To the Editor:

Well, school will begin soon.  However, there is some old business that really needs to be addressed. 

If you missed the Goffstown School Board (GSB) Meeting held on June 21, 2010, please get a chance to watch the recording of it.  You will hear Chairman Keith Allard acknowledging the receipt by all the GSB members, mailed to their residences, of two packets of information from two teachers who will not be returning to Mountain View Middle School (MVMS).  One resigned because of the stress caused by her administrators and the other was part of the lay-offs caused by the budget process.

I have a copy of both packets of information that were mailed to the GSB members, and permission from both of the teachers to share this information with any interested residents of the Goffstown, New Boston, or Dunbarton communities. Please contact me at DDLDJC@comcast.net if you would like to see the evidence.

Evidence of what, you may ask?  Evidence of my claims made over the past two years, that administrators at MVMS, with the full knowledge of Superintendent Buckley, have targeted teachers, creating an emotionally charged and overly stressful working environment.  

The evidence includes written evaluations which are harassing and belittling and, in at least one case, a police report which defames the teacher’s character when no interview was ever done with said teacher before the writing of the police report.

The appalling evaluations were written by Curriculum Coordinator Nicole Doherty, under the mentorship of Principal Jim Hunt, and the defaming police report was written by Assistant Principal Jenn Gillis.  Again, Stacy Buckley knew of the behaviors of these administrators and did not intervene. 

One teacher claims Ms. Buckley used “covert aggression” towards her when Ms. Buckley, while in a meeting, expressed concern for the teacher’s emotional stability! Does this mean Ms. Buckley will diagnose anyone who criticizes the job performance of administrators as crazy?  If the answer to the question is yes, well then, that behavior is unethical, immoral, appalling, unprofessional, and I believe, listed as a mental illness in the DSM-IV Manual. 

When will this unethical behavior towards teachers, staff and parents end?  Hopefully the residents in this town will rise up and express their opposition to this bullying by administrators. 

Please contact me and read the evidence of the job performance of the administrators, who receive a large amount of your tax dollars, and then contact your elected officials on the GSB expressing you opinion of the management style of Stacy Buckley and her underlings.  If your GSB members refuse to listen to you, vote them out! 

In the meantime, I would suggest the GSB look into the mentorship program provided by the NH Principals’ Association as well as suggest you direct all administrators do an internet search under the title “Servant Leadership.”  There is an extensive bibliography of suggested reading to retrain the greenhorn administrators who have been mentored so poorly.  

It would be beneficial for them if you direct them to read books from the list and then write reviews of said books for your perusal as a part of their professional development goals.  Perhaps they can change.  A disciplinary letter should be placed in their files as proof of a pattern of unprofessional-ism just in case they can not, or will not, change.

Donna Pinard
Goffstown