NotThePTA.org: Welcome to Sandwich, Dr. Canfield

Friday, March 25, 2011

Welcome to Sandwich, Dr. Canfield

Charles CanfieldCape Cod Times/Ron Schloerb

The Sandwich School Committee unanimously appointed Dr. C. Richard Canfield as the new Superintendent of Schools effective July 1.

Dr. Mary Ellen Johnson issued the following email to District employees this morning:

Dear Staff,

Well, tonight concluded the superintendent’s search process, with the School Committee voting to appoint Dr. C. Richard Canfield as the Superintendent of the Sandwich Public Schools as of July 1, 2011.

Dr. Canfield has spent many successful years in education. He is currently serving as an Assistant Superintendent for the Monroe Public Schools in Monroe, Connecticut.

We have much to be proud of in the district. The excellent teaching and learning that is taking place in our district was noted by all four of the finalists for the position.

I want to thank you for all that you have done and continue to do on behalf of our students. You are a smart, collaborative and caring group of people who continue to do remarkable work on behalf of our students. It has been an honor and pleasure to work with you over the past four years and I look forward to continuing our work over the remainder of our time together.

Thank you for your ongoing support and please join me in welcoming Dr. Canfield to the Sandwich Public Schools.

Sincerely,
Mary Ellen

Welcome to Sandwich, Dr. Canfield!

11 comments:

Waiting for Spring said...: I'm pleased with the selection. I'm pleased that the vote was unanimous and I'm pleased that Dr. Johnson sent such a gracious letter to the staff.; 3/25/11, 11:16 AM
Anonymous said...: No public comment wanted??? Typical!!!; 3/25/11, 11:56 AM
Anonymous said...: Class act til the end!; 3/25/11, 12:52 PM
no more gossip said...: It is a good selection for our tired old town given this past year of worry and conflict. I guess we will never know what horrible thing Dr. Johnson did to warrant her and the town being treated the way they have in the past year. I hope she can move on. She is a class act. I truly hope Sandwich never has to experience anything like this again. Let this be a new beginning of better principal and practice for all those who profess civil service for the good of our community.; 3/25/11, 2:50 PM
The Truth Maker said...: The Truth Maker would add that Dr> Johnson has brought the Sandwich School District forward.
She has put in place the building blocks for the new technology of education, much to the dismay of the four conflicted school board members.
I wish her well, especially in continuing her fight for vindication in a very cruel world.

The struggle for survival may be over in Sandwich, but your battle for justice will continue and I wish you well in that endeavor.

We have an old saying that the cream of the crop rises to the top and you are over the top.; 3/25/11, 3:33 PM
Anonymous said...: Clearly, Witch hunts are alive and well in 2011!

This has been one of the saddest years for Sandwich, Amazing how Dr. Johnson continued to hold her head high and email all her staff this morning welcoming Dr. Canfield.

God smiles down on Dr. Johnson and her tireless work and dedication to our precious children.

I wonder how God feels about the actions of 4 hateful women.

Karma always comes back to haunt people.

We will miss you dearly Dr. Johnson! Best Wishes and the next school district will be blessed with your presence. Sandwich was too ignorant to figure out we needed you more than you needed us.

Tired of the taxes with no services and dysfunction by the S.C. and BOS, our house will be put on the market by the end of the month......Moving to smarter cheaper town.; 3/25/11, 3:33 PM
Anonymous said...: Anon 3:33 PM, Please don't blame Sandwich for the willful actions of 4 women.

You have to give them credit, they had a plan, devoted a year to it and accomplished it. Several personal agenda's and clearly union members and/or leadership pressure created the perfect storm to create the clique that stood together no matter who tried to reason with them.

Supportive spouses and a teacher/spouse with much at stake in consideration of who the Superintendent is, teacher and other school staff with agendas and the Community School, that is quite a bit of coming together to take down someone who demonstrated to the very end that she was only trying to do the job she was hired to do. And let us not forget the "mob" mentality and gang mentality and bully mentality. At least it will be harder to bully Dr. Canfield. I hope impossible, should think it would be.

But please quite blaming the entire town. Most of the people I talk to think this is a travesty but in the end, they couldn't be stopped. For as we all know, often justice is blind. I don't know anyone personally who would treat Dr. Johnson the way the committee treated her. This is about politics and politics won the day. It is not about the whole town though it reflects on the town.; 3/25/11, 5:37 PM
Anonymous said...: Dear Dr. Johnson.
There is life after the Sandwich Public Schools. Better days are ahead for you. I wish you all the best.

Dr. Canfield: Welcome to Hell.; 3/26/11, 9:58 AM
Just the facts said...: Excellent article in the Cape Cod Times talking about the challenges for Superintendents and how it relates to people not wanting the job. There has been a decline in candidates for the past 8 years. FYI, Sandwich is on it's 4th Super. since 2006. It also points out that decreased funding plays into that since more is expected for less. Wish state government would get that. And last but not least it points to the fact that the School Committee's ultimate power over the Superintendent can be capricious since the only level of accountability is public election.

The article reviews the particular situation in Sandwich as well. Though it is all accurate, there are a few things left out. Such as, the so called ruling from the DA was in response to a letter from our Town Clerk. A formal complaint about a potential violation of open meeting law was never filed. To this day we do not have any name to go with the mysterious phone call to Town Clerk that prompted him to write the letter, rather then to inform the caller to file a formal complaint.

Second, I think it is relevant that it was Sherry Marshall who asked that the meeting be recessed from Wednesday to Friday so a legal question she had could be answered before the School Committee voted on Dr. Johnson's contract.

Third, Marshall and Linehan went to the Friday meeting and at no time mentioned any problem with open meeting law.

Forth, Only after the election and in fact after the new members were sworn in, did anyone (we don't know who) go to the Town Clerk and bring up a possible violation of open meeting law.

FYI: Shortly after the election, newly elected Marie Kangas was questioned about deliberating with fellow SC members outside public meeting in regards to who the new Chairman should be. A few months it was exposed that Ms. Kangas was using email to deliberate. She apologized in the local press and claimed ignorance of the law.

Yes let's move on, but let's not forget the details of this horrendous chapter for the town. Let's not forget when we elect two members to the School Committee in May.; 3/27/11, 6:12 AM
Bob Simmons said...: To be clear, the Committee unanimously voted to recess the Wednesday meeting to Friday to resolve a question Sherry raised.

And, while Kangas was widely heard discussing plans for electing a chairman during her swearing in (outside of a public meeting), the specific email violation she acknowledged was on a different topic.

Hopefully, that will keep the hair-splitters happy.; 3/30/11, 9:28 AM
Anonymous said...: Thanks Bob. Good point.; 3/30/11, 10:44 AM