By Patrick Adrian EAGLE TIMES STAFF
NEWPORT — Newport will need to begin a search for a new school superintendent, with Superintendent Brendan Minnihan announcing his resignation at the end of the school year.
Minnihan notified the Newport School Board on Wednesday that he will not return as Newport’s superintendent next school year, citing ongoing friction with certain school board members and community members as driving factors.
“Although it saddens me to resign, I do not believe I can currently fulfill the expectations of the position given the current climate in the district,” Minnihan said in a letter to board members and school staff.
Minnihan has served as Newport’s superintendent since July 1, 2019, when he began as the interim superintendent, and was officially named Newport’s permanent superintendent in 2021.
In his letter Minnihan points to “numerous” incidents over the past month in which residents, including board members, have shown a disregard for the separation of roles between the superintendent and the school board, while feeding a culture of divisiveness and negativity regarding the schools.
“[During the past challenges] I have tried hard to remain upbeat and raise the morale of our staff,” Minnihan wrote. “However, when some members of the school board and community choose to denigrate the staff and indirectly the students, it becomes an impossible task.”
Without naming individuals, Minnihan appears to reference recent public comments by School Board member Bert Spaulding and Tim Beard, a Newport parent and town Zoning Board official. On multiple occasions Spaulding and Beard have aired their frustrations in public meetings about the school district’s performance, including at town selectboard meetings, which are outside the school district’s jurisdiction.
To compound matters, selectboard members have even joined the discussion, without the topic being on the agenda or school administrators being present. Such incidents occurred at the selectboard meetings on Monday, March 21, and Monday, April 4, the day before Minnihan tendered his resignation.
Minnihan, generally known for his calm and composure, fired back at the school board meeting on Thursday, March 24, when Beard accused the schools of failing its students and the administrators not wanting to take accountability.
“It is so frustrating when people denigrate our students, our staff and our administrators,” Minnihan said to Beard. “So if you want to work together as a community, come join us. But if you just want to bring us down, that’s not helpful.”
Minnihan apologized to Beard shortly afterward for his tone of response.
Minnihan’s letter also said that certain board members are not respecting the superintendent’s role and the boundaries that separate the school board’s responsibilities from the superintendent’s.
The school board’s responsibility is to “hire the superintendent and provide oversight and direction through strategic planning,” Minnehan noted. But the superintendent, not school board members, oversees the day to day operations.
“It takes everyone working together, within the expectations and boundaries of their roles, for our students to achieve the highest degree of success,” Minnihan wrote. “[But] over the past month it has become clear to me that some individuals in the district do not understand, agree with or appreciate the clearly defined roles and responsibilities of a school board versus a superintendent.”
As superintendent Minnihans has also weathered the challenges shared by other New Hampshire superintendent, as well as Minnihan’s predecessors in Newport.
In February 2020 Newport voters slashed $1.2 million from the district’s proposed school budget, with voters passing the amended budget 110-72 at the district’s budget deliberation.
Notably, the motion to cut the budget was made by a town selectman, Todd Fratzel.
Newport has also struggled to retain teachers, with many educators and administrators leaving to work in districts that offer higher compensation.
Though not necessarily related to compensation, several key school and district administrators are also leaving at the end of the current school year, including Business Director Ed Edmonds and Jennifer Opalinski, director of the Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center.
Minnihan said he intends to remain through the rest of the school year, which officially ends on June 30.
“I truly believe there have been great improvements and successes over the past several years in Newport, and I have given my upmost to help Newport students, families and staff feel supported and fulfill their potential,” Minnihan wrote in closing. “I wish the district the very best as it moves forward. May the joys of student successes and achievement continue to grow.”
Newport School Board Chair Jenna Darling said the school board will address Minnihan’s resignation and the board’s succession plan at its next meeting, scheduled on Thursday, April 14.
reporter @eagletimes.com
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