The Easthampton School Committee was eviscerated by “disgusted” residents Monday evening for canceling the superintendent candidate who lost his job offer after he used the term “ladies” in an email to the committee chair.
The School Committee, which had voted behind closed doors to rescind the offer for superintendent candidate Vito Perrone, voted 5-2 on Monday to not re-enter negotiations with Perrone. The committee voted instead to offer the job to Erica Faginski-Stark.
The School Committee in western Massachusetts was meeting for the first time after viral news broke that Perrone had lost his job offer after he called the committee chair and her assistant “ladies” in an email.
Many residents during the meeting urged the School Committee to give him another chance, but that won’t be the case.
“I in no way thought it (‘ladies’ in the email) was a microaggression,” said School Committee member Laurie Garcia, before she was one of the two votes in favor of the committee re-entering negotiations with Perrone.
“He was immediately canceled,” Garcia added of the “horrific ordeal” for the small town.
Perrone, the interim superintendent of West Springfield Public Schools, used the term “ladies” in an email to School Committee Chairperson Cynthia Kwiecinski and her assistant.
Following that email, Perrone’s job offer was rescinded — and he was told in a private executive session meeting that he lost the offer because of how he addressed the women in the email.
“Easthampton has a chance to show how we do not jeopardize the name and career of a person for simply uttering a word that some may deem offensive,” said math teacher Sofia Checa.
“It is not so black and white whether it’s inappropriate,” resident Andrew Connelly said. “While I recognize the party’s reason for taking offense, I wish there would have been a chance for Dr. Perrone to make amends.”
Martha McCullagh said she wanted the committee to work together with Perrone to clear the air and negotiate with him again.
“I would hope we could get past this, and apologize, and accept his apology,” she said.
Casey Young said she was “thoroughly disgusted” with the committee over this.
“Dr. Perrone is beyond qualified for this position, and his redaction from the town is beyond unprofessional,” she said.
Other residents said the town should not resume negotiations with Perrone, saying they cannot support him after what happened.
“We’ve learned a great deal about Dr. Perrone’s fitness for the superintendent position since his offer was withdrawn,” Christine Futia said, noting he tried to sue the town and then spoke to the media about the situation.
“Dr. Perrone’s behavior since his dismissal has been entirely self-serving,” she added.
“I personally cannot support him after this whole affair,” Ben Ewing said, later adding, “I don’t find him to be someone that I would want running my school district.”
The School Committee had a meeting scheduled for last week, but it had to be canceled after hundreds of people tried to log into the Zoom meeting.
