Lanesborough-Williamstown School Committees to Discuss Complaint Against Superintendent
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The public school committees of Williamstown and Lanesborough will hold a joint meeting Monday evening to discuss the “competence of the superintendent” of the Tri-District.
The committees late this week posted the agendas for their respective sessions, which have two topics of discussion: “As determined by the School Committee to discuss the professional competence of the Superintendent and complaints or charges against the Superintendent of Schools," and " to conduct negotiations with non-union personnel."
The agendas indicate that the committees may vote to immediately proceed to an executive session to discuss the matter, in compliance with Massachusetts General Law.
The agendas cite MGL Ch. 30A, Section 21 (a), which reads, in part, “A public body may meet in executive session … [to] discuss the reputation, character, physical condition or mental health, rather than professional competence, of an individual, or to discuss the discipline or dismissal of, or complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member or individual.”
The agendas do not specify who is bringing the charges against Dias or the nature of the contract issues to be negotiated.
In all, four bodies will be involved in Monday’s meeting: the Mount Greylock Regional School Committee, Williamstown Elementary School Committee, Lanesborough Elementary School Committee and Supervisory Union 71, a body comprised of members of the elementary schools committees.
Attempts to reach Dias and Mount Greylock Regional School Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Greene on Friday were unsuccessful. Both are attending a joint conference of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees and Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents in Hyannis.
Williamstown Elementary School Committee Chairman Dan Caplinger, who also attended the conference on Cape Cod, replied to an email inquiry that he was not at liberty to share anything about the nature of the complaints against Dias.
Lanesborough School Committee Chairwoman Regina DiLego also said she could not share any details and said the discussion during the open session will determine if an executive session is needed.
Dias, who was hired in Spring 2015, had a tumultuous first year as the leader of Williamstown’s K-6 elementary school.
The fiscal year 2017 budget discussions at WES kicked off when Dias announced his plan to trim the budget in order to stop relying on the district’s School Choice reserve account, which was depleted after years of use to balance the budget.
Although the town ultimately agreed to increase the school’s assessment in order to restore many of the items on the chopping block, one element remained unfunded: the full-day preschool program.
The preschool change originally was framed as part of the overall austerity package, but Dias later explained that he had concerns about the school’s Side-by-Side preschool that went beyond cost.
“As I have stated publicly, I have several historical, procedural and supervisory questions about the [Side-by-Side] program that require answers, and it will take time to fully explore them so that we are able to establish a process that remains equitable, properly licensed and well-managed for the future,” Dias wrote in March in an email to one of his critics.
The School Committee’s decision not to pass a budget that did not include funding for a full-day preschool led to a contentious town election season and a protest vote on the floor of May’s annual town meeting.
The Side-by-Side question continued to be raised by members of the public at School Committee meetings into the fall.
Dias serves WES as part of SU-71, a joint agreement of the Williamstown and Lanesborough elementary school districts.
SU-71, in turn, shares central administration services with Mount Greylock under what is referred to as the Tri-District.
Dias’ tenure as superintendent at Mount Greylock, while less acrimonious than his time at WES, has not been free of controversy.
This summer, two members of the school committee at the regional junior-senior high school voted against a satisfactory evaluation given to Dias by the seven-member panel.
In his written evaluation of Dias, one Mount Greylock School Committee member wrote that the first-year superintendent had given the committee "incomplete and misleading" information.
Since Monday’s meeting involves of the hiring authorities to whom Dias answers, it is unclear whether the “complaints or charges” arise from the junior-senior high school or one of the elementaries.
It also is unknown how much of the discussion on Monday at 5 p.m. in Mount Greylock’s library will be open to the public.
“There may be discussion among committee members at Monday's meeting about whether the committees will vote to have all or part of their discussion under the open session portion of the agenda,” Caplinger wrote in his email. “In addition, the superintendent as the person being charged has the right to have charges and complaints heard in open session even if the committees vote to go into executive session.”
