Thursday, April 11, 2013
Superintendent Pia Durkin says she and her family as well as Coelho Middle School principal Andrew Boles received physical threats.
Anger over the national headline-making scandal in which Coelho Middle School students were denied lunch for having insufficient accounts has led to threats against school district administrators, The Sun Chronicle reported. Attleboro school district Superintendent Pia Durkin said at the Wednesday night Coelho PTO meeting she, her family and Coelho principal Andrew Boles had been physically threatened, The Chronicle reported. She declined to elaborate on the threats, according to the newspaper, but The Chronicle reported, "it was apparent that Internet commentary played a role." School Committee member Ken Parent announced at Monday's committee meeting that a school district investigation is ongoing and this was not "something that the …
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Attleboro school district Superintendent PIa Durkin says she will review the incident Monday.
Attleboro's public schools weren't open Friday, but that didn't prevent the district from being a hot topic of conversation in the city and throughout the region. The Thursday suspension of a student for bringing a butter knife to Wamsutta Middle School has sparked a debate. The incident was first reported early Friday morning by FOX 25 in Boston. The student's mother Rebecca LaPlume said her daughter Morgan needed the knife to cut her fruit because she couldn't bite into it due to her braces. Wamsutta principal Karol Coffin said vice principal Ray Lamore was following the rules stated in the student handbook, which says students cannot bring knives to the school. As the day progressed, other media picked up the story, including Attleboro …
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Attleboro's outgoing superintendent says she will take the job, pending a contract negotiation.
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Tuesday, March 12
Pia Durkin will likely have a new job when she steps down as superintendent of the Attleboro school district at the end of June. She was appointed superintendent of the New Bedford school district Monday night, according to the Standard-Times. The New Bedford School Committee voted 5-2 to hire Durkin, the newspaper reported. She said she would take the job, pending a contract negotiation. "I really appreciate the school committee and the mayor giving me this opportunity," said Durkin, according to the newspaper. "I believe there's a deep commitment to change and I'm excited about doing it." Durkin has headed the Attleboro school district for seven years. She never officially announced she was resigning, but also never publicly requested a …
Monday, February 25, 2013
Public interviews are expected to take place next month.
The names of the people in the running to be Attleboro's next schools chief will be revealed at tonight's school committee meeting, Committee Chair Mike Tyler said. The Superintendent Search Committee members will make the announcement. Public interviews of the finalists and site visits will take place next month. The new superintendent is expected to be appointed in April, and the person will officially begin work July 1. Superintendent Pia Durkin is leaving after the end of the school year, her seventh in Attleboro. She never formally announced her resignation, but she also never publically requested a contract extension. Durkin is one of three finalists for the superintendent job in New Bedford. The city's daily newspaper, The Standard-…
Thursday, February 14, 2013
The school committee votes to hire the interim Director. Two school committee members not in attendance say they are disappointed a search was abandoned. A finalist for a job in Arlington, Marisa McCarthy has not decided if she will accept Attleboro's off
Interim Special Education Director Marisa McCarthy could have a long-term future in the Attleboro school district—if she wants it. The school committee voted 6-0 Wednesday to approve Superintendent Pia Durkin's request go grant McCarthy a three-year contract. However, McCarthy is one of two finalists for the same job in Arlington, and School Committee Chair Mike Tyler said she would not remove her name from consideration there. The decision to appoint McCarthy was a sudden departure from the previous plan to do a full search and accept applications. A job notice appears online with a Feb. 25 application deadline. Tyler said he re-convened the search committee last week to determine if its members favored giving the job to McCarthy. He …
Attleboro's school district chief is one of three finalists for the job.
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Thursday, February 14
School district Superintendent Pia Durkin could have a new job after she leaves Attleboro at the end of June. The New Bedford School Committee announced Wednesday that she is one of three finalists for the job as that district's chief, according to SouthCoastToday.com Durkin has headed the Attleboro district since 2006. Although she never formally announced her resignation or retirement, she did not ask for her contract to be renewed and told The Sun Chronicle last year it appeared she would not return after the 2012-13 school year. Attleboro is doing a superintendent search. School committee Chair Mike Tyler said Wednesday that the search committee could have a list of finalists ready by Feb. 25, the date of the next scheduled school …
Monday, February 4, 2013
The Superintendent Search Committee is expected to reduce the number of candidates this week.
The Attleboro school district received 25 applications from people wanting to be the district's next superintendent, School Committee Chair Mike Tyler told Attleboro Patch Monday. The application deadline was Friday. "I am very encouraged by the large pool of candidates," Tyler said. "I thank all of those who applied." The nine-member Superintendent Search Committee, which is chaired by former Attleboro school administrator Ron Struminski, is expected to select semifinal candidates at its meeting Tuesday. Closed-door interviews with those candidates are expected to take place next Monday. Tyler said the search committee would present a list of three to five finalists (possibly more) to the school committee later this month. After …
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Chair Mike Tyler plans to speak tonight about "unacceptable" events that occurred at the Monday meeting he did not attend. The vice chair, who ran the Monday meeting, disagrees with his analysis.
Attleboro residents have a chance to find out tonight what was learned through recent focus groups on the search for a school district superintendent. They also may be able to find out what School Committe Chair Mike Tyler believes should and should not happen at committee meetings. Tyler told Attleboro Patch earlier this week he was bothered by how the meeting on Monday was run in his absence by Vice Chair Brenda Furtado. Among the incidents he did not care for were comments made during open forum by school district parent Jen Crowder that included criticisms of Committee member David Murphy and Superintendent Pia Durkin (look for more information about Crowder's complaint on Patch later this week). Let Patch save you time. Get great …
Friday, October 19, 2012
Focus groups will take place on the school campuses as well as other locations.
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Friday, October 19, 2012
The Attleboro school district has invited the public to attend focus group sessions regarding the search for a superintendent. Current Superintendent Pia Durkin is expected to step down at the end of June. Families should attend the focus group session at their child's school. All sessions will take place in the school library and are expected to take one hour. There are also three sessions scheduled for the general public that will take place next month. "Questionnaires to be used to initiate conversations will be available in each principal's office by Monday, Oct. 22," a release from the school district states. "In addition, on the week of Oct. 22, the Family & Community Survey will be disseminated to all students of the Attleboro …
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Superintendent Pia Durkin says it would be "very comfortable" for Catherine Zinni to remain at Willett Elementary, but "life is about taking on challenges."
Attleboro parents and school committee members were unable to convince Superintendent Pia Durkin at the meeting Monday night to reverse her decision to transfer Willet Elementary School principal Catherine Zinni to the same post at Thacher Elementary. Several speakers said the move would derail the progress the school has made under Zinni's leadership. Durkin said this would not happen, and that one person is not responsible for a school's success. Willet PTO President Laurie Brasil said transferring Zinni would set the school back by at least a year. "As a volunteer, it is hard enough finding the time to plan and work on an event," Brasil said. "With a new principal, we will have to spend countless hours going over every little thing, …
deb of see-attleboro
8:25 am on Saturday, April 13, 2013
In response to Superintendent Durkins public allegations of threats and her urgent plea to move on, the Sun Chronicle responds in this weeks "Saturday Snaps". "We agree, but efforts ought to be made to track down the makers of the threats and deal with them." more ›