approval: Ray School Principal recommendation by Superintendent,” board members opted not to make their choice that night.
That decision did not come because of resident criticism, according to School Board member Bruce Duncan, but instead because administrators were still checking the candidates’ references.
“We did go into a long (executive) session in order to review the procedures and take into account what people said,” Duncan said.
At the meeting’s end, board members had left unclear when a decision might come. But Duncan said there was a chance it could happen over the weekend.
“If things go according to expectations, there will be some kind of word coming out Monday morning,” he said.
Rob Wolfe can be reached at rwolfe@vnews.com or at 603-727-3242.