Superintendent search
Schenectady interim leader not interested in taking on permanent role./
City school officials could vote as early as February to appoint a new school superintendent — and if negotiations go well announce their choice soon after that, according to Anita Murphy, Capital Region BOCES district superintendent.
One name currently not in the running for the high-profile school leadership post in the urban district of about 10,000 students is interim Superintendent Aaron Bochniak, who isn’t interested in being the district’s permanent leader.
“I’m totally loving the work that I’m doing. We have an amazing and caring and dedicated staff; we’ve got wonderful families and students,” Bochniak said. “But at the end of the day, it isn’t something I wanted to do right now. But I’m grateful for the experience, and until which time that a permanent superintendent is named, I’m all in.”
Murphy said that the board has been interviewing prospective candidates behind closed doors over the past few months.
She explained Monday that BOCES is now in the process of soliciting various organizations,
such as staff unions, for representatives from their groups who will then meet the potential
candidates, likely sometime next month.
“I believe we are ready after the holidays to send candidates to the community,” said Murphy. “We’re not going to march people out to spend the day and meet everybody in town but the interested stakeholders, including members from community groups, will have a chance to meet the candidates and do an interview.”
She declined to say how many candidates are still in the hunt for the job, which involves taking over the reins in a district that recently laid off hundreds of school employees because of a shortfall in anticipated state aid as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
Murphy said internal and
external stakeholders, under a strict confidentiality clause, will be sitting down and questioning the potential candidates.
She said those individuals from the school and broader community will then either share their thoughts in writing with Murphy or present them directly to board members.
“The board will do another interview, potentially, and then hopefully in February, they ’ll make an offer,” she said with the caveat that “we always leave about 30 days for contract negotiations.”
The district launched the search for a new schools chief after Larry Spring abruptly stepped down from his $204,061 a year post on March 25. That same night, board members, after voting to accept Spring ’s resignation, appointed Bochniak as interim superintendent. Bochniak had previously served as the district’s director of planning and accountability since November 2016.
Shortly after he left, Spring told the Times Union in an email response for an interview that it “was a difficult decision ...” but “the right one for me, right now.” He declined to elaborate.
The separation deal he
negotiated with Schenectady prohibits him from suing or taking any other legal action against the district. One of the deal’s conditions stipulates that the two sides will not speak or write negative or disparaging comments about one another.
Since then, two new board members have been elected.
In May, the Times Union published a story revealing that two women said they had been pursued by Spring, and had told their stories to Harris Beach, the law firm that represents the school district and that presided over an internal probe of accusations against the ex-superintendent.
The complaint that prompted the investigation was filed by a woman who is employed by Capital Region BOCES but works within the city school system.
The two women interviewed by the paper gave similar accounts of Spring lavishing them with praise over social media for their academic work, and then trying to arrange off-campus gettogethers.
Neither filed complaints against Spring.
The completion of the investigation preceded the striking of a deal between the district and the superintendent that paved the way for Spring ’s resignation.
The findings and con
clusions of the monthslong investigation portray a man whose conduct toward the complainant and others was “part of a pattern” in which he targeted younger, sometimes untenured female teachers, according to a copy of the law firm’s report reviewed by the Times Union.
The report also mentions that during the course of the investigation into Spring ’s behavior, investigators anonymously received several photographs of Spring either partially or completely nude.
The report did not, however, recommend any specific disciplinary action that should be taken against Spring.
It recommended that the district retrain its staff on its sexual harassment and anti-retaliation policies.
Spring, who is married with two children, would not respond to the allegations. “Legally, the district and I are bound by confidentiality and that is something I take very seriously,” he said in an email to the Times Union at the time.
“I believe in treating people with respect and am very proud of the work and dedication the entire team put forth at the Schenectady City School District over the past eight years. I wish them nothing but the best going forward,” he said then.