Concord’s school board has put assistant superintendent Donna Palley in charge of the school district for now – but it’s searching for a longer term interim replacement, the board announced this week.
In a letter addressed to “the Concord school community,” school board president Jennifer Patterson said that the board is starting to look for a “qualified individual” to take over as acting superintendent – a week after putting Superintendent Terri Forsten on administrative leave.
“The Board has started the process of securing the services of a qualified individual to act as superintendent until the issues that resulted in the board’s decision to place Superintendent Forsten on administrative leave have been resolved,” Patterson wrote.
The announcement, issued Thursday evening, comes as questions have persisted around the choice of Palley, the eight-year assistant superintendent, to lead the district. Palley lacks state credentials with the Department of Education, which administrators are required to obtain and renew every three years.
In the letter, Patterson said that the board regretted not being aware of credential issues with Palley and the district’s business administrator Jack Dunn, but said it believes that Palley is legally allowed to continue in her post.
“It is the Concord school board’s understanding that under New Hampshire state law, a person performing superintendent duties in this situation is not required to be certified,” Patterson wrote.
Forsten was put on leave after the board received a report from an independent investigator charged with examining the district’s response to complaints by students in 2014 and 2018 about former teacher Howie Leung, who has been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a former Concord student.
In an interview Friday, Palley apologized for the lack of credentials, and said she has been taking action since August to obtain them.
“It’s a big mistake” Palley said. “It’s shaken the community. It’s distracting the board and others from their work at an incredibly difficult moment in time, and I feel terrible about that.
“At no time did I ever intend to obscure or mislead anyone about my status, and I of course am deeply sorry,” she added. “This is painful.”
According to Palley, her eight-year lapse came down to a misunderstanding of what was required back when she first entered the post.
Under state regulations, those who are hired to be an assistant superintendent must first obtain a credential to perform the job from the Department of Education. That requires two criteria: three years experience in educational administration and an enrollment in a post-graduate school administration program.
Once they receive that first credential, assistant superintendents must then obtain a superintendent’s credential within three years, according to the state rules – even if they don’t intend to become a superintendent. Getting that second credential requires completing the post-grad program enrolled for the first.
Speaking Friday, Palley said when she first applied for the job, she was told by the Department of Education about the two requirements for the first credential – and had met them. By 2011, she had long served as special education coordinator at Concord High School and she promptly enrolled in a graduate program at University of New Hampshire that would qualify.
But despite meeting the requirements, she did not take the step of applying for the state credential, not realizing it was necessary to hold the post, Palley said.
Meanwhile, she misunderstood other components of the requirements. She says a department official had given her the impression she had seven years to obtain the post-graduate certification – not three.
As a result, three years later, when Palley should have obtained her post-graduate certificate and should have been applying for a superintendent’s credential, she still did not have her assistant superintendent’s credential, Palley said.
Palley began working as assistant superintendent in 2011 under a school district led by then-Superintendent Chris Rath. Palley attempted to complete her UNH post graduate program. She started in January 2013 – two years after taking the post.
But Palley did not successfully complete that program, coming two courses short, as a result of “significant family issues,” she said. She stopped attending courses in 2015.
Palley continued serving as assistant superintendent for years, unaware of her ongoing lack of credentials, she said. That changed in August 2019, when an official with the Department of Education reached out to Palley and Superintendent Forsten informing the two of her lack of credentials. The department also contacted the school board.
A Department of Education spokesman, Grant Bosse, confirmed the department had reached out to all three parties in August, but Patterson said the board was not notified until Sept. 10.
“To the best of my recollection, I first became aware of the issue on September 10 when I, along with Superintendent Terri Forsten, was cc’d on an email from the DOE to Ms. Palley about the issue,” Patterson told the Monitor in an email Saturday. “I was also cc’d on two subsequent related emails with DOE that day and on September 11, and my impression from those emails was that Ms. Palley was working with DOE to address the issue.”
Patterson wrote that at the time Forsten was placed on leave, “I did not realize that Ms. Palley’s certification issue was not being fully and rapidly resolved.”
Newly informed of her lack of credentials in August, Palley took action to obtain the first credential – for assistant superintendent – by applying in September to re-enroll in the UNH program, she said. She received confirmation this week that she had been accepted, she said Friday.
The confirmation of enrollment will eventually allow her to obtain the assistant superintendent credential, she said. She plans to complete both credits by December 2020.
Palley, who graduated from Hampshire College in 1978 and earned an educational masters from Harvard University in 1981, said in the interview that she respects the need for credentials.
“I don’t want to say that it’s just paperwork because it’s important,” she said. “I believe in certifications. I spend time in my job now, at this point in my job, helping people get their alternative certifications … The first mistake was not filling out the form.”
Meanwhile, in her letter to the community, Patterson wrote that the board was planning to undergo a more rigorous oversight of the credentialing of district officers. This week, Jack Dunn was also reported to have served as business administrator for seven years without credentials; he is also in the process of obtaining credentials, he told the Monitor.
“Concord School District takes staff certifications very seriously, and as board members we are deeply disappointed and apologetic that we were not aware of the lack of current credentials at the administrative level,” Patterson wrote. She added that the board was taking action to review certification issues, and had directed Human Resources to conduct an “audit” of other district employees.
Patterson did not address whether Palley or Dunn should step aside from their roles while their credentials are being approved – an action required by state rules. Palley declined to comment on that matter Friday.
Thursday’s announcement that the board is seeking an interim superintendent was the latest development in an increasingly complex situation for SAU 8.
Last month, the school board received the first of two reports by outside investigator Djuna Perkins. That report prompted the board to put Forsten on paid leave last month and keep Concord High principal Tom Sica on paid leave.
Patterson said Friday the second part of the report has not yet been received. The board intends to update the community on the situation at its next scheduled meeting Monday evening.
(Ethan DeWitt can be reached at 369-3307, edewitt@cmonitor.com, or on Twitter at @edewittNH.)