A letter was sent to the Laconia School Board from a number of anonymous District employees. NH State Rep and Laconia School Board member Dawn Johnson tried to read it into the minutes of tonight’s meetings. I’ve been told that she was shut down almost immediately.
Shut down under the rubric that it was a “Personnel matter” and that if she didn’t stop, she’d be thrown out.
It seems that Superintendent Steve Tucker is under investigation for a number of activities.
Good – he’s not much more than that 4 letter Yiddish word that describes a male member (see how I just sidestepped Rule #1 there?) from his time in the Gilford School System. Glad to see that in failing upward, he may well fail downward twice as fast and twice as hard. Good and hard, it seems.
And no, I have no idea what he’s being investigated for but I’m not surprised. But this is a two-fer Letter!
Problem is, it also is an indictment of Chair Aaron Hayward in that he seems to be prone to falling afoul in not following the stricturse in RSA 91:A concerning PUBLIC meetings and NON-PUBLIC meetings. In this Letter, it is clear that, due to his title, he seemingly believes that it is beneath him. After all, I called him out in a LSB meeting for trying to go into a “non-meeting”- something that is never called out in the Law as such.
So, here is that Letter (and I’m not about to release my source, either).
From: Anon Anon <concernedlsdstaff@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 1:12 PM
Subject: Investigation
To: <Janderson@laconiaschools.org>, <hdrolet@laconiaschools.org>, <ahayward@laconiaschools.org>, <djohnson@laconiaschools.org>, <ldunn@laconiaschools.org>, <ngrenon@laconiaschools.org>, <julrich@laconiaschools.org>CAUTION: This email originated from outside your organization. Exercise caution when opening attachments or clicking links, especially from unknown senders.
Dear Laconia School Board,
We are a group of administrators and others in the Laconia School District that are part of the complaints lodged resulting in the investigation of the Superintendent, Steve Tucker. We would not under normal circumstances take the action of writing the board directly, because we believe you are an ethical group of community-minded citizens who will make the best decision for the good of our students, staff, and the city. However, the board must be aware of the depth of this investigation before making a truly informed decision regarding the investigation.
To our knowledge there are nine original complainants in the investigation, however, the numbers are much higher. In many cases, the nine have reported the experiences of members of our staff, as their representatives. This list of grievances includes, but is not limited to:
• Unfair hiring practices: acquaintances and friends of Mr. Tucker receive rates considerably higher than there is precedent for, and higher than those in same/similar positions
• Quid-pro-quo
• Discrimination of the following protected classes: sex, age, gender identity
• Hostile Work Environment to include ongoing, multiple violations of the Educator Code of Ethics
• Misrepresentation to the board when presenting decisions of the administrative team
• Ongoing violation of Laconia School District policies and procedures
• Fear of loss of federal funding due to policy violations and professional alienationSince the Superintendent has become aware of the investigation and at least some of the complainants, he has retaliated in the following ways:
• Retaliatory, ‘after-the-fact’ evaluations of administrators
• Professional alienation: exclusion from pertinent meetings and decision-making
• Denial of basic requests for school buildings, staff, students
Sidenote: I am reformatting and emphasizing those items that need to get easier attention. It’s clear that the School Board has been tainted in that Staff believes “they own” the School Board:
It has also become known that the Superintendent and others have attempted to manipulate school board activities, at times through frequent private communication and planning with the board chair.
To highlight this, there was an illegal meeting last week, where a quorum of the new members as well as the board chair were present, without the other three members. A non-meeting was held where the investigation was discussed without the full board present, or even invited.
There’s that “non-meeting” again. Was RSA 91:A-3 followed? Given what I called him out over, I seriously doubt it.
Another source told me that while the three new Board members were undergoing training by the District staff (I would LOVE to see what THAT entailed!!!), Chair Aaron Hayward was present which would NOT have constituted a quorum as long as he kept his mouth shut while there. It seems his worse side came out and did indeed speak to the new Board members. And then kicked the Staff members out and continued to talk with the new Board members.
Congrats, new members – your “el jeffe” just made you Law-Breakers. What are you going to do about that – and him? Or be go-alongs to get-alongs?
There is also reason to believe that the board chair has shared identifiable information from the investigative report with the Superintendent. There is further concern that the board chair will continue to share information with the Superintendent outside of regular and allowable communication protocols.
So, Tucker is under investigation and this allegation is that Hayward, the Chair, is sharing that info with Tucker? If true,
WHY???
Ah yes, covering the Laconia School Board with glory in all aspects of his (still short) tenure.
As a further example of concerning behavior from the board chair, he contacted a complainant no less than four times on the day prior to the December 16, 2021, non-public meeting. It is of special concern that these communications took place via email, phone call, and text.
The complainant did not engage with the school board chair out of fear of retaliation that has and is already occurring against their colleagues.
We encourage you to pursue the request for copies of the full investigative report conducted by the independent attorney, if you have not seen it already.
If this hasn’t been released to the full Board, he’s not acting like a Chair but more like a feudal Lordship.
You should also be aware that there are two legal cases pending for retaliation against the Superintendent.
There is an active ethics case reported and pending with the Department of Education.
If the Superintendent remains in place, we fear that many will leave the district-administrators, teachers, and down the line. At least three valued, long-term
members of the Laconia School District administration have already left as a direct result of what is described in this letter.You need to know that this investigation is not ‘personal’. There is no vendetta against Mr. Tucker. He is not the right leader for the district and has demonstrated the inability to lead through repeated behaviors.
Given my interaction with him as a Budget Committee member in Gilford, I coulda told you that three years ago. I wonder how he was ever successful even as a P.E. teacher.
This also demonstrates an inability or unwillingness to learn from mistakes (the very thing we are here to teach students!). Mr. Tucker refuses to engage in collaborative dialog when there is any disagreement with his decisions. Many of us have worked in the district for decades and are educational professionals who have worked effectively with many Superintendents prior to Mr. Tucker. Collectively speaking, the climate and the culture of the school district has never been at such a toxic, low level.
It is unprecedented.
Teacher/staff absences are unprecedented. Not only are we not feeling valued or respected but are not being trusted or allowed to perform the duties detailed in our job descriptions. As a result, the entire School District is suffering.
We fear sharing our names at this time, because we will need to work in the Laconia School District for an amount of time until we find new positions elsewhere, if need be. Because it’s already happening, we fear continued, increased retaliation from the Superintendent if he remains in his position.
Sincerely,
Concerned LSD Employees
Wow. Just Wow. So is the Board going to allow THEIR employee to carry out a purge of all of the other employees that refuse to knuckle under someone who seems to be an Academic Tyrant?
To those that “fear sharing our names”, feel free to contact me at Skip@GraniteGrok.com or to Editor@GraniteGrok.com. Anything you send me will be held in strict confidence and you will be protected as a source. The Laconia Daily Sun will not likely take your side – We at GraniteGrok will.
